COVINGTON, Ga. -- This year's Newton County School System Can-a-Thon was enormously successful, with students across the county donating more than 16,000 canned goods for families in need.

RELATED | Don't miss 11Alive's Can-a-Thon on Nov. 30!

Oak Hill Elementary School was the big winner with 2,800 cans collected. Mansfield Elementary School placed second with 2,000 cans collected.

The food will go to the Salvation Army and a local food pantry.

"We are proud of the students and employees who participated in the Can-a-Thon," superintendent Gary Mathews said in a statement. "Our school district has always been very supportive of community needs. To collect over 16,000 cans of food is a tremendous accomplishment."

COVINGTON, Ga. -- An 8th grade teacher at Covington's Indian Creek Middle School has been named a StudyBlue Ambassador.

Erik Love was selected for the honor because of his innovative uses of technology in the classroom.

"I want my students to be as comfortable and proficient with the technology as possible, so I use the technology that is readily available to my students," Love said in a statement. "Sometimes this is a desktop P.C., of which I have six in my room, but most often it's the student's own device and could be nearly anything with Web connectivity -- tablet, iPod, smartphone, laptop, e-reader or whatever comes out next."

StudyBlue uses high-powered and modern technology to help today's students succeed in the classroom. Its ambassadors are educators who connect with one another to share the ways that StudyBlue helps their students.

COVINGTON, Ga. -- Five Newton County elementary and high schools are among this year's Georgia Department of Education Reward Schools.

Reward Schools are the Georgia schools with the highest performance or biggest academic gains by students in the last three years.

"These schools are shining examples of what we can achieve in public education in Georgia," Superintendent Dr. John Barge said in a statement. "I want to take what's working at our Reward Schools and replicate that in every school in the state. These are the schools making education work for all Georgians."

Fairview, Heard-Mixon and Porterdale elementary schools, and Alcovy and Newton high schools made the list of High Progress Schools. These schools are among the top 10% of Title I schools in Georgia, meaning that they are making the most progress to improve student performance on statewide assessments like the CRCT.