Carmel High School (Carmel, Indiana)

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Carmel High School

Motto	Veritas Scientia Mores (Truth Knowledge Character)
Established	1887
Type	Public high school
Students	4,001
Location	Carmel, Indiana USA
Mascot	Greyhound
Website	CHS

Carmel High School is a public high school in Carmel, Indiana whose name is commonly abbreviated to CHS. It is part of the Carmel Clay School District and has an enrollment of over four thousand students, making it one of the largest high schools in the state of Indiana by number of students. ^[1]

1 History
2 Facilities
3 A Traditional School Day
4 Extracurricular
5 Traditions
- 5.1 Senior skip day
- 5.2 Clubs
6 Notes
7 Alumni
8 External links

[edit] History

Carmel High School has a long history dating back to 1887 when the cornerstone for the first CHS was laid on a building located on the southside of the town of Carmel. A second building was opened in 1923 on the present school site and housed students K through 12 until 1958. Only sophomores, juniors, and seniors attended the school from 1964 to 1995. The current high school building dates from 1958. Since that opening there have been five additional construction projects that have expanded and renovated the building. The 2005-2006 school year marked the opening of the newest addition, the Freshman Center.

Its mascot is the greyhound, and the school colors are blue and gold.

[edit] Facilities

The Carmel High School campus sits on 55 acres situated less than a mile from downtown Carmel. At least 22 of these acres are devoted to the actual school building itself. The indoor complex is divided into a number of buildings:

A -- Math (3rd Floor), Foreign Language (2nd Floor), Family and Consumer Sciences (1st Floor)
B -- Science (2nd Floor)
C -- Communications (1st Floor), Art (1st Floor), Industrial Technologies (1st Floor)
D -- One room, likely a conference room, on the second floor in between the E and B wings
E -- Social Studies (2nd Floor), Physics (2nd Floor), English (1st Floor)
F -- Business (1st Floor), Computer Science (1st Floor)
G -- Gym / Aquatic Areas (Below 1st Floor)
P -- Performing Arts (1st Floor)
H -- Freshman Center (see below)

The recently added Freshman Center features three similar floors, each one featuring a number of English, Social Studies, Biology (the mandatory Freshman science course) and Math classrooms.

Today the school has two libraries: the main library and the Freshman library, which are connected. There are also three cafeterias: The Main Cafeteria, Greyhound Station, and the Freshman Cafeteria.

The Dale E. Graham Auditorium, located in the performing arts center, can only fit under 2,000 people, so the school's varsity gym is used during pep sessions, when all students are in attendance.

A studio theater exists as well.

[edit] A Traditional School Day

The school operates on a "block eight" schedule with each class around 90 minutes long and meeting every other day. The days are based on the schools colors. Blue Days consist of periods 1, 2, 3, & 4. Gold Days consist of periods 5, 6 (SRT), 7, & 8. SRTs (Student Resource Time) is the school's prep period. The teacher who supervises the students during SRT is considered the homeroom teacher of the students. Most school assemblies are held during the SRT period. Lunch period takes place during period 3 and 7 of each day and are based on what department the student has class in during that time. The 2006-07 school year implemented a new PLC system called late start in which for every Gold Day Wednesday(usually every other week), school does not start until 8:30 AM. However, the students that travel to school by bus must arrive at the normal time around 7:30 AM. Many teachers do not believe this program to be effective. Due to the late starts, there are no professional half days (half days only on final exam days). Due to the student traffic and the large campus, passing period between classes are 10 minutes long.

[edit] Extracurricular

[edit] Athletics

The greyhound has been the school's mascot since the early 1920s, and athletics have been a source of community activity and pride throughout the years. CHS offers 20 sports in interscholastic competition. Students are also offered many extracurricular and intramural opportunities through an extensive activities program. CHS has won the most Indiana state championships, coming in at 83 total as of 2005-06. Also, the Women's Swimming and Diving team is one win away from tying the record for the most consecutive state championships. As of 2007, the team has won 21 straight titles since 1986. The Women's Swimming and Diving team has won 22 state titles altogether. Other notable streaks: Women’s Cross Country (1984-85 through 1988-89), Men’s Swimming and Diving (1989-90 through 1993-94), and Women’s Soccer (2000-01 through 2004-05) with five consecutive runs; Men’s Cross Country (1976-77 through 1979-80) and Men’s Swimming and Diving (2000-01 through 2003-04) with four consecutive runs. Most recently, the Carmel High School boys soccer team won the 2006 state championship. They have won 5 state tennis championships.

[edit] Former athletes

Mark Herrmann - Purdue University and National Football League quarterback
Josh McRoberts - Duke University
Todd Witsken - Former professional tennis player, 1981 tennis state champion

[edit] Band

The Carmel High School Band Program is one of the most decorated in the country. The Carmel High School Marching Greyhounds were ISSMA State Champions in 1991, 2001 and 2002, and National Class AAA Champion in 2001. The band has been a National Finalist 13 times, and was named Grand National Champion in 2005. The Marching Band has won regionals in San Antonio, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Oxford, and Louisville. The Carmel High School Marching Greyhounds have been invited to perform in the 2004 London New Year's Parade in London, England. The top concert band, the Wind Symphony I, has been invited to perform at the Bands of America National Concert Band Festival two times and performed as exhibition at the Midwest Clinic in December 2005.

[edit] Broadcasting

Carmel High School currently operates a local television station, broad casted on Bright House channel 21. The stations name is CHTV, which stands for Carmel High Television. Carmel also has the only radio student radio station in Indiana that broadcasts 24/7. The radio station, WHJE 91.3 the edgeis run by the students in three different levels of classes. The first level is radio lab, then radio staff, and finally radio management. WHJE is has a live web stream at whje.com

[edit] Traditions

[edit] Senior skip day

CHS has the honor of holding a senior skip day. The official day is school sanctioned and its main purpose lies with Baccalaureate practice.

[edit] Clubs

Most of the co-curricular programs at Carmel High School have excelled competitively in both state and national contests. The band, Orchestra, the Ambassadors & the Accents (the school's "show choirs"), Blue and Gold, New Edition, Descants, Choralettes, and Counterpoints (the school's concert choirs), the Debate team, FIRST robotics team, Brain Game, Academic Super Bowl, American Mathematics Contest(AMC, AIME, USAMO) and Science Olympiad teams have all won state and national awards. The nationally recognized and acclaimed school newspaper, the HiLite, and the yearbook, the Pinnacle, have likewise received state and national awards for excellence.