| Kickapoo High School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1971 |
| Type | US Public Secondary |
| Principal | David Schmitz |
| Students | 1,747 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Springfield, Missouri, USA |
| Campus | closed |
| Colors | Gold and Brown |
| Mascot | Chief |
| Website | http://sps.k12.mo.us/khs/ |
Kickapoo High School is a high school in Springfield, Missouri. Kickapoo officially opened its doors in October 1971, the fifth of Springfield's five high schools. When Kickapoo was first established the construction had not completed so at the start of classes the students of the new high school split shifts at cross-town rival Glendale for about six weeks, with Glendale's students going to classes from 6 a.m. until noon, and Kickapoo's using the Glendale campus from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. It is named "Kickapoo" after its location in a part of Springfield known as the "Kickapoo Prairie" and after the Native American Tribe. The School's mascot is the "Kickapoo Chief".In 2010 it had 1,747 students and 96 teachers, making it the largest of the five high schools in Springfield.
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The school's characteristics include: Honors, Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement courses, an Orthopedically Handicapped Program, a Learning Resource and a Japanese language program. The school also participates in a program known as A+, in which students must maintain a 3.5 GPA and complete a certain number of service hours, most of which are completed through peer tutoring. Students who successfully complete the A+ program automatically get a free two-year scholarship to a two-year college in the state.
PN Media is a student produced news organization on the campus of Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri. The flagship paper, The Prairie News, has been published since the school opened in 1971.
In 2008 the program underwent a major revision when the paper was renamed 'PN Media'. In May 2009 KHS Prairie News [1] was launched to provide Kickapoo students with a more up to date news source. PN Media overhauled the site in the fall of 2009.
The Prairie News
The paper has also undergone a large redesign, moving from an 8.5" by 11" format to a full broadsheet newsprint paper featuring large color sections. The paper is also available online in a non-interactive PDF format.
Kickapoo is also host of the ChiefTV Network is a student produced broadcast journalism group, which produces video announcements on a daily basis.
The school makes use of mandatory identification badges for all students and staff to prevent unauthorized entry into the school. The 'ID badges' as well as school-wide video surveillance were introduced following a series of nationwide school shootings in the late 1990s.
At the end of each year, Sophomores and Juniors have the opportunity to apply for the Freshman mentoring system. These students are charged with assimilating small groups of freshmen into the school culture. They also assign rudimentary study skill and research tasks to all freshmen. This program takes place during Chief Time.
All students are assigned a rank. The lowest rank, "Brave," is automatically given to the freshmen, sophomores, and first-semester juniors. Students with this rank must remain in their assigned Chief Time classes and work silently. The next rank, "Warrior," is automatically given to second-semester Juniors with no referrals and a 2.5 GPA, as well as all Seniors. Students with this rank are allowed to leave their Chief Time classes and go to the cafeteria for early lunch or to the gym for free activity time. The highest rank is "Chief," given to all Freshman Mentors. Chiefs are allowed to leave several minutes early from school, leave early for lunch, and walk freely around the school without a written hall pass. Historically, Chiefs have been given preferential parking near the front door of the school; however, this was not the case during the 2007-2008 school year due to construction.
The school schedule is a four block system: Each day, students have four classes around 90 minutes each in length. The semester is 18 weeks long. In one school year, students have completed the equivalent of eight year-long classes.
The 2004-2005 school year saw the introduction of a program called 'Chief Time.' This modified the school schedule, extending the school day from 7:50 A.M. to 2:58 P.M. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students are allowed to do different things during this block, depending on their status in the ranked system.
Students with extreme academic issues can be assigned to a Chief Time class where they receive tutoring for the duration of Chief Time. Students in these rooms are, in practical terms, the only group lower than Braves in terms of freedoms during Chief Time.
On Fridays, school starts at 8:35, rather than 7:50. Class continues with a similar schedule to Tuesday and Thursday but without Chief Time. This adds time for detention on Wednesday mornings as well as time to make up tests. This also creates time in the morning for groups of teachers to meet for Collaboration, a meeting when teachers from the same department review their learning goals and revise them as needed.
During the 2006-2007 school year, there were two fundraisers for an organization called Camp Barnabas.[1] Between the two, about $4,000 was raised. An unidentified corporate donor matched that amount for a total donation of around $8,000.
Kickapoo adopted the Stop The Bop[2] fundraiser from a Pennsylvania school. The Hanson song MMMBop was played between classes until the student body donated $2,000.
Kickapoo's name has led to the making of a number of creative spirit shirts sold to the students. The most widely known of these being the famous "Fear the 'Poo" shirts in both brown and gold. The 2007-2008 shirt reads "Smoke the Totem Pole," which depicts Kickapoo at the top of a totem pole, followed by Hillcrest, Parkview, Central, and at the bottom, Glendale: Kickapoo's biggest rival.