| Peoria High School | |
|---|---|
|
Go Panthers! Exceed!
|
|
| Location | |
| 11200 N. 83rd Avenue, Peoria, Arizona, United States of America |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Established | 1919 |
| Principal | Dr. Kayla Carter |
| Faculty | 139 |
| Enrollment | 1,600 |
| Color(s) | Green and gold |
| Mascot | Panthers |
| AIA Class | 4A Division I |
| Website | Peoria High School |
Peoria High School is a public secondary school located in Peoria, Arizona, United States. The high school is currently a part of the Peoria Unified School District. The school opened its doors in August 1919, since which it has maintained an Excelling academic status. Currently, approximately 1,600 students are enrolled, and because of this, Peoria is a 4A school as rated by the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Their mascot is the Panther. Peoria is considered the fifth largest (by student population), and oldest, high school in the Peoria Unified School District. Peoria's sports and arts programs are referred to as the “Peoria Panthers”. The principal is Dr. Kayla Carter and vice principals include Monique Molina, Tara Willoby, and Philip Camacho.
Contents |
Rapid growth from infill developments in the farms surrounding Peoria High School, master planned communities being built to the south, and students moving into the Youngtown area caused a major spike in Peoria High School's enrollment. Between 2000 and 2004, a new building complex was constructed, and students were eating during three lunch periods. During the 2003-2004 school year, Peoria High School hit a peak in its student population, in the low 3,000s, and also welcomed the district's largest freshman class, with more than 900 new students. The school was ranked as 5A-I according to the Arizona Interscholastic Association and was the third largest high school in the state. The school was also in need of major renovations.
Due to overcrowding and a need to redo the school Raymond S. Kellis High School was built and opened for the 2004-2005 school year. The new high school is located within the city limits of Glendale, approximately 3 miles southwest of Peoria High. This removed most of the rapidly growing areas from Peoria High, including all of Country Meadows Elementary, Cotton Boll Elementary, and most of Sun Valley Elementary students. This also gave Alta Loma Elementary students a choice to attend either Peoria or Kellis and Ira A. Murphy Elementary students a choice to attend either Peoria or Centennial. Due to the opening of Kellis the number of students enrolled at Peoria has rapidly dropped over the years to its current number in the 1,600s.
Many different academic tracks are offered for students to meet their needs. The first is the basic track which helps the student to take classes that interest them and allow a wide variety with no added weight in GPA. Another track is the honors program which offers somewhat of a harder work load and helps to boost the student's GPA by weighting the grades more. The last track is the Advanced Placement (AP) program which offers college level classes and college credit for those that apply. This track weights the grades the same as an honors class, but allows the student to leave high school with a certain number of college credits already to their name. All students may take a mixture of basic, honors and AP if they wish.
Peoria High School has more than 95% of its students graduate after four years. The graduation ceremony takes place at the University of Phoenix Stadium, which is located in the neighboring city of Glendale.
A major club on campus is the Student Council. The Student Council is a very active club around campus. Some of the council's functions include promoting school spirit by planning spirit weeks, pep rallies, dances, homecoming and the prom. Student Council includes freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Freshmen elections take place in December. All other elections are held at the end of each year for the following year.
Starting with the 2009-2010 season, the PHS Marching Band and music program is under the direction of Chris Pierson, who comes from the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. The Division II band program is well respected, with the symphonic band receiving a superior rating with distinction at the Arizona Band and Orchestra Director's Association concert festival in Spring 2009. This past year the 2010 Panther Pride received a rating of "Excellent" at the ABODA State Marching Band Festival with their show "Shadow of a Prodigy", featuring the music of Mozart.[1]
A nationally recognized program at Peoria is that of agriculture. As one of the only agriculture programs in Arizona, it continues to flourish. Every year, the students plan a 2 day conference for students throughout the state to attend.
The Peoria Dance Theatre is a club for females and males who are skilled in all forms of dance. The club holds a dance concert for the community and school twice a year: one in the winter and one in the spring. To join, one must audition for the program, which traditionally occurs in the early spring for the following year.
Originally designed for minority students, this engineering club is nationally recognized for its excellence and attention to detail. No longer for minority students, anyone may join, regardless of race or year in school. Along with having a high school M.E.S.A team, a junior team is offered to 6-8th grade students who attend Peoria's feeder schools.
In the late 1980s, Peoria was one of the most dominant and successful athletics programs in Arizona. Between 1984 and 1989, Peoria won 8 State Championships in Men's and Women's Basketball, Women's Softball, Men's Baseball, Football and Wrestling.
|
|||||||||||