Stamford High School

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Stamford High School
Established 1874
Type Public
Principal Rodney Bass
Students 2,000
Location Stamford, Connecticut, United States
Colors Orange and Black
Mascot Black Knights
Website http://www.stamfordhigh.org/

Stamford High School, founded in 1874 in Stamford, Connecticut. Famous alumni of the school include U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman.

The current student body includes natives of countries such as Albania, Germany, Haiti, South Africa, Poland, China, Japan, Spain, Russia, Jamaica, India, and many countries of Latin America.[1]

The school's extracurricular activities include mock-trial and debate teams, student liaisons to the Board of Education, multicultural groups, various team sports, chapters of Building with Books, the Future Business Leaders of America, National Art Honor Society, and National Honor Society, Strawberry Hill Players theater troupe, and the Stamford High Winter Percussion ensemble whose members are a part of the Stamford High School marching band.

The Stamford High Winter Percussion group is the 2007 MAC (musical arts conference) champions and won 8th place in the nation out of 48 other drumlines in Dayton Ohio in the spring of 2007 for the WGI (winter guard international) world championships. Their show was titled Music: My Anti-drug. Their 2008 show will feature songs by The Who. This year The Stamford High School Percussion this got 6th place in PSO out of 41 groups in WGI. This is a Major acmplishment because its a bump up from last year.

The Strawberry Hill Players perform two major plays—one in the fall, the other in the spring—and a series of short, student-directed one-act plays called "Senior Scenes" in the winter. They also participate in the annual Connecticut Drama Association Festival in March, and, since joining the association in 2003, they have won in 2003, 2005, and 2007!

The school's halls have in recent years been adorned with numerous paintings by students, depicting various figures including the black knight mascot. The school's cafeteria is decorated on one wall by a large mural of the school's facade and scenes of student life, painted in 1997 by members of the Strawberry Hill Players technical crew. Murals from the 1930s also adorn the "small auditorium" in Stamford High, having been uncovered and restored in the 1990s.

Contents

[edit] History

Postcard from about 1910 of the school building on Forest Street
Postcard from about 1910 of the school building on Forest Street

In 1873 the Stamford Town Committee decided to create a high school for the growing community after deciding there was the lack of sufficient secondary education. They created Stamford High School the following year in a single rented room. Students attending SHS starting in 1874 had one teacher who taught reading, spelling arithmetic, grammar, history, and philosophy. Drawing, Latin, Greek, physical geography, and geometry were added to the curriculum in 1876.[1]

In 1881 four young women comprised the first graduating class. By 1886 increasing enrollment forced a move into a new four-room building on the site of the former Franklin Elementary School. Ten years later, in 1896, a new high school building was completed on Forest Street. To attend, students were required to pass entrance examinations in five subjects, and out of 40 applicants, only 15 were accepted. SHS gradually relaxed its requirements, and by 1905, entrance examinations were abolished. The multiplying number of students at SHS once again made a move necessary.[1]

The school moved from the site of the since-demolished Burdick Junior High School to its present location on Strawberry Hill Avenue in 1928. SHS now consists of three buildings which house over 100 regular classrooms along with special rooms for science labs, computer labs and shops for woodworking and automobile-repair classes.[1]

With the start of the new school year in September 2006, a $21 million addition to the building was opened after 18 months of construction. The 62,000-square-foot addition has 22 classrooms, five science labs, a computer lab, a multi-purpose room, a gymnasium and locker rooms. The addition also features wireless computer access and a drop-off area for entering students near Strawberry Hill Avenue.[2]

The new addition was part of $59 million in upgrades for the school begun in 1997, including replacing four boilers, new roofs and expanding the school cafeteria by 3,000 square feet. Increasing enrollment in the city school system spurred the upgrades, and Westhill High School also received them. [2]

[edit] Stamford High School's Mission Statement

"Stamford High School is a comprehensive high school whose students reflect the community. The students represent a wide range of intellectual capabilities and social and cultural attitudes. We, the faculty and staff, realize that our roles are to provide students with the opportunities to acquire the academic discipline, skills, and attitudes necessary to contribute to society in a responsible and productive way. We recognize that our roles are ever evolving and our purpose is to educate. Instructional programs are based on clearly established goals with high expectations of achievement. A common core of learning experiences is the foundation for social, emotional, ethical, and physical development, leading to self-motivation and responsible behavior. Integral to the education process is a safe environment, fair and consistent discipline, effective communication, and mutual respect, trust, and cooperation. The active participation of the student, family and community is essential to attain our purpose."[1]

[edit] Traditions

School colors: Orange and black. The colors date back to the opening of the school and are used on all athletic team uniforms. School teams' name: "The Black Knights". This nickname evolved in the 1950s. All the athletic teams use the name, and it is connected with many school publications and activities. The School mascot is a black knight. This originated in 1969 for a magazine drive. It can be seen on sports updates, in a library mosaic, and other places around the school.[1]

Each year on December 7, a 9-by-17-foot American flag that flew over the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial is to be flown from the flagpole in front of the school as part of a memorial ceremony for Pearl Harbor Day. Everett Hyland, an alumnus of the school who was wounded in the attack, donated the flag in 2007 on condition that it be raised each year on that date. At the first ceremony, in 2007, a small group of veterans attended, some of them speaking to the school's students about the event. "It's one thing to read a book that 2,400 people died," Doug MacLehose, head of the school's history department, told a newspaper reporter. "Talking to someone who was there or can remember is very powerful."[3]

[edit] School song

At graduation each year, students and parents together sing the school song:

The words to the school song:[4]

Verse One:

Watching o'er the teeming city, Hail our High School
on the hill, Nearth thy clock tow'r we have lingered in
summer's sun and winters chill. Oft we've wandered through thy hallways.
Making friends so tried and true, In thy larger
halls of beauty We have thrilled to choirs in blue.

Verse Two:

Mem'ries fond surround thy classrooms Where we've lived and
learned to serve, Daily bowed our heads in silence,
Pleged thy precepts to preserve. When we leave thy halls of learning
May our hearts and voices still Praise and Honor
Stamford High School Alma Mater on the hill.

[edit] Notable alumni

Graduates of Stamford High School known well beyond the city:

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f [1]Home page, Web site of Stamford High School, accessed October 11, 2006
  2. ^ a b Gosier, Chris, "New day at Stamford High: School celebrates $21 million addition", The Advocate of Stamford, September 27, 2006, page A13
  3. ^ Morganteen, Jeff, "Sharing their sacrifice: USS Arizona flag flies above Stamford High", article, The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, December 8]], 2007, pp 1, A4, Norwalk edition
  4. ^ [2]Stamford High School Web site, Web page titled "School Song", accessed October 11, 2006
  5. ^ a b c d e [3]Stamford High School Web site, Web page titled "Stamford High School Wall of Fame", accessed October 11, 2006

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference