Cooper City High School

Cooper City High School
"Home of the Cowboys"
Address
9401 Stirling Road
Cooper City, Florida
United States
Information
Type Public
Established September 1971
School district Broward County Public Schools
Principal Wendy Doll
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,281 (2011–2012)
Average class size 22
Campus Suburban
Color(s)      Red
     Black
     White
Mascot Pistol Pete (formerly Lasso Larry)
Website http://www.coopercityhigh.net/

Cooper City High School is a high school located in Cooper City, Florida which teaches grades 9-12. The school includes standard high school curriculum plus specialized classes devoted to career development including auto tech and computer programming. It has an average enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. Since the 2004–2005 school year the school principal is Ms. Wendy Doll. The school colors are red, black, and white and the mascot is a cowboy named "Pistol Pete." "Pistol Pete," was once deemed inappropriate because he wields two handguns, but was brought back in the 2014–2015 school year. The school has been awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award.[1] Cooper City has an FCAT school grade of "A" for the 2013–2014 academic year.[2] The school was also ranked #382 in the High School Challenge Index (conducted annually by Newsweek and The Washington Post) of 2011 out of approximately 30,000 schools, marking it as one of the top high schools in the entire nation.[3] It is also #46 school in the state of Florida.

Facilities

The school, built in 1971, is decayed, but is hardly capable of holding all of the students that occupy it every day. A new 25-classroom building opened during the 2002–2003 school year. This building was followed by a new cafeteria which opened in May during the 2009–2010 school year. An entirely new building to replace the original one started construction during the 2012-2013 school year and opened during the 2013-2014 school year. The old building has since been blocked off and is planned to become a parking lot for students.

Academics

Prior to the 2012-2013 school year, the school operated on a 4x4 block schedule. Now it functions on a seven class period system due to budget cuts. All the classes are year long with 50 minutes per period, and courses such as auto-tech and childcare take up two class periods.

Cooper City offers a wide variety of honors courses. Each honors class awards five points for an A, four points for a B, three points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter. Students often opt to take honors courses for their core classes (English, math, science, and social studies), which typically include biology, chemistry, algebra, geometry, geography, and history courses. Also, many higher-leveled elective courses give students the opportunity to earn honors credit, which encourages students to continue with specific electives throughout their high school career. There are also many stand-alone honors elective courses available, including anatomy, marine science, debate, and personal finance courses.

The AP participation rate is 19 percent, which is one of the lowest in Broward County. There are four available Advanced Placement courses available to the students. Each AP class awards six points for an A, five points for a B, four points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter.

Cooper City High School offers the following AP courses as of the 2013-2014 school year. Courses marked with an asterisk after their names typically require doubling-up, with students getting honors credit during the first semester and AP credit during the second semester.[4]

In addition, students are eligible to dual-enroll in courses at Broward College. Dual-enrollment courses can be taken over the summer break or during the school year. Seniors are also eligible to use dual-enrollment courses to replace the third and/or fourth period slots in their class schedules. Dual-enrollment courses give students the opportunity to experience taking a class in a college setting before they even leave high school, which helps to prepare them for when they head off to various colleges after graduating from high school. These courses also provide a GPA boost, with each class awarding the same amount of weighted GPA credit that's given to an AP class taken on the Cooper City High School campus.

Cooper City currently boasts a graduation rate of 97.4%, the highest in the district. Graduates choose from a variety of post-secondary paths, including the military, community college ( Broward College), Florida schools (including the University of Florida, Florida International University, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Miami), and out-of-state schools (including a variety of prestigious universities such as Stanford, Emerson, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and New York University, and Ivy League schools such as Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania).[5][6]

Athletics

The softball team won the state championship in 2009.

The sports currently offered at the school (as of the 2013-2014 school year) include the following:[7]

List of clubs and organizations

CTV News

Cowboy Television, (typically shortened to CTV) is the school's news magazine and variety show. It was developed in 1997 by the school's very own television and mass media class. At that time, the show aired on a monthly schedule.[8] The show now airs every Friday afternoon towards the end of seventh period (at 2:15 PM). Considered to be "America's #1 High School Weekly News Program" by the Student Television Network, the CTV program has been the recipient of various awards.[9]

Sound of Pride

The school's band, percussion, and color guard programs are collectively known as the Sound of Pride. The varsity winter guard in their 2013 season was ranked 15th in the world, and the marching band became FMBC Class 4A State Champions in 2008. In order for a student to become a member, they must enroll in a wind ensemble, symphonic band, percussion, or color guard class. These are all year-round courses. Students in these classes are given the opportunity to participate in the school's award-winning marching band during the fall. Students are also eligible to sign up for jazz band after the marching season, and students participate in FBA Solo and Ensemble Festival on the district and state levels.[10]

Notable alumni

Scandals

On May 26, 1993 two Cooper City High school girls were arrested on prostitution charges, giving the school the nickname "Hooker High".[12]

In 2006, the Senior Class President was charged with hacking into the grade submission site and changing grades for himself and other students.[13]

Cooper City High School first appeared on the national stage with the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent by a group that included previous students of both Cooper City High School and South Broward High School. The murder resulted in a best selling crime book, "Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge", and a 2001 film, "Bully".[14]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf
  2. ↑ FCAT School Grades – High
  3. ↑ http://apps.washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge/schools/2011/cooper-city-cooper-city-fl/ High School Challenge Index - 2011
  4. ↑ http://coopercityhigh.net/files/filesystem/RegistrationCard_11-12-revised_for_posting.pdf 2011-2012 course selection sheet
  5. ↑ http://coopercityhigh.net/news.cfm?story=79034 News about the class of 2011
  6. ↑ http://coopercityhigh.net/files/filesystem/School_Profile_2011[1]rev.pdf Cooper City High School Profile 2011-2012
  7. ↑ http://coopercityhigh.net/athletics.cfm?subpage=24423 Athletics
  8. ↑ http://www.cchsctv.com/episodes/ctv200.html CTV Video - Episode #200
  9. ↑ CTV - Awards
  10. ↑ http://coopercityhigh.net/student_life.cfm?subpage=27529 Band - 'Sound of Pride'
  11. ↑ The Sci-Cave : We Are Scientists
  12. ↑ "INQUIRY IN SEX CASE UNRESOLVED". Sun-Sentinel. August 7, 1993.
  13. ↑ http://business.highbeam.com/5861/article-1G1-155810099/class-president-cooper-city-high-charged-grade-changing
  14. ↑ http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-03-16/entertainment/9704030211_1_bobby-kent-marty-puccio-derek-kaufman

External links

Coordinates: 26°02′44″N 80°16′22″W / 26.045645°N 80.2728272°W