West Anchorage High School
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West Anchorage High School is a public high school in Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska and part of the Anchorage School District.
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[edit] History
Established as Anchorage High School, it is attended by approximately 2,000 students in grades 9-12 instructed by roughly 125 faculty. Its mascot is the eagle and the school's colors are orange and black. Class colors are yellow (freshmen) and alternate to blue, red, green for three consecutive years after students reach their sophomore year.
[edit] Building
West High School is connected to Romig Middle School and they share a library and a track.
West High School survived the Good Friday Earthquake of March 28, 1964, though the second floor was mostly demolished and the first floor tile was damaged. Cracks are still visible in the tile. The only remaining parts of the second floor are the band and orchestra rooms, which connected to the top floor of the auditorium.
West High School was originally Anchorage High School, being the first high school in Anchorage. Because it was built after WWII and during the height of global fears of nuclear war, there is a bomb shelter beneath the school. The bomb shelter is connected to the school through a series of passageways and tunnels that extend into the auditorium.
A science wing was added in 1992 with an indoor astronomy globe and eight science classrooms with attached labs.
A major renovation to add a new hallway, classrooms, pool and additional lockers was completed around 2000.
The two main hallways of the school connect in the middle, where there are several classrooms along this short hallway. This is known as the "ROTC" hallway due to the presence of the Air Force JROTC in these classrooms.
[edit] Auditorium
West is also home to an 2,000 seat auditorium — the largest of any high school in Alaska. At the time of its construction in 1954 and for 30 years after, it was the largest meeting space in the city. It has hosted many events and concerts including the Grateful Dead, The Paul Taylor Dance Company, and A Prairie Home Companion and even Ozzy Osbourne. The Bee Gees and Ray Charles have also performed there, along with Johnny Cash, and Itzhak Perlman. In early 2007, the West High Alumni Association and the Anchorage Community Foundation completed fundraising in order to refurbish the seats, rigging, and carpet of the much worn auditorium. Renovations were completed in early 2008.
[edit] Eagle emblem
An original 1953 floor tile bearing the school seal (eagle logo and name) is kept well-preserved. It remains protected with a chain barrier to prevent people from walking on it. This chain barrier was erected to obviate a hazing ritual. In the past, it was tradition that any one caught stepping on the seal had to clean it with a tooth brush.[citation needed] There were obvious difficulties with this tradition and to both honor the tradition and avoid hazing, the barrier was erected.
Another tradition was to "jump" the eagle during dryland training. The running of four laps around the halls approximates one mile and during this all freshman running were directed by upperclassmen to "jump" the chained area surrounding the eagle. If this task was completed they passed, if not they were alienated or if their legs didn't clear the barrier they ended up with the cleaning task.
Currently the West High track team holds their practices in the hallways during the winters. They remove this barrier so as to avoid any injury to the runners. The team members must still either run around the tile or jump over it, however if someone accidentally steps on it, there is no punishment.
[edit] Academics
[edit] International Baccalaureate
West High is currently the only high school in the Anchorage School District with an International Baccalaureate program and is one of two in the State of Alaska (Palmer High School is the other). The first class of 8 IB Diploma recipients graduated in 2006. 9 full diploma students graduated in May of 2007. Currently there are 13 diploma candidates set to graduate in May of 2008. The current head of the International Baccalaureate Programme at West is John Ruhlin.
[edit] School Through the Arts
West is also home to the School Through the Arts Program (STTA) which integrates the study of arts into high school courses. Freshmen take history and English classes with other STTA students, as well as a requisite STTA art studio course. Sophomores take STTA history and English course, but continue with other non-STTA arts classes. Upperclassemen are only required to continue taking arts classes and take their history and English classes with the rest of the school population.
[edit] Kanakngaq Program
Until the second semester of the 2006-2007 school year, West housed the Kanakngaq Native Education program, which was a partnership between the Anchorage School District, its Office of Indian Education, and Cook Inlet Tribal Council. When CITC, a nonprofit organization providing supplemental educational services, cut its funding to the Kanakngaq program, West decided to terminate all Kanakngaq classes and services. The Kanakngaq Program was housed in the "Cove," a large addition to West High containing a large open area with several smaller classrooms and a computer lab.
[edit] Graduation requirements
As with all schools in the Anchorage School District, students must complete 22.5 credits (1 semester = .5 credits), as well as pass the state mandated High School Graduation Qualifying Exam.[1]
- Language Arts: 4 credits (including one semester of composition)
- Social Studies: 4 credits (one semester each of: Alaska Studies, Economics, U.S. Government, an Area Studies, and a history elective)
- Mathematics: 2.5 credits (must complete Algebra I material or over)
- Sciences: 3 credits (two semesters of; life sciences, physical science, and another science)
- Physical Education: 1.5 credits (must pass Lifetime Personal Fitness test or take class, waivers of 0.25 credits are offered for each full season of school sponsored sports including bowling)
- Electives: 7.5 credits
[edit] Extracurricular activities
[edit] Green Team
West High Green Team is an environmental conservation organization, run by students at West High. The team received a grant from Green Star for the 2005-2006 school year for establishing a recycling program at the school. Green Star provided blue bins, and a mixed-paper dumpster for the school. The grant was not extended to the following year, but due to action by Green Team members, West High received the necessary funding for a mixed-paper dumpster through the school's administration. This was thanks to the former activities office secretary.
[edit] Newspaper
The school newspaper, the Eagle's Cry, is part of the High School National Ad Network.
[edit] Yearbook
The school's yearbook, The Anchor has been continually published since 1917.[citation needed]
[edit] Drama, debate, and forensics
West's competitive DDF (drama, debate, and forensics) team is also one of the best in Alaska, and has won the overall state tournament in the Alaska School Activities Association's state championship 4A division for nine out of the past 11 years.*West High School's DDF homepage[citation needed]
[edit] Theatre
West's theatre program was recently nominated and accepted as a representative of the American High School Theatre Festival at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August of 2007, where they performed Moby Dick, The Musical. West is considered one of the premiere high school troupes in Alaska and presents more mainstage shows annually than any other high school in the Anchorage School District.
The theatre department's 2006-'07 season included: Eagle's Dare, a night of improvisational comedy, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a night of student-directed one-acts, Annie, Much Ado About Nothing, and Moby Dick: The Musical.
[edit] Olympiada of Spoken Russian
Students of the Russian language at West High traditionally do very well in the national competition of spoken Russian. Students participate from first year through fourth year as students of Russian language. Heritage and Native Speakers of Russian also compete at their own level.
[edit] Sports
West High School participates in all 18 sports sanctioned by the Alaska Schools Activities Association as well as bowling, which is sponsored by Anchorage Scholastic Bowling League. Students from Steller Secondary School often compete alongside students from West because Steller does not offer interscholastic sports.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Anchorage School District: [ "Graduation requirements." Retrieved March 21, 2007.
