May 2023 | Volume 14 | Issue 2
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Broadcast Student of the Year has multimedia aspirations By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE
Crestline resident’s love of dogs drives family dog-treat business, Gaines Family Farmstead.
See page A15
Z
ach Touger is leaving his mark on the Mountain Brook Schools. From his elementary years at Cherokee Bend through junior high and high school, the senior said he will be extremely well prepared for
the future when he heads to college. Always pushing himself academically, Touger has taken mostly AP classes during high school, including five as a senior. He was picked for the top 5% of the seniors in his class (along with about 18 other students) based on his 4.52 GPA. He said his Spanish classes have allowed
him to reach the highest level in high school and receive the seal of biliteracy, and he is considered fluent by state standards.
See TOUGER | page A18
‘The Right Time’
MBHS Principal Philip Holley retires after 28 years in education.
See page B6
INSIDE Sponsors........... A4 City......................A6 Business........... A10 Community........B4 Schoolhouse......B6
Events.................B8 Sports.................B9 Opinion............. B14 Calendar............B15
Zach Touger, a senior at Mountain Brook High School, works on graphics in the control room for Spartan 2 News, the school’s morning news show on April 4. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Art in the Village features 50-plus local artists
facebook.com/villageliving
By GRACE THORNTON
People browse the various booths during the Art in the Village event outside of Mountain Brook City Hall in Crestline Village in April 2022. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Nicki Cochran definitely isn’t the only person in Alabama with an affinity for art that features elephants. But her reasoning might be slightly different than most. Yes, she had family members with ties to the University of Alabama. “I was introduced to the world of college football by my aunt, who was an Alabama cheerleader in college,”
she said. But there was a second reason — a bigger one. “My parents were missionaries in South Africa when I was growing up,” said Cochran, who paints under the name Art by Nicola Jeanette. “For me, the elephant represents this dual identity of being South African but also American.”
See ART | page A16