Howard W. Blake High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since June 2006. (help, talk) |
| Howard W. Blake High School | |
| Home of the Yellow Jackets | |
| Established | 1956 |
| School type | Public |
| Principal | Jacqueline Haynes |
| Location | Tampa, Florida |
| Enrollment | 1,680 |
| Colors | Black and Gold |
| Homepage | Official website |
Howard W. Blake High School opened originally in 1956 in Tampa, Florida. In 1997, the school moved to its current Tampa location on North Boulevard.
The school is named in honor of Howard W. Blake, a Tampa native who attended Florida A&M University, Claflin University, and Atlanta University. Blake's entire life was geared toward guiding young people to their optimal education and vocational potential.
Blake was originally open to only African-American students in the Tampa area as one of the two black schools during segregation in Tampa, the other being its current rival school Middleton High School. After Tampa integrated the schools, Blake was shut down until 1997. Upon re-opening in 1997, the school added a magnet program for the visual, communication and performing arts. The magnet program has continued to make headlines and win countless awards within each of its departments over the years.
Blake also boasts a strong academic curriculum, featuring over 15 Advanced Placement programs in which nearly all of the classes score higher on their AP tests than the National average. Blake has a reputation of being a somewhat dangerous school, such as in the 2005-2006 school year when a knife was rumored to be on campus and also, later in the same school year, a riot broke out off campus before school, gang related. Nine student were arrested and expelled.
Blake's current principal is Ms. Jaqueline Haynes. It is well know for its Musical Theater, Acting, Drama, Journalism, Creative Writing, Art, Voice, Costume Design, Music (Band, Chorus, Orchestra) and Dance departments.
Contents |
[edit] Mission
The mission of Howard W. Blake High School is to guide all students to achieve their full potential in academics and the arts within an interactive environment. Blake High School will partner with students to attain the highest level achievement in the academics and the arts.
[edit] Liberal Arts versus Performing Arts
The Magnet Program was designed to bring more students from the suburban areas in Tampa into the inner city, where the school is located. Otherwise Howard W. Blake would not have had as much diversity in its students. Some have argued though, that the magnet program even though it's supposed to promote diversity still manages to separate students into different groups. Students that are bussed in to Blake because it is the school that is assigned to their area are Liberal Arts students. The majority of them being black and latino students that live in the surrounding area and are lower middle class or below. Fine Arts students are bussed in from all over Hillsborough county. These students, for the most part, are caucasian. A fine art student can go through four years of high school without taking more than 6 classes with a liberal art student and vice versa. This has lead to division within the student body into these two different groups.
[edit] Accelerated Education
Blake Accelerated Curriculum Program is an online high school magnet program in the School District of Hillsborough County. Our is one of seven franchises of Florida Virtual School. Our online program has certified teachers that are innovative and motivated to teach in an online format. This program allows students to complete about 95% of their coursework online. Students only report to campus for midterms, final exams, tutoring, and other testing settings. Students can actually customize their education to become accelerated or to just accommodate their needs. Some students accelerate their high school career by 1-2 years early.
[edit] Creative Writing and Yellow Jacket Press
Yellow Jacket Press is produced by the Journalism Department at Blake School of the Arts in Tampa, Florida. The Creative Writing Department (a different Department from the Journalism Department) is home to the Yellow Jacket Press Chapbook Contest for Florida Poets. The participants in this contest include students of Blake and professional poets and writers from all around the state of Florida. Visit the Yellow Jackets press web page click here
[edit] Performing Arts
The performing arts program provides a structured opportunity for the study of drama, musical theatre and technical theatre as primary divisions of art and literature, the performance and production of plays, and the personal growth and development of the individual.
[edit] Dance department
The Blake Dance department is part of the magnet program at Blake High School in Tampa, Florida, USA. Teachers now in charge are Mrs. Albena Arnadova (Ballet) and Ms. Kelly Rayl(Modern). It hosts about 5 performances a year. Blake Dance also hosts the Hillsborough Dance Magnet Gala.
Students also take tech and choreography classes. Select students received scholarships this year to Alvin Ailey, Atlanta Festival Ballet, Patel Conservatory and even the Boston Conservatory. Some dancers are sent over to compete in the National Youth Grand Prix competition.
[edit] Athletics
The school colors are black and gold.
Men's sports the school offers include Basketball, Baseball (male only), Cheerleading, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Soccer, Track and Field, Tennis, and Wrestling.
Women's sports the school offers include Basketball, Softball (female only), Cheerleading, Football, Golf, Soccer, Track and Field, Tennis, Volleyball (female only), and Wrestling.
The club sport of rowing was started in 2004 for both men and women, by several students and under the sponsorship of the Stewards Foundation.
The school has a very successful arts program, busing students in from all over Hillsborough County to study subjects such as dance, theatre, visual arts, creative writing, television, journalism, and music.
