It's cool to be smart in Guilford County Schools (GCS) and with the help of our business community, students now have a chance to win one of seven cool cars, scholarships for college, or a laptop.

The Crown Automotive Cool to Be Smart recognition program is an event for our AP/IB students and parents. Crown Automotive and Harris Teeter Neighborhood Markets are collaborating with GCS to encourage students to enroll in rigorous courses in these two diploma programs and to achieve high scores on the course examinations.

Under Superintendent Terry Grier's leadership, the achievement gap between white and non-white students has narrowed. Grier knows that if you challenge students, they will exceed your expectations. Thus, student participation in higher-level courses such as the Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula has increased 149 percent since 2000. Non-white participation in AP and IB courses has skyrocketed 183 percent in that same time period.

This year, Crown Automotive is giving students a chance to win one of these seven cars:

·  Honda Civic 2dr LX
·  Chevrolet Cobalt 2dr
·  Nissan Sentra
·  Nissan Versa
·  Chrysler PT Cruiser
·  Ford Ranger
·  Dodge Avenger

Harris Teeter Neighborhood Markets presents five additional students the chance to win a $2,500 scholarship and five students a chance to win a laptop computer.

The Visiting International Faculty program presents an IB student a chance to win a $1,500 scholarship.

To qualify for the event and a chance to win the prizes, a student must meet one of the following criteria