| Broad Ripple High School | |
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| Location | |
| 1115 Broad Ripple Ave. Indianapolis, Indiana 46220 |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Principal | Linda Davis |
| Grades | 6-12 |
| Enrollment | 1409 |
| Color(s) | Black, Orange & White |
| Mascot | Rockets |
| Conference | Indianapolis Public School Conference |
| Website | Indianapolis Broad Ripple H.S. |
Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts & Humanities, established in 1886, is a magnet school of the Indianapolis Public Schools.
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Originally built in 1886 in the town of Broad Ripple, the school started with seven students. The campus was destroyed by fire near the turn of the century but was rebuilt. In 1923, the school joined the Indianapolis Public Schools when the town of Broad Ripple was annexed into Indianapolis. Through the 1930s and 1940s, the school continued to grow. In 1961, the school became a haven for high school education in Indianapolis. Once a predominantly white, middle class school, and the last high school in the Indianapolis Public Schools to integrate, Broad Ripple gradually integrated in the 1970s through bussing, although the first class to graduate African Americans was 1968.
In 1976, the Center for Performing & Visual Arts was created within the school. Two years later, the Center for Humanities became the second magnet program offered at Broad Ripple High School. The Center for Performing & Visual Arts and Center for Humanities at Broad Ripple High School [1] offer students the opportunity for specialized study in the areas of arts and humanities. Both magnet programs provide college preparatory and individualized instruction designed to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to compete and succeed as productive citizens.
Additions, renovations, and annexations took place in 1896, 1913, 1935, 1939, 1949, 1960, 1970, 1988, 1991, and 2003. Enrollment reached its peak at 2,500 in 1995 after the closure of Washington and Howe High School in Indianapolis. The campus consists of four buildings attached to each other. The official mascot of the school is the rocket; the school colors are orange and black. The school is accredited by the North Central Association. By 2009, Broad Ripple High School was leading Indianapolis Public School's performance/visual arts and academics standards, most predominantly with the school's band.
Along with the Marching Rockets, Broad Ripple High School also has an extensive dance department where students learn both the fundamentals and extreme forms of dance. Another longstanding department involved in Broad Ripples Center for Performing Arts is the theatre department. With their past performances of Othello, Chicago, and the like, the Gene Poston Auditorium and the Studio 55 blackbox theatre is home to hundreds of curious, dedicated, theatre students. The theatre department offers a well-rounded theatrical education, ranging from acting, directing, stage design and technology, and theatre history. Broad Ripple High School's longest standing tradition, Ripples Acts, stems from the theatre department.
Every year for over 70 years Broad Ripple High School has had an annual theater event in which a student or groups of students write a script with at least three musical numbers. Three of the scripts submitted are picked by a panel of teachers to be performed. The student writers are given a small budget and are responsible for to producing and directing the show. It is a two-night event, and on the second night awards are given for such categories as best song, best choreography, best lead actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, best set, and best show.
The 1979–1980 Broad Ripple boys basketball team defeated New Albany High School at Market Square Arena to claim the State Championship. The Rockets' Stacey Toran hit a 57-foot (17 m) shot in the morning session to propel the Rockets past Marion and into the final game. William Smith became one of the few African-American coaches to win an Indiana boys basketball State Championship. The Ripple win marked the first time an Indianapolis team had won a boys basketball title since the 1968–1969 Washington Continentals team took home the title.
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