Ronald McNair Sr. High School

Ronald McNair Sr. High School
Information
School type Public High School DeKalb County School System
Motto You Can and We Will Because We Must!
Principal Glyniss Jordan
Enrollment 1835 (2012)
Colour(s)             
Mascot Thor
Nickname Mustangs
Publication The Astur

Ronald Mcnair High School is a public school in DeKalb County, Georgia.

History

The school was built in 1964 and was named after confederate civil war General John George Walker. Classes were first attended in the fall of 1966. The class of 1969 attended Gordon High School using "split sessions" in 1964. Students graduating in 1967 were the first Walker High School graduating class. The first class attending Walker High School from 8th grade to graduation was the class of 1970. Walker averaged about 3,500 students in total from 1967 to 1980.

The first printed annual was called The Astur, and was first printed in 1966. The school paper was called The Talon.

The school's colors were crimson and silver. Alumni from 1967 to 1987 were known as the Walker Warhawks; they collected state championships in baseball, wrestling, and track and field. Their mascot was Thor, a red tailed hawk that lived in a large cage inside the senior courtyard. Thor accidentally froze to death during a sudden severe overnight cold snap in late 1968. Thor was preserved, and is still held by the class of 1973.

Sports Facilities

Walker High School had a baseball, football, wrestling, soccer, and track field. The baseball field and track were used for competitive sports. Panthersville Stadium was used for all football and soccer home games and Columbia High School's swimming pool was used as Walker's "home" pool. Basketball was played at the school's gym.

Renaming

During the 1980s the demographics in the district that Walker High School served had changed from a mostly white middle-class area to largely African-American. Since Walker had been named for a confederate civil war general, community leaders, students and area residents felt that this was no longer acceptable and made a request in 1987 to the school board to rename itthe Ronald E. McNair High School, in honor of NASA Astronaut Mission Specialist Ronald E. McNair. Along with six other crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger, he died in the explosion of the shuttle during liftoff on January 28, 1986. The name change was placed in effect for the 1987-88 school year, and the school colors and mascots were also changed to the red and silver McNair Mustangs.

References