South Forsyth High School

History

South Forsyth High School first opened in 1989 as both a middle and high school, named South Forsyth Junior High. An additional building, East Hall, was later added to allow the high school and middle school to operate separately. In 1998, a new middle school, South Forsyth Middle School, was built on a separate property, allowing the high school to utilize the entire campus. After this, students were moved from Forsyth County High, now Forsyth Central High School, to alleviate overcrowding. Eventually, South Forsyth High School experienced its own overcrowding, which prompted the construction and opening of West Forsyth High School in 2007, Lambert High School in 2009, and Denmark High School in 2018.

Renovations

As a result of district-wide overcrowding at all of the middle schools, such as Lakeside Middle School, Piney Grove Middle School, and South Forsyth Middle School, a $195 million bond referendum was passed, which included significant improvements to South Forsyth High School. These included a new cafeteria, a new 42,000 square foot competition gym, improved traffic flow, a new administration center, 23 new classrooms, a new front façade, and a new courtyard in front of East Hall featuring walkways to connect the several separate buildings on campus. The renovations were designed by Manley Spangler Smith Architects. Balfour Beatty was selected as the construction manager, with a maximum of $25.7 million budgeted for the project. In July 2016, the new additions were opened to the public. The new additions include administrative offices, nine new classrooms, a large dining hall, a competition style gym, and the South Forsyth Plaza.

1990 hostage stand-off

On September 7, 1990, Randy Floyd Addis entered the school with a rifle, a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol. After a teacher wrestled the rifle away from him, he used the pistol to hold many of his classmates hostage. Most of the students were released over the course of the morning. In the early afternoon, Floyd became dizzy and gave himself up, releasing the final nine students after five hours. No one was injured. U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene referenced this incident in a 2021 speech on the House floor in support of gun rights.

Athletics

South Forsyth currently competes in Region 6-AAAAAAA (Area 3 AAAAAAA for lacrosse),← and has since 2012. SFHS has seven varsity sports for boys and girls. The school fields junior varsity teams for most sports and freshmen teams in football and volleyball. The school is a member of the Georgia High School Association.

The school has won state championships in competition cheerleading in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, girls' cross country in 2016, boys’ cross country 2018, and men's quartet in 2009.

Other studies

South Forsyth High School offers a fairly wide selection of Advanced Placement (AP), and International Baccalaureate (IB) accredited classes. South Forsyth is currently the only school in the Forsyth County School District to offer the IB program. South Forsyth also offers other study alternatives, including work-based learning and dual enrollment. The former allows students to work during part of the day for a variety of companies, while the latter allows students to take college classes for both college and high school credit at either the Lanier Technical College, University of North Georgia (UNG), Georgia State University, or Georgia Institute of Technology. South Forsyth also has world languages, such as Spanish, French, etc. They also have IB and AP Spanish and French. Through the Move On When Ready program, some students take all their classes at a college (typically UNG) and never come to South Forsyth's campus, save for the occasional counselor visit.

Additionally, the school offers distance learning courses in association with the Georgia Institute of Technology in courses such as Intro Computer Science, Intro to Object Oriented Programming, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Applied Combinatorics, and Differential Equations for students who have met the requirements.

Marching band

The South Forsyth War Eagle Marching Band is an extracurricular program in which band students can join and perform. It consists of roughly 150 members who specialize in wind instruments, percussion, and color guard. The program's past shows include the following: K The Phenomenon (2020), Dies Irae (2021), Medusa (2022), [IM]PERFECT (2023), Web of Shadows (2024) and their current show, Element 79 (2025). They have been awarded the title of superior at various marching band competitions, as well as the titles of grand champion and recipient of the Randall Coleman Award for Musical Excellence for their show Dies Irae at the White Columns Invitational in Milton, Georgia, as well as scoring highly at Music for All Affiliate Shows. The marching band has also attended and performed at the Bands of America (BOA) Ballad Health East Tennessee Regional 2024 in Johnson City, Tennessee, on October 19, 2024.

Student data

Students are drawn from Piney Grove Middle School, Lakeside Middle School, and South Forsyth Middle School. South currently serves students in grades 9-12. Students can also ask to transfer to South from other schools to participate in the competitive IB program.

Demographics

During the 2023–24 school year, South Forsyth had an enrollment of 2,508 students, with 1,264 male and 1,244 female students. The student body was 43.8% Asian, 41.5% White, 7.5% Hispanic, 2.6% Black, 4.0% Multiracial, and 0.6% American Indian or Native Alaskan.

Notable alumni

• Zac Brown: founder and leader of the Zac Brown Band
• Jalen Camp: NFL wide receiver
• Billy Magnussen: actor
• Ryann Redmond: actress and singer
• Ruwa Romman: Georgia state representative and 2026 gubernatorial candidate
• Chris Rowley: MLB pitcher
• Landon Sims: MLB draftee
• Marjorie Taylor Greene (née Taylor): congresswoman from Georgia's 14th congressional district

References

References

1. "Mission, Vision, Motto".
2. "South Forsyth High School". National Center for Education Statistics.
3. "South Forsyth High School".
4. "Georgia School Reports | Georgia School Reports".
5. "Welcome to the home of the War Eagles!".
6. "West Forsyth High School".
7. "School History".
8. "2014 Bond".
9. (July 20, 2015). "Designs completed for North, South Forsyth high schools". [[Forsyth County News]].
10. "FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS 2014 CAPITAL PROGRAM TIMELINE".
11. (7 September 1990). "TEEN GIVES UP AFTER 5-HOUR HOSTAGE ORDEAL". Deseret News.
12. "Teen Charged With Kidnapping 53 in School Hostage Situation". AP News.
13. Tagami, Ty. (February 4, 2021). "Greene references gun incident at her Georgia high school". [[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]].
14. "2021-2022 Region Alignments | GHSA.net".
15. "GHSA Region Alignment". GHSA.
16. "GHSFHA South Forsyth Yearly Region Standings". GHSFHA.
17. "2008-2009 GHSA State Literary Meet Results - Class AAAAA | GHSA.net".
18. "Athletics / Cheerleading".
19. "South Forsyth Sails Away with Team Title, Galarza Gets Redemption Taking Overall".
20. "Advanced Studies".
21. "The International Baccalaureate Programme".
22. "World Languages / World Languages Department".
23. SFHS Bands Boosters. (2020-11-23). "South Forsyth High School Bands - K the Phenomenon - Forsyth County Band Jamboree".
24. SFHS Bands Boosters. (2021-11-07). "South Forsyth High School War Eagle Marching Band - Dies Irae - White Columns Invitational".
25. "Ballad Health East Tennessee Regional 2024".
26. "2014 - 2015 Feeder Patterns, Forsyth County Schools".
27. "Zac Brown Band keeps on rockin".
28. (2018-06-19). "Jalen Camp".
29. "Captivating audiences: Actor Billy Magnussen got his start in Forsyth County".
30. "How Forsyth County native's casting as Olaf on Broadway is groundbreaking".
31. Craig, Maggie. "‘I Want People to see me for who I am’: South Alumna Ruwa Romman Secures Historic Election to Georgia State House".
32. "South Forsyth to retire number of former pitcher Chris Rowley, first West Point grad in MLB".
33. "THE GRIND: South Forsyth's Sims balances promising baseball career with football".
34. Tagami, Ty. "Greene references gun incident at her Georgia high school". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.