| Beloit Memorial High School | |
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| BMHS | |
Beloit Memorial High School - FrontBeloit Memorial High School - Rear |
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| Established | 1868 |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Principal | Thomas Johnson |
| Faculty | 130 (2010-2011) |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Location | 1225 Fourth Street, Beloit, Wisconsin, USA |
| Oversight | School District of Beloit |
| Colors | Purple & White |
| Athletics | WIAA Big Eight Conference |
| Mascot | Purple Knight |
| Yearbook | The Beloiter |
| Newspaper | The Increscent |
| Schedule Type | 5-Block System |
| Website | Official website |
Beloit Memorial High School is a public, four-year comprehensive high school in Beloit, Wisconsin. The average class size is 28 students with an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students and 130 full-time certified staff. 80% of the students continue their education after graduation.
The school's charter school complex, The Hendricks Education Center, is located across the Rock River. It enrolls over 200 students and has an online learning facility, an auto body shop, cafeteria, and a planned culinary arts restaurant run by the students. Also at the Eclipse Center is the "Roy Chapman Andrews Academy", a project-based charter school serving grades 9 through 12.
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Beloit Memorial's daily schedule works on a 5-Block system. This schedule consists of three 80 minute courses, a 40 minute lunch, one 40 minute course or intervention period and either one 85 minute course or two 40 minute courses. Students can earn up to 9 credits per academic year.
Beloit Memorial has the state's oldest high school newspaper, the monthly Increscent. The Incresent staff conduct interviews and write articles on current events. Towards the end of the school year, the Incresent publishes a special humor issue, called the Uncrescent.
BMHS Theatre performs a fall play (Nov.) and a spring musical (March) and supplements those works with other student-driven projects, including improvisation, a haunted hayride, and student-directed one-act plays. They performed as the showcase production at the Wisconsin CESA conference in 2008 and at the Wisconsin High School Theatre Festival in 2009, and performed at the 2010 Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland, as part of the American High School Theatre Festival. In 2011, they received Tommy Awards for their musical production of Hairspray: Outstanding Lead, Outstanding Supporting, Outstanding Ensemble, Community Engagement Award, and Outstanding Stage Manager. BMHS Theatre is student-led program, with student officers and a student stage manager.
During his nomination campaign, Barack Obama asked the pep band to play at his speech at the Beloit College.
The BMHS Jazz 1 Band has competed in several Midwestern jazz festivals, such as "Music in the Parks" and "Music in the Meadows".[1] It has competed in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, and New York. In 2009, they were chosen from among 15 other bands in the U.S. to compete in Essentially Ellington in New York.[2]
Memorial competes in the WIAA Big Eight Conference in athletics. The team's nickname is the Purple Knights. Some teams use different nicknames, including the boys' swim team (the "Purple Tide"), the girls' swim team (the "Lady Tide"), and the girls' soccer team ("Team Knightro" , a joint team between Beloit Memorial and Beloit Turner). The school offers 23 varsity sports: basketball, football, boys' and girls' swimming, boys' and girls' soccer, boys' and girls' volleyball, wrestling, boys' and girls' hockey, boys' and girls' track, boys' and girls' cross country, baseball, softball, boys' and girls' tennis, spirit squad, and boys' and girls' golf.
The boys' basketball team has the second most appearances at the state tournament, with 26. Beloit has also won the second most boys' basketball championships, with seven championships, and is one of four high schools to win three championships in a row.[3]
Beloit Memorials' homecoming usually takes place the last week of September. The week includes a class competitions, float building, a parade, an all school pep-rally, a football game and a traditional homecoming dance.
The goal of Beloit Memorial's "First Impression" project is to create a better image of the school. To date the school has put two large flower pots in front of the school, remade the front entrance, and repainted the gym.
A project under discussion is the building of a new school aquatics facility. The current 3.5-foot-deep (1.1 m) pool has been deemed "unsafe" by the WIAA. The proposed new pool would have eight lanes and be open to public.
Between 2005-2011, PAPAS, Inc. (Parents Advocating for the Performing Arts in our Schools) has raised and invested over $500,000 in donated money, into the performing arts program at the high school. This primarily includes advancements in technology in the auditorium, including the sound, lighting, fly systems, as well as other backstage technologies to make the BMHS auditorium one of the finest, most technologically-advanced performance facilities at any high school in Wisconsin.