Oak Mountain High School celebrated 20 years of excellence with a special reception held August 22, which featured former OMHS principal and Shelby County Schools Superintendent Randy Fuller.

Fuller, who served as the first principal of Oak Mountain High School and was instrumental in overseeing the construction of the school.

“They hired me the year before the school opened and I had an instruction trailer out next to the construction trailer,” Fuller jokingly told the guests in attendance at the reception. “Our board members wanted this school to be that flagship, that star school, and it was. It was successful in every area from the beginning and it still is.”

Fuller credited the Oak Mountain community and parents with much of that success, including early efforts to secure funding for athletic facilities to be built and other necessary items that were needed for a brand new school.

Current OMHS principal, Dr. Kristi Sayers, agreed that the Oak Mountain community has played a huge part in the overall success of the school and its students.

“Oak Mountain High School is a special place,” said Dr. Sayers. “It’s a place where we all come together and do our very best every day to take care of our students.  It’s a place where the expectation is excellence, and we are blessed to have an entire community that helps us achieve that excellence.

Guests at the event included current and former OMHS faculty and staff, former students, Shelby County Board of Education members, Superintendent Lewis Brooks, and other district leaders. The Oak Mountain Masters, the school’s student ambassadors, helped serve refreshments and gave tours of the school.

“It was a moment to not just celebrate but to recognize the individuals in the community who worked so diligently to open the school,” said Dr. Brooks. “They set the groundwork for the sense of excellence in education. What is amazing is that sense of excellence has lasted 20 years. You can see it in leadership, in the teachers, and in the student’s academic success.”