Athens Academy

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This article is about the secondary school in the United States. For the ancient academy in Athens, Greece, see Academy.

Athens Academy
Spartans
Motto	Excellentia Cum Honore (Excellence With Honor)
Established	1967
Type	Private Co-educational
Affiliation	Independent
Headmaster	J. Robert Chambers, Jr.
Students	>800
Grades	K-12 (and preschool)
Location	1281 Spartan Lane, Athens, Georgia, United States
Campus	Large
Colors	Green, White and Silver
Mascot	Spartans
Yearbook	Academia
Newspaper	Spartan Review
Website	www.athensacademy.org

Athens Academy is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Athens, Oconee County, Georgia, United States. The school sponsors grades K through 12, and also operates a preschool. It was founded in 1967. The school's motto is Excellentia Cum Honore (or "Excellence with Honor"). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the school received substantial endowments from the Bertelsmann Foundation enabling it to expand. The money was spent upgrading the school's media networks and library systems, providing laptops for all students in grades 7-12, and construct a wireless cloud around the campus . The school is one of few high schools in the country that webcasts school events^{[citation needed]}.

1 History of the school
2 Notable alumni
3 Sports
4 References

[edit] History of the school

Athens Academy was founded in 1967, one of many segregation academies that whites established in order to avoid federally-mandated desegregation.^[1] The campus was originally located in Clarke County, the county where Athens, Georgia is located, hence the name "Athens Academy." After a donation of land by Swanton Ivy, the school moved to Oconee County to make use of the new land, which included a small dam and lake. One of the requirements of the land was that no tall buildings could be built (perhaps to not obstruct the tree lines), causing most of the buildings to be single-story. Those buildings of more than one story had to be partially or fully dug into the ground.

[edit] Notable alumni

Vicki Goetze, professional golfer.
Michael Shafer, coach of the University of Richmond Spiders women's basketball team.
Michael Houser, former guitarist for jam-band Widespread Panic, whose son Waker is also attending the school.
Billy Bennett, college football kicker notable for holding the SEC record for scoring.
Elizabeth Guess, All-American soccer player at University of North Carolina^[2].
Jill Razor, Athens Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball^[3].
Christopher Horn, United States Air Force Academy Cadet, USAFA Flying Team Pilotand Academy Scholar. Cadet Horn is the current 4th Group Academic NCO, and a member of CS-40 "Warhawks". His brother Thomas Horn is currently enrolled.