Salem High School (Georgia)

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Location
Salem High School
3551 Underwood Road Conyers, Georgia 30013 USA
Information
School district	Rockdale County Public Schools
Principal	Gloria V. Jackson
Enrollment	about 1,600^[1] (2007-08)
Faculty	105.2 (on FTE basis)^[2]
Student:teacher ratio	15.9^[2]
Gender	Coeducational
Type	Public
Grades	9 to 12
Accreditation(s)	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Mascot	Seminoles
Nickname	SHS
Color(s)	Maroon and Gold
Yearbook	The War Cry
Newspaper	The Signal
Established	1991
^[3]^[1]
Homepage	Website

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Please improve this article if you can. (June 2008)

Salem High School is a public high school located in Conyers, Georgia, U.S. The school educates about 1,600 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Rockdale County Public Schools district.

1 General information
2 Athletics
3 Fine arts
4 Changes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] General information

Salem High School is located in Conyers, Georgia outside of metro Atlanta. First led by Robert Creswell, it was established in 1991 as the third high school in Rockdale County, coming to be known as the Seminoles. There are approximately 1600 students enrolled. The school has been named a State School of Excellence twice, once in 1999 and again in 2007 The major goals of Salem High School include providing flexibility of academic time, providing teacher control of academic blocks, providing collaborative time for planning, and moving from a teacher-centered classroom to a student-centered classroom. The focus of Salem High School is on helping students learn to use their minds well. The school practices are tailored to meet the needs of every group of students. Teaching and learning are personalized to the maximum extent. Salem High School is a unique place of learning where the student is the worker and the teacher acts as the coach. Currently, the school is under the leadership of interim principal (former assistant principal to now retired Cresswell) Gloria Jackson.

Salem offers a variety of courses for almost every interest. With a selection of twelve Advanced Placement classes, every year hundreds of students in the school sign up to take one or possibly more AP tests.

In the Taylor's Publishing Yearbook Yearbook for 2007, it was brought to the attention of the staff that they received the Honorable Mention recognition award for their annual themed "Making Connections".

[edit] Athletics

Salem is a part of the GHSA in Region 8-AAAA. The athletic teams consists of Football, Softball, Competition Cheerleading, Swim Team, Women and Men's basketball, Baseball, Women and Men's soccer, golf, tennis, track & field and cross country. While still in the development stages, the first decade of football play was disappointing. However, in 2004 the football Seminoles rose as a power house in an Undefeated season and went to the Georgia Dome, in their greatest playoff berth, but losing to Statesboro, leaving them in a 13-1 season. In 2005, they had another great year, once again winning the region championship, but losing in the 2nd round play-off to Marist High School, 35-14. During the 2007-2008 football season the Seminoles had yet another successful season with a record of 9-2 and winning the region 8-AAAA chamionship again this year. This has made the Football Seminoles the most winningiest team in Region 8-AAAA for the past four years with a combined record of 38-9. Salem Soccer has held a tradition of excellence, especially 2008, with the Varsity girls team only having one loss. Both the Girls and Boys teams have attended state playoffs almost every year since the school's opening. Also, both teams have won multiple region championships. For 10 years, the Swim Team has held the "Conyers Cup" (award given to the team that has defeated the other two Conyers schools.)

[edit] Fine arts

The Salem fine arts program currently consists of a wind ensemble, two symphonic bands, girls, mixed, and show choirs, as well as the Theatre Salem program consisting of the Musical Theater and Tech Theater classes, which give the groups school time to prepare for shows. The Salem High School "Pride of the Tribe" Marching band has more than 200 awards recorded, one including the Grand Champion award from the Phenix City, Alabama Invitational in the year 2002 with the show "An American in Paris." Under the direction of Jeffrey Rowser, the band has participated at ceremonies in Toronto, London, and on two occasions, the Pearl Harbor anniversary in Waikiki, Hawai'i in 2003 and the 65th commemoration of the attack over Thanksgiving week 2006. Since changing hands to former assistant director to Jeffrey Rowser, Shawn Geiger, in the 2006-2007 school year, the band has also been invited to Rome, Italy (however, due to money issues, the trip has since been cancelled, but the band still takes pride in being the first school to be invited) and most recently, a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida has been planned. While there, they will work with a Disney clinician while they will record a soundtrack for an upcoming Disney motion picture.

The Theatre Salem program is completely student run and operated, with the overlook of the technical & theatrical directors. Theatre Salem is in its 16th season, and is part of the Thespian Troupe #5120. Theatre Salem's Recent production of Urinetown was selected to be presented at the state theatre competition in 2008. Currently, the Musical Theatre group is working on Thoroughly Modern Millie. A musical that involves tap dancing, many members are trying this style of dance for the first time, and are successfully doing so.

[edit] Changes

In the Spring Semester 2006, the plan to expand & build on to the building was released. Originally built without a football stadium and using the fields of inner city schools, Heritage High and Rockdale County High, Salem has the plans and is currently undergoing the assembly of a football field. With a double sided seating area, the stadium will hold 5,000 spectators (3,000 on the home side, 2,000 on away.) In 2006, it was rumored that the field would be named after the school's beloved resource officer that died from a stroke in January 2006. These rumors have not been confirmed.

In addition to the football stadium, the school is receiving a softball field, two practice fields, and a field house.

On the front of the building, there has been an addition and expansion to the entire fine arts wing, which will include a larger music technology lab. This addition will allow students to compose music as well as learn the basics and fundamentals of music.