Blue Valley High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Blue Valley High School | |
| The Blue Valley High School Community is committed to excellence, responsibility, and educational growth while building on our tradition of community. | |
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| School type | High School |
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| Established | 1978 |
| Principal | Scott Bacon |
| Students | 1,678 |
| Mascot | Tiger |
| Location | Stilwell, Kansas, 66085 |
| Information | 913-239-4800 |
| Website | http://www.bv229.k12.k.us/BVHS/ |
Blue Valley High School is one of four high schools currently operating in the Blue Valley School District. As of the 2006-2007 school year, enrollment is at 1,678. The principal is Scott Bacon, the associate principal is Bob Whitehead and the assistant principals are Melissa Hansen and Tonya Merrigan.
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[edit] Athletics
Blue Valley is well known for athletics and participates in 6A-5A Kansas Athletics. The Blue Valley Tigers' football team have won 5A state championships in 1991, 1998, 2003 and most recently 2006. The football team is coached by Steve Rampy and assisted by former BVHS student Eric Driskell. Steve Rampy also coaches the boys Golf team, which has won several EKL championships as well as the 2005 5A State Championship. Other Athletic Teams include
- Men's Baseball
- Men's & Women's Golf
- Men's & Women's Soccer
- Women's Softball
- Men's & Women's Swimming and Diving
- Men's & Women's Tennis
- Men's & Women's Track and Field
- Women's Volleyball
- Men's Wrestling
Former BVHS Athletes currently playing at the collegiate level include;
- Geno Waters - Football, Pittsburg State University
- Don Cysz - Baseball, University of Kansas
- Jennifer Hatch - Track, Benedictine College
[edit] Extracurricular Activities
Blue Valley is known for a myriad of school clubs, from the Environmental Club to the Programming Club to the Hip-Hop Club. Many clubs are required to have teacher sponsers in order to meet. Some school classes are considered extracurricular, such as Debate or Drill team.
Once a year, around March, the American Cancer Society hosts a relay for life event in which approximatly 30% of students participate in. The event has grown in popularity, with more students participating each year.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has a branch that meets at the school.
[edit] Academics
Blue Valley High School has received several awards for academics. The school had some of the highest SAT scores in the state for three years in a row. It has also met the Standard of Excellence for reading, writing, science and math. In 2005, Principal Scott Bacon established TCB ('Taking Care of Business') as a way to eliminate all D's and F's. TCB is designed to be an extra class for students with D's and F's. Students who have no D's and F's in may leave school early. TCB has had helped reduce the number of D's and F's at Blue Valley.
[edit] Band
The school has one of the top marching bands in the state of Kansas. The Stridin' Tigers have won several competitions for their shows including Blue Shades(2003), Circuitry(2004) and Metamorphosis(2005). The 2006 show is under production and will be called "Blue", to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Blue Valley School District. It will contain bits of music from songs based around a "Blue" theme. The band is currently under the direction of Avian Bear with assistant director Ben Strain. Prairie Star Middle band director Paul Aubrey and former band parent Al Hapke also assist the band. The band has traveled around the country and performed at the 1996 and 2000 Orange Bowls and the 2004 Fiesta Bowl. In April 2007 the band was to attend a national festival in Hawaii, but due to low participation, the band will go to Orlando, Florida instead. In addition to this trip, the band will go to St. Louis for a Bands of America Super Regional Championship. The band performs at half-time of every Tigers home game and plays in the stands during the game. The band also performs at Pep rallies, varsity basketball games, and other school functions.
In May 2006, at the Worlds of Fun contest, the Blue Valley Concert band, led by Ben Strain, received straight "1" ratings for the first time in the school's history.
The 2006 show, "Blue", won 1st place in Class 5A at the Blue Springs Marching Invitational. The show also received fourth place at the Blue Valley Northwest Marching Festival and a Division 2 rating at the Bands of America Super Regional in St. Louis.
Blue Valley also had several members qualify for the NEKMEA District Honor Band.
[edit] Debate and Forensics
Blue Valley High school is well known throughout the state for being a dominate Debate and Forensics squad. BVHS has won many state titles over the years.
Recent titles include:
- 2000-6A 2speaker Debate
- 2001-6A 4speaker Debate
- 2002-5A 4speaker Debate
- 2003-5A 4speaker Debate
- 2004-5A Forensics
- 2005-5A Forensics
- 2005-5A 2 and 4speaker Debate
- 2006-6A 4 speaker Debate
- 2006-6A Forensics
[edit] Building
The building is in the shape of a rectangle, with few outcurves. On the east side are the academic halls. There are five halls:
- 200 Hall- Generally referred to as the freshman hall, it is the longest hall. The lockers are all for freshmen, and it has mostly math and science classes.
- 300 Hall- Generally referred to as the language hall. Lockers for freshmen and sophomores. Contains mostly foreign language classes and a computer lab.
- 400 Hall- Generally referred to as the American hall. Lockers for sophomores and juniors. Contains social study classes and Communication Arts (English).
- 500 Hall- Generally referred to as the Senior hall. Contains lockers for just seniors. The seniors get to choose their own lockers. The hallway was added in 1999 and has a large glass roof. The hall contains mostly higher level classes for upperclassmen, and some health classes.
- 600 Hall- The only hallway that is not parallel to the other halls. The 600 hall connects the other 4 hallways (so it's parallel to the main entrance's hall). The only lockers are in a small organized cluster called the "Junior hangout" (between the 300 and 400 hall). This hall contains history and science classes.
On the west side of the building is the athletic department. All athletic areas are connected with a hallway with numerous wall murals on it. In it there are 6 athletic areas:
- Main gym- Gym where home basketball games are played; pep rallies are also taken place here.
- Auxiliary gym- Smaller gym. Less popular sports use this gym to place and practices are held here frequently if the main gym is used.
- Wrestling gym- Small gym where wrestlers compete. The room is completely matted.
- Pool- Indoor Pool where swimming competitions take place. It has two diving boards and bleachers for spectators.
- Locker rooms- Home to athletic coaches' offices, P.E. lockers and showers. Split into a men's locker room and a women's locker room.
In the northwest part of the building is the arts department.
- Instrumental Music Room- Home to the Blue Valley "Stridin' Tigers" (band) as well as the Blue Valley High School Orchestra. This room is used for band and orchestra practice.
- Vocal Music Room- Contains large wall mural of a tiger and is home to the Blue Valley choir.
- Performing Arts Center- This large theatre is home to play, musical, and concert. Once caught on fire in 1996.
- Black Box Theatre- This small theatre is the home to smaller productions of the drama department. It's called black because the room and floor is all black; there is also a black stage.
In the north part of the building is the "Hallway of Light". It earned its nickname because when driven by at night, it glows brightly. In this hall, there are no classrooms; but there are numerous art displays. This hall connects the 200 Hall with the arts department.
Also at the north part is a memorial lawn. Every tree planted at the site is in remembrance of a former student that died while attending the school.
On the east side of the building there are outdoor mobiles. These are used as additional classrooms separate from the main building.
- Other- The building has three separate stories; the lower level is the basement and weight room, the second is the main floor, and the third is a small, restricted access floor containing a security vault and a catwalk over the Performing Arts Center for maintenance of the lighting system.
[edit] Multimedia
The schools Newspaper is called the "Tiger Print", the school's yearbook is "Reflections", and the closed circuit television program is called "Tiger TV". It also maintains cable channel 75 to display announcements throughout the school.
Tiger T.V.'s many features have won national Student Broadcast Network awards, including first place in 2001 and 2006 for the "Hallpass" segment (in human interest story catergory) and a 2005 title for short movie award. Tiger T.V. is put together by broadcast II students taught by former Emmy Award winning KSHB-TV anchor/reporter Denny Brand.
Pictures, photographs, and poems are submitted every year and put together as the "Headrush" magazine. The headrush crew also produces "Headrush junior" for middle school level students at BVMS and PSMS.
[edit] History
In 1968, Stilwell High School and Stanley high school combined to form Blue Valley High School. The original school was on Metcalf and 151st St. The school adopted a tiger as the mascot because the principal was from the University of Missouri. In the late 1970s, Blue Valley moved to its current location. It has two practice football fields, two baseball fields, one swimming pool, six tennis courts, two basketball gyms, one wrestling gym, and a large stadium with a track and football field, which in Spring 2006 had brand new "field" turf installed. The school also has a 2 million dollar PAC with deluxe seating. The former building was turned into the district office which controls the Blue Valley School District , Blue Valley North High School, Blue Valley Northwest High School and Blue Valley West High School and every middle and elementary school in the district. Each year, there is an addition to the building, when the senior class leaves a gift to the building, such as a large neon sign in the main gym. In 1999, a new hallway was added to the building known as the senior hallway. In 2001, the school was split and approximately half of the students were sent to Blue Valley West, a new school just miles away. The schools are rivals.
[edit] Notable Graduates
- Tara Nott (Class of 1997)- Won a gold medal during the 2000 Olympics in weightlifting.
- Justin Swift (Class of 1994)- Played a few seasons in the National Football League for the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.
- Brian Schottenheimer (Class of 1992)- Offensive coordinator for New York Jets.
[edit] Feeder Schools
- Middle Schools
- Elementary Schools
