| Mesa High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 1630 East Southern Avenue Mesa, Arizona, USA |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public secondary (U.S.) |
| Motto | Carry On |
| Established | 1898 |
| Oversight | Mesa Public Schools |
| Principal | James Souder |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 3,334 students, including 9th graders in feeder junior highs (Oct. 1, 2010) |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Purple & Gold
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| Mascot | Jackrabbit |
| Newspaper | The Jackrabbit |
| Yearbook | Superstition |
| Website | http://www.mpsaz.org/mesa |
Mesa High School is a public high school in Mesa, Arizona, United States. Mesa High School currently accommodates grades 9-12 as part of Mesa Public Schools.
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The first high school classes in Mesa began in September 1899 on the second floor of the red brick north elementary school, later rebuilt and known as Irving School. The first Mesa Union High School district was organized on December 26, 1907, with John D. Loper as superintendent. The Town Council had leased all of Block 20 to the University of Arizona for 99 years to use as an experimental farm. This was the land bounded by Center and Macdonald, Second and Third Avenues. It didn't take long to discover that the block was not large enough, and so, on January 4, 1908, they sold it to the school district for $75. Construction began immediately on the building known as "Old Main". The 1909 graduating class graduated from that original twelve room building. The school had a main floor auditorium with a swimming pool in the basement. The auditorium was used for assemblies, with folding chairs for the early comers and standing room only for the rest. Ten years later, eight more rooms were added plus a small auditorium-gymnasium. During basketball games, spectators sat in the balcony (above the freshman section) or on the stage because the gym was not wide enough for sideline bleachers.
In September 1932, a football player named Zedo Ishikawa was accidentally killed by a shotgun blast to the chest. As he neared death he said, "Tell Coach Coutchie and the boys to carry on." As time went on, students began repeating the theme "Carry On" to one another. Eventually it became the school's official motto.
In 1936, the WPA and PWA provided funds for new construction, and the New Building was constructed west of the Main Building with an arcade in between. The land for this was purchased from Harvey Bush, for $4000. A new gymnasium building, which included an agriculture shop and auto shop, was also built south of the Main Building — the new site for school dances and basketball games.
In 1967, Mesa won their homecoming football game against rival Westwood High. Then, on Sunday night, October 1, 1967, a disastrous fire started in the science lab, completely destroying the sixty-year-old "Old Main".[1] Classes continued to graduate from the old campus until 1972 when the new Mesa High was built.
In the 1983-84 school year, it was honored as a Blue Ribbon school[2].
AIMS test scores for MHS were below the state average in reading, math, and writing for 2002 through 2004, but they improved to substantially above average for 2005. The average number of students per teacher is 23.
The school won 5A state championships in 2004 for boys basketball, and three straight 5A-I titles in wrestling from 2006 to 2008. Anthony Robles, who was born without a right leg, won individual state championships in 2005 and 2006. He later went on to win the 2006 Senior Nationals' and wrestled at Arizona State University on a full scholarship. Robles finished fourth at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships at 125 pounds, seventh at the 2010 tournament, and was national champion in 2011.
| State Champions | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Years |
| Baseball (5)[3] | 1927, 1947, 1953, 1957, 1958 |
| Boys Basketball (13)[4] | 1917, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1933, 1936, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1988, 2004 |
| Football (11)*[5][6][7][8] | 1928, 1933, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1990, 1992 |
| Boys Golf (2)[9] | 1957, 1979 |
| Boys Soccer (1)*[10][11] | 1981 |
| Softball (1)[12] | 1988 |
| Boys Tennis (4)[13] | 1937, 1950, 1951, 1952 |
| Boys Track & Field (5)[14] | 1950, 1952, 1962, 1982, 1988 |
| Wrestling (4)[15] | 1977, 2006, 2007, 2008 |
| State Runners-Up | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Years |
| Baseball (5) | 1914, 1928, 1945, 1950, 1959 |
| Boys Basketball (3) | 1944, 1952, 1953 |
| Girls Basketball (1)[16] | 1987 |
| Girls Cross Country (1)[17] | 1988 |
| Football (16)* | 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1979, 2009 |
| Boys Tennis (1) | 1949 |
| Girls Tennis (6)[18] | 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955 |
| Boys Track & Field (8) | 1926, 1936, 1945, 1956, 1972, 1974, 1985, 1989 |
| Wrestling (5) | 1983, 1988, 1991, 2009, 2010 |
*The Arizona Interscholastic Association recognized these sports and the regular season games thereof as official during these years, but did not conduct playoffs to determine AIA state champions for them until 1959 for football and 1983 for soccer. In such times, the press declared state champions (and state runners-up), similar to how the Associated Press independently crowns national champions for some sports at the college level.
Elementary
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Junior High Schools
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