Coventry High School (Coventry, Rhode Island)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Location
Coventry High School
Coventry, Rhode Island, United States
Information
Principal	Michael J. Hobin
Students	aprox. 2000
Type	Public
Grades	9 - 12
Motto	Ad Astra Per Aspera (To the stars with difficulty)
Mascot	Elephant
Established	1930's
Homepage	http://schools.coventryschools.net/highschool/

Coventry High School is a public high school located in Coventry, Rhode Island. Servicing grades 9 through 12, it has close to 1,900 students, and is the only public high school in Coventry. According to the latest report from Public School Review, the school is 49% male and 51% female. In terms of ethnicity, Coventry High School is 97% Caucasian, 1% Asian, 1% African-American, and 1% Hispanic. Coventry High School is located off of Route 3, at 40 Reservoir Road.^[1]

1 Overview
2 Athletics
3 History
4 References

[edit] Overview

The school's nickname/mascot is the Knotty Oakers, which is usually shortened to simply "Oakers". The unique nickname came from a knotty (twisted or gnarled) oak tree which once stood on the grounds of the school's original location on Route 116.^[2] The school's colors are red, black, and white.

[edit] Athletics

From an athletics standpoint, Coventry High is most well-known for its wrestling program, which won an unprecedented 17 consecutive Rhode Island State Championships from 1982 through 1998, an unequaled nation-wide record.^{[citation needed]} (In 1990, the Oakers shared the title with Warwick Veterans High School). The streak finally came to an end in 1999, when Johnston High School won the state championship. Since the program's inception in 1968, Oaker wrestlers have won a total of 19 state team championships (1972, 1974, 1982-1998).^[3]

As referenced above, the program was started in 1968 by Dick Magarian, who was responsible for leading the Oakers to 12 state championships (1972, 1974, 1982-1991). Magarian stepped down as head coach prior to the 1992 season and was replaced by long-time assistant Bob Smith. Smith continued the winning ways, guiding the Oakers to seven state championships from 1992 to 1998.

[edit] History

Coventry High School was formed in the 1930's, presumably across Knotty Oak Road (called Rice Field, used for pop-warner football now). From archives, the building was a three story building. Around the 1950's, CHS moved across the street to Foster Drive. Up until the 1975, the school held "double sessions"; underclassmen classes in the morning and upperclassmen in the afternoon. In 1975, CHS would make its final move to 40 Reservoir Road (the former building now houses Coventry Middle School, currently called Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School of Coventry). Circa 1991, an addition was done on the back wing of the school, which butts Clubhouse road. During of the summer of 2000 or 2001, more additions where done to the building including the expansion of the 1991 addition, a preschool, another cafeteria, more classrooms along the westside of the school (which face the athletic fields) as well as the south face (student parking lot, and the movement of the Career and Tech educational programs (up until 2001, the tech programs' were still being taught at the foster drive location, which incidentally were being converted over to school admin offices).

Coventry High School is also home of the 081-AFJROTC. The drill team won five Air Force Nationals Championships in a row. The years were 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. They came in fourth in 2007, and they won their sixth Air Force Nationals Championship in 2008.^{[citation needed]}