Javen Johnson, a senior from Ringgold, Georgia, was recently elected McCallie School’s first African American Student Senate president.
The Senate includes 10 students who are elected yearly by McCallie’s student body.
The Student Senate administers the Honor Code, one of McCallie’s most cherished traditions. The code is predicated on the assumption that students are honorable men and have the right to be trusted.
During his term as Senate president, Johnson said he will “present the concept of individual honor to students and uphold the concept through enforcement of the Honor Code.”
Johnson has been a member of the Senate since his freshman year. His student involvement also includes serving as a member of Keo-Kio, McCallie’s senior leadership organization.
He is a saxophonist in McCallie’s pep band and a varsity baseball player.
According to its website, “McCallie School is dedicated to preparing young men to make a positive difference in their world. By fostering their intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional development, the school seeks to inspire and motivate them to strive for excellence; seek truth; live honorably; act responsibly; and help others.”
Founded in 1905, McCallie is an all-male private boarding and day school, and Christian-based college prep school. Its 160-acre campus is located at 500 Dodds Ave. on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga.
McCallie opened the 2021-22 school year with the highest enrollment in its history, 944; as well as the highest boarding enrollment, 291 boys from 28 different states and 15 foreign countries.
McCallie seeks out and accepts boys from all ethnic, racial, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, and places a high value on a diverse student body.
While McCallie’s Board of Trustees agreed to allow the admission of African American students beginning with day students in 1969 and boarding students in 1970, the school did not admit its first African American student, David Chatman, until 1972.