Booker High School (Sarasota, Florida)
| Booker High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
3201 North Orange Avenue Sarasota, Florida, 34234-4793 United States | |
| Coordinates | 27°21′50″N 82°32′19″W / 27.363867°N 82.538744°WCoordinates: 27°21′50″N 82°32′19″W / 27.363867°N 82.538744°W |
| Information | |
| Motto | "Celebrating Excellence, Creating Pride." |
| School district | Sarasota County Schools |
| Principal | Dr. Rachel Shelley |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Mascot | Tornadoes |
| Website | Booker High Home Page |
Booker High School is a high school located in Sarasota, Florida. It is located in the northern area of Sarasota and is part of the school district of Sarasota County. The athletic teams are known as the Tornadoes.
History
Booker High School is named after a teacher and educational leader in Sarasota's black community, Emma Edwina Booker. Booker moved to Sarasota in 1910 and soon helped start Sarasota Grammar School, for the education of young black children. In 1925 she led a procession of students and teachers from the old school (in Knights of Pythias Hall) to a new school built next to the railroad tracks at Lemon and Thirteenth Street (now Seventh Street) by the Rosenwald Fund. Booker served as an inspiration to many of her students and was eventually commemorated by having three schools named in her honor: Emma E. Booker Elementary, Booker Middle School, and Booker High School.[1] The school expanded to include a high school, which graduated its first class in 1935, and in 1939 was relocated to a location on Orange Avenue in the Newtown neighborhood in north Sarasota; in the 1940s the grammar school was consolidated there as well.[2]
With the advent of school desegregation in the 1960s, proposals arose to close Booker and other traditionally African-American schools and send the students out of the neighborhood to white schools. The school was closed in 1967. The community objected to the negative impact this loss would have on the area, and eventually a boycott took place in spring 1969. Thereafter the schools reopened, but the threat of closure persisted, especially due to low enrollment. In 1979 the school obtained a grant to establish a magnet school in the performing arts with the goal of attracting white students to the school. The elementary and middle schools moved to other locations by 1993.[3][4] A renovation budgeted at $58 million broke ground in 2011, changing the route of Orange Avenue so that it no longer divided the campus, and providing five new buildings and improved athletic facilities[5]
Academic programs
Booker High School offers several "Academies" within the school. The school is particularly known for its Visual and Performing Arts ("VPA") programs, which currently include art, dance, digital design, music, and theater. The VPA program has turned out students such as Oscar-winning makeup artist Bill Corso and American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado.[6][7][8]
The goal of the JROTC is to teach its cadets to appreciate the ethical values that underlie good citizenship, to develop leadership potential, and to learn to live and work cooperatively with others. This program is greatly influenced by the armed forces and strives to instill military conduct principles in students.
Athletic Program
Basketball
The 2006 Boys Basketball were State Champions. They have five state basketball championships in school history.
Notable alumni
- Baraka Atkins, linebacker for several NFL teams
- Charlie Barnett, actor on NBC'c Chicago Fire[9]
- Bill Corso, Academy Award winning makeup artist[7]
- Glen Gauntt, American football player[10]
- Justin Hamilton, Florida's Class 4A boys' basketball player of the year as a senior in 1999, now plays professionally in Europe[11]
- Marquis Johnson, cornerback for St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints
- Lynne Koplitz, comedienne
- Syesha Mercado, musical performer, contestant on American Idol[8]
- Darren Ritchie, Broadway actor
- Sam Shields, cornerback for the Green Bay Packers
- Danielle White, winner of American Juniors on Fox
- Ruby Garrard Woodson, educator, founder of two private institutions for gifted minority students
- Nick Sirotich, illustrator, designer, and three-time state champion alligator wrestler
External links
References
- ↑ http://www.scgov.net/CommunityServices/HistoryCenter/Historic_Sarasota/booker.asp
- ↑ "Booker Schools", Sarasota History Alive (accessed 2015-04-01).
- ↑ "Booker High School: A Historical Perspective", School Board of Sarasota County (accessed 2015-04-01).
- ↑ Mark Zaloudek, "Booker Arts Program Escapes Federal Cuts", Sarasota Journal, July 24, 1981.
- ↑ Christopher O'Donnell, "Booker High getting a $58M new campus", Sarasota Herald-Tribune, January 26, 2011.
- ↑ Booker VPA website (accessed 2015-04-01).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Grant Boxleitner, "Booker High Grad Nominated for Second Oscar", Suncoast News Network, January 26, 2015.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ilene Denton, "This Idol gives back: American Idol's Syesha Mercado embraces Sarasota, where she first learned to believe in herself and her dreams." Sarasota Magazine, September 1, 2008 – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) .
- ↑ Handelman, Jay (29 June 2012). "http://arts.heraldtribune.com/slideshow/slide-show-chicago-fire-star-charlie-barnett-through-the-years/". Herald Tribune.
- ↑ "Gauntt recalls lean seasons". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. November 15, 1995. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
- ↑ McGee, Brian Evers. "BOOKER'S HAMILTON NAMED STATE'S 4A PLAYER OF YEAR.(SPORTS)." Sarasota Herald Tribune. March 3, 1999.http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-74053481/bookers-hamilton-named-states.html