Overton High School (currently known as Watkins Overton High School) is a secondary school for the Creative and Performing Arts located in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, Tennessee. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Shelby County Schools district. It was a Memphis City School when it was built in 1959. It became Shelby County School, when Memphis surrender their charter back in 2014. The School was named in honor of Memphis mayor S. Watkins Overton.

Athletics

Overton's sports programs include: *Boys sports: Basketball, Baseball, Bowling, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, and Track. *Girls sports: Basketball, volleyball, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cross Country, Golf, Pom Pom, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, and Track.

Fine arts

Overton was declared a performing arts high school in 1976. The late Dr. Lulah M. Hedgeman was selected as choir director in 1976 and within five years, grew the program from 25 students to a choir of 150 students. The choir, under Hedgeman, performed a full concert in 1988 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The choirs were invited to Nice, France, four times as guests of the city. Hedgeman was honored by the Walt Disney company in 1990 in their first production of The Salute to the American Teacher Awards. The Overton Choirs program, under the direction of Hedgeman, were ranked number 1 in the state of Tennessee for 21 consecutive years until Hedgeman's death in December 1997. The Vocal Music Department at Overton is still ranked the number 1 performing arts high school choir in the city of Memphis as of April 2016. The band is the 2008 Division AAA Champions of the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

Bandmasters Championship and the 2008 Smoky Mountains Invitational Champions. Other aspects of the CAPA program include Creative Writing, choirs, orchestra, jazz ensembles, drama, dance, and visual arts. Students must audition to qualify for CAPA programs. Creative Writing, run by Shannon Marszalek, frequently hosts Poetry Slams. The Poetry Out Loud competition was held on Saturday, February 4, 2012. Many of the Scholastic Gold Keys come from both the Creative Writing Department and the Art Department.

Notable alumni

* O'landa Draper - Singer, choir director *

Sergio Kerusch Sergio Kerusch (born January 6, 1989) is an American-German professional basketball player who currently plays for Mitteldeutscher BC of the Basketball Bundesliga. He is a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall shooting guard-small forward. He also holds a ...

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K. Michelle Kimberly Michelle Pate (born March 4, 1982) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She is most known from VH1's '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'' and after appearing as a regular cast member for two seasons on the reality televi ...

- Singer, actress *

Wendy Moten Wendy Moten (born November 22, 1964) is an American jazz singer from Tennessee. Born in Memphis and based in Nashville, Moten has had a successful career in music, including several major-label solo records, some international hit songs, and a ...

- Singer *

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- American basketball player and coach *

Kevin Paige Kevin Paige (born October 10, 1966, Memphis, Tennessee) is a recording artist on Chrysalis who was most active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His eponymously titled 1989 solo album sported a pair of top 40 singles, "Don't Shut Me Out" and "A ...

- singer *

Josey Scott Joseph Scott Sappington (born May 3, 1972) is an American musician, best known as the former lead vocalist of the rock band Saliva. In addition to Saliva, Scott co-wrote and performed "Hero" (which was used as one of the theme songs to the 200 ...

- lead singer of

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Derrick Townsel Derrick "DJ" Townsel (born July 12, 1988) is a former gridiron football wide receiver. He most recently played for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2010. ...

- former gridiron football wide receiver *

Elise Neal Elise Demetria Neal (born March 14, 1966) is an American actress. Her big break came with three 1997 films, appearing in ''Rosewood'', '' Money Talks'' and ''Scream 2''. From 1998 to 2002, Neal starred as Yvonne Hughley in the ABC/UPN sitcom ' ...

- Actress

References

External links

Overton High School
{{authority control Overton Schools in Memphis, Tennessee