Overton High School (Memphis, Tennessee)

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Overton High School
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
1770 Lanier Lane Memphis , Tennessee 38117 United States
Coordinates	35°05′01″N 89°54′16″W / 35.08361°N 89.90452°W / 35.08361; -89.90452Coordinates: 35°05′01″N 89°54′16″W / 35.08361°N 89.90452°W / 35.08361; -89.90452
Information
Type	Public secondary Creative and Performing Arts
Motto	"Producing stars, in the classroom and on the stage."
Established	1959
School district	Memphis City Schools (former), Shelby County Schools (current)
Principal	Reginald Williams
Teaching staff	67.80 (FTE)[1]
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1,156 (2017-18)[1]
Student to teacher ratio	17.05[1]
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Blue and Gray
Mascot	Wolverines
Website	www.overtonhs.net

Overton High School (currently known for Watkins Overton High School) is a secondary school for the Creative and Performing Arts located in Memphis, Tennessee.

The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Shelby County Schools district. It was a Memphis City School when it was built in 1959. It became Shelby County School, when Memphis surrender their charter back in 2014.

The School was named in honor of Memphis mayor S. Watkins Overton.

Athletics[]

Overton offers a variety of athletic clubs to both boys and girls.

• Boys sports: Basketball, Baseball, Bowling, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, and Track.
• Girls sports: Basketball, volleyball, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Golf, Pom Pom, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, and Track.

Fine arts[]

Overton was declared a performing arts high school in 1976. The late Dr. Lulah M. Hedgeman was selected as choir director in 1976 and within five years, grew the program from 25 students to a choir of 150 students. The choir, under Dr. Hedgeman performed a full concert in 1988 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The choirs were invited to Nice, France four times as guests of the city. Dr. Hedgeman was honored by the Walt Disney company in 1990 in their first production of The Salute to the American Teacher Awards. The Overton Choirs program, under the direction of Dr. Hedgeman were ranked number 1 in the state of Tennessee for 21 consecutive years until Dr. Hedgeman's death in December 1997.^{[citation needed]} The Vocal Music Department at Overton is still ranked the number 1 performing arts high school choir in the city of Memphis as of April 2016.^{[citation needed]} The band is the 2008 Division AAA Champions of the University of Memphis Bandmasters Championship and the 2008 Smoky Mountains Invitational Champions.^{[citation needed]}

Other aspects of the CAPA program include Creative Writing, choirs, orchestra, jazz ensembles, drama, dance, and visual arts. Students must audition to qualify for CAPA programs.

Creative Writing, run by Shannon Marszalek, frequently hosts Poetry Slams for anyone who is interested in writing of any and all sorts. The Poetry Out Loud competition was held on Saturday, February 4, 2012. Many of the Scholastic Gold Keys come from both the Creative Writing Department and the Art Department.

Notable alumni[]

• O'landa Draper - Singer, choir director
• Sergio Kerusch - American professional basketball player
• K. Michelle - Singer, actress
• Wendy Moten - Singer
• Johnny Neumann - American basketball player and coach
• Kevin Paige - singer
• Josey Scott - lead singer of Saliva
• Derrick Townsel - former gridiron football wide receiver

References[]

External links[]

• Overton High School