Redan senior Justin Whitening (baseball) and Chamblee junior Olivia Li (golf) added to their Atlanta Regional Positive Athlete honors collecting the state-wide honor for their respective sports by the Positive Athlete of Georgia Organization (Positive Athlete – Georgia)

It is the second consecutive year for DeKalb County School District to get two student-athletes chosen for the state-wide honor. Columbia girls’ basketball player Daija Carr and Chamblee gymnast Solange Jackson earned the selection for their respective sports in 2020.

Positive Athlete recognizes athletes for overcoming adversity, giving back to their school and communities in significant ways and for their infectious positive attitudes that makes those around them better on and off the field. Athletes are nominated by their coaches, parents, teachers, family members and fans. The organization has given away over $350,000 in scholarships in the past seven years.

Li marks the second consecutive female student-athlete from Chamblee to earn state-wide honors from Positive Athlete. The junior golfer is a GHSA State Tournament participant, a DCSD County Golf Championships runner-up (2021) and winner of the DeKalb County Realtor’s Golf Tournament (2019). She is currently serving as a Clubhouse Attendant Intern for First Tee of Metro Atlanta as well as serving as an Ace Level Participant/Coach since 2014.

Academically she is an Honors College dual enrollment student at Georgia State University, a Georgia Certificate of Merit Scholar (2021), AP Scholar with Distinction, National Honor Society member (Vice President) and Future Business Leaders of America (first place in Personal Finance and Broadcast Journalism at Regionals).

She has also won numerous Chamblee High awards and accolades including the CCHS Bulldog Award (2020), Chamblee Bulldog Service Award (2019, 2020; 20+ hours of community service per year), CCHS Leadership Award (2019) and CCHS Citizenship Award (2019).

Li also serves her school and community as a math tutor (Analytic Geometry and Advance Algebra), Buckhead Church (Small Group Leader for 4-year olds), Purple Stride Atlanta (fund raising for Pancreatic Cancer Action Network), the Interact Club (coordinating and engaging in volunteer events supporting the Metro-Atlanta community) and the 21st Century Leadership Program. As part of Test of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) she won first place in the essay section and third overall.

Redan’s Whitening started off his journey to the state-wide honor for baseball with his selection Atlanta/DeKalb County Regional winner. This honor led to his being named the winner of the $1,000 Northside Hospital Leadership Award.

Whitening played both basketball and baseball at Redan while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. His academic success while playing two sports led to his being named to the 2021 DeKalb County Dugout Club All-Academic Team.

He serves as President of the National Honor Society at Redan High, is a Georgia Merit Scholar and a member of the Governor Honors Program. Whitening also takes time out of his busy schedule to help tutor his peers throughout the school year.

The senior also served on the DCSD Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, as a DeKalb County Youth Commissioner, and is a member of the Emerging DeKalb County Leaders Program. He is also a contributor to the 21st Century Leadership Program, National Youth Leadership and the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

Whitening recently won a $1,000 Funding Grant for second place in the Ownership Idea Fest to help develop a future business venture.