Fairview High School (Boulder)
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Fairview High School is one of three public high schools in Boulder, Colorado. It is one of the premier schools academically, and has been for many years according to CSAP results, but is commonly seen as inferior in its aesthetic beauty. Its interior is unique: only one room in the whole school contains four right angles. It resembles a castle with most rooms windowless; the rooms are all fragments of hexagons. The entire school sits on a slant, so halls are on levels, with stairs in between. In the center of the school, a student center holds the lockers of the underclassmen and juniors, with a balcony overlooking it for the seniors. A large ramp that goes from the bottom of the school to the top wraps around the student center and is the main passage throughout the school. On clear days, one can see all the way to Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. The library is the only room that takes advantage of the stunning view with large panoramic windows that take up two sides of the room. About 2,000 students attend Fairview, putting it in the 5A class for Colorado sports. Fairview is well known for its successful academic programs.
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[edit] Fine Arts at Fairview
Fairview has a long history of great music and theater programs. Fairview has a total of seven choirs that are directed by Ron Revier, Jim Keller and Janice Vlachos. They include Voices of the Knight (the freshmen choir), Broadway (the show choir), Enchantment (the advanced women's choir), Festival (the senior choir), Madrigals (an extracurricular choir made up mostly of juniors), and Excalibur (the senior jazz choir) Including Fairview's instrumental music program focuses on orchestra and jazz. With four jazz bands and nine smaller jazz combos under the direction of Mr. Steve Christopher, Fairview sports the biggest jazz education program in Colorado. Most, if not all of the jazz bands receive superior ratings at regional jazz festivals. Fairview also has a concert and marching band. The Fairview Marching Knights, under the direction of Travis Keller, placed fourth at the Colorado Bandmasters Association state finals in October of 2006. Fairview's theater program, headed by Paul DiBlasi, produces a musical in the fall, and a play in the spring. During Februrary, students put on a production called "Cupid's Comedy Caberet", a collection of student written and directed comedy skits. In March, all three departments come together to put on the Pops Festival, a non-stop show of music and dance. All music is performed live, with no taped accompaniments. And finally, Fairview is also home to one of the most prestigious orchestras in the state of Colorado. Fairview's excellent theatre program, coupled with its renowned orchestra, marching band, jazz bands, and choirs, gives Fairview one of the most impressive fine and performing art programs in the nation.
[edit] International Baccalaureate Program
Fairview is one of many schools in the United States to offer the International Baccalaureate diploma program. The program requires no application to attend, and is composed of two years of an internationally standardized curriculum. These classes are usually taught during a student's junior and senior years. In addition to the rigorous coursework, a participant must also write a lengthy Extended Essay (EE) and participate in 150 CAS hours within the community before the full IB Diploma is rewarded. Because of the rigorous nature of the program, Fairview also offers a Pre-IB program composed of two years of preparatory honors classes. These are taken during a student's freshman and sophomore years. This is not a requirement for the IB Diploma, but is often recommended. Also, though they are not required for the diploma, they are prerequisites to the classes that are required. So, in other words, to get a diploma you either need to take the classes or get special permission from a teacher to 'jump up' to the higher level class in his or her subject area. The IB class of 2005 had 46 recipients of the diploma. IB is now headed by Mr. Bessett, formerly of the History Department.
[edit] Athletics
Fairview has a well known history of an outstanding athletic program. Fairview has 25 state championships in its history, with the most recent coming in 2006 from girls' cross country. Sports such as football and basketball are regulars in the state tournaments and routinely make it to, and oftentimes farther than, the Sweet 16.
Annual strengths of the Fairview athletic program are made up of numerous sports. Perhaps the two most prominent are cross country and girls' swimming. Girls' cross country has won two state titles in the past six years and are continuosly in the top 5. In 2006, the girls' team became nationally ranked in the country's top 10. Girls' swimming always adds a strong showing for the school as well. The team won the state championship in 2004 and has finished in the top 3 the past five years. The team has boasted a national top 10 ranking and numerous All-Americans. In the graduating class of 2006, three All-Americans graduated, all are currently swimming around the country. Madeline Rovira at Stanford, Kristen Lahey at University of Southern California, and Emily Weigel at Princeton. The 2006 200 Freestyle relay team was ranked second nationally, by just one-tenth of a second.
Athletics at Fairview have always been, and continue to be, a very prominent program in the state as well as nationally.
[edit] School Theme
Fairview's mascot is the knight and its school colors are red and white. The lobby, at the South end of the school, contains a knight's armor on display. The entire school follows the "medieval" theme, occasionally referring to the school as "The Castle" The gym is called the dungeon, and the cafeteria the "Round Table Café." The well-known choir program continues this theme with choirs named: Voices of the Knight, Enchantment, Madrigals, Court of Charlemagnes, Chivalry, Festival, and Excalibur. Dance themes at Fairview always include the word knight (for example, "A Knight In Las Vegas"). The school's yearbook is called "The Lance" and the newspaper "The Royal Banner".
Fairview's fight song goes "Fight on, ye knights, for victory / Fight on, ye knights, for fame / The red and the white will never say die 'cause spirit always wins the game! / Shout a cheer for old Fairview High / Let the world know why (Why?) / We're proud of our school and praise it high, so fight! fight! fight fight fight!"
[edit] Students
Former American Idol contestant Ace Young graduated in the class of 1999. He participated in sports and choir. Jesse Crain also graduated in the class of 1999. He played baseball, basketball and football and was named 1999 All-State and Colorado High School Player of the Year. Former Major League Baseball player Jay Howell graduated from Fairview High in the 1970s. Brian Taub, Actress Sheryl Lee was born in Germany but grew up in Boulder, went on to appear as the dead Laura Palmer in the television show Twin Peaks. Although Jessica Biel never actually went to Fairview because she was privately taught, she went to Southern Hills Middle School, a middle school that feeds into Fairview, and made visits often and lived in the area. Former NBA player Tom Chambers played at Fairview in the 70's. Former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman Tony Boselli graduated in the early 90s. Reality television star Preston Mercer from For Love or Money graduated in 1997.
