Mustang Messenger

Mustang Message - Sunday, January 5, 2025

Week 19

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break, and we wish everyone a Happy New Year. As we reflected on 2024, we wanted to continue highlighting our Ola Mustangs' amazing work and the recent Georgia CCRPI scores. Please take some time to read and see how Ola High is leading the district and state in many areas, including content mastery, progress, college readiness, closing the gaps, and exceeding the district and state in graduation rates at 94.4%. Now is also a time when we all get a renewed focus on the year ahead. We look forward to having our Mustangs back on campus on Wednesday, January 8th. As we get back into the swing of things, it's an excellent time to highlight our focus on Empowering Engagement Always in All Ways. This has been the theme for OHS for the school year, and our teachers and staff are excited for the 2nd semester. We want all of our students to get engaged in something, whether it's in our Fine Arts, CTAE, athletics, student clubs and organizations, or even just coming to events to help our students make the most of their high school experience. Our teachers continually work to ensure our Mustangs are ready for life beyond high school, and this semester will be no different. As we work to engage our students, now is a great time to discuss a focus on academics, attendance, and success. We want all of our Mustangs present each day and focused on the Ola Way: to be Open to Learning, Leading by Example, and Accepting of Others. We look forward to a great second semester and the tradition of connectivity and engagement within our amazing Ola Cluster! We want to start the new year with a few celebrations. First, Ola High is excited to announce Keagan Kimball as our STAR student for the year. The STAR student has the highest SAT score for their class and gets to name a STAR teacher. Keagan named Mr. Tony Head her STAR teacher, and both will be honored by Henry County Schools on February 14. We also have two top scorers at the Kennesaw State University Math Competition, where KSU recognized Anthony Coral and Rasia Afia. Great job to these Mustangs. In athletic news, Ola Basketball continues its season with games against Union Grove, Hampton, and Stockbridge this week. The girls are currently 10-3, and our boys are 6-8. Ola Wrestling has continued to work and win, competing at the Georgia Grappler Elite Duals, and will compete at the Region Duals Saturday at Locust Grove. Ola Swim competed at the New Years Kickoff at the Cobb Aquatic Center. The boys came 3rd, and our girls came in 2nd. Ola's GHSA Redtail Riflery team will shoot against Jones County on Thursday. We will pick back up with our Mustang Athletic Newsletter next week. Folks that wraps up the Mustang Message. We want to thank our wonderful Partners in Education for the Grinch Grab Friday before we left for break. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message - Sunday, January 12, 2025

Week 20

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We hope everyone enjoyed the snow over the weekend. We were excited to see all our Mustangs back on campus and get the second semester started. This week we will begin Henry County Schools grade repair for eligible students. Students who were notified and signed up for the grade repair will need to be present and in their location starting at 3:30 and will conclude at 5:00pm. We reminded our students about the importance of starting the second semester off right and ensuring a focus on academics, attendance and meeting the Ola Way. Mustang Nation, each year Georgia releases a survey to parents to help capture feedback about their school and student. The Georgia School Climate Survey is a twenty-two question survey that helps us capture information from our community. The link for the parent survey can be found in this email and the survey will close on January 31. Our students, staff and teachers will also complete the survey leading up to the end of the month. We also want to announce Ola Over Broadway tickets can now be purchased. The show will be on January 24 & 25 at the Fairview Performing Arts center and the QR code is at the bottom of the email. Tickets are fifteen dollars in advance and twenty dollars at the door. Also, this Friday we will have club picture day. If your Mustang is involved in a club or organization here at Ola, please make sure they have heard from their club sponsor on the time of their picture. In athletic news, Ola Wrestling will be back in action on Monday for region duals and then we will host the GHSA State Wrestling meet at Ola High on Friday and Saturday. Our basketball program will play Eagles Landing and Eagles Landing Christian this week. Ola Swim will compete at one of the last qualifiers in Adairsville on Saturday. Ola Riflery will take on Social Circle this week. Folks that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message - Sunday, January 19, 2025

Week 21

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We have a lot of celebrations this week, and we start with a huge congratulations to Ola AFROTC Cadet Olivia Clark, who was appointed to the United States Airforce Academy. She will soon celebrate with Congressman Mike Collins! We have two Mustangs who completed their final round auditions for the All-State Orchestra, and we wish George Barnett and Kate Smith luck as they wait to hear. Ola has another STAR student to recognize; Carson Schmitt will be Ola High's state STAR student and has chosen his mom, Dr. Christie Schmitt, as his STAR teacher. Carson will be recognized by our district and state soon. Finally, Ola High School's Black Student Union will lead the charge of celebrating Black History Month with a theme to honor the Harlem Renaissance. Finally, this Friday (7pm) and Saturday (1pm) Ola Over Broadway will be in action at the Fairview Performing Arts center. Please see the QR code below for ticket purchases. Mustang Nation, each year, Georgia releases a survey to parents to help capture feedback about their school and students. The Georgia School Climate Survey is a twenty-two-question survey that helps us capture information from our community. The link for the parent survey can be found in this email, and the survey will close on January 31. Our students, staff, and teachers will also complete the survey leading up to the end of the month. Also, don’t forget Ola’s Student Government Association will host a winter dance this Saturday at the Locust Grove Event Center. Tickets can still be purchased on MySchoolBucks on our school website. In athletic news, Ola Wresting, Swim, and our girl's basketball had big weekends! Our wrestling program finished at number four in the GHSA State Tournament of Champions and will now move on to individual competitions. Ola's swim saw a huge 3rd-place finish at the Paw Power Invitational in Adairsville. Ola's combined team score put them right behind Starrs Mill and McIntosh. Ola girls basketball reached a milestone for the program with the first-ever season with twelve or more wins. The Lady Mustangs are now 12-5 with seven more games to go in the regular region season, as they beat Eagles Landing Friday for their 12th win. Both teams will be gearing up for the region tournament in February. Ola Riflery competed against Social Circle HS this week and made great improvements. Ola’s GHSA Dance team will start their season this Saturday and we wish them success on a great start! We celebrate Aijay Manning from our girls' basketball program as our Athlete of the Week. Remember, you can catch all the upcoming events and news in the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Mustang Nation, all Henry County Schools and offices will be closed Monday in honor Dr. Martin Luther King. Folks that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message - Sunday, January 26, 2025

Week 22

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed another round of winter weather. We have some celebrations this week, and we start by highlighting two Mustangs, Anthony Coral and Sara Wade, who were selected to represent Snapping Shoals EMC at the 2025 Washington Youth Tour. Also, we have two Mustangs selected to All-State Orchestra. George Barnett and Kate Smith auditioned against the top 40 bass players in the state for the highly competitive All-State ensembles, and their hard work and dedication have paid off in a remarkable way. George Barnett earned a spot in the 11/12 Symphonic Band, and Kate Smith was selected for the 11/12 String Orchestra. We thank our Student Government Association for a great winter dance event. Many of our Mustangs showed up and had a great time. We wrap up with a huge congratulations to our chorus students and Ms. Mindy Forehand on another tremendous Ola Over Broadway. They had to work around the weather and hold virtual practices to produce a great show! Mustang Nation, each year, Georgia releases a survey to parents to help capture feedback about their school and students. The Georgia School Climate Survey is a twenty-two-question survey that helps us capture information from our community. The link for the parent survey can be found in this email, and the survey will close on January 31. Our students, staff, and teachers will also complete the survey leading up to the end of the month. We are extending Ola's Grade Repair for an additional 3 days due to the weather. This will run on January 27, 28 and 29th from 3:30 until 5pm. Parents, don't forget you can access your student's report cards on the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. In athletic news, Ola Swim had a great showing at the Henry County Championship meet. Both the boy's and girls' programs are Henry County Champs for the third year in a row. We had 14 first-place finishers. Brody Morefield will now get his eyes on competing at the GHSA State Swim meet. Great job to our swimmers and coaches on a fantastic season! Ola girl's basketball continued its historic season with a win over Locust Grove Friday night. Ola wrestling will prepare for individual state championships after a top-five finish in the state with duals. We are about to get spring sports tryouts geared up and look forward to a great spring season! Ola's GHSA Dance team started their season this weekend. Wtih the shortened week, we will get our Mustang Athletic Newsletter back going this week. Finally, we want to give a shout out to Ola's VEX Robotics team, which competed at the Kalahari Classic in Ohio. They won the Judges Award and finished #15 in skills and #30 in qualification rankings. They will travel to Salt Lake this week for another chance to qualify for the Worlds. Folks that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on

Mustang Message - Sunday, February 2, 2025

Week 23

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We have many celebrations this week, and we will start with our Mustangs selected for the All-State Band. Congrats to Jacob Mullis, Elena Powell, Dylan Yakel, and Nathan Schmitt. Ola's Math Competition team competed in the Griffin RESA competition and finished 3rd. Thirteen of our Mustangs were recognized Thursday at the Henry County Schools Governors Honors Program for state nominees. Ola's VEX robotics team traveled to Salt Lake City to compete, finished 6th in their division, and made it to the quarterfinals in bracket play. This is their best finish at a signature event to date. Ola High School's Black Student Union club will lead the charge of celebrating Black History Month with a theme of Celebration of the Harlem Renaissance. We will have a spirit week with students participating in various events. We start Monday with HBCU Day! Finally, prom time is around the corner. This year's prom will be at the Delta Flight Museum on March 22nd. Tickets are now on sale for our Ola juniors and seniors and can be purchased on MySchoolBucks on the school's prom site. In athletic news, Ola's wrestling program finished with an 8th straight traditional individual region championship. They will now get ready for sectionals and then go on to the state championships. Our GHSA Dance team had a 4th place finish at the McIntosh dance competition. Ola basketball hosted a fantastic senior night where we highlighted our senior cheerleaders and basketball players. The program also hosted the Georgia Storm Wheelchair basketball team, which took on a team from Houston on Saturday. Ola's Brody Morefield will compete this Wednesday at the GHSA State Swim Competition, and we wish Brody luck and fast swimming! It's time for spring sports to gear up. We have tennis, soccer, and baseball scrimmages happening this week. We celebrate Brian Papcun, our wrestling team's Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other events and highlights in the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Mustang Nation, on Tuesday night, we will host our Rising 9th Grade Showcase, where our future freshmen will come over and see all that Ola has to offer. We are also starting up student registration appointments for our rising seniors. Be sure to talk with your Mustang about courses offered and potential plans for next year. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Week 24

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We had another great week in the OlaVerse. This week, we hosted a few events to highlight. First, Ola's HOSA organization charted a path to help inform and educate our community on essential swim lessons and tips for young kids. They set up a 5k run in honor of a young man who passed away from drowning within the community named Zade. The Zade of Hero run was a great success, and we thank all those who came out to participate. We also hosted the Georgia VEX Robotics State Championships. It was a big event, and our Mustang 5203G Gremlin is the state champion! They also won the highest award, the Excellence Award. Finally, we had our BSU spirit week to celebrate Black History Month with the Celebration of the Harlem Renaissance theme. Our students had a great time participating and did a great job with various events happening in the week. Ola's counseling department had a great turnout at Ola's Rising 9th Grade Showcase, where we welcomed our future Class of 2029 and showed them all the classes, clubs, and organizations Ola has to offer our students. Parents, if your Mustang will be a junior or senior next year, we are hosting another Dual Enrollment night on Thursday, February 13, in the Ola band room. We will start at 6:30 pm, and we look forward to seeing you there. In athletic news, we start with a huge congratulations in our swim program. Brody Morefield competed in the GHSA State Swim meet at Georgia Tech, where he placed 24th. He was just four places shy of making it to the final top 20 swimmers across the state. From our swim program, Coach Wood was named Henry County's Swim Coach of the Year. It was a great swim season, and we congratulate our swimmers on a great year. Ola Wrestling has all 12 wrestlers advanced in sectionals Saturday and will compete at the GHSA Individual State Wrestling championships in Macon. Ola Bass Fishing team started their season this weekend at Lake Oconee. Our boy's basketball team season ended with a doubleovertime loss to Locust Grove. The girls continue their historic season with a 2nd round region tournament game on Monday night against Union Grove at Woodland at 4 pm. With a win on Monday, they will secure a first-ever playoff appearance. We celebrate Jae'Ci Collins from our basketball cheer team as our Athlete of the Week. We had 5 Mustangs who made the Region 2 All-Region team. Mustang Nigel Thomas and Aijah Manning were 1st team selections. You can see them and all other events and highlights in the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Finally, prom time is around the corner. This year's prom will be at the Delta Flight Museum on March 22nd. Tickets are now on sale for our Ola juniors and seniors and can be purchased on MySchoolBucks on the school's prom site. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Week 25

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We hope everyone had a wonderful winter break and is ready for the big push toward the end of the year. We have many highlights to share over the last two weeks. We will start by announcing Ola's Governor's Honors Program state semifinalist, who will interview and audition in the next few weeks. Congrats to Rasia Afia, Maisie Davis, Gabrial Duffey, Amber Rainone, Eva Rutten, and Kate Smith. Within our CTAE department, Ola's DECA organization has five students who placed at the Georgia Career Development Conference. We celebrate Emma Gaines, Sara Wade, Rachel Richter, Tameya Miller, and Leilani Hernandez on their great finish. In athletic news, we had a lot of winning happening, and we want to highlight the three state champion wrestlers for Ola High. Congrats to J'Veion Redmon, Brian Papcun, and Xander Dossett on their championship. We will celebrate these Mustangs with our traditional limo ride to school on Monday around 8:55am into the parking lot. We also want to congratulate Coach Dinino on being named the NWCA Georgia Coach of the Year. He was also selected as the Section 3 Coach of the Year for the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. We have 2 Mustangs who qualified for the GHSA Bass Fishing State Championship. Skyler Spence and Dominic Hibbs finished 19th out of 259 teams at Lake Oconee, and they will fish on May 3rd at Lake Lanier for the state championships. We had some of our track athletes compete off campus at the TFC Indoor Nationals, and we are proud of Keiayr Banks, Suri Lawrence, Jade Lawrence, Cai Manahan, and Rayah Arnold, who set personal records and earned All-American status. We look forward to the start of a fantastic track season as they will compete at the Red Devil Run Down on Friday. Ola's golf team started their season with a first-place finish at the McIntosh Invitational and got their season started in the best way. Ola Gymnastics is off and tumbling with a first-place finish, and we highlight Meredith Wesley on a 9.5 score on the beam, which is the highest school score to date! Ola baseball is off to a 3-1 start and will host McIntosh on Monday and ELCA on Friday. Our soccer program will kick their season off against Griffin on Tuesday and Woodland on Friday. Ola Lacrosse will start up Thursday against McIntosh. Ola Tennis will host McDonough here on Thursday. Finally, 3rd Ascent will be in the commons area on Wednesday for letter jacket fittings and ordering. Be sure to bring any patches and money. You can see more information about ordering letter jackets on our Facebook page. Finally, prom time is around the corner. This year's prom will be at the Delta Flight Museum on March 22nd. Tickets are now on sale for our Ola juniors and seniors and can be purchased on MySchoolBucks on the school's prom site. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Week 26

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! It's been a great week back from break. We want to start our celebrations with a story from the Georgia Department of Education. Ola High was recognized with 6 out of 7 eligible categories for being named to the 2025 AP Honor Schools. Ola topped the list in AP Access and Support, AP Humanities, AP Humanities Achievement, AP School of Distinction, AP STEM School, and AP STEM Achievement. We were the only high school from Henry County to top the lists in 6 of the 7 eligible categories. Click this link to see the story from GADOE. We are very proud of our Mustangs and staff, who challenge themselves at the highest rigor levels each and every day! Also, at the state level, Mustangs Kate Smith and George Barnett were selected and participated in the All-State Orchestra this week. At the county level, Ola's Academic team won the county championship for the second year, staying undefeated in the competition. Finally, at the region level, Ola's Literary team finished 4th with many top finishes. In athletic news, Ola Baseball continues to dominate the field with wins over McIntosh (10-0) and ELCA (10-0). Our soccer program got the season started with both teams defeating Griffin and our girls beating Woodland in a regional matchup. Tennis defeated McDonough and will take on Woodland and Union Grove this week. Our boy's lacrosse started against a tough McIntosh team this week and will take on McEachern & Starrs Mill. Our track and field traveled down to Jackson High School Friday and competed in the Red Devil Run, where they won 2nd place overall. Golf's boys team defeated Eastside on Friday and will take on Strong Rock and Social Circle this week at their home course of Georgia National on Monday and Tuesday. We celebrate Meredith Wesley, from our Gym Mustangs, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other upcoming events on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Finally, prom time is around the corner. This year's prom will be at the Delta Flight Museum on March 22nd. Tickets are now on sale for our Ola juniors and seniors and can be purchased on MySchoolBucks on the school's prom site. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message 

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Week 27

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! It’s been a great week at Ola High School. We want to start our celebrations with another great accomplishment for Ola High. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement released the CCRPI single score and Ola High tops all schools in Henry County with an 89.6 total score. Ola’s DECA program recently competed at the Atlanta Hawks Sports Marketing Conference where they finished 1st place, won eighteen-hundred dollars and their promotional event is being considered by the Hawks to promote an upcoming Educator Appreciation Event. Congrats to Stephanie Rodriguez, Mikaela Davis, Tanner McDevitt, London Walker, Amaudi Willis, and Jayden Scott on this great accomplishment. We are also in the Large Group Performance Evaluation season for our fine arts students. Ola’s Chorus program started us off with gaining all 1’s, the highest scores possible. Ola’s HOSA organization has secured a spot at the International Leadership Conference and we want to high light Maddie Reardanz, Emma Gaines and Emma Fletcher on receiving awards. Maddie received the Barbara James Service Award. Emma Gaines and Emma Fletcher finished 3rd in the Community Awareness for their project on water safety awareness. Finally, Ola had 9 Mustangs compete this week at the Nation History Day competition and we have 6 who are regional first place finishers and will be moving on to the state qualifications. Congrats to Maisie Davis, Alina Devane, Reilly Stephens, Maddie Reardanz, Ria Patel and Kelby Escar. In athletic news, Ola baseball had sweeping region wins over region opponent Hampton and are 11-1 on the season. Ola soccer took on Union Grove and our girls defeated the Wolverines to stay a perfect 3-0 on the season. Ola boys lacrosse defeated McEachern this week and play against Union Grove on Wednesday. Ola golf played against Eastside and Social Circle and the boys team defeated both with the girls defeating Social Circle. We celebrate Carter Spence, from our boys soccer team, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other upcoming events on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. At a recent meeting of the Henry County Board of Education, it was announced that Henry County Schools will begin to pilot pop-up security screenings using weapons detection systems during school days. Please be advised that these screenings, which will take place on unannounced days and times, will begin soon. HCS will be piloting this process at all high schools this semester as we explore ways to further enhance our safety and security protocols throughout the district. The safety and security of our students and staff is our utmost priority. Thank you for your understanding as we work to keep everyone safe and informed. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Week 28

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! To get our celebrations going for this week, we highlight our Fine Arts department, which has been busy with large group performances. Our Choral program got started with all superiors. Our chamber orchestra, symphonic orchestra, and advanced guitar also received all superiors. Our intermediate guitar received excellence on their evaluations. Ola's band program will wrap up their performances this week, and we wish them luck. We had a great Friday with a first-ever winter and spring pep rally where we recognized our student-athletes competing at Ola. We also held our annual Partner's Prom and introduced our partner's prom court. It was a great way to end the week! In athletic news, Ola's girl's track program had a big 2nd-place finish at the Daniel Roberts Invitational. Our tennis program held its senior night to recognize the Class of 2025, and it was a great night to celebrate our seniors. Ola's baseball team continues to dominate, defeating Eagles Landing and Locust Grove this week, and are 14-1 on the season and 7-0 in the region. Our soccer program had wins, with the girls defeating Stockbridge and the boys beating Locust Grove. Finally, congrats to Kinsley Ashbell on winning GHSA 4A state runner-up at the GHSA State Literary Championships for Women's Solo. We celebrate Travis Treadwell, from our boys tennis team, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other upcoming events on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Mustang Nation, as part of Henry County Schools' core beliefs in ensuring a safe and secure learning environment, Ola High School will have a School Safety Day this week, where we will discuss some of our safety procedures with our students. We will review and discuss our practices for severe weather, fire, and campus lockdown. At a recent meeting of the Henry County Board of Education, it was announced that Henry County Schools will begin to pilot pop-up security screenings using weapons detection systems during school days and will take place on unannounced days and times. As part of Ola’s push to highlight our safety procedures, take a moment to meet our campus safety team and School Resource Officer by seeing their information at the end of the email. Our goal will be to educate and communicate with our students and staff on the various ways we are keeping our students safe. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Week 29 Good

Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We want to start our celebrations with another recognition for Ola High as this week the Governor's Office of Student Achievement released their list of schools that are Beating the Odds. Ola High was recognized as a school that beat the odds and achieved high levels. You can see the story by clicking on this Link. Another huge congrats to our 3 Mustangs named as finalists for the Governor's Honors Program. Maisie Davis and Gabrial Duffey are finalists for Threatre and Math, and Kate Smith is an alternate for Music. Great job to our Mustangs on this great honor! Ola's band program wrapped up Georgia's Large Group Performance Evaluations with getting all superiors, and we are proud of our Mustangs in our Fine Arts Department. We want to take an opportunity for our community to give a shout-out to any teacher at Ola High, as we will host an Ola cluster Thank-A-Teacher event on April 2 at the baseball game against Union Grove. Please take a moment to click this link and leave a message to be shared to our exceptional educators. Click this link to fill out a shout-out Ola's counseling department will celebrate the Class of 2025 at our annual College and Career Commitment Day on April 18. Seniors don't miss this opportunity to be celebrated! Sign up now to secure your spot. Let's honor your achievements and bright future! Please see the link to register. We will honor our seniors at 9:15 in the Ola High Gym. In athletic news, Ola baseball swept Locust Grove and McDonough and are 17-1 on the season. They will host Jones County on Monday. Ola soccer saw both boys and girls beat ELCA on senior night, with the girls pulling out a win in overtime 2-1 and the boys winning 4-1. Ola tennis took on Locust Grove and Stockbridge, where the boys split. Ola boys lacrosse will have two home games this week, on Monday and Thursday, which will be senior night. Our track program will compete at the Henry County Championships this week. Ola golf played at Heron Bay and defeated Luella and Jackson this week. Addi Johnson and Hayden Wessels were low medalists in the matches. Ola's gymnastics is ranked 7th in Georgia and will compete at the county championships on Thursday. We celebrate Rayah Arnold, from our girl's track and field program, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other upcoming events on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Week 30

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We start our celebrations with Ola's Academic team finishing as the Class AAAA state runner-up for Georgia! Ola's HOSA organization was awarded the Bronze Elite Chapter for their work in the community and school. We also highlight Ola's Ambassadors at this weekend's Henry County Youth Summit, where Dr. Garry McGibonney, executive director of Sharecare, honored and recognized them. Speaking of celebrations, here is a time to celebrate our teachers at Ola High School for all they do with our Mustangs. Please take a moment to click this link and leave a message to be shared to our exceptional educators. (Click this link) Ola's counseling department will celebrate the Class of 2025 at our annual College and Career Commitment Day on April 18. Seniors don't miss this opportunity to be celebrated! Sign up now to secure your spot. Let's honor your achievements and bright future! Please see the link to register. We will honor our seniors at 9:15 in the Ola High Gym. Also, seniors, if you have received a college scholarship and or college acceptance letter, please notify your counselor so that we can add this to the graduation program. In athletic News, Ola's Gymnastic team competed at the county championships and finished 2nd, with Meredith Wesley winning the number one overall gymnast for HCS. Ola track competed at the county championships, where our girls finished 2nd. Ola golf swept Eastside, and the boys had a commanding 39-stroke victory. Ola soccer swept Hampton, and the girls also defeated McDonough in region games this week. It was senior night for our boy's lacrosse program as they defeated Fayette County 7-4. Ola baseball played Jones County and Stockbridge, with wins in both games, improving to 20-1 in the season. We celebrate Addi Johnson, from our girl's golf team, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other upcoming events in the Mustang Athletic Newsletter. Mustang nation, this will be our last Sunday Messenger until Sunday, April 13. We hope everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing spring break. With this Friday being the day before break, we will not accept emails for checkout on Friday due to a high volume of checkouts. A parent or guardian on the student's approved list will need to come in and check out their student. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Week 31

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing spring break. We want to highlight Ola's Amelia French, who was selected as one of six students across Henry County to be awarded a scholarship from Georgia United Credit Union's Foundation Scholarship. They were on campus Friday to recognize Amelia for her work in our Partners Club and her true passion for giving back to her community. Mustang Nation, it's time for our Spring Musical, and our students are excited to put on Legally Blonde this Thursday and Friday at 7 pm at the McDonough PAC. Tickets are ten dollars, cash only, and can be purchased at the door or in the Theater room this week. Let's make this the biggest show ever for our Mustangs. As we start back for the final push of the school year, we want to highlight some important dates. Our CTAE department will begin testing with their End of Pathway Assessments starting this week. We will also begin our Georgia Milestone Assessments on April 28 through May 2. It will be important that all students testing have a charged Chromebook, eat a good breakfast, and demonstrate all they've mastered in their classes. Also, during the week of Milestones, our seniors will take their final exams as they prepare for graduation. Ola's graduation commencement will be on Saturday, May 17 at 9:00am at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Please ensure your senior pays attention to the information on the senior page hosted by Mr. Joe Caldwell. Ola's counseling department will celebrate the Class of 2025 at our annual College and Career Commitment Day on April 18. Seniors don't miss this opportunity to be celebrated! Sign up now to secure your spot. Let's honor your achievements and bright future! Please see the link to register. We will honor our seniors at 9:15 in the Ola High Gym. Also, seniors, if you have received a college scholarship and or college acceptance letter, please notify your counselor so that we can add this to the graduation program. In athletic News, Ola baseball will host Woodland on Wednesday for senior night. Our track program will compete at the Warhawk Invitational on Friday. Lacrosse will play at Eagles Landing on Wednesday and ELCA on Thursday. Ola Golf will be in action against Social Circle at Hard Labor Creek on Wednesday. Ola soccer will take on Monroe Area on Thursday in Mustang Stadium. All of our spring sports are in the last couple of weeks before playoffs begin. We will get our Athletic Newsletter back going next week. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, April 20, 2025
Week 32

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We had another great week in the Ola-Verse. We want to start our celebrations by highlighting a great College and Career Commitment Day signing ceremony for the Class of 2025. We also want to highlight Ola senior Carson Schmitt, who was recognized and awarded the Stamps Presidential Scholarship from Georgia Tech. Carson was one of twenty-five seniors nationwide to be awarded this prestigious scholarship. He and the VEX robotics team will be gearing up to compete at the World Championships in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Finally, Ola's spring musical Legally Blonde was a huge hit and a fan favorite. I want to thank Ms. Edwards and all of our Mustangs who have worked for months to put on this production.
As we start back for the final push of the school year, we want to highlight some important dates. Our CTAE department will continue End of Pathway Assessments this week. We will also begin our Georgia Milestone Assessments on April 28 through May 2. It will be important that all students testing have a charged Chromebook, eat a good breakfast, and demonstrate all they've mastered in their classes. Also, during the week of Milestones, our seniors will take their final exams as they prepare for graduation. Ola's graduation commencement will be on Saturday, May 17 at 9:00am at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Please ensure your senior pays attention to the information on the senior page hosted by Mr. Joe Caldwell. Also, seniors, if you have received a college scholarship and or college acceptance letter, please notify your counselor so that we can add this to the graduation program. Finally, Ola will start Advanced Placement testing on May 5, and as we've done each year, we will be offering more AP exams than the previous year. This is a testament to our Mustangs who are challenging themselves each and every day. We also want to thank all our AP teachers and look forward to celebrating more success!
In athletic News, Ola baseball was crowned Region 2-AAAA Champions Wednesday night as they secured the win over Woodland and honored our seniors all on the same night. The O-Boys look to start their playoff run this coming Wednesday/ Ola girls soccer, who finished as region runner-up, will host their playoff game against Eastside Tuesday night at Mustang stadium. Ola Tennis will start their playoff game on Monday at North Oconee. Ola Track will have region finals on Monday. Ola golf is still on the hunt and looking to make its mark in sectionals and playoffs. They defeated Social Circle. Ola gymnastics looks to qualify in preliminaries Friday. This week, we honor Colton Gardner, from our Lacrosse as our Athlete of the Week, and you can see this and all other updates on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter.
Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. We want to say thank you to all of our Partners in Education who fed our staff a delicious lunch Friday. We truly have the very best teachers and community! If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Week 33
Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We had another great week at Ola High School. We want to start our celebrations with our Mustangs, who competed at the National History Day competition. Maddie Reardanz finished as a state champion in the individual exhibit, which makes her the four-time consecutive state champion, a national qualifier, a $12,000 scholarship, and a special award in Senior Division Best Use of National Archives and Presidential Libraries Material. Alina Devane, Reilly Stephens, and Maisie Davis finished as 2nd place group performance and are national qualifiers and will receive an $8,000 scholarship. Ria Patel and Kelby Oscar received an award in Senior Division Award for Excellence in Economic History. Great job to our Mustangs at the state level.
Mustang Nation, we are now into our testing season with the Georgia Milestone Assessments beginning tomorrow. Our Mustangs must have their Chromebooks charged and ready for testing. Also, please ensure they have a good breakfast each morning and are prepared to demonstrate all they have mastered in their classes. Starting May 5, we shift into our Advance Placement exams and will go until May 16. Be sure your Mustang knows the report time for their AP Exam in the Aux Gym. We wrapped up our CTAE End of Pathway Assessments on Friday and want to thank all our Mustangs for their performance and focus on these assessments.
For our seniors, we will begin senior exams on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Once this week has passed, our seniors will start important traditions. Ola's Baccalaureate, sponsored by FCA, will be next Sunday, May 4, at Sharon Church at 2:00pm. We will have our senior awards on Monday, May 12th at 6:00pm in the gym. May 14 will be our exciting final walk for our Class of 2025 through Ola Middle and High School halls on final time. We will have a senior breakfast at 8:30 in the gym before the walk. On May 15, our seniors will have a chance to visit and have breakfast with their Ola cluster elementary schools, and then we will have our first graduation practice at 9am. We wrap the day up with the senior parade our Local School Council put on. Our seniors will line up in the bus lane at 5:30, and the parade will start at 6 pm. We encourage our families to line Mustang Alley and celebrate seniors as they drive by. We will have our final graduation practice on May 16 at 10am. Graduation will be on May 17 at 9:00am at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In athletic news, Ola baseball finished its season with a first-round state playoff loss in three games to a tough Walnut Grove. Ola girls soccer also wrapped up their season with a first-round loss to Eastside. Ola gymnastics finished eighth at the state preliminaries. Gymnast Meredith Wesley competed in the individual round and finished 3rd on the beam and 4th in the bars. It was a great gymnastics season. Our girls' tennis team also concluded their season with a first-round state playoff loss to a strong North Oconee team. Ola track is getting ready for sectionals on May 3rd. Ola Golf will be gearing up for sectionals tomorrow and Tuesday at Georgia National. They are coming off a win over Pike County, where we also recognized our seniors on the golf team. This week, we honor Cai Manahan, from our girl's track team, as our Athlete of the Week, and you can see this and all other updates on the Mustang Athletic Newsletter.
For parents or students who think they may be eligible for a parking refund, please scroll to the link at the bottom of the student parking page and fill out the “Parking Refund Application”. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. We want to say thank you to all of our Partners in Education. We truly have the very best teachers and community! If you or your company is interested in partnering with Ola High School and becoming a partner in education, please see the information in the email below. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!

Mustang Message -

Sunday, May 4, 2025
Week 34

Good Sunday Evening, Mustang Nation! It's Mr. Ellis, principal of Ola High School, with your weekly Mustang Message! We had a great week of Milestone testing, and we are proud of the work of all our Mustangs. If your student missed an EOC test, our makeup assessment date is Monday. Please have your Mustang report to their testing location Monday morning with a charged Chromebook. We want to start our celebrations by highlighting our VEX Robotics state champion team as they set their sights on the World Championships in Dallas, Texas. Let's go get the championship, Gremlins! We also want to highlight a few Mustangs for some great recognition this week. Kendall Sliver was announced as a finalist for the Vince Dooley Award and will be recognized next Saturday at North Atlanta High School. Olivia Clark was also named as a top 7 finalist for the Positive Athlete Award and will be recognized soon. Carson Schmitt received recognition as one of 621 national finalists for the Presidential Scholars Program. Great job to all of our Mustangs.
Starting tomorrow, we will begin our Advanced Placement testing by the College Board. Over 650 students will be taking AP exams, and we wish them luck! Be sure your Mustang knows the report time for their AP Exam in the Aux Gym.
For our seniors, We will have our senior awards on Monday, May 12th at 6:00pm in the gym. May 14 will be our exciting final walk for our Class of 2025 through Ola Middle and High School halls on final time. We will have a senior breakfast at 8:30 in the gym before the walk. On May 15, our seniors will have a chance to visit and have breakfast with their Ola cluster elementary schools, and then we will have our first graduation practice at 9am. We wrap the day up with the senior parade our Local School Council put on. Our seniors will line up in the bus lane at 5:30, and the parade will start at 6 pm. We encourage our families to line Mustang Alley and celebrate seniors as they drive by. We will have our final graduation practice on May 16 at 10am. Graduation will be on May 17 at 9:00am at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In athletic news, Ola's track program saw some great results this weekend and has many runners and throwers moving onto the state championships this week. Keiayr Banks, Suri Lawrence, Jade Lawrence, Cai Manahan, Rayah Arnold, and Jillian Cooper have advanced in various running events. Eric Rogers has advanced in the shot put. Ola's Bass Fishing team had a great showing at the GHSA State Championships and has wrapped up their season. Congrats on an excellent finish and making it to state! Ola Golf is still going strong, with both our boys' and girls' teams advancing in sectionals this week. Good luck to our track team and golf team this week! This week, we honor Wyatt Reese, from our boys' golf team, as our Athlete of the Week. You can see this and all other updates in the Mustang Athletic Newsletter.
For parents or students who think they may be eligible for a parking refund, please scroll to the link at the bottom of the student parking page and fill out the “Parking Refund Application”. Folks, that wraps up the Mustang Message. As always, be sure to stay up to date on our school website and follow us on TwitterX and Facebook. Until next time, say it loud, We Are Ola!