| Ballard High School | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Home of Champions |
| Established | 1968 |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Principal | Dr. Jim Jury |
| Students | 1,700 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
| District | Jefferson County Public Schools |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | |
| Mascot | Bruins |
| Faculty | 200 |
| Campus size | 30 acres (120,000 m2) |
| Website | Ballard High School |
Ballard High School is a senior high school in the eastern suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. The school opened in the fall of 1968. The first students were in grades 7-9, and a grade was added each year as the building was expanded. This kept the school system from having to transfer upper class students from other high schools. The first class (consisting of the original freshmen) graduated in 1972. Ballard has had an interesting tradition of long serving principals. From its founding until the mid 1980s the principal was Patrick Crawford. Sandy Allen served from the mid eighties to the 2003-2004 school year. The principal as of the 2004-2005 school year is Dr. Jim Jury. The school offers grades 9-12.
Ballard has a long-standing tradition of excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. Ballard's mission is to expose students to a solid liberal arts curriculum consisting of high-level courses and award-winning arts programs. Ballard offers a solid Advance Program curriculum which, according to their website, includes 19 College Board Advance Placement(AP) courses. Ballard consistently scores above the national mean on the ACT and SAT test, and has the highest CATS scores in Jefferson County of non-selective schools. Ballard offers French, Japanese, Latin and Spanish and has a world travel program, which gives students the opportunity to travel to Europe each year. Ballard continues to rank 2nd in the district and top 10 in the state for numbers of National Merit Scholars. Ballard High School was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary school.
Ballard is a good academic institution in the Louisville metropolitan area and consists of students from all across the city. The student body is known for their outrageous school spirit. Ballard was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. They were also the national high school academic quiz bowl champions in 1990 by winning the Panasonic Academic Challenge. In 1984 Sherleen S. Sisney, a teacher of History, Economics and Political Science, won the National Teacher of the Year award.
Contents |
The campus at Ballard High School consists of the main school building as well as the fine arts building. The main building is referred to by students and faculty as four separate buildings (North, South, East, and West), although all four sections are connected to each other by overhead walkways. The South and North buildings house the majority of the classrooms at Ballard High School as well as the North and South offices. The West building's first floor is the home of Ballard's famed art department and the 2nd floor houses the Library. The East building's 1st floor contains the three cafeterias, the Ballard Bank, and the Ballard Student Guidance Center (College Counselor.) The East building second floor is the home of Ballard's award-winning Music department as well as both the large and small gymnasiums.
The Sandy Allen Fine Arts Center is a state-of-the-art performing arts facility on the Ballard High School campus. The 22,500 sq ft (2,090 m2). facility, which opened in 1998, seats 900 and features some of the best architecture in the Louisville area. The fine arts center is used for musical and theatrical productions put on by the school's fine arts department.
In Kentucky care must be taken not to confuse this school with Ballard Memorial High School, the public high school that serves Ballard County in the far-western Jackson Purchase.
| Subset | Number of students | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| All | 1700 | 100% |
| White | 1140 | 67.1% |
| African American | 442 | 26.0% |
| Asian | 64 | 3.8% |
| Hispanic | 28 | 1.7% |
The Ballard choral program is one of the largest in the state of Kentucky's and has numerous students that are accepted to KMEA. The choir received distinguished ratings at the regional KMEA Assessment in 2005 and has received national and international awards in the past. They have offered a tradition dating back at least since the early 1980s of having select choral students comprise a madrigal singers group.
Ballard's concert band received distinguished ratings at regional and statewide concert band and solo/ensemble events. In 2006 the Marching Bruins won the prestigious Grand Champion Award at the Mid-States Band Association's championships. The Ballard High School marching band also was in state three times in a row, the only marching band in Louisville to make it three consecutive years. The marching band has proven themselves to be one of the top marching bands in Louisville.
The Ballard Orchestra received distinguished ratings at the 2005 regional KMEA Large Ensemble Assessment. Ballard's quick recall team is ranked second in the county league, while suffering only one defeat to DuPont Manual High School.
Athletics at Ballard are competitive and very successful, winning 57 team state championships and many other individual championships. Ballard is a Kentucky powerhouse in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, American football, lacrosse, track, softball, tennis and soccer. Ballard Baseball, Ballard Basketball, and Ballard Football have sent many athletes on to college and to the pro ranks. The head basketball coach is Chris Renner, and the head baseball coach is Greg Gilbert. The basketball team was the state runner up in 1987, 2003, 2007, and 2010, and won the state championship in 1977, 1988 and 1999. Many Ballard basketball players have gone on to play college basketball, such as Antiquawn Beckham who currently plays for the University of Kentucky.
Ballard's nine state championships in soccer outnumber those of any other program in Kentucky (1976, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1999). The soccer team was also ranked number one in the nation in the championship season of 1999. Under the leadership of coach Damon Bootes they went 27-0 en route to a state championship. That same team sent 14 players on to play Division 1 soccer at the collegiate level.
The girls' softball team is a perennial power and were the state runners up in 2005.
Ballard's Varsity cheerleading team continues on the great tradition of taking home many 1st place trophies. The girls have been nationally recognized, and travel to various cities to compete at a high level. Some of the cities include Dallas, Lexington, Nashville, and Indianapolis. This program has sent numerous ladies into the division 1 level - including Kimberly Brakmier (whom is currently the varsity coach), Michelle Lose, Jasmine Taylor, and Paige Hagan.
(Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March)
Ballard has one of the highest graduation rates in the state of Kentucky, with 97.27% of seniors graduating.
Ballard is considered a 5 star school and is ranked 8th out of 213 schools for being one of Kentucky's best public high schools, according to a popular high school analyst called SchoolDigger.
The school has a history of senior-year pranks. Some of the more infamous ones was the 1974 release of three greased pigs into the school hallways; more recently, a pair of seniors vandalized the principal's office and the famed mural hallway with eggs and whitewash, which was reported on the next morning's television news.
In the 2005-2006 school year, a local news channel trespassed onto the school's property. They had a hidden camera and recorded their trespassing, and hallway routines in the school. Later that week, the story was on the nightly news and told viewers how easy it was to break into Ballard High School.