Socorro High School (El Paso, Texas)

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History

In 1961, voters of Socorro held an election to determine the future of education in the area. That vote, by a tally of 63-0, resulted in the formation of the Socorro Independent School District. The District consisted of one school, Escontrias that housed its students up through the eighth grade. It was not until March of 1964 that a $500,000 bond was passed enabling students of the area to attend high school in the Socorro area. Until that time, students who wanted to attend high school went to either Clint High School or Ysleta High School. The eighth grade class of 1965 would be the first freshman class at the new high school and one grade would be added each year until it became a four-year school.

Socorro High School, opened in fall of 1965 with A. D. Weir being named as SHS’s first principal. Columbia blue, red, and white were chosen as the official school colors and the bulldog was adopted as their mascot. A family who lived in the area actually donated their bulldog “Homer” to the school to be used at special functions.

As early as 1970, population growth began to create problems for Socorro High School. In 1971, Socorro High School could not accommodate the increasing enrollment and a split session was adopted. Half of the student body would attend from 7 AM until noon and the other half would attend from noon until 5 PM. By 1972, expansion of the school would temporarily alleviate those problems but these same problems would continue for years. By 1977, enrollment would grow to the point that a separate junior high school would be required. This too, was a temporary solution to the burgeoning population in the area and Socorro Junior High School would last only until the mid 1980’s. Socorro Junior High would eventually be converted into a part of Socorro High School.

In 1982, Bill Sybert was hired as superintendent of Socorro ISD. A major focus of Mr. Sybert was to give the district an identity. His leadership created a “new face” for SISD. One of his big changes was the implementation of the K-8 concept. Junior High Schools would no longer be built, but rather local schools housing students from kindergarten through eighth grade. This allowed the district to take Socorro Junior High School and combine it with Socorro High, giving the high school the much needed space it needed to become a state of the art school. Mr. Sybert embarked on a major remodeling program for SHS that not only included numerous academic facilities, but facilities for extra-curricular activities as well. The result was a high school facility that took a back seat to none. Included in the expansion was a theater that could seat 1234 people, second only to the El Paso Civic Center in capacity, The Pit, the largest high school gymnasium in the city and second only to the Haskins Center, as well as the Socorro High School Library which was the largest high school library in the state of Texas at the time.

Athletics Socorro has a continuing rivalry with East side school Montwood. In football, both teams play for "The Helmet" which has a side representing each school. This rivalry has produced some exciting games including the 2005 one, where Socorro beat favored Montwood 17-7 and knocking them out of the playoffs. However, due to the fact that Montwood has experienced more growth than Socorro population wise, they have handed out a couple of blowouts including a 52-20 win in 2004.

Socorro is known statewide for their baseball program thanks to legendary coach Chris Forbes. Coach Forbes recently attained the all time city record for wins and his Bulldogs attained a ranking of #11 in then nation by USA Today.