Spain Park High School

Spain Park High School is a public high school located in Hoover, Alabama, USA and is managed by the Hoover City School District. The school opened in the fall of 2001. The principal is Dr. Ken Jarnagin. The current enrollment at Spain Park is around 1,450 students.

Academics

Spain Park High was named as a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education in September 2008, the highest honor awarded to secondary schools by the department.^[1][2] Spain Park also won the National Lighthouse Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Award in the same year, making it the only U.S. school to have won both Blue Ribbon awards in the same year.

Theatre

The school's theatre department, directed by 2009 Spain Park Teacher of the Year Jesse Tilton, won two consecutive state championships in 2006 and 2007, and won second place in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, Scott Williams and Jessica Lamb won awards for best supporting actor and actress at the state level. They also won Best Original Play at the Southeastern Theatre Conference Secondary School Play Competition in 2010, as well as Best Set at the SETC 2011.^[3] In 2012, they won first place in The Walter Trumbauer Secondary Theatre Festival ^[4] for their one act play, Servant of Two Masters, directed by new teacher Eric St. John. Chris Charleston, the actor playing Truffaldino, was awarded best actor at the state level, along with Sam Hankins who won best supporting actor for his role as Pantalone.

Athletics

Spain Park's athletic teams are known as the "Jaguars." For the first time in the school's short history, the Jaguar basketball team advanced to the AHSAA Final Four state championship, losing in their semi-final matchup against LeFlore Magnet High School in 2007.^[5]

Spain Park's football team was shown on MTV's television program Two-A-Days, as an opponent of arch-rival Hoover High.^[6] The team also advanced to the "Super Six" Class 6A final game of the Alabama High School Athletic Association football championship in 2007, losing to defending champion Prattville High School (which defeated Hoover in the 2006 finals). Al Del Greco, former kicker for the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans, is the boys' golf coach.

Spain Park has nine state championships in Class 6A: Women's Soccer (2004, 2009 & 2010), Men's Tennis (2007), Men's Golf (2008, 2009 & 2010, 2012, 2013), Women's Golf (2009), and Men's Indoor Track & Field (2012).

The Spain Park High School Lacrosse program produced the state's first Division 1 lacrosse recruit in Trent Chrane, who plays at the Naval Academy. The Spain Park Lacrosse team won the GBYLA Alabama State Championship in 2011 and 2012.

Band

In November 2014, the Spain Park Marching Band participated in the New York City Nation's Parade, which celebrated Veterans Day.^[7] The band also participated in the New Year's Day Parade in Rome, Italy on January 1, 2008. They also paraded in the Citrus Bowl Parade in Orlando, Florida in 2010

Show Choir

Since the school's founding, Spain Park's show choir, known as The Park Singers, has been very successful in competitions across the South. Highlights include Grand Championships at the Auburn University Jazz and Show Choir Festival (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), the Opelika High School Southern Showcase (2004, 2005), the Homewood High School South Central Classic (2005, 2006, 2007), and the Enterprise High School Show Choir Invitational (2007). The Park Singers have also competed at Show Choir Nationals in Nashville, Tennessee, since 2006. More recently, the Park Singers performed in Fame Orlando in 2008, placing first runner-up.^[8]

Other Programs

The Cheerleading program attends the UCA Camp each year at various locations: Auburn University, The University of Alabama, and most recently Panama City Beach in Florida. The freshmen, JV, and Varsity squads attended the 2013 UCA camp in Panama City in May/June 2013 where they received numerous awards including nine first place trophies.

The Dance program attends the UDA Camp each year at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and performed at the 2009 Sugar Bowl between the University of Alabama and the University of Utah along with hundreds of other dancers from all over the Southeast.

In debate, Spain Park competes in numerous tournaments in metro Birmingham, and in the Harvard Debate Tournament and Yale Invitational.

References

External links

• Spain Park High School web site
• Spain Park High School football web site