Northwest Guilford High School

Northwest Guilford Vikings.

Northwest Guilford High School is a public high school in Guilford County, North Carolina. The school currently has an enrollment of 1,947 students^[2] in grades 9 through 12, making it the public school with the largest enrollment in Guilford County.

The school was ranked by Newsweek's Best High Schools in America as 261st among American high schools.^[3] The school has also received an award from Siemens for its strength in Science and Math AP education,^[4] and was listed by High Schools That Work^[5] as one of the top 36 high schools in the United States, the only high school in North Carolina to receive an honorable mention.

Rivalries and Traditions

The school has long had a sports-based rivalry with Western Guilford High School, and more recently with Northern Guilford High School. Many students come to football games, each game night having a theme, such as Hawaiian, Red Sea, Blackout, Rave, and many more. The school has a large and loud student section filled with cheering students.

Northwest has two dances during the school year including the Homecoming dance the Saturday night after the Homecoming Football Game on Friday, and the Junior/Senior Prom.

Facilities

Due to the an increase in population in the area, several additions occurred at Northwest during the early 2000's, including the adaption of a two-story educational building completed in 2002, a second gym completed in 2003, and a cultural arts wing at the school. Northwest now has two gyms: the "Old Gym" and the "New Gym;" as well as two main buildings, the "Old Building" and the "New Building."

The original main building at the school, the "Old Building," serves primarily as the English, CTE, and Environmental Science building, and the Educational Building, or "New Building," serves primarily as the Mathematics, Foreign Language, Biology, and Physical Science building.

The Vocational Building houses classes such as Drafting, Technology, and Graphic Design, and trailers serve mostly as the Social Studies classrooms. The Vocational Building used to be the home of the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) until the program was decommissioned in the Spring of 2004.

A new field house, football field bleachers and track were opened to Northwest students in the fall of 2012. R.L. Billings Stadium now has a capacity of 5,000.

Academics

Northwest has a large selection of Advanced Placement courses, including AP US History, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP World History, AP European History, AP Human Geography, AP Government, AP Psychology and AP English, among others. The school also has Honors and College Prep courses. Due to lack of interest, it no longer has an ROTC program.

The following languages are currently offered at Northwest, including Spanish, French, Latin, and German. Others may be available as on-line courses through NC Virtual Public Schools (www.ncvps.com).

The school is also actively involved and successful in competitions such as We the People in which the team has held the state title and participated in national competition for all but one of the past 14 years, placing in the Top Ten at nationals in the spring of 2007 and 2011. Northwest also participates in Mock Trial, the National Forensic League, Future Business Leaders of America and DECA (sending students to National competitions various times over the years), Science Olympiad, (sending numerous students to the International Beijing Science Competition over the years). The Speech and Debate Club currently participates in the National Forensic League.

Northwest's school paper modified its name in 2007, from "The Northwest Express" to "Northwest Horizons".^[6] "Northwest Horizons" has received numerous awards. In 2008, it won First Place Features and Second Place Graphics from the North Carolina Press Association (NCSPA). In 2009 and 2010, it was named "All-North Carolina" by the NCSPA and won the Southern Interscholastic Press Association's "Shoquist Freedom of the Press" Award.^[7]

Athletics

Northwest is a 4A school with a large athletic program, with sports programs in soccer, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, baseball, wrestling, tennis, track, cross country, field hockey, volleyball, rugby, and golf, among others.

Arts

Northwest has a fine arts program, including award winning concert and marching bands,^[8] orchestral ensembles, arts classes, drama department, and vocal ensembles.

Clubs

Northwest High School offers many extra-curricular clubs and teams including: The Popcorn Club,^[9] FBLA, FCCLA, Leading Ladies, Science Through the Looking Glass, Science Olympiad, DECA, Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), Anime Club, Key Club, Philosophy Club, Math Club, Spanish Club, German Club,Longboarding Club, Drama Club, Book Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletics (FCA), Horsepower, SAVE/SADD, Speech and Debate, Breakfast Club, and Junior Classical League (JCL).

In addition, Northwest offers students in 11th or 12th grade to participate in the National Honor Society, which promotes academic achievements and outstanding performance in the world. There are also National Art Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, and National German Honor Society branches at Northwest.

Notable alumni

• Rusty LaRue '91, 1998 NBA Champion^[10]

See also

• Guilford County Schools
• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
• North Carolina State Board of Education

References

External links

• Guilford County Schools
• Guilford County Schools - Northwest
• Northwest Guilford High School
• Northwest Viking Bands
• Northwest Horizons School Newspaper

Coordinates: 36°09′13″N 79°57′17″W / 36.1535361°N 79.9547°W / 36.1535361; -79.9547