Mt. Spokane High School

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Location
Mt. Spokane High School

"Dignity, Class, and Respect."
Mead, Washington, United States
Information
School district	Mead School District
Principal	John Hook
Staff	133
Enrollment	1327 [1]
Type	Public High School
Grades	9-12
Athletics	WIAA 3A
Athletics conference	Greater Spokane League
Mascot	Wildcat
Color(s)	Navy Blue, Cardinal, White
Established	1997
Homepage	Mt. Spokane High School

Mt. Spokane High School is located in Mead, Washington, and has a student body of 1,355 attendees. The school's mascot is a wildcat, and the school is sometimes known as the "Pride of the Peone Prairie." The current principal of Mt. Spokane is John Hook, along with assistant principals Jim Preston and Brenda Goehring. The school is part of Mead School District #354. In 2007, it was ranked 1,283rd on Newsweek Magazine's [2] top 1,300 high schools in the nation rankings.

1 History
2 Location and structure
3 Extracurricular activities
4 Athletics
5 Traditions
- 5.1 Sports
- 5.2 Senior Bus Picture
6 External links

[edit] History

Mt. Spokane High School opened its doors in the fall of 1997 as "Mt. Spokane-Mead High School". The name was changed to Mt. Spokane High School by request of the attending students during the first two years of being open. Mt. Spokane saw its first graduating class in 1999. The class of 2011, with 408 students, is the largest class to attend the high school as of 2007.

[edit] Location and structure

Mt. Spokane High School's courtyard. You can see four of the five sculptures in the picture.

Mt. Spokane's courtyard in HDR.

The school is located several miles from Mount Spokane among the many wheat fields populating the Mead area. The school itself has a functional, quarter-circle design with a courtyard in the center. The sculptures within the courtyard, known as "The Circle of Friends", were designed by local sculptor Harold Balazs, also known for designing the Rotary Fountain at Riverfront Park.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

[edit] DECA

In 2006, Mt. Spokane sent more than fifty of the eighty students who competed in the DECA regional competition to the Washington State Competition. Following several victories at the state competition, eleven MSHS students attended DECA's 60th International Career Development Conference in Dallas, Texas. Washington DECA is known for having fierce competition at the state level, and thus even winning the right to attend a national competition is considered an honor. Rival Mead Senior High School, also located in the Mead School District, sent one student to national competition.

[edit] Debate

Mt. Spokane has done extremely well at local and national tournaments in Debate too. They sent 25 students to the state debate competition and three to the national competition. They are led by their Coachs Martha Rough, Sara Stillion and Sam Ackels. As of the new school year in 2007, however, debate is no longer an option at Mount Spokane.

[edit] Clubs

Mt. Spokane has many clubs that students can be a part of. They include Ski and Snowboard Club, Chess Club, Video Club, Special Friends Club, French Club, GSA, and Math Club. Math Club hosts several "Math is Cool" regional competitions as well as state competitions.

[edit] Athletics

The Mt. Spokane Wildcats have a history of excellence in their baseball, football and cross country programs.

Recently, the baseball team finished with a 18-2 record in the GSL (21-4 overall record). 1st place in the Greater Spokane League (GSL) and making their first ever trip to state. The roster included: Nic Fowler P/3B So., Jeremy Carey P/OF Jr., Colby Cronn 3B Jr., Kory Aspaas OF Sr., Paul Smith P/OF Sr., Tyler Jackson C So., Andy Pittz OF Sr., Jordon Poynor OF Jr. Mark Purser OF Sr., Nate Blackham OF Fr., Jarek Cunningham SS Jr., Bryan Raynor 2B Sr., Louie Cerenzia OF Jr., Cody Schmidt 1B Sr., Matt Pignataro C Jr., Tyler Whitney 1B Sr., and Niko Sotolongo C/1B Sr.

Their tennis program also does very well. They were undefeated for three years in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2006 they lost a heart-breaking match in the finals against Ferris, removing their undefeated title.

Mt. Spokane is known more for its boy's basketball team over the eleven years since it opened its doors. In that time it has been involved in district play 7 times, regional play 5 times, and has appeared twice at the state tournament (including 2007 - 2008). They were league champions in 2001, with Kyle Vessey being named MVP.

[edit] Traditions

[edit] Sports

Battle of the Bell: Battle of the Bell is an annual football game between Mt. Spokane High School and its district rival, Mead High School. The winner of the game earns the right to possess the Bell for one year, until the date of the next Battle of the Bell.