Union High School (Camas, Washington)

Union High School
Address
6201 NW Friberg-Strunk Street
Camas, Washington
United States
Information
Type Public
Established 2007
School district Evergreen Public School District
Principal Brian Grimsted
Number of students 2500+
Color(s)      Silver      Black      Red
Mascot Titans
Website

Union High School is an American public high school in Vancouver, Washington. The school is part of the Evergreen Public Schools school district. While the campus is located within the proper city limits of Vancouver, it has a Camas area zip code.[1] The campus was completed in July 2007.[2] Union High School's principal is Brian Grimsted. Union's school colors are Black, Silver, and Red. The school's mascot is the Titan.

About

Union opened in the fall of 2007 with students consisting of only freshmen, sophomores, and a handful of juniors. The original Union High School was founded in 1910. James Blair was the first principal of Union High School. It is the fourth high school built in the Evergreen School District – Evergreen High School was the first, Mountain View High School was second, and Heritage High School was the third. The four high schools share one football stadium, McKenzie Stadium, which is adjacent to Evergreen High School.

The school and campus were developed with the concept of utilizing contemporary educational technology.[2] The design collaboration for the school won it a 2007 Community Development Department Community Pride Design award.[2]

In June 2010 Newsweek magazine listed Union High School in its annual list of “America’s Best High Schools,” which includes 1,600, or about 6 percent, of the nation’s high schools. UHS was listed 572nd nationally and 8th out of 32 high schools listed in the state of Washington.[3]

http://www.columbian.com/history/profiles/blair/

Sports

The Union football team is one of the school's most prominent athletic teams. With a record of 6-3 in their first year without seniors, there are high expectations for this team in the future. In 2008, the undefeated Union Titans lost to Bellevue High School (Washington) in the 3A state championship game. The titans won 3A GSHL league titles in 2008 and 2009. The titans earned 2nd place 4A GSHL titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Union's a wrestling team are 5 time Clark County champions, 5 time GSHL league champions, 6 time district champions, and 3 time regional champions. In 2011, Titan wrestling took the team title at the prestigious Pacific Coast Championships, and in 2012 and 2014 the Titans brought home state trophies, placing 4th and 3rd respectively. Union's individual state champions include Clint Coulter (2010), John "Junior" Godinho (2014) and Alex Barfanger (2014).

The Cheer squad also placed 2nd at state.

Union's Track and Field has seen many accomplishments in its short history. In its first year, the Union Track Team finished second at state.

The Union Titan's softball team were league, district and regional champs and then took 3rd in state.

The Union Titans boys basketball team are the 3A WIAA 2010 state champions, defeating Enumclaw 51-50.

The Union Titans girls golf team has earned the 3A league and district titles in 2010. In the 4A classification they took district in 2011, and league and district titles in 2012.

Campus

The Union High School Campus has five different site-built buildings which represent the four different academic academies & the Student Commons, and a large modular unit informally referred to as, "The Lodge". The five campus buildings are: The Leadership and Business (100), The Engineering and Environmental Sciences Building (200), International Studies and Athletics Building (300), The Visual and Performing Arts Building (400), and the Student Union (500). "The Lodge," (600) is a multi-use building housing such programs as American Sign Language and Dance. Each building excluding the Student Union contains the basic core classes including a math class, a general science class and English class. Each building also contains specialty classes specific to that building.

Every classroom throughout all the buildings have a common set of technology resources installed, including a video projector, a document camera, and speech amplification system for teachers.[2]

Union High School also features wireless hot spots which cover the entire campus. Students can bring laptops and other Wi-fi devices to school and using the Campus Wi-fi system, connect to their student district computer account, and access school computer resources, to work on school assignments without the need to check into a school computer lab.

Academics

Union follows the Small Learning Communities model of education. Students may chose a thematic focus community which have up to 400 students. Each community shares the same teachers for two years.[2]

UHS Band

The Union High School Band Program is directed by Mr. Marc Claassen. From the first year with 120 students, the program has grown to serve over 200 students at Union High School and offers students a wide variety of musical opportunities for students to participate in. The program includes: Concert Band, Symphonic Band, 2 Jazz Ensembles (I & II), Percussion Ensemble, Chamber Music/Wind Ensemble, Basketball Band, and Marching Band. The program's fundamental emphasis continues to be excellence on and off the stage.

Program Highlights
2012 Music for All National Festival[4]
2010 Midwest Clinic Performance
2010 WMEA State Conference Performance
2010 WIAA State Champions, Large Percussion Ensemble
2010 WIAA State Champions, Small Percussion Ensemble

UHS Choir

The Union High School Choir program is directed by Mr. Mikkel Iverson, previously the choral director at Evergreen High School. Under his direction and accompanied by Lori Collier, Union High School won its first WIAA Sanctioned State Championship with the Union High School Select Mens Ensemble in the spring of 2008. They performed Joseph Martin's "The Awakening," and Bruce Sled's "Jing-Ga-Lye-Ya" to a standing ovation.

In 2009 the Men's Ensemble won the State Solo and Ensemble Contest again, making them the first High School in the state of Washington to win two championships consecutively in their first two years of existence. They performed "Viva Tutti," a traditional English Glee, "Weep No More" by David Childs, and "Dubinushka (Russian Hammer Song)" by Vijay Singh. Their picture was featured on the front cover of the State Solo & Ensemble Booklet because of their unique story.

The Chamber Choir, the only mixed choir at Union High School, was invited to perform at the 2013 national American Choral Director's Association conference, located in Dallas, Texas. They were one of 30 choirs selected to perform and the only high school choir out of four total to be invited to perform in evening concerts at the Meyerson Symphony Center and Winspear Opera House. The set they sang to standing ovations both nights included Vijay Singh's "Surrexit Pastor Bonus", Stanford E. Scriven's "Christ the Appletree", J. Michael Saunders' "La Otra", Ethan Sperry's "Albela Sajan", an Indian raga, and John Muehleisen's set of "Aversion to Carrots" and "RAH!"

Program Highlights
2014 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble [5]

2013 National ACDA Performance [6]

2013 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble and Large Mixed Ensemble [7]

2012 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble, Large Women's Ensemble, and Small Mixed Ensemble [8]

2011 MENC All-Northwest Conference Performance [9]

2010 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble [10]

2009 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble [11]

2008 WIAA State Champions, Large Men's Ensemble [12]

Notable Alumni

Jed Barnett Kicker/Punter for the Oklahoma Sooners

Fight song

Oh Union High

Will always be

Making History

U-N-I-O-N

On to Victory!

References

  1. ↑ Martinez, Tim (2014-10-13). "Tim Martinez: Camas-Union could even be called a ZIP code rivalry". The Columbian. Retrieved 2014-11-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Gilmore, Jodie (2007-10-26). "Union High School showcases tech-education". Vancouver Business Journal. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  3. ↑ "In our view: Academic Acclaim." The Columbian - Serving Clark County, Washington. The Columbian, 16 June 2010. Web. 17 June 2010. <http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jun/16/academic-acclaim/>.
  4. ↑ "Invited Ensembles Announced for 2012 Music for All National Festival". Music For All. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C65/2014FinalResults.pdf
  6. ↑ http://acda.org/Editor/assets/2013%20National%20Conference%20Schedule.pdf
  7. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C65/2013FinalResults.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C56/SE/2012results.pdf?SecID=851
  9. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C56/SE/2011results.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C56/SE/2010results.pdf
  11. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C56/SE/2009results.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.wmea.org/Content/C56/SE/2008results.pdf

www.columbian.com/history/profiles/blair/

External links

Coordinates: 45°37′25″N 122°28′8″W / 45.62361°N 122.46889°W