| West Central Area Secondary School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 301 County Road 2 Barrett, MN, USA |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1993 |
| School district | MN, ISD 2342 |
| Principal | Nels Onstad |
| Enrollment | 413 |
| Color(s) | Red, Black, Silver |
| Song | Hail! West Central Area |
| Mascot | Knight |
| Nickname | Knights |
| Website | West Central Area Schools |
The West Central Area School District (#2342) is located in the west central part of Minnesota. It consists of the towns of Kensington, Hoffman, Barrett, Elbow Lake, and Wendell. There are also students from Herman, Donnelly, Ashby, Evansville, Fergus Falls, Nashua, and Campbell.
The district has two elementary schools consisting of grades K-4. WCA South is located in Kensington, and WCA North is located in Elbow Lake. The secondary school is located in Barrett. Grades 5-12 attend here. The secondary school has a football field, two baseball fields, two softball fields, four tennis courts, a 499 capacity auditorium, and a 1700 capacity gymnasium. The building occupies 63 acres (250,000 m2). It is 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) with a capacity for 600 students. The building is heated by a geothermal heat system. There are 288 wells, each 200 ft (61 m) deep using over 21 miles (34 km) of pipe. A heat pump, controlled by a computer system, heats or cools each classroom. The system has a backup generator. The mechanical room includes a 400 gallon hot water storage tank.
The West Central Area mascot is a Knight. The Knights have a football team, volleyball team, girls tennis team, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, boys and girls golf, boys and girls track and field, and cheerleading for football and basketball. The Knight's organizations include: speech, Future Farmers of America, mock trial, choir, band, Knowledge Bowl, one act play, student counsel, and musicals. West Central Area is a member of the Minnesota State High School League.
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The West Central Area school district was created in 1993 when the West Central school district of Wendell, Elbow Lake, and Barrett, joined with the Hoffman-Kensington school district due to declining enrollment. However, consolidation had started long before that. Wendell, Elbow Lake, Barrett, Hoffman and Kensington all used to be their own districts, but kept consolidating with each other until they all finally became one, large district. Declining enrollment continues to be the districts largest problem today. Class sizes in the high school are down to around 58 people per class.
West Central Area has an accomplished choir program. The school's choir has made a reputation for itself in recent years under the direction of Bryan Poyzer. Many of WCA's students have been chosen for Regional & State Honor Choirs. A number of WCA graduates have gone on to excel in college choirs and music programs. It's a' cappella choir strives to sing category I music and has received a superior rating every year since 2002. The school has also produced several stage productions and currently has a women's show choir (The Knightengales) that tours regularly.
As of the 2006 season, the football teams had an overall record of 93 wins to 49 losses. They have not had a losing record since 2001 when they went 3-6. They have been to the playoffs every year except 1997. The Knights went to the state playoffs in 1995 and again in 1999 where they were the state runners-up. The most recent successful playoff action occurred in 2005 when the Knights made it to the Fargodome where they won section runners-up honors.
The boys and girls basketball teams have also had successful programs. The boys program is consistently competitive having had ten winning seasons in the past 15 years. The girls program is also very successful having had 11 winning seasons in the past 15 years and had the girls Class AA state player of the year Megan Ronhovde in 2003 who went on to play at Division I Iowa State.
West Central Area has also had success in wrestling since it formed in 1993. The team wrestled their way to state runners up in 1996. The team has had five 150 win wrestlers and has sent 24 to state. The team merged with Ashby public school's wrestling program in 2002 because neither team could find someone to wrestle at every weight.
Special Olympics at West Central Area are taken very seriously. WCA has sent many students to the state meet in Swimming, Skiing, and Basketball.
1999
The most successful organization in West Central Area history has been the school's Mock Trial team, taking the section title nine times in 11 years. The Destination Imagination team became the first organization in WCA history to win a state championship in 2001 and repeated in 2003. The Destination Imagination team moved on to the world championships both of those years and placed 9th in the world in 2003. The Knights have fielded a national championship qualifying team in the televised Academic Challenge (national). West Central (Elbow Lake - Barrett- Wendel) was one of the eight inaugural knowledge bowl teams in the state of Minnesota back in 1979. Now almost every district in the state has a knowledge bowl team.