Shorewood High School (Washington)

Shorewood High School
Location
17300 Fremont Avenue North
Shoreline, WA 98133

Information
Type Public
Established 1975
Principal Bill Dunbar
Enrollment approximately 1,800 (in 2007)
Color(s)              Blue, Green, White.
Mascot Thunderbird
Information (206) 361-4372
Website

Shorewood High School is one of the two public high schools in the Shoreline School District in Shoreline, Washington. Shorewood High School is a large, single-story school with open hallways and an open campus. Shorewood also has a highly recognized music department. The Shorewood Mascot is the Thunderbird, commonly called the T-Bird.

Contents

Facility and history

Shorewood High School, built in 1975, is a large high school that spans 5 city blocks. Shorewood has eight single floor buildings with open corridors outside.

Shorewood High School was built in sections. The 100’s building, closest to 175th, in Shorewood, was originally Ronald Grade School built in 1906 and closed 1971.[1] This closure was due to a failed levy that sent the Shoreline district into debt after 300 Shoreline residents and parents were laid off from Boeing.[2] The building was then used as a museum until 2010.

Along with the elementary school being closed, five other schools were closed, including Butler Junior High School, an older school originally built in 1953 and closed in 1973 to be rebuilt and become the main campus for the new High School named Shorewood. The students still in 7th or 8th grade at the time of the closure were sent to either Einstein Junior High School, or Cordell Hull Junior High School, with a few going to Kellogg Junior High School.[3] None of these schools were "middle" schools at that time. Shorewood was to be the first 4 year high school. Upon its opening, only the 9th and 10th graders were brought in. That 10th grade class remained the eldest class at Shorewood until their graduation in the summer of 1978. It was a unique situation for that one class of students as they never had to face upperclassmen. During this transition period for the district, all of the remaining junior high schools became middle schools.

Many of the last class of 7th grade students to enter Butler Junior High School were in the very first graduating class through Shorewood High School in 1978.

Since Shorewood High school’s original completion in 1975, the school has had one renovation in 1997 costing 6.5 million dollars.[4]

In 2011 the school district approved plans to replace the school building with a new facility on the same site. The historic Ronald School is to be incorporated into the design as part of the school and the remainder of the existing buildings are to be demolished.[1] The renovation and incorporation of the landmarked building was approved by the Association of King County Historical Organizations.[2] The ground-breaking for ceremony for the new construction was held on October 17, 2011 and the school is scheduled to open for the 2013-14 school year.[3]

A historic tradition at Shorewood High is the naming of the freshman class every year by the seniors. According to the November 9, 2011 publication of the 'Kolus', the tradition started in '86.

Students

Shorewood High School has approximately 1,700 students in grades ninth through twelfth. Shorewood accepts students west of I-5, and is fed students from Einstein Middle School and local private schools. 62% of Shorewood students are White, 22% are Asian American, and 13% are African American or Latino.[4]

Academics

Shorewood High School offers advanced placement (AP) classes, along with Running Start, a program that allows juniors and seniors a chance to receive high school and college credit for classes at the Shoreline Community College during the school day. Shorewood has 17 AP classes, covering 9 different subjects. With an 86% on time gradation date Shorewood academics are well above the state WASL average, scoring an 89% on reading, 91% on writing, 66% on math and 45% on science, with at least 60% of students passing the three state standards (Math, Writing and Reading) in the 2006 school year[5].

Eight Shorewood seniors were named National Merit finalists in the 2005-2006 academic year, two were named in the 2006-2007 academic year, and seven were named in the 2007-2008 academic year. In 2006, an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist, Jolene Mork, was from Shorewood. Approximately 12% of students took one or more AP exams in 2003. On average 59% of Shorewood graduates enrolled in 4-year colleges, and 28% enrolled in 2-year colleges, based on the graduating class of 2004-2005[6].

Shorewood participates in a school laptop program, which allowed students the use of a laptop for the completion of school work. The program is run by the school district.[7]

Fine arts

Shorewood offers a wide range of music-based classes including but not limited to: Jazz Band, Steel Drums, Stage Band, Marching Band, Aeolian Choir, Concert Choir, Men’s Chorus, Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and Concert Orchestra. Shorewood’s Jazz Band wins awards regularly and is highly acclaimed. The orchestra program regularly wins local and state competitions, and has performed at Carnegie Hall thrice since the year 2000. Shorewood's Aeolian Choir has been chosen to perform at Carnegie Hall in March 2009. Daniel Wing conducts the orchestra. In 2004, the Shorewood Jazz Band won 1st place in Boston at the Berklee College of Music Jazz Festival, and in 2005, the Shorewood Jazz Band won honorable mention (fourth place) in the Essentially Ellington competition in New York[8]. Also in January 2007, the Jazz Band performed at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in New York. In 2008, the Jazz Band successfully repeated their performance at the Essentially Ellington competition by winning the Honorable Mention award for the second time in four years. Recently, the Shorewood High School Marching Band won second place in the KZOK Battle of the Bands competition and was awarded $5,000.

Some of the other fine arts featured at Shorewood are drama, culinary arts, photography, and other art classes[9].

In March 2009, the Shorewood Aeolian Choir performed at Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theatre in New York City as part of the National High School Choral Arts Program under the direction of Crag Jessop, famously known for his work with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They performed two songs of their own ( The Conversion of Saul by Z. Randall Stroope and John the Revelator by Moses Hogan ) as well as the oritoral of Sir Michael Tippit's masterwork, A Child of Our Time with the St. Luke's Orchestra and the three other high school choirs in the festival (North Jersey Homeschool Association from Hawthorne, New Jersey; Pebblebrook High School Chamber Choir from Atlanta, Georgia; and Songs of Solomon: An Inspirational Ensemble from New York City).

In December, 2009, Shorewood students, under the direction of teacher Marty Ballew, created a video of You Make My Dreams Come True recorded backwards.[5] The video was in response to a video made by Shorecrest High School.

Sports

Clubs

Shorewood has 37 clubs contained within its halls, each advised by a teacher who has some expertise relating to the club.[6]

Notable alumni

Student media

Shorewood students participate in a variety of media projects and publications:

Faculty

As of 2006, there are more than 100 full and part time faculty members at Shorewood High School. Faculty have on average approximately twenty eight years of teaching experience,[13] and 72% of faculty have graduate degrees.[14] Biology teacher Paul Witt was awarded State Biology Teacher of the year for 2004-2005. In November/December 2010, math teachers Jill Owen and Paul Villanueva were awarded Symmetra/Seahawks Heroes in the Classroom. Through the program Shorewood won an additional prize one of three schools to be awarded the Symmetra/Seahawks Heroes in the Classroom MVP school winning a $10,000 grant toward geometry manipulatives. For 2008–Present Shorewood has been recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of America's Best High School ranking in the top 5% of all schools in America.

References

  1. ^ - Shoreline School Closure and Opening Records, Accessed January 20, 2007
  2. ^ - Shoreline District History, Accessed January 20, 2007
  3. ^ - Shoreline School District Shorewood High, Accessed January 21, 2007
  4. ^ - Seattle Times school guide, Accessed January 20, 2007
  5. ^ - Bob Phillips's Home Page, Accessed March 11, 2006.
  6. ^ "Technology integration". http://www.shorelineschools.org/departments/instruction/tech/default.php. Retrieved 16 April 2009. 
  7. ^ - Jazz at Lincoln Center News release, Accessed March 11, 2006.
  8. ^ - School report card Accessed March 4, 2006.
  9. ^ - Mac Laptop Information, Accessed January 21, 2007
  10. ^ - Seattle times school guide.
  11. ^ - Anon. 2006. "Kelly Stephens" Seattle Post-Intelligencer. February 8. pp F-4.
  12. ^ Davila, Florangela (16 June 2005). "Artist has full plate of accomplishments". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002337041_garth16.html. Retrieved 2006-07-28. 
  13. ^ Hansen, Sigurd (14 June 2006). "Seattle fishermen find riches and fame on "Deadliest Catch"". Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003057230_hansen13.html. Retrieved 2007-06-19. 

External links