| Fort Collins High School | |
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| Current Fort Collins High School
Home of the Champions/Where excellence is expected
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| Location | |
| Fort Collins, Colorado United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Established | c. 1890 |
| School district | Poudre School District |
| Principal | Mark Eversole |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | ~1,800 (Near Full Capacity) |
| Campus type | single building |
| Color(s) | Purple, Gold, and silver |
| Athletics | 5A |
| Mascot | Lambkin |
| Website | schoolweb.psdschools.org/fchs/ |
Fort Collins High School, located at 3400 Lambkin Way, Fort Collins, Colorado, is one of four public senior high schools in the Poudre School District. Its school colors are purple and gold and the mascot is a lambkin. The school serves approximately 1,800 students and has a staff of about 130 faculty.
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Fort Collins High School is over 100 years old. Classes were originally held on the second floor of the old Franklin Grade School at the corner of West Mountain and Howes Street. Almost 40 students were in the first classes at the school. By 1903, the need for a new building was apparent. At this time, the high school was moved to a new building on Meldrum Street where the present Lincoln Center stands. During the ensuing years, additions were placed on this building in 1915 and 1921. In 1924, a brand new building which currently stands at 1400 Remington Street, was constructed. Classes were held in this building from 1925 to 1995. In 1953, a large gymnasium was built on the north side of the building. A science addition was added to the south end in the mid 1980s.
Due to increasing student numbers, a new Fort Collins High School was built at the corner of Horsetooth and Timberline Roads at 3400 Lambkin Way, and it opened in the fall of 1995. The enrollment at Fort Collins High School for 2006 will exceed 1500 students. As of 2006, the largest graduating senior class passed through the doors with almost 600 students. Approximately 30,000 students have graduated since the beginning class in 1893.
Starting the 2009 school year, 9th graders will also come to FCHS. Before that time, they only had grades 10-12. Population is estimated to be close to 2000 after the transition.
The new Fort Collins High school is considered to be in the "Post-Modern" segment of architecture, with its asymmetrical walls, pent style roofs, acute wall angles, and monolithic windows. Unlike the old structure, the new Fort Collins High School is completely lacking of peaked roofs, but instead consists of flat and pent style rooftops. This building designed to hold 1800 students comfortably, but has held up to 2200 with success. It contains 285,000 square feet (26,500 m2) of space, one cafeteria with an LCD television, three gymnasiums, 7 computer labs, 1 green house, 11 sets of restrooms, and a weight room. It is also the home of the McNeal Performing Arts Center, which holds a large auditorium that can seat 700. This is the only auditorium in Poudre School District with a fly system. FCHS is one of the largest high school buildings in the state of Colorado.
All sections of the school are joined by one main hall, a long curved hallway called "Remington" named after the street the old structure was located upon. The three academic halls are Prospect, Mulberry, and Laporte. Each hall has a very similar design, but different lengths. The wall on each hall facing the main entrance is slanted so that the halls are wider at the entrance and narrower at the exit (while the walls facing the music hall are straight). All three halls are joined by an elevated glass walkway.
Perhaps the most famous landmark of the facility is the FCHS tower, a sail-shaped, 75' tall tower with purple letters spelling "FCHS" vertically. It features purple neon lighting underneath which lights up at night. This new facility located at Timberline and Horsetooth roads is significantly larger than the old one, and is more spread out.
When Poudre School District was seeking designers, they did something they wouldn't usually do. PSD looked out of town for their architects of choice and went to the architectural firm giant Perkins and Will of Chicago to take on the task of creating a new building. Perkins and Will is most well known for designing massive structures rather than small individual buildings. This was a crucial factor in Poudre School District's decision to hire them, as the overcrowding issues demanded a very large school. The mega-firm was well known for projects such as JFK International Airport TWA, Center for Disease Control, Time Warner Headquarters, Best Buy corporate headquarters, New York Stock Exchange interiors, Dubai International Financial Centre, International School of Beijing, Signature Place, Los Angelos United States Courthouse, MIT technology square and center, Boeing Headquarters, Sears headquarters, and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
Charles William Brubaker, the leading educational architect at Perkins and Will at the time, was chosen to design Fort Collins High School. To cut costs, Poudre School District removed the swimming pool from Brubaker's design for the building, but the rest of the building remained. If the whole design was built, Fort Collins High School would be the largest k-12 private or public grade school in the district, exceeding Fossil Ridge's size. Currently, Fort Collins High School is the second largest grade school building in Larimer county, after Fossil Ridge, which has 4% more space. There is still room for the swimming pool, which is connected to the rest of the structure via steel beams with a courtyard underneath. If PSD receives enough funds in the future, the swimming pool could be added.
Recently, the three main class halls were repainted to reflect the school colors. LaPorte is Grey (the school administration believed black would be overly depressing), Mulberry is Gold, and Prospect is Purple. There is also a statue of a lamb above the main entrance and the school song transcribed just outside the Prospect hall. Remington Hallway was featured on C. William Brubaker's book "Planning and Designing Schools" as the cover photo.
April 4th, 1988, the Fort Collins High School Symphonic Band, under the direction of Mr. Pat Underwood, performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1991, the Fort Collins High School Symphony Orchestra under its former music director Steve McNeal and the Choir were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City in the Big Apple Concert Series.
Again, in 2002, portions of the music department were invited to Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Symphonic Band, Orchestra and Fort Collins A Cappella Choir were all asked to come and perform in this famous venue.
The Symphony Orchestra traveled to Germany and Austria in March 2005 under the direction of Matthew Spieker.
In 1997, the school's Science Olympiad team took 3rd place at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at North Carolina State University.
In 1998, the school's Science Olympiad team took 2nd place at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Grand Valley State University.
Fort Collins High School takes pride in many of its traditions including:
These are two Songs sung on the landing of Prospect hall every Friday at 2:00 P.M.
'1. The Lambkin Way" a.k.a "Travel'
Travel, Travel the Lambkin Way
Travel by night, travel by day!
Travel, Travel the Lambkin Way
Travel by night, travel by day!
Who goes there on the Lambkin Way?
A goodly company.
Virtue the carry in their hand,
To build a fairer, better land,
kindly people, fair of face,
With flow'rs of gentleness and grace.
Down the valley the Lambkins go
Up the hill where the fierce winds blow;
hope goes with them ever kind,
And patience with a quiet mind.
Eager, they look with long eyes,
Straight before them the city lies;
Over pathways rise and dip,
The City of sweet fellowship.
Travel, Travel the Lambkin Way
Travel by night, travel by day!
Who goes there on the Lambkin Way?
A goodly company, a goodly company.
M. Rose & S. Young (from the song, "The Pilgrim Way")
'2. Fort Collins High School Alma Mater'
Hail to thee, Fort Collins High School
We will ever faithful be.
Thou hast builded strong foundations.
Thou hast made the future free.
To the pillars firmly standing.
To the tower that guides our way.
Thou wilt lead our sons and daughters
To the light of eternal day.
-Roger Davidson '54
The A Capella Choir has been Singing these Songs for over 50 years every Friday at the end of 7th period.
Known as the "Home of the Champions" Fort Collins high school has 64 state championships in all sports.
The cross country team is widely considered one of the best in the nation. The boys team has won 8 state championships since 1988, and were back to back state champions in 2004 and 2005 and again in 2010 and 2011. In 2005, the boys finished 9th in the nation and in 2010 they finished 4th in the nation at Nike Cross Nationals. The girl’s team has won 7 state titles since 1989, including 3 in a row from 2008-2010. In 2007 and 2008 the girls finished 7th in the nation, in 2009 they finished 3rd in the nation, and in 2010 they finished 6th in the nation at Nike Cross Nationals. Both teams are led by coaches Chris Suppes and Craig Luckasen.
FCHS holds the 3rd most state titles in Colorado history with 26; occurring in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002.
Led by then coach, Jason Odorizzi, the team reached the State Championship game in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 Lambkins featured five future division I players and beat Smoky Hill High School 2-1 with an overtime goal off the head of Dusty Geisert. In 2006 they again played Smoky Hill, but came up short with a 2-0 loss.
In 2009 under coach Justin Stephens, Fort Collins High claimed its third state title by shutting out Abraham Lincoln. The Lambkins playoff run was played with complete dominance, scoring 18 goals and only allowing 3. The Lambkins came out on top 3-0 in the first Colorado High School state championship to be played at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of MLS club Colorado Rapids. The opening goal of the match was scored by Sam Deitz in the second minute and Denver Post match MVP Gary Seville scored a pair of insurance goals for the Lambkins. That year the Lambkins boasted a national ranking of 30th for boys soccer.
Since 2005 Fort Collins has won two state titles (2005, 2009) been runners-up (2006) and were the 2008 state semi-finalists. Their combined playoff record over those six seasons is 19-4; the best mark in Colorado.
Collins soccer notched its first state title in 1990.
FCHS alum Collin Clark now plays professional soccer with Houston Dynamo of the MLS. Chris Banghart was selected #60 overall by Real Salt Lake in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. Stephan Emory has just recently signed a contract for the Colroado Rapids on March 1st, 2011 when he was noticed by the Rapids at an open tryout in January. He now wears the number 13.
Other recent alums playing Division I soccer include Dave Martin (2006), Aaron Kepler (2007), and Alex Dietz (2008) at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. As well as, Colin (Izzie) Audley (2006) and Kris Banghart (2006) at the University of Denver and Stephen Emory (2006) at Metro State in Denver.
John Cooper, 2005 graduate, attended University of Oklahoma, before being signed by the Minnesota Vikings
Phil Welch, 2007 graduate, starting All American kicker at University of Wisconsin.
Trevor Martin, 2003 graduate, is backup defensive end for the Broncos. He is No. 73.
For 8 of the 10 years the award has been given out, FCHS has received the prestigious Wells Fargo Cup given to the Colorado school with the most outstanding activities program. In addition to a full Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) slate of sports for boys and girls, FCHS has a variety of clubs and activities that include:
• Amnesty International • Art Service Group • Asian Culture Club • Black Student Alliance • Boosters • Cheerleaders • Chemistry Olympiad • Climbing Club • CSU Math Field Day • Creative Writing Club • Distributive Education Clubs of America • Diversity Club • Eco People • EPYCS- El Pomar • Family Career & Comty Leaders of America • Fishing Club • French Club • Future Business Leaders of America • Gay-Straight Alliance • Hispanic Senate • History Club • International Students • Junior Class/Prom • KLYD TV • Knowledge Bowl • Latino American Student Alliance • LINK Crew (sophomore orientation) • Math Olympiad • Mock Trial Team • Model U.N. • National Forensic League • National Honor Society • National Ocean Sciences Bowl • Peer Counselors • Pep Band • Physics Bowl • Remington Street Review • Science Bowl & Science Olympiad • Senior Class/Graduation • Spilled Ink (student newspaper) • Student Response Team • Students Against Drunk Drivers • Swing Club • Tower Dancers • Tower Troupers • Yearbook