Broad Ripple High School

Broad Ripple High School
Address
1115 Broad Ripple Avenue Indianapolis, Indiana, 46220 United States
Coordinates	39°52′07″N 86°08′15″W / 39.86861°N 86.13750°W / 39.86861; -86.13750Coordinates: 39°52′07″N 86°08′15″W / 39.86861°N 86.13750°W / 39.86861; -86.13750
Information
Type	Public
School district	Indianapolis Public Schools
Principal	Michael Akers
Grades	6–12
Enrollment	1409
Color(s)	Black & Orange         [1]
Athletics conference	Indianapolis Public School Conference
Nickname	Rockets
Website	School website

Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts & Humanities, established in 1886, is a magnet school of the Indianapolis Public Schools.

History

Originally built in 1886 in the town of Broad Ripple, the school started with seven students. The campus was destroyed by fire near the start of the 20th century but was rebuilt. In 1923, the school joined the Indianapolis Public Schools when the town of Broad Ripple was annexed into Indianapolis. Through the 1930s and 1940s, the school continued to grow. In 1961, the school became a haven for high school education in Indianapolis. Once a predominantly white, middle class school, and the last high school in the Indianapolis Public Schools to integrate, Broad Ripple gradually integrated in the 1950s and the first class to graduate African Americans was 1953. In 1976, the Center for Performing & Visual Arts was created within the school. Two years later, the Center for Humanities became the second magnet program offered at Broad Ripple High School. The Center for Performing & Visual Arts and Center for Humanities at Broad Ripple High School offer students the opportunity for specialized study in the areas of arts and humanities. Both magnet programs provide college preparatory and individualized instruction designed to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to compete and succeed as productive citizens.

Today

Additions, renovations, and annexations took place in 1896, 1913, 1935, 1939, 1949, 1960, 1970, 1988, 1991, and 2003. Enrollment reached its peak at 2,500 in 1995 after the closure of Washington and Howe high schools in Indianapolis. The campus consists of four buildings attached to each other. The official mascot of the school is the rocket; the school colors are orange and black. The school is accredited by the North Central Association. By 2009, Broad Ripple High School was leading Indianapolis Public School's performance/visual arts and academics standards, most predominantly with the school's band.

Along with the Marching Rockets, Broad Ripple High School also has an extensive dance department where students learn both the fundamentals and extreme forms of dance. Another longstanding department involved in Broad Ripples Center for Performing Arts is the theatre department. With their past performances of Othello, Chicago, and the like, the Gene Poston Auditorium and the Studio 55 blackbox theatre is home to hundreds of curious, dedicated, theatre students. The theatre department offers a well-rounded theatrical education, ranging from acting, directing, stage design and technology, and theatre history. Broad Ripple High School's longest standing tradition, Ripples Acts, stems from the theatre department.

Ripples Acts

Every year for over 70 years Broad Ripple High School has had an annual theater event in which a student or groups of students write a script with at least three musical numbers. Three of the scripts submitted are picked by a panel of teachers to be performed. The student writers are given a small budget and are responsible for to producing and directing the show. It is a two-night event, and on the second night awards are given for such categories as best song, best choreography, best lead actor and actress, best supporting actor and actress, best set, and best show.

Athletics

Sports offered students at Broad Ripple include:^[1]

State championships

The Rockets have won three IHSAA state championships.

• Wrestling 1957–58 (tie with Richmond High School)^[2]
• Boy's tennis 1972–73^[3]
• Boy's basketball 1979–80^[4]

1979–1980 IHSAA Boys Basketball Champions

The 1979–1980 Broad Ripple boys basketball team defeated New Albany High School at Market Square Arena to claim the State Championship. The Rockets' Stacey Toran (later an NFL football player) hit a 57-foot (17 m) shot in the morning session to propel the Rockets past Marion and into the final game.

Notable alumni

• Abraham Benrubi (1987), actor
• Rosevelt Colvin (1995), NFL and Purdue All-American football player
• Michael Graves (1950), architect
• Stephen Goldsmith (1964), former Marion County, IN, Prosecutor, Indianapolis Mayor, and Deputy Mayor of New York City.
• George Hill (2004), NBA player for the Indiana Pacers
• David Letterman (1965), entertainer, comedian, philanthropist, producer of numerous network comedy series, such as 'Everybody Loves Raymond" and Indy Car team owner
• Arnold Mickens, NFL player
• Marilyn Quayle, (1967), wife of former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle, mother of Arizona Congressman Ben Quayle.
• Stacey Toran (1980), NFL and University of Notre Dame All-American football player
• Cory Wade (2001), MLB pitcher
• Mike Woodson (1976), NBA NBA star 1980–1990, with nearly 11,000 career points, NBA coach, and head coach of Atlanta and the New York Knicks.

References

External links

• School website
• School district website