You remember them from your school days, the students at the top of the class. They’re the athletes and the star students, the creative ones and the young public servants. In the Top of their Class series we will look at the lives of three students at the top of their class from three very different schools in Macon.

Ashanti Jones attends Southwest High School. Southwest has one of the lowest graduation rates in the city, but officials hope the school is on the rebound under new leadership. Ashanti came to Southwest after a few years in a suburban Atlanta high school and readjusting to life at Southwest took some time. We met Ashanti while she was shooting photos for the high school yearbook during a homecoming week pep rally.