WONDERS OF STRATFORD

You never quite know what is going to happen in The Pit. It's a place for parking, hanging out and reflecting on the school day. The Pit has become one of Stratford’s most well known Wonders. Hidden next to the baseball field, it got its unique name from its unique location-- a pit-like area next to the tennis courts and below the teacher parking lot. Although the hike to home room in the morni...

What is filled with yellow daffodils, consumed with pep, where legacies are remembered, and has grandparents filled with joy? The Grady gymnasium. The Grady gym  is more than just a hardwood floor with six basketball goals and 1600 seats. It is where the Stratford hall of fame is held every year. This gym holds the sweet singing of kids on Grandparents Day. The Grady holds the end of the year...

The  Gazebo anchor desk is located in the news studio in the northwest wing of the library. It was donated to Stratford by WMAZ-TV in November, after the Macon station upgraded its news set. The desk is 15 feet wide, 9 feet deep and is elevated on a platform. There are three news monitors across the front to display videos, photos and features from the stratforgazebo.com website. It originally was at WUSA-...

People can often see color guard and band students on the Treble Clef patio, also called The Tommy Robinson Memorial Garden. It can be found outside of the band room and it has an important story behind it. Tommy Robinson, a seventh-grade band student at Stratford, became ill and passed away during the spring of 2006. He was 14 years old. He was known for his passion for the trombone. His p...

The Eagle statue sits in the Grady gym watching guard over all the activities. It was donated to Stratford Academy in 1975, by David Redding. Mr. Redding’s niece, Evelyn Redding played basketball for the Stratford Eaglettes during this time. After years of wear and tear, the eagle needed a renovation. A few summers ago, Tara Smith, Coach Ed Smith’s wife, repainted the eagle, making it g...

The concession stand at the football stadium has provided food and drinks to Stratford fans for years. It is located beneath the press box on the home side of the stadium. Some of the items on the menu include Zaxby's chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, candy, and various soft drinks. Parents and booster club members grill the hamburger and hot dogs themselves. Dr. and Mrs. Carl Schuessle...

Math teacher Mr. Griff Etheridge's classroom is considered a wonder. Having occupied his room for 20 years at Stratford, it is filled with many different interesting items. The walls of Room 116 are brightly covered with string projects completed by his past pre-Cal students. He also has a bulletin board filled with “Florida Man” newspaper titles, an ongoing joke that he has been explaining t...

Mr. Andy Lawson’s ruler is a Stratford relic known by students and alumni. The middle school history teacher, who is in his 46th year at Stratford, said it is famous because “it has been with me for over 40 years.” The ruler, or “the Enforcer” as Mr. Lawson calls it, has received some breakage through the years. Mr. Lawson repairs the damage he can with tape. "It used to be quite a b...

The Stratford cross country trail has been around for more than 20 years. Before the trail was built, the cross country runners had to run around the Stratford parking lot. The actual course is a mile and a half loop, but that includes the track and path behind the track. The trail has had many changes. One is that it used to compose of one big hill in the back of the woods, but it had to be cut...

The disco ball on the railings at the top of the Tift Auditorium has an interesting history. Director Ms. Sylvia Haynie said it was placed there in the fall of ‘92, by students in the Class of 1994. The students also hooked up a Wii to the projector in the auditorium. On the projector they would play Mario Cart. The disco ball was put up as a joke, but it has lasted a very long time. Ms. Hay...

Although the LSC helps students with academic difficulty, throughout the duration of its years it has formed eternal relationships between its students and staff. In August of 1998, director Mrs. Patsy Hayslip opened the doors.  Mrs. Hayslip estimated that annually, the program gains 100 students in both its tutorial and comprehensive programs. In the 2018-2019 academic year, 103 students are...

Most everyone knows the superstition of the "unlucky" middle door. In the front entrance of Stratford, you will rarely see a student walking through the middle door. Most people walk in the right side door because that side has the key card scanner then they exit through the left side door. If a student has an important presentation or a test they are especially nervous about, they make sure to avoid ...

Standing about 30 feet tall, and in the center of the Stratford campus, the flagpole is very authentic and well-known at Stratford Academy, being one of the first items put into the ground when this campus was built. Every day before and after school,  students from the seventh grade raise the American flag in the morning, and take the flag down at the end of the school day. Students in h...

On a relaxed day, when the weather is nice, some teachers take their classes out to the outdoor classroom. The classroom is located in the woods by the softball complex. The outdoor classroom was built when Henry Tift was the Head of Stratford. At the time, Stratford had attempted to purchase the Gazebo on the lawn from the Woodruff House, the site of old Stratford Academy on Coleman Hill. ...