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2017-18 Teacher of the Year & Professional of the Year
Congratulations to Jerome Dunson for being named the 2017-2018 Teacher of the Year and to Tami Walton for being named the 2017-18 Professional of the Year. Faculty and staff nominated and voted for this year’s recipients. New to the process this year was the participation of the student body. The honorees received their awards at a March faculty meeting and, as a surprise, had their families present in the auditorium to witness the presentations.​

​Abney is STAR Student; Gribble is STAR Teacher
Saya Abney is the 2017-18 STAR Student; she chose Social Studies faculty member Daniel Gribble as her STAR teacher.

To obtain the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR), high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the three-part SAT taken through the November test date of their senior year and be in the top ten percent, or top ten students, of their class based on grade point average. The STAR program honors Georgia's outstanding high school seniors and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development.

Abney is an IB Diploma Candidate and plans to major in physics or aerospace engineering. Already holding an acceptance from the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, she also has UC Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Emory, and Georgia Tech in her college choices. Abney aspires to attend law school after college.

Abney’s STAR teacher is Social Studies faculty member Daniel Gribble. Abney said, “ I picked Mr. Gribble as my STAR teacher because his classes encourage students to learn skills beyond the course content: reading comprehension, critical analysis, and time management. He cares about and supports his students while trying to ensure they can succeed on their own.”      ​Read more in the News & Media Gallery​​​​​​​

Raiders Announce Five Governor's Honors Semi-finalists
Congratulations to Neha Devineni (Mathematics), Samantha Johnson (Communicative Arts), Riley Mehrman (Engineering), Shreya Rekapalli (Social Studies), and Jayden Richardson (Music). These five students made it through the first round the 2018 Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) competition. Following interviews at the end of February, the students will find out in March if they have been selected for this year's GHP. 

GHP is a residential summer program for gifted and talented high school students; this year’s GHP is at Berry College in Rome. While living on campus, students attend classes in the mornings and afternoons in specific areas of study, and participate in a wide variety of social and instructional opportunities every evening. The academic, cultural, and social enrichment provides skills to the rising juniors and seniors to help them become critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders.

Arney Selected to Georgia State School Superintendent's ​Council
Congratulations to Junior Nate Arney for being chosen for Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods’ 2017-18 Student Advisory Council. Arney is one of 142 students selected from over 2,500 applicants from public schools across the state. One male and one female were chosen to represent each school district in Georgia; Arney represents Fulton County Schools.

Applicants were asked to explain their ideas for impacting the overall quality of public education in Georgia and to indicate their commitment to community service. Students on the council serve as liaisons between the Georgia Department of Education and the students of the state. Over the course of four meetings at the Superintendent’s office, the students can expect to discuss a variety of topics that, in the past, have included student leadership, Georgia graduation rules, dropout rates, school climate, nutrition, and career, technical, and agricultural education.

Arney has enjoyed his participation thus far, noting: “The diversity of students on the council has been extremely interesting to me. Talking with all students about how their schools function and comparing their school experiences to mine has been very interesting. I am fascinated by the variety of high school offerings a Georgia high school student experiences.” Arney, an IB Diploma Candidate, is an active member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish and Science National Honor Societies, and Beta Club. He also serves on Mr. Gardner's Principal’s Student Advisory Council. Arney is a peer tutor and member of the Varsity Lacrosse team.​

Raiders Have Two National Merit Semifinalists
Congratulations to Seniors Saya Abney and Lily Schneider for being selected as semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship program.

Based on their outstanding scores on the PSAT taken during their Junior year, Abney and Schneider join an elite group of approximately 16,000 high school seniors from across the country. As semifinalists, the students now must fulfill several requirements in order to advance to the finalist round. They must have a record of high academic performance, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm their earlier qualifying test performance. Additionally, the semifinalists will complete a detailed scholarship application, which includes a self-descriptive essay and information about participation and leadership in school and community activities.

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