Plano East Senior High School

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Plano East Senior High School (commonly East, Plano East, or PESH) is a secondary school in Plano, Texas serving high school juniors and seniors. The school is part of the Plano Independent School District.

The school colors are black and gold, and the school mascot is the panther. Plano East has been awarded the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Best High School in Texas designation by Redbook magazine, Texas Education Agency Blue Ribbon School, and State and National Academic Decathlon Championships.

Plano East's graduating classes are among the largest for high schools in the United States. Plano East's Class of 2005, with 1220 graduates, was the largest high school graduating class in the U.S. that year. ^[1]

Plano East is the only senior high school in Plano ISD to offer an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ^[2] As such, students who would normally attend either Plano or Plano West are allowed to transfer to Plano East to participate in the IB Programme.

[edit] History

Buildings B2, B3, and B4 seen from building A

To meet the demand of the growing population in Plano, Plano East Senior High School opened in 1981 as the second Senior High School in the city. The school opened with 3 academic buildings connected by second floor walkways, a fine arts building, and a gymnasium. The athletics complex was added as a result of Title IX laws which require equal space for male and female athletics. Later a 4th building connected to the other 3 was added.

In 2002, a new student activity center was constructed for indoor athletic practice.

The school has had a fierce rivalry with the oldest High School in Plano, Plano Senior High School, as well as a sense of competition towards Plano West Senior High School. Their rivalry with Allen High School to the north is very intense as well as both schools have strong football programs.

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Football

The school's football team won an ESPY award in 1995 for showstopper of the year, for their comeback and eventual loss against John Tyler High School. [1] [2]. Plano East had also made the postseason for ten consecutive seasons, before snapping that streak this year.

[edit] Bowling

The Plano East bowling team began in 2001, winning state in 2006 and finishing in the state finals in 2005. In the 2005-06 season, Plano East qualified fourth (behind Allen, Plano Senior and McKinney) during district play to qualify for regionals. At the Region II playoffs, East finished second to Allen and qualified for the state playoffs in Houston, Texas. In Houston, Plano East was seeded 2nd after the qualifying round and faced Sachse in the round of 16. East defeated Sachse 2-0, and moved on to play Killeen in the round of 8. After another 2-0 sweep, East moved on to the final four. The final four teams were the 1-4 seeds, matching (1) Plano Senior vs. (4) Garland Lakeview and (2) Plano East vs. (3)C.E. Ellison. East did not lose a game again, defeating Ellison 2-0. Ultimately, East played the defending champions Garland Lakeview in the finals after a 2-1 upset against Plano. East stumbled and lost game one 164-189, but came back strong and won the last two games 160-144 and 204-156. This was Plano East's first team state title since its creation in 1979. Members of the team include: Kevin Bresson, Brandon Brown, Ryan Darley, Thomas Dollin, Hunter Hooper, Peter Josephs, Andrew Smith and Kody Woods. Coaches include: Hieu Du and David Smith. Bowling is not an officially recognized sport by the Texas University Interscholastic League.

[edit] Hockey

Plano East Hockey won the AT&T Silver Division championship in 2006-2007 defeating Plano West 3-1 in the championship. Hockey is also not an officially recognized sport by the Texas University Interscholastic League.

[edit] Orienteering

Plano East is home to PISD's only orienteering team. Hosted by the ROTC program, the orienteering team won the North Texas Orienteering Association championship for the competitive year of 2005-2006 as well as the 2006-2007 school year. Members of the team also represented the city of Plano at the National competition both years, in North Carolina and in Maryland where they ranked 4th in the nation on the varsity, and junior varsity level.

[edit] Academics

Plano East Senior High School operates on an 8:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. schedule, which includes seven periods and a break for off-campus lunch during which all students may leave campus to eat lunch. Traditionally, students attend from 9:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., but the school offers a program where students may elect to attend a "Zero Hour" class before 1st period at 8:00 a.m. This allows students the option of taking an additional class or leaving early at 3:19 p.m.

Plano East offers International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, Honors, Regular Level, Special Education and Remedial classes. The school offers 6 foreign languages including American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Latin, and Spanish. There are JROTC programs, English as a Second Language classes, as well as vocational and career track programs.

[edit] JROTC Program

Plano East Senior High has a JROTC program that currently holds the Honor Unit with Distinction (HUD). It has held the HUD for more than 17 years. It is currently headed by LTC Bernard Aikens (Ret.) and had MSG Darrell Crews (Ret.) teaching the 9th grade and CSM Michael Franklin (Ret.) teaching the 10th graders. The various extra-curricular teams consist of Rifle Team, Orienteering, Drill, Color Guard, Academic Team, and PT (Physical Training) team.

[edit] The Fine Arts and Performing Arts

PESH Building "A" houses its fine arts department.

[edit] Band

The Plano East Band consists of three concert bands (The Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Concert Band), The Marching Panthers marching band, and a jazz ensemble.

The Bands are directed by Evelio Villarreal, Director of Bands, Jana Harvey, Associate Director of Bands, and John Brennan, Associate Director of Bands. Under the guidance of the directors, the band has become one of the most decorated bands in Texas. In 2000, the band was named the winner of the Dale C. Harris Exemplary Band Program Award by the American School Band Directors Association. This distinction is annually awarded to the top band program in the United States. In addition the band has 27 consecutive years of Superior Ratings and Sweepstakes Awards in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) for marching, concert and sightreading competitions. In 2006 the wind ensemble was named the first runner-up at the State UIL Honor Band competition. Also Ketan a very sexy guitar player was in the band.

[edit] Orchestra

The Plano East Orchestra is also among the top programs in the state. The orchestra under direction of Betsy Thomas was as recently as the 2002-2003 school year, named as the High School String Orchestra Honor Orchestra for the state. The orchestra also received the award of Honor Orchestra from the Texas Music Educators Association in 1998-1999, 2000-2001, and 2004-2005. TMEA restrictions allow the school to participate in the honor orchestra contest only every other year.

[edit] Theatre

Plano East offers various theatre-related classes. Not only does it provide acting/performance classes, but it also features Technical Theater as well as an elite Theater Major Studies (TMS) program.

Students are under the direction of theatre veteran Lisa Hale. She has been the theatre director at Plano East since 1984 and has directed over 60 plays. Hales has a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a masters from the University of North Texas.

Students in the theatre program are able to take advantage of experts that are brought in for workshops. In the past, students have learned about Kabuki, Laban, Sanskrit, Chinese Opera, stage combat, theatre dance, acting for the camera and auditioning techniques. The theatre department also takes advantage of the professionals at neighboring Southern Methodist University, UT Dallas and Collin County Community College.

The theatre department produces four major productions each school year. A theatre major studies show (one where only students involved in the TMS program are allowed to audition), an open audition show, senior-directed one act plays, and the open audition one act.

Plano East theatre competes in the state UIL one act play competition each spring. In 2006, Plano East received the state championship for their production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo. [3] The theatre department operates its own website.

[edit] Recognition

• U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1992-1993 and 1997-98 ^[3]
• Texas State and U.S. National Academic Decathlon Champions
• Redbook magazine Award for the "Best High School in Texas", 1994, 1996
• Texas Education Agency Blue Ribbon School, 1997

[edit] Panther Hall of Fame

The highest honor a Plano East student can be awarded is induction into the Plano East Panther Hall of Fame. Since 1989, several students have been inducted into the Hall of Fame usually as a result of winning a Texas state championship in an extracurricular activity.

Hall inductees:
2005- Philip Dollin, Economics Challenge State Champion; Matt Vera, Economics Challenge State Champion
2006- Jeff Nanney, Economics Challenge State Runner-up, Valedictorian; Aleck Zhou, Economics Challenge State Champion
2007- Thomas Dollin, Area Bowler of the Year 2007

[edit] Notable persons

[edit] Notable alumni

• Lance Armstrong, Tour de France champion (Attended but transferred before graduating)
• Amanda Swafford, third place on America's Next Top Model Cycle 3
• Jimmy King, University of Michigan basketball star and part of the "Fab Five"
• Lee Nguyen, 2005 Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year and current Randers FC midfielder
• Justin Blalock, offensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and the 2005 national champion Texas Longhorns
• Charlie Peprah, defensive back for the Green Bay Packers.
• John Leake, linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons.
• Kenny McEntyre, defensive back for the AFL, Kansas City Brigade, 3 time AFL Defensive Player of the Year and 6 time All-Arena Team
• Kent Saathoff, 1994 Culinary Arts state champion
• Marc Serrano, guitarist of the band A Dozen Furies and winner of the MTV reality show Battle for Ozzfest.
• Terrence Wheatley, defensive back for the New England Patriots
• Jeff Bialecki Outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Erin Judge, stand-up comedian who will appear on the Comedy Central TV show Live at Gotham in August 2008.

[edit] See also

• Plano Senior High School
• Plano West Senior High School
• List of high schools in Texas

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Some Numbers from NEWSWEEK's Best High Schools List - Newsweek America's Best High Schools - MSNBC.com. Newsweek. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
2. ^ International Baccalaureate: Plano ISD. Plano Independent School District. Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
3. ^ http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf

[edit] External links

• http://pisd.edu/schools/secondary/pesh/index.shtml
• http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZHkABO0VwCg
• http://peshband.com
• http://planoeastbaseball.com
• http://k-12.pisd.edu/wpaw/
• http://www.pantherbowling.com