Mr. Rual W. Stephens, an outstanding Atlanta educator, was named last month by the Atlanta Board of Education to the principalship of Henry Grady High School, succeeding Mr. E. L. Floyd, who was appointed liaison officer between Atlanta High Schools and the colleges and universities of the country.
Mr. Stephens' degrees are a Bachelor of Science from Tennessee State College, a Master of Arts from Peabody College, and a Master of Education from the University of Georgia. He has met all requirements for his Doctor of Philosophy degree and expects it to be forthcoming from Harvard University in February.
Has 'Faith' In Grady
When asked to comment on his new position he said, "In many respects
I am sorry that I am not still teaching, but I am grateful that my new work
is still at Henry Grady High School with the students and teachers and school
that I love very much, I have faith that Henry Grady will become the greatest
high school in the South. I believe that the students here are already the
finest anywhere. We are all particularly happy, I know, at the good school
spirit prevailing, and I am appreciative of the wonderful co-operation everybody
has shown me in my new assignment."
Served In Air Force
The new principal was a first lieutenant in the Army Air Force for three
years. He served as a navigation instructor and a writer of historical intelligence.
Before being in service, Mr. Stephens taught at Joe Brown Junior High and Tech High. Upon discharge, he accepted a teaching position at Boys High and then at Grady. Previous to his coming to Atlanta in 1937, he served as principal of a Tennessee high school.
Mr. Stephens resides in the Grady area at 1201 Rock Springs Road, N.
E. His wife, formerly a teacher at Grady, now is at Murphy High. They have
two sons, Johnny and Tommy.
Roster Totals 1,238; Sub-Freshmen Largest
Here's a surprise! The expected has happened. The eighth grade has more
students than any other class in Grady, the ninth is second, the tenth,
third, and so on to the senior class, which has the fewest students. This,
believe it or not, is just as it is supposed to be.
The sub-freshman class is Grady's largest, with 318 students. Exactly half of these, 159, went to either S. M. Inman or Morningside last semester.
The senior class, Grady's smallest, nevertheless has 190 students, which is more than last year's graduating class of 181.
In all there are 1,238 students at Henry Grady. There are, besides the sub-freshmen, 286 freshmen, 243 sophomores, 201 juniors and 190 seniors.
Current Issues
HENRY GRADY, ALWAYS NOTED for its outstanding educational qualities, has given one of its best loved educators to the Atlanta School System in general. Ours is a great loss, but fortunately our loss is the gain of the Atlanta high schools as a whole.
We refer, of course, to the news which came just before the start of school, that our former principal, E. L. Floyd, had been appointed liason officer between the Atlanta Board of Education and the country's colleges and universities. It was Mr. Floyd who took over the principalship of Grady when it had just begun, three years ago. It took a superior man to set Grady's high academic standards and initiate its fine curriculum and extra-curricular activities.
It is further evidence of the high quality of Grady educators that the Board of Education was able to find in our own faculty a superbly qualified individual to step into the highlyresponsible top post at Grady, in the person of Mr. Rual W. Stephens. He has long been one of our ablest and most popular teachers. Mr. Stephens has been at Grady since its beginning, first as teacher, then as counselor.
We are delighted to deliver a double salute one to Mr. Floyd for his long and zealous record of service to our school and another to Mr. Stephens for the outstanding qualities which have won him new esteem.
NEVER LET IT BE SAID THAT GRADY STUDENTS aren't friendly, courteous, and anxious to make acquaintances. All too frequently, however, Gradyites, both upper and lower classmen, roam down the hallways without uttering a greeting to their fellow students. Let's look at the situation statistically. Each student attends five or six classes a day and finds with him in each class approximately 30 additional pupils.
If, over the course of the semester, all the students at Grady ventured to meet personally and really come to know every boy and girl in every one of their classes, the ultimate result would be that during the period of a year, two semesters, one would meet over 300 new people. Quite an achievement.
Even more important are the benefits we all derive from extending our circle of friends. An English author once had a feud with a rival he had never met. A person who knew them both offered to bring them together to iron out their difficulties. "No," said the author, "I don't want to meet him because if I meet him, I might like him."
Let's not be like that fellow. Let's strive to acquire every new friend we can. More friendship is what the whole world needs.