South Gwinnett High School

Infobox School
name = South Gwinnett High School
principal = Berry Simmons
established = 1957
district = Gwinnett County Public Schools
type = Public
grades = 9–12
location = 2288 East Main Street
Snellville, GA 30078
enrollment = 2,681 (as of 2008)
campus = Suburban
motto =
free_label = Accreditation
free_text = SACS
free_label2 = Region
free_text2 = 8A in Class AAAAA (GHSA)
information =770-972-4840
mascot = Comets
colors = colorbox|Navycolorbox|GrayNavy and Gray
website = [http://www.cometsonline.org/]

South Gwinnett High School (SGHS) is a public high school in the United States for students in grades 9-12. The school is located in Snellville, Georgia and is part of the Gwinnett County Public Schools system, one of the top 15 largest public school systems in the country. South Gwinnett is home to about 2,681 students.

The oldest of the four high schools in southeastern Gwinnett County, South Gwinnett was formed by the merger of Snellville High School and Grayson High School in 1957. As Gwinnett County saw extremely rapid population growth in the 1980s, Shiloh High School and Brookwood High School were each opened to accommodate the rapid growth in South Gwinnett's school district. As Gwinnett County continued to see more and more students enter its system, South Gwinnett's district was split in half in 2000, when Grayson High School was "re-opened" at a new facility in Grayson, Georgia.

South Gwinnett's principal is currently Berry Simmons.

Awards and recognition

South Gwinnett was ranked as the 11th best high school in the State of Georgia in 2002, by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Unfortunately, with the departure of the academically talented Class of 2003, the school quickly fell from the ranks of the best schools in the county and the state. South Gwinnett is currently ranked 68th in the state and 8th (of 15) in Gwinnett County in the 2007 GPPF Report Card. [ [http://www.gppf.org/pub/education/reportcard_high2007.pdf 2007 Georgia High School Report Card for Parents] , Georgia Public Policy Foundation. Accessed May 18, 2008.]

The school's mock trial team won the National High School Mock Trial Championship in 1995, held in Denver, Colorado. [ [http://www.nationalmocktrial.org/history.cfm Participant History & Past National Winners] , National High School Mock Trial Championship. Accessed July 1, 2007.]

The school's literary magazine, The Myriad, won Best Literary Magazine in Georgia in 2006-2007.

The school's Odyssey of the Mind Team won first place at the Georgia State competition and qualified for the OM World Competition in 2003.

outh Gwinnett Football

Between the 1998 Football Season and the 2004 Football season, the South Gwinnett High School Football Program saw very successful seasons. Brought on mainly by the Legendary Head Coach T. Mcferrin who took over the failing program in 1998, turning it into an almost overnight powerhouse. In the first season McFerrin and the Comets went from having a previous 0-10 season to making the Georgia High School AAAA State Playoffs. The team went deep into the playoffs and surprised a lot of the surrounding Gwinnett talent. The following season (1999) was to see yet another successful season. Along with having UGA standout, David Greene (class of 2000) at the helm, the Comets again made it deep into the Georgia High School AAAAA State Playoffs upsetting many state perennial powerhouses along the way. However, the 2000 season saw an unpromising future for McFerrin and the Comet Program; the top ten team from just one year earlier ended up finishing the 2000 season with a 3-7 record, which was McFerrin's lowest during his time at South Gwinnett. Parents and staff members alike were unsure what to think about the upcoming 2001 season, but with a strong finish, the 2001 football season gained McFerrin and the Comets their respect back as they went back to the AAAAA State Playoffs losing to Stephenson High School in the first round. The 2001 season ended with a 7-3 record. McFerrin again came back and surprised the Gwinnett football community when the 2002 season came around, this time reaching the second round of the AAAAA State Playoffs upsetting the Cobb County powerhouse, Walton High School in the first round and losing again to Stephenson High School the following week, bring the Comets overall record to 10-2. The 2003 season saw yet another successful year for T. McFerrin and the Comets. Returning not many starters from the previous year, the Comets captured the Region 8 AAAAA title after going undefeated in the regular season, beating crosstown rival Brookwood High School. This team would reach the quarterfinal round of the GHSA AAAAA State Playoffs, eventually losing to Westside High School from Macon, Georgia (not to be confused with Westside High School in Augusta). The 2003 season finished with a 12-1 record. The 2004 season would prove to be yet another one of McFerrin's fluke seasons, where again the top 10 team from the year before graduated many of its starters. McFerrin and the Comets ended the season 5-5. However during the season the Comets presented McFerrin with his 300th win, a huge honor for the legendary coach. McFerrin retired at the end of that 2004 season. Taking over his position would be John Small, former defensive coordinator for Oconee County High School, and former defensive ends coach at South Gwinnett.

Notable alumni

* David Bruckner (1996), Co-Director of The Signal, a major motion picture to be released in Fall 2007.
* Adam Selzer (1999), author of several books
* David Greene (2000), Quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs
* Mike Mercer (2005), former college basketball player for the University of Georgia, now playing at the University of South Florida
* Louis Williams (2005), pro basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers
* Dearius Taylor

References

External links

* [http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/ Gwinnett County Public Schools]
* [http://www.cometsonline.org/ South Gwinnett High School]
* [http://www.bandofstars.com/ Band of Stars]
* [http://www.cometsonline.org/faculty/Yearbook_Site/index.htm South Gwinnett Yearbook]