| Grimsley Senior High School | |
|---|---|
| Motto | "Expect and Demonstrate Excellence Every Day" (2009) |
| Established | 1899 |
| Type | public |
| Principal | Mr. Gregory Newlin |
| Students | 1,802 |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Location | 801 Westover Terrace, Greensboro, North Carolina 27408, |
| District | Guilford County Schools since 1993, formerly Greensboro Public Schools (1899-1993) |
| Colors | Navy Blue and White (1951), originally Purple and Gold (1909-10) |
| Mascot | Whirlies (1941), originally known as Purple Whirlwinds(1921) |
| Yearbook | Whirligig (1950); earlier yearbook The Reflector (1909-1930) |
| Newspaper | High Life (1920) |
| National ranking | 78th[1] |
| Website | Grimsley Senior High School |
Grimsley Senior High School is a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. Formerly known as "Greensboro Senior High School," It is part of the Guilford County Schools system. The school has an enrollment of around 2,000 students in grades 9-12 (the 9th grade was added to GHS in 1986). Grimsley has a reputation for strong academics, being ranked the 78th best school in the nation by Newsweek in 2010, and has been in the top 100 for 4 out of the past 5 years. (It fell to 119th in 2009)[2]
The school's colors are navy blue and white, and its teams are known as the "Whirlies" (originally the "Purple Whirlwind") depicted with a tornado-like symbol.
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Established in 1899, Grimsley is the oldest institution of public secondary education in both Greensboro and Guilford County, and one of the oldest high schools in the state. (Asheville High School, and New Hanover High School in Wilmington are both older.)
GHS was founded in 1899 as Greensboro High School; it became Greensboro Central High School in 1911 and Greensboro Senior High School in 1929 (when it moved to its current campus, after previously having had two locations in downtown Greensboro). In 1962, against the wishes of the school, it was renamed Grimsley Senior High School in honor of George Adonijah Grimsley, the superintendent of Greensboro's schools (1890–1902) who fostered the creation of GHS in 1899.
Upon its creation in the fall of 1899, Greensboro High School was located on North Forbis Street in a former Catholic Church building, on part of the site of the current Greensboro Public Library, behind the Greensboro Historical Museum. By 1910, this building was outgrown, so for one year—1910-1911—GHS was moved next door to the Lindsay Street Grammar School. In the fall of 1911, the school moved to the site of today's Weaver Academy, where it became Greensboro Central High School, and where it remained until 1929. In the fall of 1929, GHS moved to its current Westover Terrace location, when it became Greensboro Senior High School. See "facilities" section below for a description of the current campus.
In 1934, as part of the New Deal's Civil Works Administration (CWA), two large murals were painted in the GHS auditorium by Raleigh artist James A. McLean: "Energy" and "Education."
The school's original colors were purple and gold (circa 1909-10). Because of increasing difficulty in finding matching shades of purple for athletic and band uniforms, the colors were changed—by vote of the student body in March 1951—to navy blue and white.
The mascot was originally the "Purple Whirlwind," adopted in 1921. Local papers, in an attempt to have variety when referring to GHS's teams (and to save space in headlines) came up with the name "Whirlies" in 1941. (Other variations of "Purple Whirlwinds" had been used back to the 1930s.) The name "Whirlies" caught on quickly and was used interchangeably with "Purple Whirlwinds" until the color change in 1951, leaving the original mascot name as "Whirlwinds." Since the late 1950s, "Whirlies" has been used almost exclusively.
While the whirlwind was the mascot beginning in 1921, in 1956—and originating as the theme of the Whirligig yearbook that year—the Whirlibird mascot appeared, becoming instantly popular. It became the main mascot for the school, lasting until the early 1980s, when the whirlwind re-emerged as GHS's mascot.
Grimsley's alma mater was composed and written by Herbert Hazelman in 1949. Mr. Hazelman was the Greensboro Senior - Grimsley Senior Band Director for 40 years. The music building is now named in his honor.
In 1958, Josephine Boyd became the first black student to graduate from Greensboro Senior High School. GHS was the first formerly all-white high school in the state of North Carolina to have an African-American to graduate.
Advanced Placement (AP) classes were first offered at Grimsley in 1966. In the fall of 1995, Grimsley became the first school in Guilford County and only the fourth school in North Carolina to offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.
Grimsley has always been known for its strong academic focus. The Advanced Placement (AP) program was begun at Grimsley in 1966 with the introduction of AP European History, followed by AP English in 1968-69. Today AP classes are offered at GHS in 19 different subjects. In 1995, the International Baccalaureate (IB) program was instituted at Grimsley, after two years of preparation by the school under Principal Tom Penland. Grimsley was only the fourth high school in North Carolina, and the first outside Charlotte, to offer the IB program.
Aside from the AP and IB programs, a College Preparatory program and a careers program that includes a Health Careers track are offered. The school is an avid contender in academic competitions such as High IQ, Science Olympiad, robotics, and FIRST.
The Westover Terrace GHS campus, which opened in 1929, is unusual in that it is made up of multiple buildings (a conscious decision of the school board in the late 1920s), rather than just one all-encompassing building. The Main Building, Old Science Building, and Cafeteria Building—three of six originally proposed structures—were built in 1929. The cost of living had risen so much in the late 20's that the other three could not be built at that time; the onset of the Great Depression—soon after the new campus opened—further delayed expansion of the campus.
Today the campus consists of the Main building (1929), which has offices and classrooms on the first floor, classrooms on the second and third floors, and the 1500+ seat John Barnes Chance-M. Thomas Cousins Auditorium. The Old Science Building (1929) has two stories of classrooms. Immediately behind it is the one-story New Science building (1975). There is a two-story Home Economics Building (1956). The one-story Library Building (1967/expanded 2003) has two classrooms as well as the GHS library. The Cafeteria Building (1929) has the school's lunchroom on the first floor, and classrooms on the second. The two-story Herbert R. Hazelman Music Building (1956, named 2004) contains the band, orchestra, and choir rooms, plus numerous practice rooms and two classrooms. The Vocational Building (1942) has two-stories of classrooms. Plans are complete (as of early 2011) for a new Cafeteria Building (authorized by a bond vote in 2008), to be constructed behind and between the Home Economics and New Science buildings.
Across the service road from the academic buildings are GHS's athletic facilities. The Robert R. Sawyer '55 Gym (1954, originally the "Boys' Gym," then the "Main Gym", named in 2000) was the largest high school gym in North Carolina when built, and was architecturally significant because it had the largest unsupported concrete beams ever built in an American building when it was new. The Auxiliary Gym (1939, originally the "Girls' Gym") has a basketball court, a weight-training facility, and a classroom. Connected to the Sawyer Gym is the John Gordon Dewey '71 Memorial Swimming Pool, which opened in 1976. Behind the Sawyer Gym and Dewey Pool are eight tennis courts (1975), a practice field, and the Softball Field (1980's). Across Campus Drive are the other athletic facilities, the Robert B. Jamieson Football Stadium (1949, named in 1975), which includes a track (1958) and the Sigmund Selig Pearl Memorial Field House (1950), and beyond the football stadium, the Willie Young/Lewis McCall Memorial Baseball Field (1953, named in 1974 and 2007), and the Cross Country trail (1962). The 2008 bond referendum, besides authorizing a new cafeteria for Grimsley, also includes money for a major overhaul of both the Sawyer Gym and Jamieson Stadium, as well as the construction of a new track stadium and a new softball field.
The original wooden covered walkways connecting the various campus buildings were built in the 1930s, and most were replaced (although a few of the originals remain) with two-story brick covered walkways built in 2002-03 (as originally planned in 1929), when the campus was made ADA compliant (and air conditioned), funded by money approved in a bond referendum in 2000. The Grove (developed in 1963), a large outdoor social area between the Main and Music buildings is a popular spot for eating lunch and hanging out. Originally the majority of the Grove was covered with gravel, but it was paved with cement in late 1973. Besides the paved areas, there also is an area with a mulch ground covering, and several large trees which provide shade for many picnic tables.
Grimsley actively encourages students to join some of the many clubs offered. Many of these clubs are started and run by the students themselves. While student-created clubs result in many different clubs that represent a wide area of activities, oftentimes these clubs disintegrate after the founder or President leaves.
Some of the many clubs currently offered at Grimsley include:
Interested students need to keep an eye on the slideshow and tune in to WHRL, as it is the only place where you can really be notified of clubs that are actively meeting.
Grimsley is a 4-A school with a strong athletic program, including sports teams in football, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming & diving, golf, wrestling, cross country, track & field (both winter and spring), soccer, softball, volleyball, and lacrosse. GHS has won more athletic team state championships than any other high school in North Carolina—the first being in football in 1907—as well as many individual state championships. Grimsley has won the NCHSAA 4-A Wachovia Cup (for the most outstanding 4-A athletic program in North Carolina) five times: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990.
An athletic "boosters program," alumni, and the annual Grimsley-Page football game generate much of the funding for the sports programs at GHS.
Grimsley's Robert B. Jamieson Football Stadium (with a 1/4-mile track) was the largest high school football stadium in North Carolina when it was completed in 1949. Today, it is also the site of soccer and lacrosse games in addition to football. It is home to many local events, including fundraisers, special olympics, the annual North Carolina Coaches' Association's East-West All-Star Game (the first such game, in 1949, was the first game played in the stadium), and the annual fireworks display for the city on Independence Day.
Due to damages within Jamieson Stadium, construction of a new outdoor track has begun and is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2012.
The school has two gymnasiums. The larger Robert R. Sawyer '55 (formerly Boys'/Main) Gym provides facilities for most indoor sports such as basketball, wrestling, and volleyball, while the smaller Auxiliary (formerly Girls') Gym has a basketball court, a weight room, and a classroom.
As with Jamieson Stadium, the Sawyer Gym was the largest high school gym in the state when it opened. Attached to the Sawyer Gymnasium is the building containing the John Dewey '71 Memorial Pool, which is open to the public when not needed for school use. In the basement of the Sawyer Gym are the ROTC classrooms.
GHS's tennis courts (1975) are located behind the Sawyer Gym, as is a practice field, and the GHS softball field. The Willie Young-Lewis McCall Baseball Field (1953) is located behind the Jamieson Stadium. The GHS cross country trail (1962) is in the woods behind Kiser Middle School and the football stadium and baseball field.
Historic sports rivalries for GHS over the years have included: Reidsville High School in the 1920s and '30s, High Point [Central] High School in the late '30s through the early '50s, R. J. Reynolds High School [in Winston-Salem] from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s, and Page Senior High School in Greensboro since the mid-1960s. This rivalry is celebrated every year with a spirit week before the football game, which usually attracts crowds of close to 10,000, the capacity of Jamieson Stadium.