Waltrip High School

S.P. Waltrip High School
Established	1959
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Steve Siebenaler
Grades	9–12
Location	Houston, Texas,, USA
District	Houston Independent School District
Colors	Red and Gray
Mascot	Rams
Yearbook	Aries
Newspaper	The Waltrip Tribune
Website	http://hs.houstonisd.org/waltriphs

Waltrip High School

Stephen Pool Waltrip High School is a secondary school located at 1900 West 34th Street in Houston, Texas, United States, 77018. Coordinates: 29°49′10″N 95°26′03″W / 29.819442°N 95.434284°W / 29.819442; -95.434284

Waltrip, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

Waltrip has Houston ISD's Research and Technology magnet program.

History

Waltrip High School opened in 1960 to serve many newly developed post-World War II subdivisions, and relieved Reagan High School of many students when it did so. It was relieved by Scarborough Junior-Senior High School when that school opened in 1969. The school remained majority white until the early 1990s, when the school was equally white, black, and Hispanic.^[1]

In 1997 a portion of the Reagan High School boundary was rezoned to Waltrip.^[2] By the 2000s, Waltrip became majority Hispanic.^[1]

Waltrip has become one of the highest performing comprehensive high schools in Houston ISD by being named "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency, one of the few urban high schools in Houston ISD to receive such a designation. (Reference: Texas Education Agency website).^{[3][citation needed]}

Around 2012, each year a total of 400 students transfer from Booker T. Washington High School to Waltrip and Reagan.^[4]

School song

The Waltrip school song, "Our Waltrip High", was written by alumni Jon Enloe with music by Joe Stuessy, both from the Class of 1961.^[5]

Neighborhoods served by Waltrip

Neighborhoods served by Waltrip include Garden Oaks, Timbergrove Manor, Shepherd Forest, Shepherd Park Plaza, Lazybrook, Shady Acres, most of Oak Forest, most of Cottage Grove,^[6] Candlelight Plaza and a small portion of the Houston Heights.

A townhome complex called Cottage Grove is zoned to Waltrip.

At one point, all of the Houston Heights was zoned to Reagan. In 1997, a small portion was rezoned to Waltrip.^[2]

Student body

As of 2006, the student body ^[7] is predominantly Hispanic.

The makeup of the 1,808 students enrolled during the 2008-2009 school year was:

• 67% Hispanic
• 17% White
• 14% Black
• <1% Asian
• <1% Native American

Approximately 73% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch programs.

Athletics

Waltrip Rams logo

The Athletics Department at Waltrip consists of the following teams:

• Football
• Basketball (Boys and Girls)
• Baseball
• Softball
• Golf (Boys and Girls)
• Track & Field (Boys and Girls)
• Volleyball
• Soccer (Boys and Girls)
• Swimming (Boys and Girls)
• Tennis (Boys and Girls)
• Cheerleading (Boys and Girls)

Facilities

The school houses the Waltrip High School Child Development Center, a preschool program for low income children.^[8]

Dress code

Waltrip students are required to wear red, gray, or navy polo shirts and khaki or navy bottoms.^[9]

The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with school uniforms (the definition includes dress codes which limit colors) may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform;^[10] parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Waltrip ^[11] include:

• Durham ^[12]
• Oak Forest ^[13]
• Sinclair ^[14]
• Stevens ^[15]
• Garden Oaks ^[16] (partial)
• Helms ^[17] (partial)
• Highland Heights ^[18] (partial)
• Love ^[19] (partial)
• Memorial ^[20] (partial)
• Stevenson ^[21] (partial)

Middle schools that feed into Waltrip include:

• Frank Black ^[22] (partial)
• Clifton (partial)
• Hamilton ^[23] (partial)
• Lanier (partial)
• Williams ^[24] (partial)

Notable alumni

• Mark Calaway - WWE professional wrestler known as The Undertaker.^[25]
• Keenan McCardell - Professional American football wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers^[26]
• Shelley Duvall - Actress and producer^[26]
• Toni Lawrence - Former Houston City Councilwoman ^[27]
• Debra Maffett - Miss America 1983.^[26]
• Van Malone - Professional American football player for the Detroit Lions^[26]
• Barbara Olson - Conservative commentator and September 11, 2001 attacks victim ^[28]
• Patrick Swayze - Actor and dancer.^[26]
• John H. Whitmire - A Texas senator^[26]
• Danny Ward - Acclaimed musician and event producer^[29]
• Elizabeth Pena and Jenny Ertman - murder victims - Waltrip High School contains a memorial to the girls ^[30]
• Rob Graves - Guitarist for the heavy metal band Ripper
• Brandon Strange - Producer and contributor on Sporting News Radio and 1560 The Game (KGOW) in Houston, Texas. Also believed to be the masked wrestler "Pedro Del Norte" of Rio Grande Valley Wrestling.
• C.V. Raman - Winner of a nobel prize and an Indian Mathematician
• Travis LeVrier - guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band, Scale the Summit

References

External links

• Waltrip High School