| Chief Sealth International High School | |
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"Empowering learners to be of value to themselves and to others, today and tomorrow"
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| Location | |
| 2600 SW Thistle St, Seattle WA 98126 West Seattle |
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| Information | |
| Type | High School |
| Established | 1957 |
| Principal | Christopher Kinsey |
| Faculty | Approx. 85 |
| Enrollment | Approx. 900[1] |
| Information | 206-252-8550 |
| Mascot Colors |
Seahawk Columbia blue, white, red |
| Website | http://chiefsealthhs.seattleschools.org/ |
Chief Sealth International High School is a public high school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington. Opened in 1957 in southern West Seattle, Chief Sealth students comprise one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse student bodies in Washington State. The school is named for Chief Seattle, a Duwamish chief and a recognized leader amongst the local peoples at the time of the arrival of white settlers in the area. The school shares a campus with Denny International Middle School.
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Chief Sealth offers academy-based programs, including the Academy of Finance, Academy of Travel and Tourism, Graphic Arts, Performing Arts, Proyecto Saber, and Sports Marketing. Recently added to the curriculum is Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a program to provide rigorous and innovative Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.
In 2010 the District Superintendent designated Chief Sealth as the first "International" high school, which means the new curriculum will include a multi-cultural education.[2] Chief Sealth International High School is an accredited International Baccalaureate (IB) school, offering IB courses and the full IB diploma program. The school offers foreign language courses, including a focus on Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese.
The Confucius Institute of the State of Washington Education Center has been relocated to the school as part of the impending co-location with Denny International Middle School.
Begun in 1975 at Chief Sealth High School, Proyecto Saber (Spanish for "Project: To Know") is a "school within a school", providing help in all academic areas to the neighborhood's Latino community. Currently, there are about 250 students enrolled in courses offered by this one-of-a-kind bilingual/bi-cultural program at Chief Sealth International High School, Ballard High School and Denny International Middle School in the Seattle Public Schools District. With an education-can-make-all-the-difference mantra, Proyecto Saber not only provides homework assistance, but also offers workshops that deal with topics such as racism, leadership, famous Latin Americans, etc. There is also a mariachi band, a youth club and an annual Cinco de Mayo assembly.
Chief Sealth students have produced several documentaries, including The Diaries of High Point,[3] which won an Emmy Award. An environmental studies pilot program incorporating photography, environmental research, and service learning, supported by wildlife photographer Art Wolfe (a Sealth alum), provides opportunities for Sealth students to mentor students at nearby schools. Students in the Sports Marketing program have researched and documented Negro League Baseball player movements in the western United States, focusing on the career of Buck O'Neil. In 2004, Chief Sealth High School hosted the first Negro Leagues Baseball Museum exhibit on the west coast. In 2006, Sealth students, Chunda Zeng, Jasdeep Saran, and Yuto Fukushige, rode bicycles from Seattle to Kansas City, Missouri to raise funds for the Museum's Buck O’Neil Education & Research Center.[4] In 2007, Chief Sealth seniors earned more than 1.4 million dollars in grant and scholarship money for college.
The school has some of the best athletic facilities in the Seattle School District, including the Southwest Athletic Complex, the largest gymnasium, and two practice gyms. Athletic programs include: [5]
Its recent principal (until 2011), John Boyd, is himself a former Sealth Seahawk, graduating in 1982. Nicknamed "Vanilla Thunder", Boyd was the leading scorer (16.1 points per game) in Chief Sealth's best-performing basketball team (24 and 2, 4th in Washington State). They had All-Metro honors for two consecutive years and retired Boyd's jersey number 24.
In 2006, the school's girl's basketball team was revoked of their 2004 and 2005 state championship titles, and barred from playing in the 2007 tournament after it had been revealed coaches participated in illegal recruiting.[6] Six Sealth Ladyhawks players had been enticed to transfer to the school with promises of starting positions and college scholarships. Coaches also provided fake leases to show residence within the school district, and in one case, helped a student get a deal on a car to make the commute to Chief Sealth easier.[7]
On September 8, 2010 Chief Sealth re-opened in the newly renovated facility at 2600 SW Thistle Street after two years at the Boren Middle School interim site. The much larger building supports grades 6-12, including students from Denny International Middle School, which opened in the newly expanded facility in September, 2011.[8] Both schools remain distinct within the shared facility, although some spaces such as the renovated CSIHS auditorium and the new Galleria are shared between the schools. The design of the renovation and expansion was undertaken by Bassetti Architects of Seattle.
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