High Point High School

High Point High School (HPHS) is a public high school located in Beltsville, an unincorporated section of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States of America, and built on the highest point in Prince George's County.

The school, serving children in grades 9 through 12, is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools district system.

High Point serves a portion of the city of College Park, and several unincorporated areas, including Adelphi, Beltsville, Landover and Hyattsville.

High Point students come from middle schools throughout Prince George's County. They hail predominately from Buck Lodge Middle School and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, both in unincorporated Prince George's County. Originally, the students were bussed as well from Beltsville Junior High school which is now known as Beltsville Elementary School.

History

Opened in 1954, High Point High School was originally going to be named Cherry Hill High School. However, after some thought, school officials decided to change the name to "High Point," because of the school's location on the highest point in Prince George's County, Maryland.

In 2011 an 84-second video of a fight at the school was posted to YouTube. Students at the school had been saying for months that the security had been poor and violence had been rampant at the school. The students argued that the school administrators downplayed these facts.^[1]

Advanced Placement Program

Over the past three years High Point has dramatically revamped their Advanced Placement program by more than doubling enrollment from 312 students to more than 745 students taking at least one AP course. High Point also features an AP Fair every winter showcasing the benefits of the Advanced Placement program, and course offerings.

In 2007 High Point has also seen impressive results in the number of students passing an AP exam with a score of 3 or above ranking 3rd (40.9%) in the Prince Georges County behind Eleanor Roosevelt HS (71.5%), and Bowie High School (44.8%).

High Point has also nearly doubled their Advanced Placement course offering totalling sixteen courses.

• AP Art
• AP Human Geography
• AP US Government
• AP Psychology
• AP World History
• AP Biology
• AP Physics
• AP Chemistry
• AP Environmental Science
• AP Statistics
• AP Calculus AB
• AP English Literature
• AP English Language
• AP French Literature
• AP French Language
• AP Spanish Language
• AP Spanish Literature

Student Diversity

High Point's student population has continuously been noted by the state of Maryland and the Washington, DC Metro Area as one of great diversity. High Point the most ethnically diverse high school in the state of Maryland and one of the most diverse in the country. High Point Is Now Majority Hispanic as the African American has decreased somewhat with a 2009-2010 enrollment of  :
American Indian: 10
Asian American: 132
Caucasians: 189
Hispanic: 900+
African American: 907

High Point has the largest English Language Learner program of any school in Prince George's County. In the 2009-2010 school year there are approximately 425 students in that program. They are predominantly Spanish speakers from Mexico and Central America, with a few South Americans in the mix. African, European, and Asian languages and nationalities are also represented.

Notable alumni

• Frank Cho (1990), comic book writer and illustrator.
• A. Jamie Cuticchia, scientist
• Raheem DeVaughn, musician, whose album "The Love Experience" reached number 46 on the Billboard album chart.
• Fred Funk, former coach of University of Maryland golf team and PGA tour player.
• Brian Reid (1966), internet innovator.^[2]
• Elijah Joy, TV personality
• Doug Spearman, Actor
• Paula Vogel (1969), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. She won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.
• Kevin Jordan, NFL player

External links

• School's Home Page
• School district website

References