“This is one of my favorite parts of the day,” said North Whitfield Middle School sixth-grader Seth Harris as he led a group of community business leaders to the school’s cafeteria. “Here you can have all the options you want.”
Harris, with 13 other sixth- and seventh-grade students, make up the school’s Pioneer Pathfinders student leadership team this year.
During a Red Carpet Tour of the school on March 21, the members of the leadership team had the opportunity to become North Whitfield’s official tour guides for a day as they showcased programs, sports and classroom activities.
Red Carpet Tours are a joint effort among area school systems, Believe Greater Dalton and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce that allow members of the community and local business leaders to receive an in-depth look inside the inner workings of a typical school day.
“In 1954, North Whitfield opened as North Whitfield High School with 493 students,” said seventh-grader Kelsey Brackett. “It became North Whitfield Middle School in 1974, when North Whitfield High School was consolidated with other area high schools. Today, North Whitfield Middle School is one of five middle schools in our Whitfield County Schools system and it’s home to 783 students in grades six through eight.”
The tour gave the community members an opportunity to learn more about North Whitfield’s newer, more modern school building, with sixth-grade student Halle Farner providing a brief rundown of the facility.
“This school building opened in August of 2021,” Farner said. “It is 147,000 square feet in size and has the capacity to accommodate at least 1,000 students. The total project cost around $26 million.”
The majority of the funds used to complete the project came from the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which is a 1% tax on most goods sold in the county that can be used for the funding of school system capital projects.
During the opening of the tour, several students provided information on the school.
“Every student at North Whitfield comes from one of our four feeder schools — Cohutta Elementary, Varnell Elementary, Beaverdale Elementary and Dawnville Elementary,” said seventh-grader Emma Harden.
Timothy Buerkle, a seventh-grade member of the leadership team, said the school is made up of “74 staff members, including our teachers and administrative staff like our principal, (two) assistant principals, instructional coaches, counselors and media specialists.”
Sixth-grade student Cason Conner listed the school’s many sports programs, including football, soccer, baseball, basketball, cheerleading and softball. Inside the school gym, which seats 1,000, tour group members were shown the two full-size basketball courts and a retractable archery curtain for the school’s archery team.
Before 2011, students at North Whitfield Middle fed into Northwest Whitfield High School after completing eighth-grade. Now, seventh-grader Millie Garner said the school is a proud member of Coahulla Creek High School’s “Colt Nation.”
“In 2011, Coahulla Creek High School opened and North Whitfield became its only feeder middle school,” Garner said. “Our Pioneer families have embraced being Colts, and (North Whitfield) works closely with them as students transition.”
Larry Farner, the principal at North Whitfield, said the partnership between Coahulla Creek High and the middle school has been beneficial.
“For those that grew up here, everybody that went here went to Northwest (Whitfield High),” Farner said. “So, building that bond with Coahulla Creek has taken some work and it has been really good. We’re in a great spot. We do so many things together and we play all of our football games over there now. They come down to our pep rallies. There’s a lot of connection with them. You’ll see a lot of navy woven into our stuff, too, which is part of their color pattern along with silver and white.”
Sixth-grader Rosely Hamilton spoke about the school’s art and band programs.
“Students in our fine arts department such as art, drama and band have opportunities to enhance their knowledge, performance and passion,” Hamilton said. “Our drama team earned an award for best in music at this year’s Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta and our band was recognized at their Large Group Performance Evaluation (part of the Georgia Music Educators Association).”
Inside the band room, sixth-grader Ava Evans showed off her clarinet while Harris showed his tuba-playing skills. Currently, 140 students are involved in the band program.
Sixth-grader Blakely Nix, who participates in the school’s drama department, said the school has a wide variety of activities for students to engage in, including the school’s annual fall festival “as well as dress-up days, school dances, pep rallies, field trips, Science Night and the student/faculty basketball game.”
The tour members stopped in science and math teacher John Riddle’s class to see a lesson on adaptation. Students divided into groups took turns trying to pick up pieces of candy and cereal with custom-made bird beaks.
Seventh-grade leadership team member Emma Bailiff said the activity was one of many ways North Whitfield attempts to engage students through learning.
“At North Whitfield, we believe that learning requires a safe, nonthreatening, respectful and inviting environment,” Bailiff said. “Teachers, students, parents and the community share responsibility for students’ success. Effective teaching only occurs when learning takes place, and students learn when they’re actively engaged … North Whitfield’s mission is to engage every student every day in experiences that result in profound learning.”