Kent-Meridian High School

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Kent-Meridian High School
Front View
Motto	Royal Pride
Established	1951
School type	Free public
District	Kent School District
Grade levels	9^th through 12^th
Principal	Tim Sherry
Location	Kent, Washington, USA
Campus	Suburban,
Enrollment	1,951
Faculty	65
Mascot	Royals
Colors	Blue and White
Homepage	Kent-Meridian Homepage

Kent-Meridian High School is a high school located in Kent, Washington. It is part of the Kent School District and had an enrollment of 1,918 in October 2004. Its principal is Tim Sherry.^[1]

The school opened in its present form in 1951 when the Kent School District merged with the Panther Lake and Meridian School Districts. This new high school served all three districts.^[2] The former Kent High School building became Kent Junior High School.^[3]

Kent-Meridian High School's athletic teams are known as the Royals. Teams compete at French Field located next to the school.

For many years Kent-Meridian had a nationally-acclaimed jazz program under the venerable Hal Sherman, who is a legend in his own time and known throughout the entire nation. Starting in the late '60s, Kent-Meridian regularly swept almost every state competition and was the centerpiece of the Kent-Meridian Jazz Festival, which packed the old Seattle Center Opera House (now McCaw Hall) every year. Kent-Meridian branched out from local competitions to Reno, Nev.; Wichita, Kan.; Vancouver, B.C.; Montreux, Switzerland; and Berlin. In 1973, Sherman inaugurated the popular Kent-Meridian Jazz Festival, inviting guest artists such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Michael Brecker and Frank Rosolino. In 1988, a change of administration prompted Sherman to leave Kent-Meridian.

Washington native Dick Pruett coached Kent-Meridian wrestlers to astonishing success for 26 years (1966-1992). He compiled a dual match record of 298-72-7. His teams amassed 17 league titles, 14 Sub Regional Championships, were Regional Champs 10 times and produced 3 State Championships, 2nd and 4 thirds, totaling 9 times placing in the top 3 in State. Individually Dick's wrestlers claimed 80 League Champs, 62 Regional Champs, and 16 State Champs (one of those being his son Joe, who took the 135 title in 1985.) Dick counts 63 wrestlers as state placers. Kent residents remember fondly the great leadership and consistent dominance of wrestlers under Coach Pruett.

Another legend of Kent-Meridian is the late Gunter Bohrmann who taught gymnastics, leading the boys gymnastics team to 12 regional titles, eight state titles and two national titles between 1969 and 1982. He became the coach of the Kent-Meridian girls gymnastics in 1985 and lead them to the state title. He retired in 2001.

Kent-Meridian has enjoyed a fine swimming facility which was originally built as a part of King County Forward Thrust.

Kent-Meridian was involved in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1997. Mark Iversen vs. Kent School District, et al, which alleged that a student at Kent-Meridian was repeatedly harassed for being gay. The suit was settled in 1999.^[4]

The school hosts the home games for the King County Jaguars, a semi-professional football team in the Minor League Football Association.

[edit] Notable alumni

Several Japanese and Japanese-American students who in the spring of 1942 were removed from their high-school classes at KM's precursor, Kent High School, to Camp Harmony, an internment camp at what is now the site of the Puyallup Fairgrounds.[1], [2]
Jack Halbrook Elder (class of 1959), represented the United States in the luge competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan ^[5]
Rebecca Lee Pozzi, Miss Washington 1972 ^[6]
Dave Reichert, Congressman from Washington^[7]
Former Seattle Mariner Karl Best (class of '77)^[8].

[edit] References

^ Report Card from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ "Period of Rapid Growth (1950-Today)" Kent History: A Virtual Tour of Kent, Washington Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ Slater, Marcia. "Curriculum Management Audit:History of Kent School District December 1998. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ Settlement Reached in Harassment of Gay Student from the ACLU January 1, 1999. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ JISS Olympic Result Database Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ "Miss America 1973 Delegates" Miss USA Magic. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ Longoria, Ruth. "Reichert to seek reelection" Mercer Island Reporter July 6, 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
^ "Karl Best Stats"