Fairview High School (Boulder)
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| Fairview High School
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Boulder, Colorado, United States | |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Information | |
| Principal | Don Stensrud |
| Type | Public high school |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Mascot | Knight |
| School color(s) | |
| Established | 1960 |
| Homepage | [1] |
Fairview High School is one of two public high schools in Boulder, Colorado. It is one of the best schools academically, and has been for many years according to CSAP results. The school has exceptional arts and athletics departments, and is one of few schools to offer the International Baccalaureate program in addition to the Advanced Placement program. About 2,000 students attend Fairview, placing it in the 5A category for Colorado sports.
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[edit] Design of the school
Although Fairview is academically outstanding, it is commonly seen as inferior in its aesthetic appeal. Its interior is unique: only one room in the whole school is rectangular, as most rooms are fragments of hexagons. It similar in design to a castle, with most rooms windowless and others with tall thin windows. The entire school sits on a slope, so halls are on levels, with stairs allowing passage 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 view with large panoramic windows that take up two sides of the large primary room. The building was originally constructed in 1971, and underwent some substantial renovations to the north end of the student center after a roof collapse during the winter of 1978/79. (During this period, student classes took place at nearby University of Colorado)
[edit] Fine arts programs
Fairview has a long history of outstanding music and theater programs.
Fairview has a total of eight choirs, directed by Ron Revier, Jim Keller and Janice Vlachos. They are Voices of the Knight (the freshmen choir), Broadway (the show choir), Enchantment (the advanced women's choir), Festival (the advanced mix choir), Madrigals (an extracurricular choir made up mostly of juniors), Chivalry(an extracurricular men's choir), Excalibur (the senior jazz choir, specializing in a cappella), and Age of Guinevere (an all girls jazz choir, started in 2007).
Fairview's instrumental music program includes orchestras, jazz bands, and a concert/marching band. With four jazz bands and nine smaller jazz combos under the direction of 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 and DeWayne Even, placed fourth at the Colorado Bandmasters Association state finals in October 2006 and have been in the top 10 in the state every year since CBA's inception.
Fairview is also home to one of the most prestigious orchestras in the state of Colorado. They also have the Chamber Orchestra, which is a select, audition-only group. The [chamber] orchestra has recently been selected to go to the Colorado Musical Educator's Association Conference in 2008 for the 8th time.
Fairview's theater program, headed by Paul DiBlasi with assistance from Janice Vlachos, produces a musical in the fall, and a play in the spring. During February, students put on a production called "Cupid's Comedy Cabaret", a collection of student written and directed comedy skits.
In March, all three departments (choral, instrumental, and theater) 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.
[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, students in the IB program 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 formidable nature of the program, Fairview also offers a Pre-IB program composed of two years of preparatory honors classes that are taken during the 9th and 10th grades. These classes are not formally required for the IB Diploma, but are recommended and sometimes required by the school to move into the IB classes. Students can, however, bypass the classes by getting special permission from their teachers or counselors. The IB coordinator is currently Mr. Darren Bessett.
Fairview is also somewhat unique in that it offers students the choice to take a mixture of both IB and regular classes. Instead of taking only IB classes and being stuck in the IB program for all of high school, students can choose to take some IB classes and some regular classes.
[edit] Athletics
Fairview has a well known history of an outstanding athletic program. Fairview has 26 state championships in its history, with the most recent coming in 2007 from Boys' Golf. Sports such as Cross Country and Basketball are also regulars in the state tournaments and often make it to, and often farther than, the top 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 continuously in the top five. 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 three the past five years. The team has boasted a national top-10 ranking and numerous All-Americans. 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.
Fairview's running track was used in the 1969 film Downhill Racer, starring Robert Redford. Redford had briefly attended CU on a baseball scholarship.
[edit] School theme
Fairview's mascot is the knight and its school colors are red, white and black. 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, 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] Alumni
Former American Idol contestant Ace Young graduated in the class of 1999. He participated in sports and choir. Minnesota Twins reliever 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. Though she never directly attended Fairview, Jessica Biel was tutored through Fairview and apparently attended her Prom there.[2] Former Major League Baseball player Jay Howell graduated from Fairview High in the 1970s. Actress Sheryl Lee was born in Germany but grew up in Boulder, and went on to appear as the dead Laura Palmer in the television show Twin Peaks. Former NBA player Tom Chambers played at Fairview in the 1970s. Former NFL All-Pro offensive lineman Tony Boselli graduated in 1990. Joan Van Ark was the school's first Head Girl and graduated in the school's first class, in 1960. Former Boise State quarterback Taylor Tharp graduated in 2003.
[edit] Future improvements
In 2006 a bond issue passed providing extra money to the Boulder Valley School District so that school improvements can be carried out. Fairview was included in this issue and now improvements are being planned for the school. They include renovating the 300 level to allow for more classroom space, moving all of the administration offices to the senior balcony, remodeling the 700 level locker rooms and other spaces, create new classrooms and space near the 600 level, enclose open spaces on the 800 level to create more/ better classrooms and add skylights/ day lighting to the student center. On top of these, the front entrance to Fairview will be remodeled so that people do not get confused by the current two door design. The athletic facilities at Fairview will also be improved. A field house will be constructed near the track and water/sewage lines will be extended out to there. Signs, fences and gates will be added to provide more security and the softball field will be upgraded. These changes are still in the planning phase, and may still change before projects are initiated. See the project website for further information.
