The Southerner

Midtown announced in an email on May 21 that during the 2024-2025 school year, all personal electronic devices (PEDs) will be banned on Midtown campus. While this policy is focused on phones, the ban will also include personal computers, smart watches, tablets and ear buds/headphones.  Due to this policies implications, the Southerner staff believes this policy will hinder both our ability as a program and our journalistic freedom.

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The Atlanta Board of Education has formed a community panel of parents, teachers, students and community leaders to provide community input in the selection process.

The current interim district superintendent, Dr. Danielle Battle, was set to have her contract end before the 2024-25 academic year as the board found a permanent replacement. However, on April 10, the board announced that it is extending its search for the next superintendent and that Dr. Battle’s contract would be extended through Dec. 31.

Midtown parent and English teacher Kate Carter was invited by a board member to serve on the panel and believes it is valuable to have teacher input in the selection process.

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This past weekend, high schooler’s sculptures, sketches, paintings, pottery, photographs and multimedia were displayed at the Dogwood Festival’s Atlanta High School Art Exhibition.

Since its beginning in the late 1970s, the Atlanta High School Art Exhibition has given high school artists in Georgia a chance to compete for prizes like scholarships and art supplies, while gaining valuable real-world experience.

“It’s a really unique, very high-level experience to come in and have your work on display at the Dogwood Festival in the middle of Atlanta with all those thousands of people,” Exhibition co-director John Brandhorst said. “It’s a way to see the immense number of schools and students that have amazingly strong art programs and are able to bring that quality of work. There are many different programs, lots of different approaches, and that diversity of voice is exactly what it’s trying to promote.”

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After going 8-0 in region play, the Knights girls soccer team faced an early exit in playoffs, losing to Greater Atlanta Christian 2-1 on April 23. Head coach Blair Barksdale said the ending was disappointing.

“It was a very tough ending,” Barksdale said. “The girls worked so hard this season and overcame a lot of adversity. GAC is one of the top teams in the state. That match was a state championship-caliber game and it just wasn’t our night to win.”

Senior co-captain and goalie Ellie Palaian said the team lost because the Knights went in too comfortable and GAC’s preparation outdid them.

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After writing and winning the Thespian Playwright award for his one-act, “The Blue Bar,” junior Leo Rose will be the first underclassman in recent years at Midtown to direct a Senior One Act in May.

Senior One Acts are annual theater performances where Advanced Drama students direct a short scene of their choice at the end of the year. With the approval of theater teacher Jacob Dreiling, “The Blue Bar” will be directed by Leo Rose for the Senior One Acts.

“For Advanced Drama, we were deciding what play to direct for Senior One Acts,” Leo Rose said. “One of my friends recommended that I direct ‘The Blue Bar,’ so we voted on which of the plays we wanted to direct, and mine won.”

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Having already broken multiple school records, sophomore standout track and cross country runner Cameron Collier is making his mark at Midtown, impressing students and faculty with his speed and persistence.

Collier has been running since he was 8 years old, developing a strong passion for running over the years, with both cross country and track. In track, Collier competes in a variety of races, but specializes in the 3200, which is the distance that Collier once held the fastest time in the nation for his age group.

“Running was something I started doing recreationally when I was younger,” Collier said. “When I started looking at professional running and realized I was pretty good, I just fell in love with the sport and became obsessed with running very quickly.”

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Hours of dedication have been spent at the seven-foot-long white glossy table where junior Addy Bricker has designed boho bags, clothing, art prints and cosmetic bags as part of her business, Addy Art.

Bricker recently learned how to sew last January during her costume design class at Midtown. The semester spent learning these skills allowed her to discover her love for sewing as she began putting her own twist on the assignments.

“When I was younger I had tried out so many different things and nothing was as good as sewing,” Bricker said. “I didn’t have the drive for anything, but now [with] sewing I really have a passion for it.”

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The Georgia Student Finance Committee partnered with nearly 50 colleges throughout Georgia to waive their application fees during March.

Midtown College Advisor Mira Ratchev believes this waiver is important for students struggling with the application process.

“The free application month in March is a blessing,” Ratchev said. “It’s great for students who maybe didn’t get into their first choice school during the early or regular decision rounds and need a backup option, or maybe their first choice school is out of state and they need a more affordable option in state. It’s also awesome for kids who are undecided about going to college or haven’t applied to a balanced list of colleges yet.”

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The boys soccer team are the GHSA 5A region champs, and went undefeated in region play this season.

The Knights are currently 9-6, despite their impressive region run they struggled in pre and post region play.

“I think the season has gone pretty well so far,” sophomore midfielder Issac Marlowe said. “We had gotten off to a slow start but have really picked it up as of lately.”

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To commemorate the solar eclipse, Midtown staff and students spent part of the afternoon in the Henderson football stadium to witness the historic event.

Midtown STEAM coordinator Stacey Tanner co-led this initiative with Environmental Science teacher Pierre Davis, advocating for the importance of this opportunity for high schoolers in the district.

“Initially, [the district] was only giving glasses to elementary schools, and then I contacted the science department director asking for Midtown to participate as well,” Tanner said. “[The district’s science department] sent us 2,000 glasses for the whole school and we’ve worked from there to distribute the glasses to all of the classes and coordinate getting the school out at the right time onto the field.”

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After beginning the season with a record of 2-2-1, the Knight’s girls soccer team has bounced back with a perfect 8-0 winning streak in region 5A, giving them the region title, with hopes of returning to the State Championship.

The Knights started the season with wins against Decatur and North Forsyth, a tie against Pope and a loss to both Starrs Mill and North Atlanta, a less successful start than the 2023 season, where the team won their first six games and finished the season 18-2. Senior co-captain Ellie Palaian said the losses were due to a lack of connection early on in the season.

“We hadn’t seen each other play enough, we hadn’t worked together, so it was very disorganized going into the season,” Palaian said. “Last season we started off with a six game winning streak, so for a lot of the girls that were on the team last year, it was hard to go into the season with these losses because we weren’t used to it because last year was so successful.”

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Proposals for Amsterdam Walk, a development on the BeltLine have sparked conversations from community members, leading to an extensive engagement process with neighborhood residents.

Aaron Fortner, of the Canvas Planning Group, has led discussions over the past month to gather input for recommendations to real estate firm Portman Holdings, who announced a contract for the development in September 2023.

“City councilmen care about the recommendations of what planning departments say about public policies,” Fortner said. “So, it is imperative to understand what recommendations are in place for this space, which currently plans for 900 units of departments in three different buildings, 90,000 square feet of retail and commercial [space], and 400,000 square feet of office.”

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After 20 years of serving familiar faces and newcomers, Highland Bakery in Old Fourth Ward closed its doors to the community.

The home-style southern flare cuisine ended Jan. 31 when Highland Bakery’s building was sold to new landlords with different visions for the space.

“We’ll certainly miss our spot on that end of Highland Avenue,” owner Stacey Eames said. “We will miss the immediate neighbors that have been with the Old Fourth Ward community. We hope our customer base will show up either at Press and Grind, Highland Bakery downtown or call us for catering.”

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The Southerner attended the GSPA Spring Conference on Monday! The Southerner was awarded All Georgia Newspaper and All Georgia Website. Junior Sierra Pape was awarded Runner-Up Junior Journalist of the Year, Junior Lily Rachwalski was recognized as GSPA Student Ambassador, Sophomore Stella St. Clair was awarded All-Georgia Comment Story and Senior Carolyn Harty was awarded All-Georgia Sports Story. We are so proud of all of our staff!

In a thrilling display of determination and skill, the girls basketball team exceeded expectations and etched their names into the annals of Midtown basketball history. With their remarkable journey to the finals of the GHSA 5A State Championship game, this once-undervalued team has captured the hearts of Midtown students and faculty, rewriting the narrative of what it means to chase greatness on the court.

The team rounded out its season in the Championship, losing to region rival Maynard Jackson 58-44. The State Championship appearance was the first in Midtown or Grady girls basketball history.

This was achieved after a 27-6 season with a 15-3 region record, and dominating performances in the state playoffs in which the Knights won the first three rounds by more than 20 points each. They triumphed over Loganville with a score of 60-33 in the initial round, followed by a 69-48 win against Greater Atlanta Christian in round two, and a 58-37 victory over Jones County in round three.

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Every twist and turn serves a purpose when solving the iconic puzzle, the Rubik’s Cube. For junior Tristan Thompson, the colorful cube provides a strategic outlet.

Thompson competes in Rubik’s Cube competitions across the Southeast. She first learned to solve a Rubik’s cube in eighth grade after watching videos of people solving Rubik’s Cubes.

“I saw a few videos on YouTube and saw people solve it really fast, and it intrigued me to just start learning on my own,” Thompson said. “Then I went online, and looked up a website to learn how to solve it; I eventually did. I was not very fast at first, but I’ve been doing it long enough to where I started to increase my speed over time.”

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In addition to working as an athletic trainer at Midtown, Katie Purdy has performed as a stunt double in numerous popular films.

Purdy was born and raised in Arizona, where she first gained interest in being a stunt woman.

“I did gymnastics from a very young age, and I thought about being a stunt woman or something like that,” Purdy said. “My dad would take us to kung fu movies, and my brother and I would always pretend we were fighting each other. From a young age, I knew I wanted to do something like be a stunt woman.”

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From the basement of band member Aubrey Senter’s house, the banging of drumsticks on the metal symbols, the sound of belting in the microphone and the roaring of the guitar can be heard from a mile away.

The band includes a vocalist, a bassist, a guitarist and a drummer. ‘Whatever She Is’ formed in August 2023, and they have been playing shows for about five months now. Sophomore singer and songwriter Aubrey Senter was friends with two of her bandmates before they originally formed ‘Whatever She Is.’

“Jack [guitarist], Ollie [bassist] and I were friends before we started ‘Whatever She Is,’ and we met Ethan [drummer] online,” Senter said. “It’s hard to think of a time where we weren’t all creating music together, but I know that was really only a couple of months ago.”

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Midtown’s Student Support Specialist Cheryl Nahmias came to Midtown looking at all the different support avenues Midtown had in place for students and has since implemented more, such as Saturday School, Community Days and Teen Mental Health First Aid.

“The idea was to come in and look at what all things were doing for students and figure out where there are some gaps or places where we could really help,” Nahmias said. “You know, make sure that all of our students are getting the support academically, socially, emotionally, that they need to be successful here.”

Nahmias used her previous experience working at Blue Board, an educational company, to format some of her lessons at Midtown.

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The girls basketball team came up short in the final of the state championship, losing 44-58 to the Maynard Jackson Jaguars on March 7. However, the Lady Knights made history as the first team to make the state final in the school’s history.

Sophomore Devin Bockman led the team in scoring this year and continued this form in the championship game scoring a game-high 23 points whilst also leading the team in assists, field-goal percentage and three-point percentage. Head coach Martravious Little said Bockman played a massive role in the team’s season and performance in the championship.

“Devin played an amazing game and was a great piece of the game,” Little said. “ All that as a sophomore in the state championship game. I’ve seen seniors not able to capitalize like that. She’s only going to get better.”

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Last year, the boys track team finished ninth in the State Championship with multiple athletes ending up on the podium. The Knights are hoping to make the podium this year as a team.

Last year, several athletes, who placed at state, graduated, including Kyron Parker and Ricardo Lewis, who both pursued collegiate track careers. Lewis placed second in triple jump, fifth in the 100 meters and seventh in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays at the State Championship. Parker was sixth in the 300 hurdles and also on the two relays.

“It’s a huge difference from this year and last year,” senior hurdler Xavian Blackman said. “From the talent level, we lost a lot of seniors. We [have a] young team with a lot of potential, but it is just going to take time to build our team back to where we were last year.”

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After finishing 5-5 in the 2023 season, Midtown has hired seasoned head coach Leroy Hood to revive the Midtown football team.

Born and raised in McGehee, Arkansas, Hood attended McGehee High School and played all four years for the Owls’ football team. Hood signed to play Division 1 football with the University of Arkansas in 2000 after helping the Owls win back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999.

“[Football] is a large part of my family tradition, just sports in general,” Hood said. “Football happened to be one of the sports that we all excelled at. So, it’s kind of carried me throughout my childhood up until middle school, high school and all throughout college.”

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In 1986, the Grady Girls Basketball team defeated Pickens County 52-50 in the Elite 8 to reach the programs first ever Final Four. Former head coach Douglas Slade recalled their historic run and said that it had all started with a defeat in the previous year’s Elite Eight.

“[The 1986 team] was gritty, strong-willed and they had a love for the game,” Slade said. “It had all started the previous year when we made it to the Elite Eight and came runners-up in the region. And so the following year we came in with the mindset that we were going to try to win the whole state championship.”

The 1986 team held a 24-4 record and were the first city school in 3 years to reach the Final Four. Co-captain of the team, Etherline Douglas, believes the players’ chemistry on and off the court was the driving factor for the team’s accomplishments.

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The Midtown Girl’s Basketball team has advanced to the GSHA State Championship after defeating Dalton High School 73-63 in the Final Four. They will face Maynard Jackson High School next Thursday, March 7th. Go Knights!!

The Atlanta Board of Education reviewed Guardrail 4, which is focused on innovation and accountability in the district, by examining the progress of underperforming schools after receiving varying district or state support and determining the next steps of improvement.

Guardrails are statements made by the Board of Education that aim to meet schools’ academic goals and improve student learning in the district. The superintendent identifies targets aligned with these statements for the board to approve.

“The Atlanta Board of Education has created a number of guardrails to make sure the district is focused on our most important responsibility: educating students,” District 3 board representative Ken Zeff said. “To monitor progress, we get regular updates from the superintendent on the progress of each of those goals. “

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Atlanta-based company, Painted Hospitality, marked its 10th anniversary by opening two new restaurants: Painted Pickle in Armour Yards and Painted Park in Inman Park.

Painted Hospitality began its entertainment-driven restaurant business in 2014 when it opened Painted Pin, a combination of a bowling alley and an eatery out of an industrial warehouse. Three years later, the company opened its second restaurant, Painted Duck. Painted Pickle is set to open at the beginning of February and Painted Park has a target date for completion in April.

“We say that Painted Hospitality’s an Atlanta-based company that creates one-of-a-kind entertainment concepts, bars, restaurants and hospitality ventures,” said Justin Amick, president and CEO of Painted Hospitality. “I think one of a kind is a great description of our venues. We go for the wow factor. We always produce beautiful build-outs and aesthetics, which people really are drawn to.”

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Following in her moms footsteps, sophomore Sadie Witten tumbles her way around the sport of gymnastics, while balancing high academics.

Witten is a level 10 gymnast, the highest level to achieve, with the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta. In this past year, she has won the vault title this past year at State as well as 1st place team at Eastern nationals.

“I was really proud of myself [for achieving both] because it proved that I deserved to be at that level, and I was good enough to be competing with the other girls,” Witten said.

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With the NCAA’s current media deal with ESPN ending in 2024, many people thought that the growth of women’s basketball would be capitalized on by separating them from the rest of the deal. By not doing this, the NCAA slowed down the growth of women’s basketball attention.

Women’s collegiate basketball as a market has grown tremendously in the past couple of years, shown by Angel Reese being the seventh highest paid NIL athlete of 2023, bringing in $1.7 million. Many recent games have also broken records, with the semi-final games of the Women’s March Madness Tournament in 2023 bringing in an average of 5.5 million and 3.4 million viewers, making them the two most viewed collegiate basketball games, mens or womens, on ESPN+ ever. The finals of the tournament, LSU versus Iowa, which was the first ever time the NCAA women’s finals had aired on ABC, averaged 9.9 million viewers, making it the most viewed women’s college basketball game in history.

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After falling to eventual state champion Blessed Trinity in the first round of the playoffs last season, the girls lacrosse team is working to advance farther this season.

The Knights finished the 2023 season with an overall record of 8-8-1, which was an improvement over their 2-11 record at the end of the 2022 season.

“The team definitely improved a lot last year and really hustled for the wins,” junior Arden Henley said. “I think we need to carry on that mentality and hopefully, continue improving and make the overall Midtown program stronger. This year is going to be a rebuilding year, though, because of the loss of so many seniors.”

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While juggling a part-time job at a local bike shop with pursuing a graduate degree in English literature, Margaret Edson spent the bulk of her leisure hours working on “Wit,” a personal play she would have never foreseen to earn the Pulitzer Prize. Thirty years later, her stage is a vibrant AP World History classroom where her students are captivated by her unique and innovative storytelling.

In “Wit,” Professor Baring, an expert in 17th-century English literature, grapples with her limitations after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The play navigates her journey through treatment and self-discovery, revealing that expertise in academia does not ensure proficiency in life’s basic human experiences.

“To me, it’s about a person unlearning and learning,” Edson said. “This character is a lot like me, except that I have let go of a wish to be correct, and she [Baring] hasn’t yet. The setting of the play takes place in the hospital, which I know about, and in the world of the academy, the study of literature, which I know about, but the movement of the play, is not cancer or literature, it’s about growing into your true self.”

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