An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online
An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online
An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online
Brennan Fritts

Brennan Fritts, Editor in Chief

Brennan Fritts is a senior and this is her third year writing for the Southerner. She enjoys volleyball and hanging out with friends.

All content by Brennan Fritts
District addresses solutions to overutilization of schools, public reacts

District addresses solutions to overutilization of schools, public reacts

Brennan Fritts
September 13, 2025
PUTTING IT AWAY: Student Support Specialist Dr. Cheryl Nahmias unlocks a student's Yondr pouch. 2024-25 was Midtown's first year using this system.

Midtown reflects on one year of Yondr

Zelda Lerner and Brennan Fritts
May 23, 2025
Senior Vivienne Cannon smiles for the camera.

Vivienne Cannon, senior

Brennan Fritts
April 18, 2025
TECH TIMEOUT: Georgia House Bill 340 aims to eliminate personal electronic devices during school hours across Georgia

Proposed Georgia house bill will prohibit personal electronic devices in schools

Brennan Fritts and Ayan Amin
May 2, 2025
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES: Next year Midtown will be offering AP African American studies to all students, the class will be taught by Noel Erskine.

Midtown announces AP African American Studies for upcoming year

Zelda Lerner and Brennan Fritts
April 4, 2025
DEI: The United States Department of Education sent a memo to American colleges and universities threatening to cut their federal funding if they don't remove their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion programs under threat, community reacts

Brennan Fritts, Mariam Darb, and Zelda Lerner
March 28, 2025
BOARD MEETING: On March 11, selected Midtown students questioned the Atlanta school board about critical issues within Midtown and the district.

District works to reduce deficit

Brennan Fritts
March 18, 2025
RAISING AWARENESS: At the March for Our Lives club meeting on Thursday, Mar. 13, they put posters around the room to raise awareness for the amount of unsafe gun storage. They implemented a district-wide gun safety parent pledge.

Midtown’s March for Our Lives chapter releases gun safety parent pledge

Brennan Fritts
March 10, 2025
Midtown's first winter formal

Midtown’s first winter formal

Brennan Fritts
February 10, 2025
Senior Liam Gregg smiles in his AP Research class.

Liam Gregg, senior

Brennan Fritts
December 13, 2024
Murals around Atlanta showcase the impact the Israel-Hamas conflict had on a local scale. Refaat Alareer was a Palestinian writer, poet and activist from the Gaza Strip. Alareer was killed on Dec. 7, 2023 and prior to his death published the poem "If I Must Die."

Israel, Hamas agree on ceasefire, community hopes for peace

Brennan Fritts, Mariam Darb, Zelda Lerner, and Henry Moye
January 27, 2025
Emory University freshman Landon Diaz and friends protest Trump’s policies on immigration at the We Fight Back rally on Jan. 20. "If you do your best to just spread a message, people will see that you care, people will see that its important," Diaz said.

Protesters gather in response to Trump’s inauguration

Brennan Fritts and Julia Barton
January 20, 2025
The Georgia Promise scholarship allocates $6,500 for qualifying families to use for approved education expenses.

Promise Scholarship program approved for inaugural 2025-26 school year

Brennan Fritts
January 16, 2025
Spring serves a beet salad with burrata, blackberry, walnut, pickled onion and saba. Their inventive dishes allowed it to become the first Georgia restaurant outside of the perimeter to earn a Michelin star.

Spring earns first Michelin star outside perimeter

Brennan Fritts and Dabney Bond
January 8, 2025
CONNECTING WITH STUDENTS: Newly appointed Midtown and Jackson Cluster Superintendent Audrey Sofianos visits Midtown. As the first Midtown cluster superintendent in Atlanta Public Schools district history, Sofianos said she aims to support principals and help cluster-specific challenges.

Sofianos appointed as first Midtown cluster superintendent

Henry Moye and Brennan Fritts
December 16, 2024
The Georgia public school class of 2024 was the seventh straight graduating class to beat the national SAT score average.

SAT scores drop among Georgia public schools, beat national average

Brennan Fritts
December 2, 2024
Virginia Highland Elementary School served as a polling location for the Midtown cluster. This site has been a consistent location for voters for over 20 years.

Polling locations across Midtown calm on Election Day

Sierra Pape, Connie Erdozain, Brennan Fritts, Henry Moye, Penelope Keenan, and Ayan Amin
November 5, 2024
Following the impacts of Hurricane Helene, the creek that travels under Lenox road was flooded during the storm, along with other areas around Metro Atlanta. The flooding impacted resident's ability to travel due to excess water uprooting trees.

Two hurricanes in October damage Southeast, raise climate change concerns

Brennan Fritts, Zelda Lerner, Henry Moye, and Julia Barton
October 29, 2024
In the 2024-2025 school year, Midtown ended its vendor-operated program to an in-house model. This change was made as an attempt to increase the quality of school lunch food.

District increases 2024-25 lunch budget $15 million, prioritizes food quality, variety

Brennan Fritts
October 2, 2024
March For Our Lives leaders juniors Kate Krugman and Audrey Lyons speak on Sept. 20 at the Midtown High School walk out in support of gun control.

Midtown’s March for Our Lives club leads walkout against gun violence

Brennan Fritts and Zelda Lerner
September 22, 2024
Julianna Richman smiles before her first home game for Midtown.

Julianna Richman, freshman

Brennan Fritts
August 28, 2024
The Atlanta Public School 2024-25 school year budget includes the largest teacher pay increase in APS history. It sets the base salary to $61,816, with an average of 11% pay increase for teachers.

APS raises teacher salary for 2024-2025 school year

Brennan Fritts
August 26, 2024
School lunches allow some food insecure children to eat during the day. However, when school is out for the summer, federal and state-sponsored programs give these children access to meals.

Governer Brian Kemp rejects federal summer food plan

Brennan Fritts
May 24, 2024
Atlanta Public Schools plans to focus on chronic absenteeism, missing any school, instead of truancy, unexcused absences. This takes the focus off of the legal process and onto the academic impact.

Georgia school districts deal with spiking chronic absenteeism

Brennan Fritts
May 16, 2024
The Georgia Student Finance Commission collaborated with 49 Georgia colleges to waive application fees in March. This removed barriers for Midtown students who were previously unable to apply to certain colleges.

Georgia Colleges waive application fees, remove barriers

Brennan Fritts
April 15, 2024
Otoski smiles in his Chemistry class

Sam Otoski, sophomore

Brennan Fritts
March 12, 2024
Senate Bill 344 will allow an 11-day period where guns, ammunition and related accessories will not be taxed.

Proposed gun and ammunition tax holiday sparks controversy

Brennan Fritts
March 15, 2024
The monumental $100 million donation is projected to be used to increase affordability for current students and dually invest in scholarships for future students to remove possible financial barriers. Sophomore Kennedy Clemons [above] is pursuing a career in acting.

Spelman College receives historic donation

Brennan Fritts
February 21, 2024
Families walk before school to Morningside. Georgia's private school vouchers are returning, which will allow parents to move their children from low-performing public schools into private schools or homeschooling.

Controversial private school vouchers expected to return

Brennan Fritts
January 17, 2024
Junior Lucia Olivera drives to her club volleyball practice for M2 Volleyball Club.

Lucia Olivera, junior

Brennan Fritts
December 5, 2023
Atlanta Public Schools had its highest all-time graduation rate in the class of 2023. This was the first time APS had a graduation rate which exceeded Georgia's graduation rate.

District sets record graduation rate, surpasses state average

Brennan Fritts
October 26, 2023

Midtown Talent Show allows students to express creativity

Brennan Fritts
October 19, 2023
Nora Goodman goes from a Beta Club meeting to a volleyball practice.

Nora Goodman, freshman

Brennan Fritts
September 14, 2023
AP Capstone teacher Lisa Boyd helps Sophomore Jamie Drake with an AP Seminar assignment.

New AP Capstone teacher facilitates warm environment for students

Brennan Fritts
August 29, 2023
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