Edgewater High School

Edgewater High School is a public secondary school located in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida. It is operated by the Orange County Public Schools system. The athletic teams are known as the 'Fighting Eagles' with colors red and white. Edgewater earned a B on the State of Florida school report card for 2012.

Student enrollment for 2013-2014 is 1701. Its attendance zone draws in students primarily from College Park, Colonialtown, Eatonville, Lake Fairview, Rosemont, Spring Lake, western portions of Maitland and Winter Park, and downtown Orlando. In addition, the school has 140 faculty members. 85% of graduating seniors report intending to attend a college or university after graduation. The school newspaper The Eagle Eye is a member of the High School National Ad Network.

Origins

In 1950, the School Board of Orange County, Florida unveiled plans to build two new high schools in Orlando. These two schools were built from the same architectural plans and both were opened on the same day, Tuesday, September 2, 1952. The first was named William R. Boone High School and the second was named Edgewater High School. Boone was named for William R. Boone, a long-serving principal of the original Orlando High School (which is now Howard Middle School, on Robinson Street in downtown Orlando, near Lake Eola). The campuses of Boone and Edgewater contained identical buildings, but their arrangement on each campus is different. Edgewater's first principal was Mr. Orville R. Davis, a veteran of Orange County Public Schools, who was once the principal of the original Memorial Junior High School (now Memorial Middle School), also in Orlando.

Edgewater and Boone were originally to be named North and South High Schools, respectively. However, William R. Boone, who was to be principal of South, died the summer before the schools opened. South High was renamed in his memory. North High was then named for the road it was built beside, Edgewater Drive.

Edgewater High School has recently been renovated into a state-of-the-art, 3-story facility on the land which previously held mobile homes to the North of the old campus, most of which will be destroyed to create a new sports field. The remaining buildings will undergo a refurbishment to house freshmen and will be available by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. The new facility is mostly indoors to allow for overall protection from the elements and a more secure campus, and uses brand new technology such as new Promethean boards and an all new auditorium. Students were given access to the facility on the first day back to class in 2011 after winter break, and both staff and students are currently working on adjusting to the new facility. The new campus was designed by CT Hsu + Associates, P.A.

Academics

Edgewater High School was designated by the Orange County School Board to be the District's Magnet School for Engineering, Science and Technology beginning in the fall of 1991. Courses offered in the program include, but are not limited to: Engineering Technology, Architectural and Mechanical Drafting (CADD), Computer Graphics, Computer Animation, Game Design, Web Design (HTML), as well as the dual-enrollment courses offered by the University of Central Florida (Systems Modeling, Engineering Analysis, and Engineering Analysis of Economics). Emphasis is placed on project-driven learning, personal research, team building, problem-solving, and personal excellence.

The Advanced Placement Academy is designed as a challenging and comprehensive college preparatory curriculum emphasizing academic rigor. It is intended to prepare students to be successful upon entry into a selective four year postsecondary institution and offers the potential for earning college credit while in high school. The Advanced Placement Academy is an interdisciplinary program focusing on Liberal Arts through Pre-AP and AP courses. Scholarship, honor, attendance, and integrity are essential components of the success of the APA Program.

AVID, also offered at EHS, stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. AVID is made up of students from diverse backgrounds who all have a common goal of future success in college. AVID students strive for excellence in their rigorous courses as well as in community activities and extra curricular sports and clubs. AVID students are determined to be successful and work through challenging Honors and AP curriculum with the help of the AVID elective class. In the AVID elective class students participate in tutorials with college or volunteer tutors. The AVID curriculum is centered around WICR: W - Writing, I - Inquiry, C - Collaboration, R - Reading. AVID students are encouraged to remain in the program from freshman year until senior year as the hinge of success for AVID is based on the relationships built among the AVID students and site team teachers.

Sports

Edgewater has achieved significant success in a wide array of sports at the regional, state, and national levels.

The Eagle football team reached the Florida Class 6A Championship game three straight years between 2002 and 2004. Concurrently, the Eagle basketball team also reached the Class 6A State Championship game during the 2002–03 and 2003–04 school years, going all the way to victory in 2003–04.

Recent Edgewater teams have also received significant national acclaim. The 2003–04 school year was a banner year for Edgewater sport notoriety, as the men's basketball team, after wrapping up the school's second State Basketball Championship (first one in 1976), reached the #6 rank in the USA Today national prep basketball rankings.^[1] The football team also caught the eye of many pollsters in the 2002–03 season getting as high as #10 in the USA Today national prep poll,^[2] and then starting the next year ranked #5 on the American Football Monthly poll,^[3] and persisting in the national spotlight all season, making it to #19 in the USA Today national prep football polls before falling to Miami Killian in the championship game.^[4] Basketball player Darius Washington also was voted as a Parade 1st Team All-American and McDonald's All-American that season. The school won a Men's basketball state championship in 2004.^[5] The Women's basketball team beat Miami Norland High School in the 2011-2012 season to become State Champions for Class 6A, the second state championship under the coaching of Head Coach Malcolm Lewis.

In 1963, Edgewater was the first high school in Florida to start and maintain a rowing team, competing against college freshman boats until other high schools came on board a few years later. The Crew has won 9 team State Championships and dozens of Boat Championships at the State and National level since.

A complete list of athletic achievements is maintained here.^[6]

Marching band

The Edgewater High School "Pride of College Park" Band is currently headed by Director Bruce Green.

Orchestra and chorus

The Edgewater High School Orchestra is led by Doreen Johnson and the Edgewater High Chorus is directed by Alexander Glover.

International Space Settlement Design Competition Participation

Edgewater's Space Settlement Design Team, Tempus, has qualified annually for the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC) Finals almost consecutively for the last decade. The competition requires that the team design a large-scale space settlement based on a provided Request for Proposal (RFP), detailing every aspect of human existence in space. A qualifying forty-page proposal is first submitted, and if selected the team then travels to the Johnson Space Center for the Finals where an additional space settlement is designed and presented to a panel of NASA judges over the course of one weekend. Tempus has won the international title both in 2004 and 2012.

Notable alumni

• Marquis Daniels - Basketball guard, currently member of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks
• Howie Dorough - member of the Backstreet Boys.^{[citation needed]}
• Howie Muzika - digital artist/modeler for movies such as EdTV, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Spider-Man 2, Open Season, Speed Racer, and others.^[7]
• Ed Gantner - football player and professional wrestler. (dec.)

JCTV, for playing guitar in the CW network series, The Vampire Diaries, and appearing in The Game on BET.^[8]

• Sharon Lechter, co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• Michael James Nelson - Television Writer/Producer/Performer, best known for producing The Bachelor: Rome, writing for MTV, American Broadcasting Company, DreamWorks, and appearing on The Oxygen Network's television series Pretty Wicked^[9]
• Mike Sims-Walker - NFL Wide Receiver, currently playing for the St Louis Rams.^[10]
• Arthur W Willett - 2002 Winner of NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy Award for service to the Space Shuttle astronauts^[11]

Principal's arrest

On Saturday, August 4, 2012, current principal Michele Erickson was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after attending a Rod Stewart concert at the Amway Center the previous night. As of today, she still remains employed by the school district.^[12]

References

External links

• Edgewater High School Official Website
• Orange County Public Schools Official Website

Coordinates: 28°34′50″N 81°23′25″W / 28.58060°N 81.39041°W / 28.58060; -81.39041