Dearborn High School

Dearborn High School
Motto Always in the Lead
Established 1893
Type Public
Affiliation Western Wayne Athletic Conference
Principal Charles "Chuck" Baughman
Students 1,800
Grades 9-12
Location 19501 Outer Drive,
Dearborn, Michigan, USA
Coordinates 42°18′30″N 83°15′44″W / 42.3083°N 83.2622°WCoordinates: 42°18′30″N 83°15′44″W / 42.3083°N 83.2622°W
District Dearborn Public Schools
Colors      Orange
     Black
Yearbook The Pioneer
Newspaper The Observer
Website dearbornschools.org/dhs

The sign outside Dearborn High.

Dearborn High School is a public high school located in Dearborn, Michigan. It was founded in 1893 in Dearborn near Greater Detroit. Dearborn High is one of the three high schools of the Dearborn City School District and is located at 19501 Outer Drive. There are over 1800 students currently attending Dearborn High.

History

The original 1893 high school building stood at the northeast corner of Mason street and Garrison avenue. An auditorium and gymnasium unit was added to the east of this structure in 1920. The 1893 building was razed in 1925 and a three-story 20-classroom structure erected in its place. An addition of 10 classrooms was added as a north wing in 1950. Dearborn High School moved to its current location on Outer Drive in 1956. The Mason Street building was remodeled as the Ray H. Adams Junior High School, named for the superintendent of schools when the 1925 building was erected. The junior high school closed in 1985 and the building was again remodeled to become part of a modern high-scale office complex.

Sports

Dearborn High School is currently a member of the Western Wayne Athletic Conference. In school history, the Pioneers and Lady Pioneers have won a combined 11 State Championships in 5 different sports with six of them coming in Boys Swimming. In addition, they have won numerous conference, district, and state regional titles in every sport. The school colors are Orange and Black and the Pioneer mascot is dressed as a mid-19th century frontiersman, wearing a coonskin hat with a brown leather jacket, pants, and boots with leather fringe. At one point, the mascot carried a 19th-century hunting rifle but that was ended by the Administration in the late 1990s. Their previous football field was nicknamed "The Boneyard". The Pioneers' biggest rivals are the Tractors from Dearborn Fordson High School and the Thunderbirds of Dearborn Edsel Ford High School.

Fall Sports

  • Boys Football
    • 1995 Team Ranked #3 in the State Undefeated and Unscored Upon MHSAA State Record 10 Consecutive Shut-outs
    • 2010 Team Undefeated 9-0 season
  • Girls Swimming
  • Boys Soccer
  • Coed Cross Country
  • Boys Tennis
  • Girls Golf
  • Girls Field Hockey
  • Girls Cheerleading
  • Girls Volleyball

Winter Sports

  • Boys Basketball
    • Class A State Runners up 1947
  • Girls Basketball
  • Boys Swimming
    • State Class A Champions 1971,72,74,76
    • State Class B Champions 1986,87
  • Boys Wrestling
  • Girls Gymnastics
  • Boys Hockey
  • Girls Cheerleading

Spring Sports

  • Boys Baseball
  • Girls Softball
  • Girls Tennis
    • Class A State Champions 1974
  • Coed Track and Field
    • Class B Boys State Champions 1928
  • Girls Soccer
    • Class B State Champions 1989
  • Boys Golf
    • Class A State Champions 1956
    • Class A State Champions 1963

Band and orchestra

Dearborn High School currently has 5 bands and one string orchestra.

The bands and orchestra have received the highest ratings consistently at the Michigan school Band and Orchestra Association Band and Orchestra Festival's for the past 22 years. They are ranked in the highest AA division. The groups play at local venues, as well as community events. The marching band has performed annually in the City of Dearborn's traditional Memorial Day Parade. In 2008 the Marching Band was invited and participated in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C. In March 2011, the Marching Band was invited and marched in Dublin, Ireland's St. Patrick's Day Parade and was honored as the Top Youth Band of the Parade. In the spring of 2013, the groups performed in New York City at the Josie Robertson Plaza outside of Lincoln Center, the Trump Tower, and the Church of the Intercession in Harlem.

Theater and drama program

The Dearborn High School (DHS) Theater program is one of the oldest secondary level theater programs in the state of Michigan, and the oldest continuous theater program of any kind in the City of Dearborn. Dearborn High School is the home of International Thespian Troupe #586 which was chartered at the school in 1944. The program's most famous alumnus was the actor George Peppard (class of 1946) who co-starred with Audrey Hepburn in the motion picture Breakfast at Tiffany's as well as in such films as The Blue Max, The Carpetbaggers, and How The West Was Won, appeared on Broadway in many plays including Barefoot in the Park, and starred in the television series Banacek and The A-team.

Since 1994, the program has been honored with 10 consecutive nominations (2000–2010) to perform at the annual American High School Theater Festival as well as to the prestigious International Thespian Festival and has produced numerous State of Michigan Thespian Festival Competition Medalists.

WDHS Student Video

WDHS Video is a video program fully run by students at Dearborn High School.[1] The program was founded by Russ Gibb in 1981. Since 1999, it is the only program in the state of Michigan where students produce a feature-length film every school year. Students annually premiere the films at the Michael A. Guido Theater in Dearborn, MI.[2] In May 2014, the program won three student production awards from the Michigan Emmy Awards.[3]

Notable alumni

References

External links