Valley High School (Des Moines, Iowa)

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Valley High School
School type	Public
District	West Des Moines Community Schools
Principal	Dr. Vicky Poole
Students	1,900
Colors	Orange and Black
Mascot	Tiger
Location	3650 Woodland Avenue West Des Moines, IA
Website	www.wdm.k12.ia.us/valley

Valley High School is a high school located in West Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The school hosts grades 10-12.

1 Extracurricular Activities
2 Valley Southwoods
3 Misc. Information
4 External Links

Extracurricular Activities

Athletics

[1] Valley High is well known throughout Iowa for its strong athletics. The school has been honored as the top school for 4A athletics in Iowa by local newspaper the Des Moines Register in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.

The Valley High School American football team has gone to the Iowa State Championship game in 4A the past 4 years and has won 3 of those times (2002, 2003, 2005).

The Valley High School Baseball team has won the 4A state title each of the past 4 years (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).

Valley's Athletic Director, Steve Duncan, was named the National High School Athletic Director of the year in 2006.

Band Program

Valley High School is known for its strong music program. In 1999, Valley was honored with a Grammy Signature for Best High School Music Program. In 2004, their marching band, the Valley Marchmasters, was one of the bands featured in the annual "Tournament of Roses Parade" in Pasadena, California. In March 2007, the band traveled to Dublin, Ireland to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.

The Valley Marchmasters consists of 9-12 graders from Valley Southwoods Freshman High School and Valley High School. The regionally-renowned Valley High School Marchmasters have 165 uniformed kids enrolled.

The Valley High School marching band contest in Waukee on Oct. 14. 2006. Their show was entitled "Trapped In A Dream." Valley drum majors Chris DeGroot, Ben Weimers, Kate Dahl and Nick Waymire led the band through the performance.
The Marchmasters hold the longest streak of consecutive Division I's in the state of Iowa. Later in the night, the Marchmasters competed in Ankeny at the Mid-Iowa Band Championships, where the band walked away with a Division I ranking and took first place. In addition, the Valley High School Drumline was recognized as the "Outstanding Drumline" of the evening's event. The Valley Marchmasters are under the direction of Roxianne Classen, Tony Garmoe, William Bird and Rene Bernard.

Some of the Valley Marchmaster's Accomplishments Include:

45 consecutive years of superiour (Division I) ratings at the State of Iowa Marching Band Contest SIMBC... the longest for any class 4A school in the history of Iowa bands.
1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, & 2003 -Honor band at the Iowa State Fair Parade
2000, 2002, & 2004 -Governor’s cup at the Iowa State Fair Parade
1966-2003 -Eighteen first place awards at the Iowa State Fair Parade
1999 GRAMMY® Signature School, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
1994, 1995, & 1996 First place Pella Tulip Time Parade
1976-1993 Seventeen first place awards at the Drake Relays Parade
1971-1986 Nine first place awards at the Veisha Parade, Iowa State University
2007 St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Dublin, Ireland
2004 Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena, California
2000 USS Missouri Performance, Honolulu, Hawaii
1997 Fiesta Bowl Parade, Phoenix, Arizona
1988 Citrus Bowl Parade, Orlando, Florida
1986 Holiday Bowl Parade, San Diego, California
1984 Festival of States, St. Petersburg, Florida
1982 World’s Fair & Energy Exposition, Knoxville, Tennessee
1980, 1990 Orange Bowl Parade, Miami, Florida
1976 Bi-Centennial Parades, Philadelphia & Washington D.C.
1974 Rose Parade, Portland, Oregon
1970 Cotton Bowl Parade, Dallas, Texas
1968-1972, Dakota Day Band Festival, Rapid City, South Dakota
1967 Expo ’67, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1964, 1967 Indianapolis 500 Parade, Indianapolis, Indiana

Radio and News

The school newspaper is the Spotlight, a member of the High School National Ad Network. In the early 1980's, the Spotlight was named the best high school newspaper in the United States. The school also has a radio station, KWDM. Valley Principal Vicky Poole was named Principal of the Year (2006) by the American News Teachers Association.

Valley Drama

The Valley High School Drama Department is run by the drama teacher, Ms. Hansen. Last fall, they recently performed the play, The Laramie Project. There was a lot of controversy over Ms. Hansen's choice, but the show went on and sold out every night. On one of the perfomances, they sold 50 more tickets then they head seats!
Fred Phelps sent his church to picket their performances, but didn't gain much. Valley also competes in IHSSA, where they have won the Sweepstakes Banner 3 years in a row, and have won at All State.

Valley Southwoods

In 1995, the West Des Moines school board voted to create Valley Southwoods, a school built specifically to house the 9th grade. Valley Southwoods was completed in the summer of 1996. The principal is Dr. Lori Diebel. Southwoods is one of only two all 9th grade schools in the nation.

The freshman high school has a creative layout. Classes are held in one of six "pods", with teachers for all major subjects in each pod. Each pod also contains the lockers for students who belong to that pod. These pods are Green Down, Green Up, Blue Down, Blue Up, Red Down, and Red Up, however, Red Up does not feature any core classes. It is used for foreign language classes.

Misc. Information

Valley High is currently being remodeled and the work is expected to be completed by 2008. This includes a new two-story addition and the demolition of an entire section of the school to make room for parking.

Some "famous" people who have graduated from this school are Sid Wilson, Joey Jordison, Peter Hedges, and Matt Bullard.