Young Middle Celebrates New Year, New Day

The 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at Young Middle School celebrated a new school year Friday and—with their cheers, laughs and show of school spirit—symbolically put the CRCT cheating scandal behind them.

Dressed in their red, white and gold school colors, the students listened to inspiration remarks from Mayor Kasim Reed, met celebrities such as Terry Vaughn of "The Steve Harvey Show" fame, and competed in an upbeat musical-chairs-style dance contest orchestrated by popular Hot 107.9 DJ Jazzy McBee.

Though no student spoke on the dias, city leaders made it clear that every child at the landmark Cascade Heights school was the star of the show.

"It is time for us, the adults, to start lifting young people up who are smart and deserving and bright," said Reed, who was joined on the platform by City Councilman H. Lamar Willis (At-Large), City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms, the new deputy superintendent Steve Smith, school board chairwoman Brenda Muhammad, the new SRT1 area superintendent Donell Underdue, 100 Black Men of Atlanta Chairman Emeritus Thomas Dortch, Jr., and Young Middle School principal Dr. Kelvin Griffin.

Mayor Reed promised $1500 scholarships and big trips to the Nike store with top students later in the year; he celebrated the success stories of APS; and he appealed to Atlanta adults to recommit to the youth of Atlanta and laud not only top athletes but top academic stars as well.

"You don't need to go to any other school," Reed said to cheers from the crowd. "You don't need to go to another district. You can go as far as you want at Jean Childs Young Middle School right here."

The rally was 2:30 p.m. Fri., Aug. 12, in the Young Middle School gymnasium. The event marked the end of the first week of the 2011-2012 school year.