Mountain Brook child wins recipe contest, to attend White House state dinner

Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2012, 1:54 PM    

 By William Thornton -- The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News

MOUNTAIN BROOK, Alabama --- Nine-year-old Falcon Wiles of Mountain Brook has been recognized as one of the state winners in First Lady Michelle Obama's nationwide recipe challenge to promote healthy lunches.

Wiles was named today along with 53 other winners, aged 8 to 12, representing all the U.S. states, three territories and the District of Columbia. Wiles' recipe was "Alabama's Yummy Summer Soup," which will be available later at the recipe challenge website.

The contest, part of Obama's "Let's Move!" program to fight childhood obesity, garnered more than 1,200 recipe entries. It was sponsored by Epicurious, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture.

Wiles will be invited along with the other winners to a White House state dinner Aug. 20, hosted by Mrs. Obama. Winners will also get a tour of the White House kitchen garden.

To enter the contest, children were asked to look over the nutritional guidelines of the USDA site to make sure their dishes were healthy.

Great Debater: Mountain Brook Senior Won’t Rest on Last Year’s Laurels

July 24, 2012  

Mountain Brook High’s Wyatt Moorer wants to top his debate records, which includes being named best Lincoln-Douglass debater in the state, during his senior year.

By Laura McAlister
Journal Editor, Over the Mountain Journal

Being named the state’s top Lincoln-Douglas debater was quite an honor for Wyatt Moore. But he’s still got one more year of high school, and his plans are to top that.
Last school year, Wyatt’s debating skills earned him the state’s top spot in Lincoln-Douglas debate and received the Most Outstanding State Competitor award. The Mountain Brook High School student hopes to keep those titles and add more during his senior year.
“I’d like to defend my title as Alabama State Champion in Lincoln-Douglas debate, ” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll qualify for Nationals like I did my sophomore year or the Tournament of Champions. That would be a first. That would be a very big deal.”

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http://www.otmj.com/2012/07/great-debater-mountain-brook-senior-wont-rest-on-last-years-laurels/

Four state titles help Mountain Brook win 2011-12 Metro All-Sports Championship

Dennis Lin, Birmingham News, July 08, 2012 9:45 a.m.

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Tatum Jackson of Mountain Brook watches her drive during the AHSAA Girls 6A Sectional Golf Tournament at Highland Park in April. (The Birmingham News/Joe Songer)

Jackie Clayton started coaching at Mountain Brook High School in 1969. Three years later, he left to become the offensive coordinator at Homewood High, a new school at the time.

From there, he went on to stints at Oak Grove, Shades Valley and Vincent. He has coached baseball, basketball, football, golf and wrestling.

In 1996, he returned to Mountain Brook. Since then, he has coached hundreds of Spartans student-athletes, some of them the children of former proteges.

“I don’t know that I’ve coached the grandkids yet,” Clayton said, laughing.

The way things have gone the past four decades, those grandkids will probably be raising multiple state trophies in, say, the 2040s.

With another four state titles, Mountain Brook earned the Metro All-Sports Championship in The News’ rankings for the 2011-12 school year. After claiming the same distinction last year, the Spartans have successfully defended their crown as the metro-area’s top athletics program.

Mountain Brook’s all-time state trophy count: “140 and counting,” Athletics Director Terry Cooper said.
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http://highschoolsports.al.com/news/article/4169841129837355425/four-state-titles-help-mountain-brook-win-2011-12-metro-all-sports-championship/

Mountain Brook High drummer chosen for Grammys summer camp

Published: Wednesday, July 04, 2012, 10:34 AM Updated: Wednesday, July 04, 2012, 11:52 AM

By William Thornton -- The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News

 

Harrison Jones, a 16-year-old drummer from Mountain Brook, is one of 136 high school students across the country selected to attend a Grammy Camp this summer. The camp he will attend in Los Angeles is intended to teach the basics of the music industry. (The Birmingham News/Beverly Taylor)

MOUNTAIN BROOK, Alabama -- A Mountain Brook drummer is one of 136 high school students from around the nation selected to take part in the eighth annual Grammy Camp, where teens get a crash course in the basics of being a professional in the music industry.
Harrison Jones, 16, will travel to the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music July 14-23 for the camp. Other participants selected will travel to similar camps in Nashville and New York.
The camp is supported by the Grammy Foundation, Best Buy, Black River Entertainment, Converse and Guitar Center. Jones was the only Alabama resident chosen to attend at any of the camps.
Jones, 16, a junior at Mountain Brook High School, said he has been playing drums for seven years and was inspired by his grandfather, who played drums in several bands. Harrison is drummer for Dry Honor, a band inspired by White Stripes that plays rock, some jazz and rhythm and blues. "This is a huge deal," he said of the camp. "It's not just about learning about your instrument, but learning about the whole industry. And it's a real honor to represent my state."
At Jones' camp, participants will get training in recording, engineering, concert production, music production, music journalism, songwriting and recording. While Harrison owns some recording equipment, he has never professionally recorded music, which is one of the reasons the camp appealed to him.
Jones' mother, Jennifer, said it was the professional immersion the camp promised, as well as its connection to the Grammys, the music industry's signature award, that inspired Harrison to apply.
"It just sounds like the chance of a lifetime," she said.