Lincoln Southwest High School

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Lincoln Southwest High School
Lincoln Southwest High School (est. 2002) is the second newest high school in the Lincoln Public Schools district of Lincoln, Nebraska.
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Lincoln Southwest High School (est. 2002) is the second newest high school in the Lincoln Public Schools district of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Home of the Silverhawks
Established 2002
School type High School
Principal Jerry Wilks
Location Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Enrollment 2,000+
Faculty  ?
Mascot Silverhawks
Website LSW Homepage

Lincoln Southwest High School is a public secondary school located in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA and rests on 74 acres adjacent to Wilderness Park. It is part of the Lincoln Public Schools school district. When the school opened its doors in August of 2002, it had 1,150 students from grades 9-12, and 77 teachers. Since its opening, the school has expanded to more than 2,000 students. 40% of the students attending do not live in Southwest's zone of the city, but Lincoln Public Schools has an open district which allows students to attend schools outside their section of the school district. Southwest is the only public high school in Lincoln to operate on a 4X4 block schedule. It also offers a wide range of classes, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and is presently the only public high school in Lincoln to offer the Japanese language as a class. The school's colors are forest green and silver, and its mascot is the Silverhawk. In 2005, Lincoln Southwest High School had nine National Merit Scholars, more than any other school in Lincoln.

Contents

[edit] Academic achievements

[edit] Forensics

The LSW Speech and Debate team has had many of its students reach Nebraska State Finals and the National Forensics Tournament. The NFL 2006 National Tournament took place in Grapevine, Texas about 20 minutes outside of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Lincoln Southwest won the National School of Excellence Award in Debate that year, one of only 7 schools to attain that status. Seniors Matt Rosson and Nick Dalke won tenth place in Public Forum Debate.

[edit] Sports

The school's Varsity Football team, Varsity Women's Soccer team, Varsity Boys Cross Country team, Varsity Girls Cross Country team, and the Varsity Volleyball team have reached Nebraska State competitions.

[edit] Theatre and music

Lincoln Southwest's theatre and music programs have won numerous awards.

LSW theatre took second place in state in the 2004-05 school year for the one-act production, "A Piece of My Heart". A list of productions that have been put on follows. In 2006, Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawk Theatre was the first school in the state to receive the "Outstanding School Award" from the Educational Theatre Association.

[edit] 2002-03

[edit] 2003-04

[edit] 2004-05

[edit] 2005-06

[edit] 2006-07

[edit] Podcast

Southwest is one of the first high schools in the nation to produce a teacher-led, school-approved podcast. The first episode rolled out on 14 April 2005. The podcast is led by Economics teacher Mr. Hershberger and the content is filled by students. Regular student and alumni contributors on the show have included Shelby Luke, Mark Bidrowski, Colin Large, Garret Murdock, Ben Poehlman, Alyssa Martin and Antony Larrick. Most later episodes of the podcast include roundtable discussions focused on current events, especially in the areas of technology and politics.

There is a strong possibility that by the 2007-2008 school year, Podcasting could become a class that all students -- freshmen through seniors -- can take. The class would be the first of its kind.

[edit] Notable non-academic events

[edit] 2002-03 school year (first year of operation)

[edit] "Hobo Day" (Spirit Week)

During school spirit week, "Hobo Day" was protested by many, chanting the slogan, "Hobo Day is not okay." In the future, spirit week celebrations were replaced with less offensive themes.

[edit] School network password dumping (2003)

Toward the end of the 2002-03 school year, the school was caught off-guard when a student was able to create an administrative account on the school's computer network and took advantage of it. All student, teacher and administrative password hashes were dumped and deciphered by several students working together, operating out of the school's library as well as their home computers. Due to the ages of the students involved, no charges could be pressed, nor could their names be publicly released. Rumors of a planned copycat incident the following year fortunately never materialized.

[edit] 2003-04 school year (second year of operation)

[edit] 2004-05 (third year of operation)

[edit] "Let Matt Spin" (2004)

One day toward the beginning of the 2004-05 school year, a spinning hubcap pendant was confiscated by the administration from a student wearing it. Throughout the day, a small group of students produced hundreds of "Let Matt Spin" buttons. At the end of the day, over 330 students were wearing them. Students outside of LSW were rumored to have caught wind of the situation, and small pockets of students in high schools districtwide supposedly protested the following day.

[edit] 2004 school vote

Lincoln Southwest's online vote for the 2004 elections (during the 2004-05 school year) was infiltrated on a large scale. While only about 70% of students were estimated to have actually taken part in the activity open to all, a turnout of well over 200% was being displayed on the district's student vote website, with the results being skewed heavily in favor of Democrats and leftist third parties. All other schools in Lincoln Public Schools had accurate returns. The returns were later corrected.

[edit] Tornado warning controversy (2005)

One day late in the 2004-05 school year, right before dismissal, the tornado sirens sounded outside, and all of the hallways were locked down. Students in all areas of the school immediately began using their cell phones to call out to their parents, asking for them to call the office and permit their release. Hundreds of parents flooded the office with phone calls, and dozens entered the school, ordering their students to be released immediately. Over the intercom, the names of students who could go were read off. The rest of the student body was released roughly 30 minutes later. Many students were late to work or other obligations. The school was completely in its rights to protect students in this scenario, but must release students upon parental request.

[edit] Fire alarms on the last day (2005)

Finals on the very last day of school in the 2004-05 school year were disrupted by pranksters pulling the fire alarms, not once, but twice. Due to a requirement for the school to allot 90 minutes to each final, the release of students had to be delayed 15 minutes due to this incident.

[edit] 2005-06 (fourth year of operation)

[edit] Entrance vandalism

In October 2005, the beginning of the school's fourth year, a car destroyed a large part of the entryway at Lincoln Southwest, causing damage worth several thousand dollars. It has since been repaired. That Friday was the same day as a football game between Southwest and Southeast, so conspiracy rumors abound, but the driver of the vehicle was never discovered.

[edit] 2006-07 (fifth year of operation)

[edit] Student vote

Like all other schools in the LPS district, Southwest takes part in student vote projections, which usually take place the day of the general election. Until 2004, only U.S. presidential elections were voted on by students, but beginning in 2006, the U.S. senatorial election was voted on as well.

[edit] 2004 election results[1]

Four issues were voted on by students in the 2004 presidential election, on 2 November 2004. These were president, congressional representative for Nebraska's 1st congressional district, in-state gambling for Nebraska, and whether or not the presidency must be held by a natural-born citizen.

The total turnout was 1,864, based on presidential votes.

[edit] President

[edit] U.S. Congress

[edit] Gambling in Nebraska?

  • "Yes" - 789
  • "No" - 506

[edit] Natural-born for President?

  • "Yes" - 854
  • "No" - 374

[edit] 2006 election results [2]

Three issues were voted on in the 2006 election, held on 7 November 2006: Nebraska state senator, congressional representative for Nebraska's 1st congressional district, and Nebraska Governor.

The total turnout was 1,027, based on gubernatorial votes.

[edit] Senate

[edit] House of Representatives (1st District, Nebraska)

[edit] Nebraska Governor

[edit] Administration

  • Jerry Wilks, Principal
  • John Hastings, Associate Principal
  • Sara E. Landgren, Associate Principal
  • Keri Applebee, Associate Principal
  • Virginia Geiger, Special Education Coordinator
  • Dave Gillespie, Athletic/Activities Director
  • Kim Carson, Asst Athletic Director/Attendance Coordinator

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://misc.lps.org/misc/vote04/results/lsw/president.cfm
  2. ^ http://misc.lps.org/misc/vote06/results/results.cfm?ballotPage=3&location=38
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