Ron Clark Academy
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The Ron Clark Academy is a non-profit middle school, housed in a renovated red brick warehouse[1] located in southeast Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded by its namesake, Ron Clark, and co-founder Kim Bearden, the school has students in fourth through eighth grades, from a wide range of economic backgrounds. Classes began on September 4, 2007.
Media attention
Students in debate class at Ron Clark Academy created a song about the 2008 U.S. presidential election, "Vote However You Like", to the same beat and melody of "Whatever You Like" by T.I. A performance of the song by 6th and 7th graders was posted on the internet and drew a wide viewership.[2] T.I. paid a surprise visit to the Academy after learning of their remake of his song.[3] On October 31, 2008, the "Students of Ron Clark Academy" were named the ABC Person of the Week by ABC World News Tonight.[4] They were also invited to perform at the 2009 Inauguration.[5]
A video of the students of Ron Clark Academy being told they were seeing the Marvel film Black Panther went viral and was covered by many major news outlets.[6]
In January 2019, the school produced a music video in collaboration with the rapper Ludacris and Mercedes-Benz, one of the school's donors. It was a promotional video for Super Bowl LIII, which was held in Atlanta that year. The music video highlighted notable locations and businesses located in Atlanta. Ron Clark Academy also has a house system, which has been used by many schools across America.
References
- ^ "Change the world – Atlanta". hvtv.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
- ^ Graham, Nicholas (October 29, 2008). "'Vote However You Like' Video By Ron Clark Academy Students". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
- ^ "TI visits the Academy". October 29, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
- ^ Aasen, Susan and Lauren Sher (October 31, 2008). "Person of the Week:Kids Sing Impassioned Get-Out-The-Vote Song; Ron Clark Academy's Students Become Internet Sensation With Voting Hit". ABC World News Tonight. ABC News. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
- ^ John Murgatroyd; Ashley Fantz (20 January 2009). "Bringing song to Obama's inauguration, students savor fame - CNN.com". CNN.com. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ^ Victor, Philip J. "These kids are seeing 'Black Panther' and their reaction is Marvel-ous". CNN. Retrieved 2018-02-04.