Orange High School (Ohio)

Orange High School is a public high school located in Pepper Pike, Ohio, an eastern suburb in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan area and part of the Northeast Ohio region. Orange High School primarily serves the affluent communities that historically formed Orange Township, which are Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Pepper Pike, Orange and Woodmere. OHS is the only high school in the Orange City School District, which also includes Ballard Brady Middle School, and Moreland Hills Elementary School.

History

In 1924, the Orange Schools were consolidated from the individually operated Orange Township public schools. That year, the Foreman family donated the first 10 acres (40,000 m²) of property to ultimately comprise a 172-acre (0.70 km²) school district campus and the first Orange Schools building was opened on the current site of the high school. This facility was expanded numerous times to accommodate the growth of the five cities, Pepper Pike, Hunting Valley, Woodmere, Orange, and Moreland Hills, formerly comprising Orange Township.

Pepper Pike Elementary School was opened in 1954 and expanded in 1956. Moreland Hills Elementary School was opened in 1958 to expand the capacity for elementary education and further free up space in the original school building for grades 6-12. In 1963, Ballard Brady Middle School, named in honor of the superintendent (1951–1967), was opened to house grades 6-8. It is more commonly referred to as "Brady."^[2]

In 1973, the current Orange High School's contemporary structure was expanded upon, built around and opened on the site of the original school building.

In 1984, due to fluctuations in student class sizes Pepper Pike Elementary School was closed and reopened as the center for Orange Community Education and Recreation (OCER). However, in 1988 the school reopened to serve grades 3 and 4.

In 2000, Orange High School released its first issue in recent years of their newspaper entitled "The Orange Outlook". The Outlook was published in the 1970s, but publication subsequently lapsed. The newspaper is still releasing issues every 2 months. The paper is sixteen pages featuring school news, entertainment, and student achievements.

In 2001, both Moreland Hills and Pepper Pike Elementary Schools closed as the new Moreland Hills Elementary School opened to serve pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Pepper Pike School reopened as the Pepper Pike Learning Center. It houses OCER, community pre-school, board meetings and other school and community functions. The old Moreland Hills School was renovated into a facility for maintenance, shipping/receiving, computer repair and storage.

Clubs and activities

Orange High School has a mock trial program which has seen success over the years. In 2013, the school had 10 teams competing in the Ohio Center for Law Related Education's high school mock trial program, the most of any high school in the state.^[3] Three of those teams advanced to the state tournament (again, the most of any school in the state),^[4] with Team Shanghai competing in the televised state championship round against Indian Hill High School from Cincinnati to earn the title of State Runner-Up.^[5] For the fourth time, in 2014, the school sent one team to the state tournament, with four teams qualifying for the regional. Team DaVinci competed in the televised state championships and earned the title of State Runner-Up, the second in 2 years.

In 2010, the state's first club based on sandwiches was introduced to the high school, aptly named "Club Sandwich". The club had a new sandwich every month, and members would learn the history of the sandwich before making a sandwich of their own. Notable sandwiches included the namesake, the club sandwich, as well as seasonal sandwiches such as a "christmas sandwich" which consisted of ginger bread and buttercream frosting and Corned beef sandwiches for St. Patrick's Day. The club was met with critical acclaim by students, faculty, and the community at large. As of 2011, the club donated $120 to the Cleveland Foodbank.^[6]

Other groups include Mentoring at Moreland, Robotics, Mock Trial, Debate, Model UN, Environmental Club, French Club, Spanish Club, Latin Club, Orange Outlook and Yearbook.

State championships

• Boys Track and Field – 1944 ^[7]

• Boys Tennis – 2012 (Maksim Kan)
• Girls Tennis - 2014
• Girls Track and Field (Jasmine Harris)

• Orange's Arts and Literary magazine Imagine won 1st place in the state and international magazine competition sponsored by Future Problem Solving Program International in 2007.

• The Orange Outlook school newspaper received 1st place in the Scholastic Press Association's contest for best high school newspapers for 3 years in a row.

• Orange High School's mock trial team became the 2013 and 2014 State Runner-Up in the Ohio Center for Law Related Education's high school mock trial program.

Notable alumni

• Vanessa Bayer, current Saturday Night Live cast member
• Frank Cavanagh, musician, Filter
• Mark Rosewater, head designer for Magic: The Gathering
• JD Samson, musician, Le Tigre
• George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC's This Week, senior political adviser, press secretary and communications director for U.S. President Bill Clinton
• Sarah Young, Stanford Tree ^[8]

External links

• Orange High School official website
• Orange City School District official website

Notes and references