Virgil Grissom High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | 1969 |
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| Type | Public |
| Principal | B. T. Drake |
| Students | 2000+ (2006-2007) |
| Grades | High school (9-12) |
| Location | Huntsville, Alabama, USA |
| Accreditation | Southern Association of Secondary Schools |
| Colors | Orange, Brown, and White |
| Mascot | Tigers (Gus) |
| Newspaper | 'The Imprint' |
| Website | GHS official website |
Virgil I. Grissom High School is a public high school in Huntsville, Alabama with approximately 2000 students in grades 9-12 from Southeast Huntsville. Grissom is widely recognized as one of the best public high schools in the state of Alabama. In 2006, Grissom was ranked the fifth best in the state and 455th best in the country. [1]
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[edit] Location
The school is located in Southeast Huntsville and serves a middle to upper-middle class neighborhood. The suburban middle schools within the area include: Mountain Gap Middle School, Challenger Middle School, and Whitesburg Middle School.
[edit] History
Grissom High School was founded in 1969 and is named for astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, killed in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967. Huntsville is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and has strong community ties to the space program. At the same time, the Huntsville City Schools named Roger B. Chaffee Elementary and Ed White Middle School for Grissom's fallen Apollo 1 crewmates.
[edit] Academic achievement
In 2007, Newsweek magazine ranked Grissom among the top 5% of all high schools in the United States. The school was ranked 531 among the top 1200 high schools in the nation based on the number of Advanced Placement, Cambridge tests, and/or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school and then dividing by the number of graduating seniors.[2]
Grissom produced 28 National Merit Semifinalists for 2007, the highest number in the state.[3] Grissom's math teams and academic team have also earned national recognition. Grissom's 2007 Science Olympiad state team placed 2nd at the state competition at Samford University. They participated in the National Science Olympiad competition in Kansas in May 2007.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Michael E. Brown, class of 1983, is a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology.
- Spike McRoy, class of 1986, is a professional golfer on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour.
- Marvin Stone, class of 1999, was a former professional basketball player
- Jayson Swain, class of 2003, is a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears.
- Gary Wheat, class of 1996, is a saxophonist and a member of the funk group Meteorite.
[edit] Notable former faculty
Kay Cornelius, who taught in the English department at Grissom for the majority of her 30-year teaching career, is a published author with more than a dozen books to her credit.[4] She also wrote test units for the PSAT and College Board specialized-subject achievement tests, as well as reviewing the Board's English literature examination. Her first novel, Love's Gentle Journey was published in 1985. Cornelius retired from teaching to write full-time in 1990.[5]
Edward S. Dravecky Jr., the last teacher at Grissom to have taught there every year since it opened in 1969, retired in May, 2007, after 45 years of service in the Huntsville City Schools.[6][7] He founded the school's Advanced Placement U.S. History course in 1984.
[edit] Layout
The high school's building contained no classroom windows, save for a small one in room FF4, prior to the addition of a new science wing in 1997. This addition added several windows in H and HH pods. Grissom's roughly octagonal building is divided into "pods", lettered A-H on the first floor and AA-HH on the second.
The main hallways are adjoined by a single story circular commons, which provides access to the gyms, lunchrooms, and a fine arts area including a band room, choral room, and an auditorium. Grissom has one main gym and one auxiliary gym. It also has one main lunchroom and one senior lunchroom.
[edit] Advanced Placement classes
Grissom High School offers the most Advanced Placement Program courses in the area[8], including, but not limited to:
Students from Grissom can participate in a dual enrollment program and take classes at the University of Alabama in Huntsville or at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa through correspondence.[9]
[edit] Extracurriculars
As of 2007, Grissom has football, boys/girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, cross country, track, golf, swim/dive, boys/girls soccer, boys/girls tennis, wrestling, and cheerleading teams, a dance program directed by Stephanie Braly-Beutjer, a choral program directed by Elizabeth Stephenson, a theatre program directed by Lydia Marsh, [10] as well as marching, symphonic, and jazz bands directed by Bill Connell and Theo Vernon. A wide variety of extracurricular clubs are also present.
[edit] School publications
Grissom's bimonthly newspaper is The Imprint, or Tiger Rag. The current sponsors are Advanced U.S. History teacher John Wilhoite and Advanced World History/AP Euro teacher Coach Guy Collins. The annual literary magazine is called Seed. The annual school yearbook is named Invictus.
[edit] JROTC
Grissom High School has an Army JROTC program.[11] The Army instructors are First Sergeant Lynn Vanzandt, Sergeant First Class Randall Grady, and Colonel Rodney Johnson, all of whom are retired. During the 2007-2008 school year SFC Randall Grady is the Rifle Team Commander, 1SG Lynn Vanzandt is the Drill and Ceremonies Commander, and COL Rodney Johnson is the Raider Team Commander. The Rifle Team routinely attends the National Air Rifle Competition. The Cannon Battery maintains and fires the school's Civil War-era replica Mountain Howitzer at home football games.[12]
[edit] External links
- Grissom High School website
- Grissom Band website
- Grissom Dance website
- Grissom Football website
- Grissom Choral website
- Grissom JROTC website
[edit] References
- ^ "The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools", Newsweek.
- ^ DeButts, Jimmy. "Irondale school among nation's best", Birmingham Business Journal, 2007-05-21.
- ^ "Grissom puts 28 in Merit semifinals", Huntsville Times.
- ^ Authors: Kay Cornelius. Barbour Publishing.
- ^ Children's Author/Illustrator Kay Cornelius. Answers.com.
- ^ "He's an important part of Grissom history", Huntsville Times, 2007-04-16.
- ^ Zollar, Mary Anne. "City Life: Huntsville City Schools honors retirees", Huntsville Times, 2007-05-20.
- ^ Counselor's profile of Grissom High School. Grissom High official website.
- ^ UAH Dual Credit Program. University of Alabama in Huntsville.
- ^ Grissom High School sports directory. Grissom High official website.
- ^ US Army JROTC programs in Alabama
- ^ "Grissom's new gun now loudest fan of football program", Huntsville Times, 2006-09-07.
