Seymour High School (Connecticut)

Seymour High School
Motto "Once a wildcat, always a wildcat"
Established 1884
Type Public
Principal James Freund
Faculty 47 [1]
Students 642 [1]
Grades 9-12
Location 2 Botsford Rd.,
Seymour, Connecticut, USA
District Seymour Public Schools
Campus Suburban
Colors Blue and Gold
Mascot Wildcat
Website Home Page

Seymour High School is a secondary school at 2 Botsford Road in Seymour, Connecticut in the United States.[1]

History

Seymour began building its first public high school in 1884 on Bank Street.[2] It was built on a 2-acre (8,100 m2) piece of property that the town purchased for $3,000. When the school first opened in the fall of 1886, it had 456 students, who all attended class in nine rooms. Later, the building was used as an elementary school, Center School. That building and its annex are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

Seymour purchased land on Pine Street (Broad Street Bridge area) in 1915.[3] By 1916, a high school was built.[2] After the 1955 flood the school needed major renovations. After the renovations were complete, in the 1960s, The Pine Street school was converted into a middle school and a new high school was opened on Botsford Road.[3] In 2006, a 22 million dollar renovation was added to the high school.[4]

Seymour High School before its renovations
Seymour High School during its first year on Botsford Road. Built 1961.

Athletics

Seymour High School is part of the Naugatuck Valley League(NVL) and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) . It consists of Seymour, Derby, Ansonia, Crosby, Watertown, Wilby, and Wolcott in the Brass Division, with Holy Cross, Kennedy, Naugatuck, Sacred Heart, St. Paul, Torrington, and Woodland Regional belonging to the Copper Division.[5]

The Seymour High School Cheerleading team won the state championship in 2010[6] and the Division IV regional championship in 2012.[7]

Coach Paul Sponheimer spent 29 years as head coach of the football team, and was named New Haven County Coach of the Year twice (in 1989 and 2008).[8] He finished with a record of 210-102 and four state titles before retiring after the 2008 season.[9][10] The last state title the Wildcats won was in 2007.[9][11]

Coach Bob Kelo had coached the baseball team for 27 years as of 2012, winning his 400th game on May 2, 2012. His teams have won one state championship (in 2007) and made five other appearances in the championship game.[12][13]

The Wildcats Softball Team has won multiple state championships (1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009). From 2005-2007, they had a 78-game winning streak which is a Connecticut record and ranks 6th nationally all-time. In 2004, Seymour Softball set a Connecticut state record for the most wins in a season (28). In 2006, Seymour's 31 home runs were the 8th best nationally all-time, and their 27 runs allowed was 3rd fewest nationally all-time. From 2005-2006, Danielle Liska's 50 consecutive wins was 8th nationally all-time.[14]

Coach Jamie Burns coached the Seymour High School Weightlifting team to a 2014 NVL Championship win.[15] The NVL Weightlifting competition takes place at Seymour High School every year. The competition is divided into weight classes: Under 160, 161-180, 181-200, 201-220, & Over 220. Three events must be completed by all competitors: Squat, Power Clean, & Bench. At the end the team member's weights are totalled and the winner is decided by the most weight lifted.[16]

Link Crew

In 2009, Seymour High School joined other high school programs across the country in implementing a program called "Link Crew" Upperclassmen give tours to incoming freshmen to familiarize them with the school, with the goal of helping incoming freshmen find classes, understand expectations, and get an overview of the rules.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/16103
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Old Seymour High School (1886)". Historic Buildings of Connecticut. 29 October 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Old High School". Electronic Valley Inc. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  4. ↑ http://www.seymourct.org/about.aspx
  5. ↑ "District Standings". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Cheerleading: Seymour, Oxford win state titles". American-Republican Inc. 14 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "Seymour High School Cheerleaders Take First In Competition". Valley Independent Sentinel. 19 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "New Haven County Chapter Coach of the Year Award Winners". National Football Foundation. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mark Jaffee (September 8, 2008). "Seymour football coach Sponheimer retiring after season". American-Republican Inc.
  10. ↑ "Seymour 2008 Football Rankings". CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  11. ↑ Eliot Schickler (May 17, 2010). "Seymour’s Sponheimer Honored". Valley Independent Sentinel.
  12. ↑ "WEDNESDAY'S BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Seymour coach Bob Kelo earns 400th victory". New Haven Register. May 2, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Seymour coach Bob Kelo wins 400th career game". New Haven Register. May 2, 2012.
  14. ↑ "The Tradition Continues". Seymour High School. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  15. ↑ Template:CCite web
  16. ↑ "Seymour Wins NVL Weightlifting". Kyle Brennen. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  17. ↑ Falbo-Sosnovich, Jean. "Seymour Students Will ‘Link Up’ in Unique Program." The Boomerang Project. The Boomerang Project, 11 May 2009. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <>.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Old Seymour High School.

Coordinates: 41°23′10″N 73°05′40″W / 41.3861°N 73.0944°W