Burlington-Edison High School

Burlington-Edison High School
Location
Burlington, Washington, USA
Information
Type Public secondary school
School district Burlington-Edison School District
Principal Beth Vanderveen
Faculty 65 (as of Oct. 2005)[1]
Number of students 1145 (as of Oct. 2005)[1]
Color(s) Blue and gold
Mascot Tiger
Website

Burlington-Edison High School (commonly abbreviated to B-EHS) is a public secondary school in Burlington, Washington. It serves students in grades 9-12 in the Burlington-Edison School District, including the communities of Burlington, Bow, Edison, and Alger. The current administration is made up of principal Beth VanderVeen, and assistant principals Mike Curl and Todd Setterlund. The mascot is the Tiger, and the school colors are blue and gold.

In 1943 Burlington High School combined with Edison High school to form Burlington-Edison High School. The Edison High School mascot was the Sparkplugs and their colors were red and white. Burlington-Edison High School kept the Tiger mascot when the schools combined, as well as their blue and gold colors. Burlington-Edison's main rival is Mount Vernon High School.[2]

Contents

Demographics

In the 2005-2006 school year, the total student population was 1145. 78.4% of those students were White, 17% were Hispanic, 2.6% were Asian people, 1% were African American, and 0.6% were American Indian or Native Alaskan. As of May 2006, 22.9% qualified for free or reduced lunches, and 2.1% were migrants.[1]

Kirkby Field

Burlington-Edison High School's stadium was named in November 1992 after legendary Burlington-Edison athlete Roland Kirkby.[3] It is the home to the Tiger Football team. During the seventies and eighties they experienced great success, winning state championships in 1971, 1977 and 1986 under coach Glenn Rickert.

Hall of Fame

Starting in the winter of 2005, Burlington-Edison High School has honored outstanding former athletes. Every winter at a home basketball game, honorees are inducted. The Hall of Fame is displayed in the foyer of the main gym.[4]

Among those inducted into the Hall of Fame are:[5]

Intelligent Design controversy

In 1997 it became known to the public that longtime biology teacher Roger DeHart had been teaching intelligent design in his curriculum through excerpts of Of Pandas and People and Inherit the Wind. This event brought forth national attention and controversy. From 1986 to 1997, Roger DeHart had subtly posed the intelligent design theory in the classroom. After parents of one of DeHart's students notified the American Civil Liberties Union, the group threatened to sue the Burlington-Edison School District if DeHart didn't stop teaching intelligent design. The event sparked large debate and support groups for both sides were formed. DeHart was later reassigned to earth sciences and in 2001 he resigned and took a teaching job at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. He taught there for one year before transferring to a Christian school in California.[6][7]

Video production

Friday Morning Show - A weekly show airing on school television every Friday at the start of second period has three main goals: to inform, recognize, and entertain the students.

Video Annual - A collection of clips, segments, and commentaries put together by a select group(s) of students into one video to be sold at the end of each year. This yearly DVD is sold to the students.

Senior Video - A yearly DVD made to be sold to students to highlight, look back on, and memorialize the current graduating class of B-EHS. Generally made up of segments, and clips of seniors, and senior events, sports, etc.

Class Time - Sports and Entertainment Marketing is taught by Jeff Brandenburg for both periods 4 and 6. Class time is spent producing movies such as "flagpole" or "Homemade Infomercials". The Friday Morning Show is open for a video production student to sign up and take responsibility for each week. Also the Video Annual and the Senior Video is generally assigned or given to a willing student(s) to complete and have ready to sell by the end of the year. This class is only available to Junior and Seniors at B-EHS.

NJROTC

Education - The JROTC Unit at Burlington Edison, also known as the "Flying Tigers" teaches leadership, followership, and basic skills needed to succeed in the world today. Taught by Captain Bailey USN retired and Chief Hull USN Retired. The unit consists of 90-100 students on average. The Unit homepage is located Here

Extra Curricular - The class also offers many teams for the students to be a part of. These teams include Color Guard, Drill Teams, Physical Strength, and Air rifle teams. Each team competes monthly at a meet hosted by different JROTC schools in the area. Students that are on the teams are required to show up each morning at 6:20 for practice. Drill Teams practice on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; Color Guard on Wednesday.

Field Trips - As a part of the curriculum, the freshman class, NS1, takes a field trip to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and get a private tour of the operations that take place there. The Sophomore/Junior class, NS2, takes a field trip to Bangor Sub Base on the Olympic Peninsula. On occasion in the past the Senior class, NS3, has taken a field trip aboard a Naval Destroyer for a day, but due to recent terror treats and security, these have been put to a stop.

Athletics

Soccer - The girls soccer program has seen recent success, earning trips to the state tournament in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, they had a final record of 19-4, claiming the Northwest League Championship and 2nd place in districts, losing to Archbishop Murphy. That same season, the Girls Soccer team placed second in the state, losing 2-1 to Fife High School in the championship game.[8]

Golf - The golf program has earned state championships in 1975, 1979, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1997. They finished second in 1983, and their 1988 and 1989 second place finishes were just a preview for the four straight state titles to follow and five in eight years.[8] The girls golf team won state titles in 1989 and 1990[8] in the 3A division, they also finished second in 1993, 1995, 1999, and 2000. The golf program has also had many individual state champions, including the following:

Individual State Champions
Boys First Place Finishers 1975 - Jeff McMillen 1979 - Craig Wilson 1990 - Eric Bloomberg 1991 - Matt Bergstrom 1993 - Matt Thurmond Girls First Place Finishers 1990 - Julie Bowen 2000 - Stephanie Linnell

Cross Country - The Cross Country team under coach Sue Wright has seen much success over the past half-decade. In 2004, they traveled to state and placed 5th. The following year they returned to state and placed 3rd. In 2006, the Tigers finished their season with only one loss. They won the League and District meets and traveled once again to state, earning first place. The following year, the team returned to state, again taking first. In 2008, they made the state tournament, but lost the first place trophy to rival Sehome, finishing second. In 2009, the team returned to state once more, taking first for the third time in four years.

Football - The Tiger football team has won state in 1971, 1977 and 1986 led by legendary The Tigers have found recent success in the past decade under coach Bruce Shearer. They have made the state playoffs 6 straight years from 2005 and present, including a state championship run against the Prosser Mustangs in 2007. The football game between the Burlington-Edison Tigers and the Mount Vernon Bulldogs, known as " Battle of the Bridge" is played every year either at Kirkby Field or Bulldog Stadium. The Tigers have won the past 8 meetings from 2003 to present, recently winning the 105th battle at Kirkby Field 20-6.

Notable alumni

References

External links