Stillwater Area High School

Stillwater Area High School (SAHS) is a public school located in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and is part of the Stillwater Area Public Schools - District 834. As the oldest high school in Minnesota and the first accredited by the North Central Association (now known as AdvancED) in 1903, Stillwater Area High School claims a special sense of history.^[1]

The current campus was built in 1993 thanks to a 28 million dollar bond that was approved by the citizens of District 834.^[2] The previous location is now Stillwater Junior High School. (SJHS). Students from both SJHS and Oak-Land Jr. High School attend Stillwater Area High School.^[3] Newsweek ranked the school #925 in their "List of the 1200 Top High Schools in America."^[4]

Athletics

Notable alumni

• Thomas J. Abercrombie — photographer, first journalist to reach the South Pole
• Glen Perkins — pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.
• Butch Thompson — jazz pianist and clarinetist
• Markus Bune — Advisor to the Stars (Will Smith, Drew Carey, Don Knotts, etc) ^{[8] [9] [10]}
• E.E. Knight — science fiction and fantasy writer.
• Rich Sommer — actor
• 'Topher (Chris)Clayton — writer swimmer and current editor of Metro Magazine ^{[11] [12]}
• Denis McDonough — U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor
• Nate Anderson Basketball, 1981 Fourth Team All-Suburban Conference Center, All-World Goof

Notable Staff

• Rachel Steil — former Nightline (US news program) Reporter and the adviser of the award winning Pony Express Newspaper .
• Chris Engler — former NBA Player.
• Phil Housley— former NHL Hockey Player, Head Coach of the Stillwater Hockey Team.
• Andy Weaver— Runs the School's Peregrine Falcon propagation program. Weaver is well known in the falconry community for his successful captive breeding program.

Controversies

In 2003, the school received attention after there were a series of fights stemming from racial prejudice.^[13][14] In 2006, one African American Stillwater student reported finding a pop-bottle bomb in his mailbox.^[15] Another race related incident from February 13, involved a racial slur and a heated argument.^[16] The majority of students are White with minorities comprising 5% of the student body, roughly a quarter of the Minnesota state average.^[17]

In late 2005, Stillwater Area High School received national attention after student journalists from the School Newspaper The Pony Express uncovered Joshua Gardner, a registered sex offender posing as British Royalty at the school.^[18] The journalists who helped uncover the true identity of Gardner were interviewed on Fox News, CNN, Good Morning America, MSNBC, and participated in a number of radio and newspaper interviews.^[19]

References

External links

• Fight Song
• Stillwater Area High School Class of 1997