Each year, Thomas County students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade participate in the Georgia National Fair's Fair Bear Writing Competition.  Students compete at the school level, and first place winners from each grade compete at the state level.

The annual competition asks students to write a story about an American black bear who lived from 1980-1993 in Middle Georgia near the Georgia National Fairgrounds.  The bear’s path often involved crossing 1-75 where it met its tragic death in 1993. It was immortalized as the Georgia National Fair’s mascot and has been the subject of their writing competition since 1994.

This year’s topic was “Fair Bear's Family Traditions” where students were asked to write a story describing Fair Bear's family traditions that he looks forward to each year, and new memories that he looks forward to making at the annual family reunion.

Kayden McLain from fifth grade and Spencer Webb from sixth grade will compete at the state competition.  State-level winners will be announced on April 15, 2019.

Pictured below on the bottom row is fifth-grade winners from left to right: Kayden McLain - 1st Place, Maston Whigham - 2nd Place, and Tavia Lee - 3rd Place.  Pictured standing from left to right is 6th-grade winners: Spencer Webb - 1st Place, and Lydia Glass - 3rd Place. Not pictured is Jackson Nestale - 2nd Place.