Meadowcreek High School opened in August of 1986 to relieve overcrowding at Berkmar and Norcross high schools. Meadowcreek was named for the Meadows Family School and the Creek Indians, both once located near the site of the school. Today, the location at 4455 Steve Reynolds Boulevard is prime real estate, fronted by a five-lane thoroughfare a mile or so from Interstate 85.

The opening of Meadowcreek High School was with the hard work, persistence and dedication that exists today. The faculty and staff collaborated and worked hard day and night before the first day of school to turn a new building into an inspired learning environment. The excitement of Mustang pride was present on the first day of school as the students entered their new facility.

The newly assembled staff of 50 and the new student body, two-thirds of whom came from Berkmar and one-third from Norcross, displayed their resilience and Mustang Pride as they worked at overcoming new construction obstacles and created a spirit of cooperation and commitment to their new home. Meadowcreek during its initial year displayed its commitment to community service as Meadowcreek housed 500 eighth-grade students and 20 teachers from Sweetwater Middle School, which was overcrowded.

Upon opening, Meadowcreek truly was an Globally represented School as it grew to become a microcosm of the world as the school students represented at least a dozen cultures, nationalities and languages. By 1999, the school population represented 60 countries and 75 languages. That diversity has continued to grow as the Gwinnett community has grown. Throughout the years, the school has embraced its global community, celebrating their differences as well as their commitment to providing a quality education to their children.

Address: 4455 Steve Reynolds Boulevard Norcross, GA 30093.

School Colors: Carolina Blue and White

School Mascot: Mustang

The following have served as principal of Meadowcreek High School:

1986 - 1989        Byron Collier

1989 - 1994        Scott Smith

1995 - 1998        Pat Mahon

1999 - 2002        Ronnie Ford

2003 - 2006        Angela Pringle

2006 - 2011        Bob Jackson

2011 - 2019        Dr. Tommy T. Welch

2019 - Present    Dr. Kevin Wood

The school’s mascot is the Mustang and the colors are Carolina blue and white. These were chosen by the first student body from a variety of choices. While the logo has been updated over the years, to this day, the school is known as The Mighty and Proud Mustangs. 

In addition to changes to its logo, there have been other changes in the look of Meadowcreek High School as the facility itself has grown to serve its students and community. The original 47-classroom building covered 150,916 square feet and was built at a cost of $7,169,1622. The Meadowcreek campus actually was home to two schools in 1988 as it welcomed Gwinnett Open Campus High School, an alternative means for students to receive a high school education. This program continued to grow and ultimately became Phoenix High School which is located in Lawrenceville.

In 1993, a 16-classroom addition opened. As the community continued to grow, so did the school with additions opening in 1998, 2001, and 2005. As part of the 2001 addition, the school also received a new theatre and gym. A number of athletic facility upgrades were made over time. The school’s latest addition opened in 2016 in the form of the build-out of the school’s third floor.

As a relatively new school, Meadowcreek students demonstrated the desire to compete at high levels with the more established schools in the county by winning in junior varsity competition in wrestling, soccer and football. Four county winners in the Mosaic writing competition came from Meadowcreek the first year it opened. In its second and third years, the school won the state championship in one-act play, produced a number of Governor’s Honors finalists, won first place in the social studies junior varsity scholars bowl team out of 42 teams from South Carolina and Georgia.

The sports program began playing a varsity schedule during its third year and proved to be more than just competitive. The football team was region runner-up. The wrestling team won the region and produced a state champion, Alex Paucar, in his weight class. The cross country team was region runner-up and the girls’ basketball team was sub-region runner-up. The fine arts program also excelled with many art students winning both cash and honorary awards. Not to be out done, the band and chorus achieved superior ratings at their respective competitions. Other extracurricular highlights include the 1993 state softball championship team, a trip to the state basketball tournament for the Lady Mustangs in 1995, and a second place finish in the county and state Scholar’s Bowl competition in 1997.

Meadowcreek’s accolades began to grow stronger and more consistent in the 21st century through recognition by the Georgia Department of Education as an Advanced Placement Honor School, awardwinning students who garner prestigious scholarships including those offered by The Broad Foundation and the Gates Millennium Foundation, honors from The Washington Post and U.S. News and World Reports as a top high school, and state and national honors for its culinary arts program and RoboMustangs robotics team.

In 2012, Meadowcreek High was awarded a federal grant, valued at more than $3.2 million, to develop and implement an academy structure at the school, beginning in 2014–15. Through its academies, the school sought to allow students to pursue core and elective coursework in specific career-focused areas. This was the birth of Meadowcreek U— five smaller learning communities that offer a focused learning environment for students based on academic and career themes. Meadowcreek’s Academy Program, along with those found at four other Gwinnett high schools, is an innovative program designed to engage students.

Meadowcreek U includes the following academies: The School of International Business; The School of Science,Technology, and Engineering; The School of Public Service and Leadership; and Creek Nine Academy.

The school has established a number of key partnerships that have helped develop its academy programs. In 2015, Meadowcreek opened Georgia’s first on-campus banking center for students and staff. Brand Bank was vital in creating this opportunity of establishing a branch in the school that serves students and the Meadowcreek community. In 2016, Meadowcreek collaborated with the Georgia Institute of Technology to create Georgia’s first S.T.E.M.-inspired maker’s space in a traditional school to create and develop innovative learning experiences to reality. 

Learning and leadership continues to go hand-in-hand at the school and is celebrated among students, teachers, and administrators. In fact, Principal Tommy Welch was recognized in 2016–17 as Georgia Secondary Schools Association’s Principal of the Year for the work he and the school have accomplished in ensuring high student achievement, facilitating character development and providing opportunities for leadership development through parental involvement, effective teaching, and student mastery of the AKS.

A number of other partnerships have played an integral role in the success of Meadowcreek High School and its students. Since its third year, the school has had a successful partnership with Vulcan Materials, a rock quarry business and neighbor to the south of the school. In addition to traditional partnership activities, the company has made Meadowcreek High School and several other schools in the cluster the beneficiary of its annual Quarry Crusher Race.

Another long-standing partnership, with the Georgia Institute of Technology, has focused on developing the Goizueta STEM Initiative. In other partnership examples, MHS students participate in a two-week STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Summer Institute, sponsored by GoSTEM, CEISMC, and ProjectGrad. The school also partners with postsecondary schools to benefit its teaching corps, for example, it participated in the Network for Enhancing Teacher Quality (NET-Q) with Georgia State University.