Mountain Pointe High School
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| Established | 1991 |
|---|---|
| School type | Public |
| District | Tempe Union High School District |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Principal | Brenda Mayberry |
| Colors | Maroon and Gold |
| Mascot | Pride |
| Location | 4201 E. Knox Phoenix, AZ |
| Information | (480) 759-8449 |
| Website | www.mphspride.com |
Mountain Pointe High School is a secondary school located in Phoenix, Arizona.
The school was the first of its kind in its area, which experienced huge population growth during the late 1980s. Its first graduating class was the class of 1994. Mountain Pointe High School is part of the Tempe Union High School District and handles grades nine through twelve.
Mountain Pointe is famous in its community for the annual Ahwatukee Bowl, a Friday-night football game against the other High School in the area, Desert Vista. In September 2004, the school’s football team scored a victory against Desert Vista, for the second time in seven years, as Mountain Pointe continued their ruling of Ahwatukee. On that very same night, the school’s football coach, Karl Kiefer, won his 300th career coaching victory, making him the only coach in Arizona to have done so. At the end of the 2005 football season, Coach Kiefer retired after leading his last team to the state playoffs. However, Mountain Pointe suffered a loss that ended their Ahwatukee Bowl winning streak in 2006.
Mountain Pointe’s athletic program is also among the best in the state of Arizona, as its athletic teams often compete in region and state finals. The school's athletic accomplishments include 77 region championships, 17 state runner-ups and 19 state championships. They have been recognized as the state's outstanding girls athletic program in 1996-97, Tempe's outstanding athletic program each year from 1994 through 2002 and Arizona's outstanding 5A athletic program in 1995-96 and 1997-98. The awards that they pride themselves in the most is the H.A. Hendrickson Award. This annual award recognizes the 5A school with the greatest combined performance in music, speech and athletics. They have garnered four such awards in 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. Also in 2006, one of their girl soccer players, Alexandra Elston, earned the Gatorade Player of the Year award.
Recently, the school received some negative press coverage over a cheating scandal that was eventually reenacted on an MTV program called High School Stories (see Sunil Gopal). They have also received some negative press coverage over the suspension of six varsity football players, including star running back Michael Moore, due to alcohol consumption the night of their Homecoming dance. The school also had to endure lawsuits over decisions made by the administration over the years, most of which received some form of publicity in Phoenix.
On a lighter note, the school is known to carry the highest number of international foreign exchange students in its metropolitan vicinity. In fact, it is home to roughly 43% of the city's incoming transfer students from Europe. Several have gone on to successfully complete the four-year school curriculum, collecting international awards.
Furthermore, Mountain Pointe is home to a large number of prominent clubs and community activities, including: Drama/Theater, Foreign Language Honor Society, Kiwanis Key Club International, and the newly sponsored Skeet Club. Over the years, the clubs offered on this campus have grown in popularity, thus granting students access to community service, social diversity, and team-building integrity. In December of 2006, the Mountain Pointe Senior Class Council has planned on initiating the organization known as The Wave in 2007, due to its rising popularity and demand. The Wave is a Maricopa County region-wide organization that extends throughout other schools in the Tempe Union District, including rivals Desert Vista High School and Corona del Sol High School. The Wave promotes social diversity, awareness, and leadership through rigorous and academic community service programs.
Yet, despite the negative coverage, the school remains wildly popular with parents around Phoenix, who have been complaining about overpopulation for years. Popularity stems particularly from to its scheduling policies that allows students to remain in a class for longer periods of time (block scheduling).
They have received numerous awards including:
- Business Week Award for instructional innovation in Character Education.
- Redbook Magazine best school in the America's Best School Competition.
- A+ finalist for the state of Arizona for 4 years.
- Hascal Henshaw Award for the most successful athletic program in the district seven years.
- Earl McUllar Award four years for the most successful athletic program in the state.
- Tony Komadina Award for the best girls' athletic program in the state.
- H.A. Hendrickson Award of excellence three years for the Arizona's most outstanding 4A/5A school in overall interscholastic competition.
