George Washington High School (Charleston, West Virginia)
| George Washington High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
1522 Tennis Club Road Charleston, West Virginia, 25314 | |
| Information | |
| Type | Free public |
| Established | 1964 |
| School district | Kanawha County Schools |
| Principal | George Aulenbacher |
| Staff | 68 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 1,150 |
| Campus size | 23 acres (93,000 m2) |
| Campus type | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Burgundy and Silver |
| Athletics conference | Mountain State Athletic Conference |
| Nickname | Patriots |
| Website | http://gwhs.kana.k12.wv.us/ |
George Washington High School is a public high school in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
The school was nicknamed "The Hill", as it is located in the South Hills neighborhood, and has been referred to as "GeeDub" in recent years.
District
The school serves the South Hills neighborhood of the city and several incorporated areas nearby. It is one of eight public high schools in Kanawha County.
History
The school, which opened in 1965, based on a plan developed by local educators, members of the West Virginia Department of Education, and faculty from Ohio State University. The school's ideals of "self-direction", flexible scheduling and independent study, were intended to provide students with opportunities to direct themselves and to prepare them for college academic life. The high school's first graduating class (who attended high school entirely at George Washington High) included fifteen National Merit Scholar Finalists.[1]
In 1974 George Washington High School became involved in a notable textbook controversy, the so-called "Battle of the Books" . In order to comply with a 1970 mandate to provide multicultural reading material, the board of education for Kanawha County took up a motion to purchase 300 different titles of new language arts textbooks. The titles included Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.[2] After a public outcry, the board decided to not purchase the books, but community was still in turmoil.[3] In September, students at George Washington High School began a 30-day walk out in protest of the removal of the books.[3] By November the school voted all but one books to be returned to the schools.[3]
During the 1983-84 school year, the United States Department of Education recognized the high school as a National School of Excellence in the President's Search for Excellence in Education.[1]
George Washington High School made national headlines in 1992, when, during an illegal off-campus Senior Skip Day party with students from South Charleston High School, two students were fatally shot in an argument over payment for a keg of beer.[4]
In 2013 Principal George Aulenbacher received national attention for his conduct in connection with a religious, "coitus only" speaker at the school and his alleged attempted retaliation over the reaction of one student. Christian speaker Pam Stenzel, sponsored by Believe in West Virginia, religious organization, was permitted to speak to an assembly of students where she told students "'condoms aren't safe' and warned that any type of sexual contact would lead to sexually transmitted diseases and cause women to be infertile."[5] Vice President of the student body, Katelyn Campbell, refused to attend the assembly, having been told in confidence by a teacher about the assembly the previous day and having reviewed YouTube videos of Ms. Stenzel's previous presentations,[6] in which reportedly "Stenzel shouts and says things such as women who take birth control are '10 times more likely to contract a disease . . . or end up sterile or dead.' She allegedly told G[eorge] W[ashington] and Riverside [High School] students, 'If your mom gives you birth control, she probably hates you.'"[5] After giving an interview to CNN on her reasons for objecting to the speaker, Campbell was called into the office of Principal Aulenbacher who is reported to have threatened to tell Wellesley College, where Campbell had been accepted, "what bad character you have and what a backstabber you are."[5] Campbell brought an action seeking an injunction to prevent abridgment of her first amendment rights by retaliation by the principal.[7] On April 17, 2013, Wellesley College tweeted "Katelyn Campbell, #Wellesley is excited to welcome you this fall."[8]
Academics
The school consistently wins awards as a National School of Excellence. It is currently ranked as the 363rd best school out of Newsweek's America's top 1300 public high schools. In 2005 it was the only high school in West Virginia to win a blue ribbon for excelling in No Child Left Behind requirements. Additionally, the school offers a wide array of Advanced Placement courses to students such as English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Computer Science, US History, US Government and Politics, Art History, World History, Human Geography, and Spanish. In 2003, the school's average SAT scores for Math and Verbal were 570 and 566, exceeding the United States' average.
Extracurricular and co-curricular activities
George Washington High School has many extra curricular and co-curricular activities: baseball, softball, JROTC, football, volleyball, swimming, soccer, cross-country, golf, basketball, tennis, wrestling, lacrosse, and track teams, many of which consistently compete for state championships. Music programs are also important at GW. The award winning band is the 2012 West Virginia Music Educators Association State Honor Band, an award held by the band every other year since 1992. The band also has a history of very high placement rates for the West Virginia All-State Band, usually placing the most students out of all of the schools in the state. The GW marching band has won the Gazette-Mail Kanawha County Majorette and Band Festival Festival Grand Championship eight times (1986, 1991–92, 1994, 1996, 1998–2000), and they have had four girls named Miss Kanawha Majorette (Jill Pazerski in 1989, Alexandra Ameli in 2010, Taylor Freeland in 2012, and Kaitlyn Cline in 2015).
Alumni
The school's noted alumni include:
- Brian Labus, decorated professional
- Jennifer Garner, actress
- Conor Knighton, actor and television host
- Ann Magnuson, actress
- Sam Trammell, actor
- Anne White, professional tennis player
- Bob Wise, former Governor of West Virginia
References
- 1 2 "School history". George Washington High School. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
- ↑ Skinner, David (September/October 2010). "A Battle over Books". Humanities. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
- 1 2 3 Provenzo, Eugene F. Religious Fundamentalism and American Education (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press: 1990), pp. 20-24.
- ↑ "2 High School Students Slain In Shooting Over Buying Beer", The New York Times, 24 May 1992.
- 1 2 3 Mays, Mackenzie (April 15, 2013). "GW student asks for injunction against principal over speaker". Charleston Gazette. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
- ↑ Newsroom Transcripts (April 15, 2013). "Students Hear Controversial Sex Talk". CNN. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
- ↑ Mistich, Dave (April 15, 2013). "Charleston student files preliminary injunction to protect 1st Amendment rights". West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
- ↑ Gupta, Prachi (April 20, 2013). "10 good things about a horrifying week". Salon.com. Retrieved 2013-04-20.
External links
Coordinates: 38°20′04″N 81°39′24″W / 38.33442°N 81.65661°W