Senior Atlas Kosedag was named the Rome Exchange Club Youth of the Year after being selected as a top five finalist.
"As a senior, Atlas has elected to participate in the Senior Ventures class," said Ivy Brewer, dean of college guidance and Kosedag's college adviser. "Senior Ventures is a year-long academic program built on a framework of leadership, innovation and community engagement. Through a proven self-guided exploratory process, seniors whose proposals are selected for this program work independently to develop a project that’s interdisciplinary in scope and is connective, performance-based, investigative, or entrepreneurial. It is fitting that Atlas' Senior Ventures project leans into serving others. Service has been an important part of Atlas’ life since he was little. Before Atlas came to Darlington in fifth grade, his older sister attended. With his sister, Atlas participated in a program that we had called Light the Lake where we honored members of our community battling cancer. As his mother passed away from breast cancer when he was nine, he fondly remembers Light the Lake as a font of community support. The event was lost to the pandemic, but Atlas has resurrected it so that others may experience the solace that it brought him so many years ago. A scholar and a servant leader, Atlas Kosedag makes a positive impact on his Darlington community and the world beyond our gates."
An eight-year day student from Rome, Kosedag runs cross country, track and field, and spent two years on the varsity swim team. Last year, he helped the varsity track and field team to their 2024 GHSA A-DI state championship win. Kosedag also serves as student body president, co-founder and co-president of the Servant Leadership Committee, coverage editor of the Jabberwokk yearbook, "Y" cabinet leader and a day leader in Neville House.
The son of Arman Kosedag and the late Sureyya Kosedag, he will be attending either the Georgia Institute of Technology or Tufts University in the fall.
Kosedag was honored along with the other finalist at a banquet on Friday, March 28, where he received a $300 prize from the Exchange Club.
