The annual Student Government Association blood drive was a huge success. The SGA partnered with LifeSouth Blood Bank to host the on-campus event, collecting 30 pints of blood. Macon East students, faculty, and parents donated the gift of life.
This quarter’s Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts ARTWORKS Corridor called for entries with the theme, “Threaded Through Tradition,” connecting traditional quilting, Alabama history, and the influence of both on life in the state today in their exhibit “Sewn Together: Two Centuries of Alabama Quilts.” There were over 100 entries submitted from 13 public and private schools, and the judges selected 48 works of art for the exhibit. These included five Macon East art students and their …works listed below. These artists’ work will be on exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Arts from January 21 until March 26.
Madison Folkes – cross-stitched face, “The Looking Man” Chandler Barker – “Stitched”, several squares quilted together with his initials Alex Chancellor (not pictured) – “Rainy Day”, a cotton cloud with different colored fabric raindrops Jaycee Cook-McCollum’s (not pictured) – “Vincent Van Don’t”, is a watercolor version of Starry Night with added stitch marks Katie Pittenger (not pictured) – “Fading Sunset”, comprised of several pieces of fabric symbolizing a sunset.
Six Macon East science fair winners (Wade Desmarais, Jacob Grindle, Addison Little, Brennan Mauney, Weston Tubbs, and Anna Watson) advanced to the AISA District Science Fair at Chattahoochee Valley Community College. Anna Watson (5th grade) and Wade Desmarais (6th grade) both took 1st place honors at District in biological science and advanced to the AISA State competition. Anna Watson was awarded 2nd place honors at the AISA State Science Fair held February 23 at Huntingdon College.
Congratulations to Madisyn Kennedy, named 43rd in the nation for softball recruits in the class of 2019. As a freshman, Madisyn hit .387 for the Knights last season and had a .433 on-base percentage. Defensively she had only one error all year earning her 1st team AISA all-state honors. Madisyn has verbally committed to play at Mississippi State in 2020.
Following an amazing basketball season for both varsity basketball teams, Macon East was honored to have four athletes selected to play in the AISA All-Star games. MEA all-star, Sommer Sears and the Lady Knights took their season to the final four losing to Pickens Academy in the semi-finals game. The class AA state champion Knights had three representatives on the East all-star team: Artavious Billups, Slate Garmany, and Christian Lewis. The East squad defeated the West with ease in both games with scores of 91-69 for the girls and 120-92 for the boys. It was exciting to see these seniors in action one last time and cheering them on from the sidelines were Macon East’s AISA all-star cheerleaders: Rebecca Chapman, Rai Pritchett, and Alex Wyrosdick.
Eight Macon East students participated in the AISA State Power Lifting competition at Pickens Academy. Each team member competed in their weight classification in bench press, squat, and dead lift. Macon East junior, Dawson Bell proudly took 1st place. Also receiving trophies were Parker Whittle (2nd place) and Ben Main (3rd place). Congratulations to Coach Smith and the team on a fantastic showing at their first power lifting event.
The Macon East Academy chapter of the National Junior Honor Society inducted seven new members into the academic honor society for 2016-2017 school year. The National Junior Honor Society is the nation’s premier organization established to recognize outstanding middle grade students. NJHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship. At a ceremony conducted by the officers of the Macon East NJHS chapter the following students were welcomed into membership: Ali Churchwell, McKinnon Hammonds, Abby Ledlow, Shelton Lee, Rachel Major, Trey Matthews, and Jay Moore. We congratulate these students on their outstanding accomplishments in academics and leadership. Under the advisement of Mrs. Rayleen Luis, the 2016-2017 NJHS is led by Jake Wyrosdick – President, Rachel Sargent – Vice President, Spencer Lindemood – Secretary/Treasurer, and Ally Matthews – Chaplain.
Alex Wyrosdick was one of four area seniors to receive the Montgomery Chapter’s Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award for 2017. Alex was nominated by the faculty and staff at Macon East to be our school candidate for this prestigious award. The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children. This DAR Good Citizen Award recognizes and rewards individuals who possess the qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their homes, schools, and communities. Alex is an honor student at Macon East as well as President of the National Honor Society, Vice President of the Student Government Association, and Co-captain of the Varsity Cheerleading squad. She serves weekly as a tutoring mentor with the Nehemiah Center, a ministry of First Baptist Church, and started the Senior Buddies program this year at school. She plans to attend Auburn University in the fall and major in Nursing.
Fifth grader Kaiden Byrom represented Macon East as the class and district winner at the AISA State Spelling Bee. Kaiden was one of the last two spellers remaining in her grade category after many participants had been eliminated. Misspelling only one word for the day, Kaiden proudly finished as the runner-up in the State Spelling Bee.
The Macon East varsity boys’ basketball season was nothing short of a fairy tale. Their 33-0 perfect season was flawless as was their teamwork and devotion to the goal of a state title. After joining the Knights basketball program in 2015, Coach Larry Chapman has made every effort to build a championship team, and players from area schools and Birmingham transferred to play under his leadership. Coaches Chapman and (Lincoln) Glass set out this year to become a more defensive-minded program that no offense could penetrate, and they succeeded beating the majority of their opponents by an average 38.9 point margin. After playing in several tournaments this season and taking home the trophy from them all, only one trophy was still up for grabs. Heading into the Elite 8 as Region Champions, the Knights eliminated South Choctaw with ease with Artavious Billups leading the charge with 30 points followed by Slate Garmany (14), Christian Lewis (13), and Kyle Edwards (12). The Final Four matchup with Pickens Academy was a 63-29 victory led by Garmany with 28 points and Billups with 18. As predicted, Macon East would face Autauga Academy for a third time in the championship game. It all came down to this game, would the Knights continue on their streak or end this season like the last with a disappointing repeat runner-up trophy? At the end of the first quarter with the Knights up 27-2 over the Generals, it became apparent that Macon East, now called one of the most successful teams in AISA history, would take home the coveted state title. By halftime with the score at 37-8, the excitement was building among the Knight fans and the bench. This team would be the school’s first since 1973’s Macon Academy team to win a state championship in basketball. As time ticked off the clock the coaches cleared the bench, and the starting line-up cheered for their teammates to finish what they started on the court. Once again Artavious Billups and Kyle Edwards led the scoring with 19 each and 13 points from Slate Garmany. These three would be named as members of the all-tournament team with Billups selected as tournament MVP. The three senior starters (Artavious Billups, Slate Garmany, and Christian Lewis) will go on to represent Macon East in the AISA All-Star game on February 17 at Huntingdon College. Seven seniors top the roster for this year’s team, but only one was given the honor of grabbing the trophy. Channy Blackwell, sidelined since football season with an ACL injury fought back to play basketball this season and live out his team’s dream of a state title. Making appearances in just a few games, it became apparent that the injury was not fully recovered, so instead he became a fourth coach to his teammates and chief encourager. Like Channy, we all had tears in our eyes as he took the trophy back to his team. These boys are now like brothers, and each of them will tell you that this season, this team with one dream, is one they will never forget.
