Edgewater High School

Edgewater High School is a public secondary school located in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida. It is operated by the Orange County Public Schools system. The athletic teams are known as the 'Fighting Eagles' with colors red and white. Edgewater earned a B on the State of Florida school report card for 2014.

Student enrollment for 2014-2015 is 1781. EHS draws in students primarily from College Park, Colonialtown, Eatonville, Lake Fairview, Rosemont, Spring Lake, western portions of Maitland and Winter Park, and downtown Orlando. In addition, the school has 120 faculty members. 85% of graduating seniors report intending to attend a college or university after graduation. The school newspaper The Eagle Eye is a member of the High School National Ad Network.

Origins

In 1950, the School Board of Orange County, Florida unveiled plans to build two new high schools in Orlando. These two schools were built from the same architectural plans and both were opened on the same day, Tuesday, September 2, 1952. The first was named William R. Boone High School and the second was named Edgewater High School. Boone was named for William R. Boone, a long-serving principal of the original Orlando High School (which is now Howard Middle School, on Robinson Street in downtown Orlando, near Lake Eola). The campuses of Boone and Edgewater contained identical buildings, but their arrangement on each campus is different. Edgewater's first principal was Mr. Orville R. Davis, a veteran of Orange County Public Schools, who was once the principal of the original Memorial Junior High School (now Memorial Middle School), also in Orlando.

Edgewater and Boone were originally to be named North and South High Schools, respectively. However, William R. Boone, who was to be principal of South, died the summer before the schools opened. South High was renamed in his memory. North High was then named for the road it was built beside, Edgewater Drive.

Edgewater High School has recently been renovated into a state-of-the-art, 3-story facility on the land which previously held mobile homes to the North of the old campus, most of which will be destroyed to create a new sports field. The remaining buildings will undergo a refurbishment to house freshmen and will be available by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. The new facility is mostly indoors to allow for overall protection from the elements and a more secure campus, and uses brand new technology such as new Promethean boards and an all new auditorium. Students were given access to the facility on the first day back to class in 2011 after winter break, and both staff and students are currently working on adjusting to the new facility. The new campus was designed by CT Hsu + Associates, P.A.

Academics

Edgewater High School was designated by the Orange County School Board to be the District's Magnet School for Engineering, Science and Technology beginning in the fall of 1991. Courses offered in the program include, but are not limited to: Engineering Technology, Architectural and Mechanical Drafting (CADD), Computer Graphics, Computer Animation, Game Design, Web Design (HTML), as well as the dual-enrollment courses offered by the University of Central Florida (Systems Modeling, Engineering Analysis, and Engineering Analysis of Economics). Emphasis is placed on project-driven learning, personal research, team building, problem-solving, and personal excellence.

The Advanced Placement Academy is designed as a challenging and comprehensive college preparatory curriculum emphasizing academic rigor. It is intended to prepare students to be successful upon entry into a selective four year postsecondary institution and offers the potential for earning college credit while in high school. The Advanced Placement Academy is an interdisciplinary program focusing on Liberal Arts through Pre-AP and AP courses. Scholarship, honor, attendance, and integrity are essential components of the success of the APA Program.

AVID, also offered at EHS, stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. AVID is made up of students from diverse backgrounds who all have a common goal of future success in college. AVID students strive for excellence in their rigorous courses as well as in community activities and extra curricular sports and clubs. AVID students are determined to be successful and work through challenging Honors and AP curriculum with the help of the AVID elective class. In the AVID elective class students participate in tutorials with college or volunteer tutors. The AVID curriculum is centered around WICR: W - Writing, I - Inquiry, C - Collaboration, R - Reading. AVID students are encouraged to remain in the program from freshman year until senior year as the hinge of success for AVID is based on the relationships built among the AVID students and site team teachers.

Sports

The boy's basketball team won the state championship in 1976 and again in 2004.^[1][2] The girl's basketball won the state championship in 2007, 2012, 2013, and 2014.^[3][4]

A complete list of athletic achievements is maintained here.^[5]

Marching band

The Edgewater High School "Pride of College Park" Band is currently headed by Director Bruce Green.

Orchestra and chorus

The Edgewater High School Orchestra is led by Doreen Johnson and the Edgewater High Chorus is directed by Alexander Glover.

International Space Settlement Design Competition Participation

Edgewater's Space Settlement Design Team, Tempus, has qualified annually for the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC) Finals almost consecutively for the last decade. The competition requires that the team design a large-scale space settlement based on a provided Request for Proposal (RFP), detailing every aspect of human existence in space. A qualifying forty-page proposal is first submitted, and if selected the team then travels to the Johnson Space Center for the Finals where an additional space settlement is designed and presented to a panel of NASA judges over the course of one weekend. Tempus has won the international title both in 2004 and 2012.

Notable alumni

• Connor McDonough - Singer/ songwriter, member of popular band Before You Exit, class of 2012
• Marquis Daniels - Basketball guard, currently member of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks
• Howie Dorough - member of the Backstreet Boys.
• Ed Gantner - football player and professional wrestler. (dec.)
• Sharon Lechter, co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• Norm Lewis - Broadway actor, class of 1981
• Michael James Nelson - Television Writer/Producer/Performer, best known for producing The Bachelor: Rome, writing for MTV, American Broadcasting Company, DreamWorks, and appearing on The Oxygen Network's television series Pretty Wicked^[6]
• Mike Sims-Walker - NFL Wide Receiver
• Arthur W Willett - 2002 Winner of NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy Award for service to the Space Shuttle astronauts^[7]

Principal's arrest

On Saturday, August 4, 2012, principal Michele Erickson was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after attending a Rod Stewart concert at the Amway Center the previous night. ^[8]

Howard Hepburn replaced Erickson as the new principal in 2014, following Erickson's transfer to Wekiva High School.^[9]

References

External links

• Edgewater High School Official Website
• Orange County Public Schools Official Website

Coordinates: 28°34′50″N 81°23′25″W / 28.58060°N 81.39041°W / 28.58060; -81.39041