Drew Charter is intimately connected to the site of next week’s Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club. It stands next door to the club as a physical testament to the rebirth of the neighborhood spawned by East Lake and the season-ending PGA Tour event.
For the past seven years, the East Lake Foundation has hosted five Bank of America Student Leaders for a summer internship. One of this year’s interns, Rashan Schoffner, graduated from Charles R. Drew Charter School this past May and will be attending Howard University this fall to study film directing and producing.
They came back stronger this year, and in May, the golf team became the first Atlanta public school to win a state championship in Georgia. Not only did the boys win, but the team also created history in a different way – the students, including coaching staff, became the first all-black golf team to do so.
Urban blight is all too common in inner cities, ruefully, but there is a remedy, and one that has been often documented and continuously demonstrated in Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood. Golf.
The First Tee of Atlanta and The First Tee of East Lake have announced they will combine to become The First Tee of Metro Atlanta, effective July 1. The newly consolidated organization now expects to serve roughly 145,000 participants through its various programs, including the after-school DRIVE (Develops Rewarding, Inspiring Values for Everyone) and the National Schools Program.
The Drew Charter School Boys varsity Golf Team recently walked away with the Georgia Class A Championship. They are the first Atlanta Public school to do so. We learn more about the historic victory from Jeff Dunovant, coach of the Drew Golf Team, and two recent Drew graduates Solomon Dobbs and Christopher McCrary.
A fourth-place finish at the state championships last year didn’t sit well with the boys’ golf team at Charles R. Drew Charter School. Fueled by last season’s shortcomings, the boys bounced back in impressive fashion this year, cruising to a Class A state title on May 21, becoming the first Atlanta Public Schools team to bring home a golf championship.This was a major accomplishment for Drew Charter School, rewriting the history books as the only all African-American team to win a golf title, but the feat was also the latest accolade for The First Tee of East Lake — a year-round golf instruction and mentoring program, managed through the East Lake Foundation.
Drew Charter School Senior Christopher McCrary has received more than $1 million in scholarship offers from 16 different colleges.
The TOUR Championship, which supports the East Lake Foundation and nonprofit Purpose Built Schools Atlanta, is also doubling down on its emphasis of high-end hospitality. The 500-member 1904 Club opened inside the East Lake Clubhouse for the 2018 tournament. For 2019, they doubled the number of chefs, to 12. The $4,500 week-long membership passes are nearly sold out for 2019.
Charles R. Drew Charter School, the first public charter school to open in Atlanta, announced a new top administrator. The school board this week said Peter McKnight will be the next head of school, beginning July 1. McKnight has been the principal of the high school senior academy since 2013.
The Charles R. Drew Charter School Board of Directors said it named Peter McKnight as its second-ever head of school, succeeding Don Doran who is retiring after 10 years at Drew. Doran became the first head of school when the Junior and Senior Academy facility opened in 2014.
