Eden Prairie High School

Eden Prairie Senior High School
Address
17185 Valley View Road Eden Prairie, Minnesota United States
Information
Type	Public Secondary
Established	1923
Principal	Conn McCartan
Grades	9-12
Number of students	3,184 [1]
Color(s)	Red, Black, and White
Mascot	Eagles
Newspaper	Eyrie
Website	http://ephs.edenpr.org/

Eden Prairie Senior High School (EPHS) is a four-year public high school located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in 1990, 1994 and 1997. The school was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1996 by the United States Department of Education. Eden Prairie High School is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Minnesota Department of Education.

Map of Minnesota with Eden Prairie highlighted

With 3,184 students,^[2] Eden Prairie High School is the second largest high school in Minnesota by enrollment in 2011-12.^[3] In the 2010-11 school year, 79% of students were White, 9% were African American, 8% were Asian, and 4% were Hispanic.^[4]

Academics

Eden Prairie High School is on a block schedule. The school year consists of 171 student days, divided into four quarters. Each day consists of four periods, each of which are 87 minutes long. The high school offers over 350 courses, many of which are electives. Class size ranges from 29-34 students.^[4] On most Tuesdays, classes are shortened for a morning period of free time, called "Zero Hour", which is usually allocated to club meetings. Newly introduced in 2011 is a "5th period," which is a twice-per-week additional hour dedicated to help students who are failing courses by giving them a chance to make up late homework for partial credit. The languages they offer include: Spanish, French, Sign Language, German and Chinese.

Eden Prairie High School regularly fields one of the largest number of National Merit Semifinalists in the state of Minnesota.

Facilities

The school is divided into four wings on three floors. The North Wing is home to the Auditorium, Performing Arts Center (PAC) the Main Gym, small gym, machine shops, music classrooms and EagleVision Television Studios. The South wing contains the Old Commons, Science classrooms and labs, Foreign Language classrooms, a Photography lab, and Special Services facilities. In the East Wing of Eden Prairie High School is the New or East Commons, Math classrooms, Social Studies classrooms, and English classrooms. Lastly, the West Wing is home of the Business classrooms, Technology classrooms and labs, Health classrooms and the Economic classrooms. Also, each department has an office area near the specific classrooms. Most of these offices offer a computer lounge for students so that they can work in close proximity to their teachers when necessary.

Student activities

Student activities include fine arts, academic teams such as Quiz Bowl (MN State Champions 1994 and 1996, NAQT State Champions 2006 and 2014 MN State Champions 2007, MN State Champions 2008, MN State Champions 2010); Knowledge Bowl (MN State Champions 2008); Future Problem Solvers (MN State Champions in junior and senior divisions 2009); FIRST Robotics Competition Team 2502 Talon Robotics (General Motors Industrial Design Award 2009, Regional winners, 2014 Northern Lights Regional, Regional winners, 2015 10,000 Lakes Regional); a variety of clubs, including the Eyrie newspaper which has been awarded numerous awards for excellence and produced the MN Student Journalist of the Year (http://studentpressblogs.org/mhspa/?p=176) and an adviser who was an ASNE Fellow in 2010; the eagLIT literary magazine; and both varsity and intramural sports. The main list of extracurricular activities include: Band, Ceramics Sculpture, Chess Team, Chorus, Computer Arts, Dance, Drawing Painting, Orchestra, Math Team, Photography, Theater Drama and Video Film Production.

Athletics

Eden Prairie High School is a member of the Lake Conference in the Minnesota State High School League. In 2006, the football team was ranked by MaxPreps as the No. 11 team in the nation following a win in the 2006 State Championship.^[5] In 2007, Sports Illustrated named Eden Prairie the top high school athletic program in Minnesota.^[6] The high school was also recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top Ten Athletic Programs in 2008-2009.^[7] In the 2001-2002 school year, Eden Prairie's athletic budget was $1,460,433, the highest per capita of any high school in Minnesota.^[8] Eden Prairie is also the only high school in Minnesota to send a team (pom squad) to the UDA National Dance Team Championship, where they have claimed 7 national titles (1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011). But Eden Prairie's pride and joy lies in Olympic gold medalist Rachel Bootsma, who now swims for Cal. Rachel graduated from Eden Prairie with records that still stand today.

1. ^ The 1999 state championship was a tie between Eden Prairie High School and Edina High School
2. ^ The Minnesota State High School League's first lacrosse tournaments for boys and girls were held in 2007. Prior to that year lacrosse was a U.S. Lacrosse Association Certified Club Sport.

Notable alumni

• Rachel Bootsma - Olympic gold medalist swimmer^[9]
• Carter Bykowski - football^[10]
• Cole De Vries - Minnesota Twins pitcher^[11]
• Jay Foreman – NFL linebacker; transferred to Minnetonka High School^[12]
• Nick Leddy- NHL player^[13]
• Neil Wagner - Major League Baseball pitcher^[14]
• Ryan Wittman - basketball player^[15]
• Ethan Wragge - basketball player^[16]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools - Alumni Association

Coordinates: 44°52′18″N 93°29′34″W / 44.8718°N 93.4929°W / 44.8718; -93.4929