Atlanta Public Schools announced Wednesday that the school district would remain closed for in-person instruction for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.  

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What once seemed like a distant problem has now reached Atlanta’s front door. COVID-19 has made its way from foreign countries into the heart of Atlanta at increasingly alarming rates and is greatly…

President Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese Virus” in tweets and press briefings, prompting critical responses from those who viewed the term as xenophobic.

The coronavirus…

Two weeks ago, while you were in class, at work, or going through your daily routine, my quarantine had already begun.

On Tuesday, March 10, my parents and doctors made the difficult decision to take…

The whispers of abuse and suffering that run wild in the Department of Child and Family Protective Services are no secret to the media or the public, although we may act that way. Just recently, Netflix…

Feet shoulder-width apart. Hips back, head up. Remember to breathe. Bend knees. Gritted teeth. Trembling legs. A 16 year-old-girl squatting 185 pounds. The gym goes wild.

Flash-forward two years and…

Senior Kai Mehra was supposed to play the lead role of Sweeney Todd in his last musical before graduating. Junior Joanna Baker was supposed to go to the World Championship for Robotics and continue showcasing…

Atlanta Public Schools [APS] declared a district-wide shutdown in efforts to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

As of right now, the leave, which will officially begin on Monday, March 16, will last…

When Gracie Griffith ran her first marathon as a sophomore at Clemson University, she immediately fell in love with the distance. Two years later on Oct. 13, 2019, she ran 2:44:52 at the Bank of America…

Sports bring people together. They can get tens of thousands of strangers under the same roof united by one commonality. Until a few days ago, that idea was magical; now, it’s hazardous. With the rapid…

The strain of the coronavirus, which has claimed an estimate of over 4,000 lives worldwide as of Mar. 10, is directly affecting many people in the Grady community.

Junior Julius Levine has felt the…

By the fall of 2007, public defender Johnathan Rapping was fed up with the culture of the criminal justice system. He had worked as a public defender in Washington D.C for 10 years, assisted the creation…

Atlanta is known as “Running City USA,” and for having a large, dedicated running community that takes to the Peachtree Street, Piedmont Avenue and surrounding streets to run every day. When the Olympic…

Southerner sports editors Kaitlin Palaian and Elias Podber attended a Feb. 27 press conference and conducted a Q&A during a media round table with the top-seeded athletes gearing up to run in the U.S….

Wearing them is essentially cheating. When the Nike Zoom Vaporfly was created, many assumed it was another big-money advertising campaign for a shoe that made promises it could not keep. Soon though, the…

As a student at Tech High in the early 1940s, Ira Giles took two streetcars to get to school.

He went to his classes in what is now the C Wing of Grady, then headed to the concession stand outside for…

Junior Sophia Little is the only girl on the Knights’ wrestling team this year, and the only athlete to make it to the state tournament, which starts today and ends Feb. 15.
Little placed second at…

This story was originally published on The Southerner on February 7, 2020.

Recently, I was lucky enough to see “Just Mercy” at Midtown Art Cinemas on a school field trip. The movie follows real-life Harvard Law School graduate Bryan Stevenson, played by Michael B. Jordan, as…

When junior Maura O’Sullivan was 4 years old, her younger brother, Finn O’Sullivan, was diagnosed with autism. She has since dedicated the past nine years of her life to volunteering with and learning…

In 1923, Willis A. Sutton, Atlanta schools superintendent, called him “the greatest man Atlanta ever produced.”

That man’s name has been immortalized on a school building on Charles Allen Drive….

Senior Aquinas Stillwell didn’t throw the first punch. He was leaving his pre-calculus class when another student snuck up behind him, hitting him while he wasn’t looking. His friend and classmate,…

Girls walk the halls with fresh braids after the break. With perfectly straight parts and sleek sections, these braids look as if they were done by a professional hairstylist. Sophomore Kristina Holt has…

What are little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice.

Although this nursery rhyme may sound old-fashioned and simplistic,…

Child marriage. It sounds like an oxymoron, two words that are not meant to go together. However, for millions of girls around the world, these words aren’t contradictory, they’re reality.

When…

More than 8,000 people in the U.S. have died of influenza this flu season, according to the CDC.

According to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s a 90-percent chance…

You blank out. You are are on the ground. Then up again. A few moments later a corner kick is being taken, but you have no idea how the game played out to get you to that moment.

Sarah Gray* experienced…

Sports should be the great equalizer. A football, a softball or a frisbee can strip kids of wealth, race and status and pull people together based solely on passion. Fifty eight years after the integration…

A Christmas tree lot is a place where families are immersed in years of tradition. Going with your family to select the perfect tree is a custom all families who celebrate Christmas are familiar with….

In 2013, she led the biggest gains in student achievement of all traditional Atlanta middle schools. In the years following, she raised test scores at different schools. In 2018, a reporter for the Atlanta…

The Atlanta City Council has created the Reproductive Justice Commission to advise city leaders on issues regarding reproductive health and rights.

In the midst of state and nationwide debates over…

Someone was missing from freshman Jordan Taylor’s Thanksgiving dinner table. Taylor’s father, Javari Taylor, is in the Navy and currently deployed in Bahrain in the Middle East as a Technician Specialist. 
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Joe Montana historically drove down the field against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 22, 1989 to win the San Francisco 49ers their third Super Bowl. Many football fans remember the stars, but few remember…

A favorite among teachers and students, multiple choice tests have long been a staple in American high schools. However, even with the implementation of the technologically-savvy All In Learning Inc.’s…

During the holiday season, thoughts of meals like turkey and mashed potatoes float through children and adults’ minds. However, a great number of Atlantans face food insecurity and don’t have access…

During the upcoming holiday retail season, with events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we’ll all buy things we don’t need just because they’re cheaper. Many see the lower prices as an opportunity…

Blockbuster movies can be wildly inaccurate.

Grady has been used as a set for multiple movies, which all revolve around the daily life of a teenager. From 2017’s “Spider-man: Homecoming” to 2018’s “Love,…

Crowded streets, impatient drivers and busy intersections. It’s 8:15 a.m. on a school day, and traffic is something students and staff at Grady must face every morning.

“Grady is in a particularly…

Classic movies, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Grady Chorus.

What do they have in common?

Twice a year this odd triplet comes together to make movie favorites come to life. The Atlanta Symphony…

The National Society of High School Scholars is a scam.

There are 76 complaints alone on Better Business Bureau calling out the organization NSHSS.

NSHSS is a for-profit organization that established…

The University of Alabama, University of Michigan, Mississippi State and the University of Florida are just four of the eight colleges on the hunt to recruit junior defensive back and receiver Nathaniel…

Junior Elliot Willner’s “twin” is a solid foot shorter than him and five years younger. Willner and his 11-year-old brother Miles were conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) at the same time.
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Celebrities sign and junior Ariel Simons sells.

Simons started his autographing business, “Atl Graphs,” his freshman year. Inspired by the prospect of making money and meeting celebrities, he set…

When 2018 graduate Peter Bowden began Grady in 2014, he lived next to a crackhouse that was undergoing renovation on Boulevard. Growing up, he saw friends jailed and even killed.
Bowden said kids around…

After practice, most Grady tennis players pack their bags and head home. But not sophomore Scott Whitley, who changes into his cleats; he will only be 15 minutes late to ultimate frisbee practice.

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Senior Nadia McGlynn believes the government does not have the right to regulate a woman’s body.

“The decision to have a baby should be the mother’s, and the government shouldn’t dictate what…

Orchestra for Krissi Davis is more than just teaching students to be musicians.

“I recognize that orchestra is more to my kids than just playing instruments, and I am making sure I am reaching out…

The Harvard Debate Council Diversity Project is opening doors for Atlanta-area minority students by giving them a leg up in the college admissions process.

The council was founded in 2017 by Harvard…

David T. Howard Middle School, a historic school in Old Fourth Ward, is coming back to life for a new generation.

In 1924, Atlanta Public Schools opened a new elementary school for the African-American…

For many athletes, high school was a stepping off point, a satisfying end to their athletic careers. For others, it marked only the beginning of their athletic careers. From the Class of 2019, seven athletes…