10 Year Anniversary

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of John Champe High School’s opening, and it’s a big deal since John Champe is a well known school. The 10th anniversary of John Champe means a lot to all the staff members at school because it shows how much the school has changed and how far it’s come along. 

This year is a big year for Champe with the 10 year anniversary and the first normal school year in almost 3 years because of Covid. Since Covid shut everything down and reverted to distance learning, having the 10 year celebration during our first normal year back could be a good opportunity to make this school year fun for everyone.

“This has been a great opportunity to change things at the school,” Principal Kevin Tyson said. “ We want to make things different, work on our culture, and improve the school.” 

This year has been a big change for the school, and Mr. Tyson has been upgrading some of the sports equipment and programs. Adding new programs to the school will really help more people want to get involved with the school and do activities they enjoy with their friends. 

“We’ve changed the way we do pep rallies,” Tyson said. “We built a new weight room and put in new turf

John Gaberial congratulates Kevin Tyson, John Champe’s current principal, on the 10 year anniversary. John Gaberial was the very first principal of Champe.

fields.” 

The staff is trying to make this school year different and make it a good experience for all the teachers and students and, with the 10 year anniversary, use it as a marking period.

“This is my 5th year here as the principal, and this has seemed like my first  normal year because of Covid,” Tyson said. “This has felt like my first real year without distance learning or wearing a mask.”

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary, the staff members and SCA have some things planned throughout the whole school year. SCA is still working on creating something for the school but it won’t be till the end of the school year.

“We had a 10 year ceremony on Homecoming Friday and teachers could bring their classes,” Tyson said. “Because we had invited some of the charter teachers, we had a separate party for just them and the staff here.” This year, SCA is trying to plan something special for the anniversary by having a celebration and planning the 10 year anniversary into our Homecoming theme. 

“A lot of what we’re doing this year is trying to make it a more exciting year for everyone, and a prime example is Homecoming,” SCA teacher Vince Kimball said. “We are trying to make it a fun and exciting thing for everyone by adding the 10 year anniversary into the Homecoming celebration.” 

Mr. Tyson gives his speech about his mission for the school. Mr. Tyson gave his speech to show how proud he was of how far the school has come and how much it had changed.

Right now, SCA is still trying to figure out and plan what they’re going to do to celebrate the 10th anniversary besides just adding it to the homecoming celebration. SCA wants to plan something that everyone in the school would enjoy and make it a memorable year for everyone here at John Champe. 

“At the time, we had nothing planned,” Kimball said. “We were going to try and have something for the end of the year, but we tried to incorporate something into Homecoming.” 

The 10 year anniversary is a big deal to everyone here at John Champe because it’s an inspiring thing to experience and see how the school grows and changes in the future. 

“The 10 year anniversary seems cool because it has been 10 years, and we’ve got a cool 10 year anniversary logo and special t-shirts,” Tyson said. “This school has changed so much since it opened in 2012.”