| Baldwin High School | |
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"Educating Everyone Takes Everyone"
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| Location | |
| 155 Highway 49 West Milledgeville, Georgia, USA |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Established | 1957 |
| School district | Baldwin County School District |
| Principal | Jessica Swain |
| Grades | 9 - 12 |
| Enrollment | Approx 1400 |
| Color(s) | Red, black and White |
| Mascot | Braves |
| Website | Baldwin High School |
Baldwin High School (BHS), is located at 155 Highway 49 West in Milledgeville, Georgia, USA. The original building opened in 1988 as a combination of Milledgeville's two former high schools, Boddie High School and the original Baldwin High School. New additions since 2000 include a classroom hallway, a JROTC building, and a Fine Arts Wing, with more additions under construction. Baldwin is the only public high school in Baldwin County, and the largest of the three total high schools. The other two are private schools John Milledge Academy and Georgia Military College.
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During the days of segregation, Boddie was the black school and Baldwin was the white school. To integrate the schools in 1971, many years after Brown vs. Board of Education, the main buildings of Baldwin became the high school, containing grades 10-12. Boddie became the junior high school, containing grades 8-9, with one of the buildings at Boddie called Sallie Davis Middle School, containing the grade 7.In 1988, Baldwin County built the current Baldwin High School and graduated its first class in June 1989. The old Baldwin High School became Baldwin Middle School, and Boddie became Boddie Middle School. Around the year 2000, Baldwin Middle and Boddie Middle were closed, and were merged into Oak Hill Middle School, a short distance from Baldwin High. A new condo development called the Bellamy is at the old Baldwin Middle site, and an apartment complex known as Baldwin Park is being constructed where the stadium used to be.
Though Baldwin High is outdated compared to Baldwin County's middle school and four elementary schools, new areas have been added, such as a new 900 hallway and a new JROTC building. A Performing Arts Center which includes a new auditorium, band room, and chorus room have opened, and a new administrative suite is now in use. A new football stadium was completed in time for the 2006 season. For all of the 2005 football season, the stadium had only one side of stands constructed. The stadium, called Braves Field after the football team, replaced the field at the old Baldwin High School.
BHS has a football team, a basketball team, a track team, a cross country team, a softball team, a soccer team, a swim team, and others. Its marching band is the Band of the Braves, also called the Baldwin High School Marching Pride. Lyn Chandler served as principal of Baldwin from the new school's opening in 1988 until he retired in December 2009. Dr. Jessica Swain is the new principal after serving as interim principal from January 6, 2010, through March 22, 2010.
The sports teams at Baldwin High School are known as the Braves, with the football team being the most widely followed. Under Jesse Hicks as coach, the team went to the first round of the playoffs. The Braves have reached the playoffs almost every year since then. The Braves also hold a preseason scrimmage game against Wilkinson County High School. Every year since 2005 or earlier, the Braves have defeated Wilkinson County. The Braves won the Region Championship in 1963, 1983, 1986, 2008 and 2009. Former Braves football stars include Earnest Byner (East Carolina (80-83) and NFL (84-97)), Nick Harper (Fort Valley State and NFL (01-present)), Leroy Hill (Clemson and NFL (05-present)), and Darius Marshall (Marshall University - Present)).
Jesse Hicks arrived at the school as head coach in 2002, and led the team to the first round of the playoffs. Although they did not make it to the playoffs in 2003, the Braves did make it to the second round in 2004 despite five regular-season losses. In 2005 the Braves made it farther than ever before, playing in the AAAA semifinals at the Georgia Dome. The team has not made it this far since, but has enjoyed overall better seasons than 2005 each year. In 2006 their record was 10-2, and they made it to the second round of the playoffs.
In 2007, the Braves had an unexpected loss to Fayette County in the first round of the playoffs, ending the season with an 8-2 record. In 2008, Baldwin High School was moved from class AAAA down to class AAA, which was beneficial for the Braves. In 2008, the Braves became region champions and had the school's first undefeated regular season. Losing to Flowery Branch in the third round of the playoffs, Baldwin completed the season with a 12-1 record. In 2009, Baldwin became region champions again despite two losses early in the regular season. Making it to the second round of the playoffs, the Braves lost to defending AAA state champion Cairo High School, ending the season with a 9-3 record. For the 2010 season, the school has been moved into AAA Region 2 from Region 3, giving the school several new teams to play in the upcoming season. In March 2010, head football coach and athletic director Jesse Hicks resigned, intending to relocate to Dougherty County High School in Albany, Georgia. On April 28, 2010, it was announced that Twiggs County High School's football coach, Dexter Copeland, would succeed Hicks.
The 2010 season marked the inaugural season for new head coach Dexter Copeland. The season was just as successful as other recent seasons had been. The Braves' final record was 10-2, losing the last regular-season game to the Peach County Trojans, the 2009 AAA State Champions, as well as losing to the Burke County Bears in the second round of the playoffs in tight game with a final score of 21-20, despite the Braves having defeated the Bears in the first game of the season.
Baldwin High School has a NJROTC unit that was established in 2000. It has a drill team, an academic team, a rifle team, and an orienteering team. The drill team is composed of two divisions: the Warrior Guard (males) and the Lady Bees (females). Baldwin High School Warrior Guards and Lady Bees have competed in many drill meets.
In 2003 & 2004, the NJROTC competition team finished second and third in the state and went to the Navy Nationals in Florida, where they finished sixteenth and seventeenth in the nation. They were led by LT Frank Hernandez, SGTMAJ Primm, SCPO Williams, and CPO Lee.
Lt. CDR Steven Domoslay is commander (SNSI).
The boys won the AAAA State Championship in 1981. The girls won the AAAA State Championship in 1986, 1987, 1988.
Former Braves basketball stars include Donald Hartry, Georgia (82-86); Michael S. Reaves, Iowa (84-88); Audra Smith, Virginia (88-92); and Tasha Butts, Valerie Freeman, Lisa Webb College: Tennessee.
Former Braves Track and Field stars include Celena Mondie (also 86 class president), Illinois (86-90), who won a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics in the 4x100 relay. In 2008, the Bravettes Volleyball team won a region championship in region 3-AAA.
The Baldwin High School Marching Pride, also called the Band of the Braves, is the school's award-winning marching band. The band has participated in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Atlanta Christmas Parade, the Hollywood Christmas Parade, the Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the Rose Bowl Parade. The band always marches in the Milledgeville Christmas Parade and the Mayoral Motorcade Parade at Central State Hospital. The director is Clint Raburn and the assistant directors are Courtney Pilgrim and Christie Woods. The band is the most populous organization in the school, with more members than any sports team, cheerleading team, or other group. The band is supported by a Band Booster group that is headed by and made up of band members' parents. The band attends two or three competitions every year, always including the Heart of Georgia in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Raburn first came to the school in 2000, when the band performed a halftime show called Cuban Fire, written by Raburn's predecessor Eldon Lundin. A part of this first show, "Johnny's Mambo," was later used in stands whenever Baldwin would play Jones County, where Lundin had become the band director. Raburn's early years saw the band play shows like Les Miserables, TV Land, and the Broadway-inspired show The Lion King. The 2004 show, Reflections of Earth, was not as successful as past shows. In 2005, the show was Spies Like Us, and used music from Mission Impossible, 007, and Austin Powers. The band achieved fourth place at the Heart of Georgia with this show, which was a higher place than it had achieved in previous years.
In 2006, the field show was entitled Caliente!, and was based on music from assorted DCI shows. The band again placed fourth at the Heart of Georgia. 2007 is regarded as the best year in the band's history so far, though. The field show was called Funkadelic and contained pieces like Shaft, Give Up the Funk, Jungle Boogie, Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, and Superstition. The band received first place in music and overall first runner up (second place) at the Heart of Georgia, which remains the highest the band has ever placed at any competition. The next year, the band hoped to continue its success with Dancing Generation, a medley of dance tunes from the twentieth century, featuring Sing, Sing, Sing, Sway, The Tennessee Waltz, Hand Jive, Thriller, and others. The band placed third at Heart of Georgia, but placed second at the Bowdon Invitational Tournament of Bands in Bowdon, Georgia.
In 2009, the show was not a custom show like past shows had been. Gangsta' Jazz, made up of original music written in the style of 1930s jazz, turned out to be another huge success, with another third place ranking at the Heart of Georgia. In 2010, a new idea is being tried out, in that the school will have two bands: a football band and a competition band. The football band, which is open to anyone, will perform at all home and away football games. The competition band, which is restricted to those who pass auditions, will perform at the three competitions the band attends, including the Heart of Georgia. The competition show is entitled Dream, and was formulated by Raburn and Percussion Instructor Marcus Hawkins and, like Caliente!, draws inspiration from DCI shows.
The school has a varsity football cheerleading team, a competition cheerleading team, a junior varsity basketball cheerleading team, and a varsity basketball cheerleading squad. The squad dances to upbeat music and often takes popular songs and turns them into cheers. They have been known to rival with cheerleading teams from Wilkinson County High School, Mary Persons High School, Westside High School, and Greenbriar High School.
On September 18, 2007, voters in Baldwin County approved an action that will continue the SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). The SPLOST, a penny tax, has already funded several operations within the Board of Education, and will cover the extensive upgrade of Baldwin High School. Phase I of the renovations included the construction of the Fine Arts center and the administrative office suite, in addition to three new classrooms and a new hallway to bypass the main offices. Phase II, on which construction has begun, will include a cafeteria and renovation of the interior of the existing school. It also includes the demolition of the Vocational Building, which concluded in July 2010, and the construction of a new Career Tech Building nearby. The completion date for all phases of construction is 2014.
The largest addition of Phase I, on which construction was completed in March, is the Fine Arts wing, which includes a large band room, large chorus room, art rooms, 986-seat theatre/auditorium with an orchestra pit that can be raised and lowered electronically, music theory and music ensemble rooms, theatre classroom, and dressing rooms. Soil testing was performed in late September 2008, and groundbreaking for the Fine Arts wing occurred in December 2008. Construction on Phase I is complete, and the band moved into its new home in March 2010. An alumni concert was scheduled for 2010 but indefinitely postponed. It will feature many older alumni of the band, like notable saxophonist Otis Murphy, in addition to more recent graduates.
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