The Woodward Academy Upper School Orchestras and String Machine earned first place in the recent New York Heritage Festival sponsored by WorldStrides OnStage. Student musicians competed against orchestras from across the United States and Canada. All of the Woodward ensembles received first place in their divisions, with String Machine receiving the Sweepstakes Award for the highest score from the competition. Juniors Miles Oden and Arjun Srinivasan earned the Ovation Award for excellence in performing their cello duet. The orchestras are led by Upper School choral director Gina Calloway.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

Featured

The DeKalb school district is suing to recover money spent on cellphone lockers, plus money spent on implementing social media guidelines and hosting associated events, lost teaching time and to hire extra school counselors. (The New York Times file)

Credit: NYT