Green Hope High School

Green Hope High School

Dare To Soar
Location
Cary, North Carolina
United States
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1927 (as Green Hope School) 1999 (as Green Hope High School)
Principal Karen Summers
Grades 9 - 12
Number of students 2263
School color(s) Maroon and Green          
Mascot Fighting Falcon
Website greenhopehigh.wcpss.net

Green Hope High School is a school in Cary, North Carolina, serving grades 9-12. In 2006, Green Hope had a 95% graduation rate, with approximately 2,144 students attending and 530 seniors graduating. Widely considered to be one of the top public schools at sports in the nation, the school is known for athletes who transfer to the school to compete in the North Carolina 4A Athletics Conference. Green Hope is regularly ranked in the top 5 in the state for Men and Women's Soccer, Golf, Cross Country, Lacrosse and Swimming. The school consistently has large amounts of students that attend universities like NC State, Duke, and UNC-Chapel Hill as well as Ivy League schools. It was ranked as the 206th best high school according to the 2011 Newsweek Rankings of Top US High Schools.[1]

History

This display, located in GHHS lobby, showcases some of the historic memorabilia from the previous school.

The school is named for the older, historic Green Hope School, built in 1927. [2] It provided Grades 1 through 12 during its lifetime as a consolidated school. This continued until 1952,[2] when it was re-dubbed Green Hope Elementary School, providing primary-education while the higher grades were reallocated to nearby Cary or Apex High schools. Green Hope Elementary proudly became the first accredited rural school in Wake County. By 1963, it served 172000 students. However, at the time, the school was a whites-only establishment.

Fire and destruction

This grassy field, railroad tracks, and construction rubble are all that remain of the original Green Hope School.

On August 15, 1963 at 1 AM, the school caught fire. [3] Three fire departments responded: Apex, Morrisville, and Yrac.[3] (Yrac Department was created in 1958 as a temporary reorganization of Cary Rural Fire District; in 1998 it was merged with Cary F.D.) Despite this response, the school was completely destroyed. Damage was estimated at greater than $400,000,[3] and the school was not reconstructed.

The cause of fire was officially described as suspicious circumstances. However, arson was suspected as a cause, and firefighters reported a car speeding away from the blaze. Possible motives include opposition to the racial integration of the local districts. This process continued, however, expedited by the creation of Wake County Public School System in 1976. [4] This set the goal of unifying the diverse racial and economic demographic of the growing community, and ensuring that the affluent suburbs and the poorer urban areas of Raleigh received equal and integrated education. However, the site of Green Hope School remained unoccupied until 1999.

The present location of the school is across the road from the old building site.

Green Hope High School today

GHHS opened its doors in 1999, drawing only freshmen and sophomore students from neighboring overcrowded schools, with its sister school, Green Hope Elementary, opening a year later in 2000. It added a grade level for the two subsequent years and graduated its first senior class in 2002. The Cary Tennis Park, operated by the town of Cary, which functions as the school's tennis practice facility, is located directly behind the school. Green Hope Elementary School and Park are located directly across the street from the Tennis Park. Both schools are operated by Wake County Public School System. The high school is currently headed by Karen Summers since January 2014. The school mascot is the Green Hope Fighting Falcon.

Academics

Physics department lab equipment, which is available to AP Physics and other students.

Green Hope is consistently ranked as a top tier school for academics in national rankings. The school posted the fifth highest average SAT score in the Raleigh Durham area: 1699 with 94.7% of students taking the test.[5] Green Hope currently offers 18 Advanced Placement courses and over 61 honors courses.

Honors and awards

Athletics

Athletics Department hallway next to gymnasium.

Green Hope competes under the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A classification for the largest 25% of schools in North Carolina and currently competes in the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference with Athens Drive, Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Middle Creek, and Panther Creek high schools. Green Hope's overall athletic success is reflected with the Falcons winning three consecutive Wells Fargo Cup (formerly Wachovia Cup) trophies for all NCHSAA 4A schools for the 2009-10, 2010–11,[8] 2011–12, and 2013-14[9] school years at the state level, and being conference leaders for the cup in the 2012/13 season.[10] They have 23 team state championships in the following sports: Men's Golf (2003,2006,2007,2009,2010), Women's Cross Crountry (2009,2010,2011,2012,2013), Men's Cross Country (2010), Women's Lacrosse (2005,2006,2012),[11] Men's Soccer (2011,2012), Women's Soccer (2013), Cheerleading (2006), Gymnastics (2012,2013,2014) [12] ,[13] and Men's Swimming (2013,2014)

In 2006, Green Hope also had a sailing team, that was sanctioned by the South Atlantic Interscholastic Sailing Association.

Cross Country

In addition to their state championships, Green Hope is noted to have one of the largest high school cross country teams in the U.S., which was featured in a 2008 USA TODAY article.[14]

Golf

In addition to their five state championships, the Green Hope golf team also has won five NCHSAA 4A individual titles through Brendon Todd (2000,2002,2003), Kevin O'Connell (2007), and Michael Cromie (2009). Many athletes have gone on to play at the NCAA level including Brendon Todd (Georgia), Michael Cromie (Georgia), Kevin O'Connell (UNC-Chapel Hill).[15] Will Shambley (UNC-Wilimington),[16] Drew Eibner (Arkansas),[17] Eric Shriver (Pepperdine University),[17] Dan Gossin (Appalachian State), Elliot Jones (East Carolina), Tripp Brizendine (East Carolina),[18] Rob Barrow (Wake Forest), Kyle Sonday (UNC-Greensboro),[19] Will Almand (UNC-Greensboro), and Ben Kohles (Virginia).[20] As of 2014, Brendon Todd has played 4 years on the PGA Tour, earning his first tour win at the Byron Nelson Championship in May 2014.

Soccer

Both the men's and women's soccer programs are perennial state contenders. The men's team has reached the NCHSAA playoffs nine times, including 2 state championships and 4 semifinals. At the end of the 2012 season, the men's team was ranked #1 in the nation, winning both state and national championship honors. The 2013 Women's state championship team was also ranked #1 in the country.[21] Stephen Bickford was voted the Adidas/USA Today national player of the year in 2004, in addition to winning the state player of the year title.[22]

School organizations

The rear of the school, as seen from the Elementary School campus. The football field is visible below the school.

Notable student organizations include: Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Science Olympiad, Gay-Straight Alliance, Muslim Students Association, Environmental Club, Green Hope Marching Band, Key Club, Technology Student Association, National Honor Society. Other clubs include various honor societies, community outreach programs, extracurricular foreign-language and culture clubs (French, Spanish, Latin), a school paper of news, and athletic boosters.

Theater department

GHHS has a theater department run by Jamie Gorski. Each year, the school has one musical production and at least one non-musical production. They are also one of few schools that have a technical theater class. They won 5 North Carolina Theatre Capital Awards in 2010 for their high school musical productions, including Best Musical.

Green Hope Band Program

The Green Hope Band Program is led by band director Brian Myers. Most recently, the Symphonic Band was invited to perform at the NCMEA Convention in Raleigh. The marching band, the Green Hope Falcon Regiment, has performed at BOA Grand Nationals three times, and won awards in various competitions around and in North Carolina. In 2015, the marching band made school history when it made semifinals at BOA Grand Nationals for the first time. Their previous shows include: MASKerade (2015), Letting Go (2014), Asylum (2013), Wrath of Darkened Wings (2012), Liszten (2011), The Trials (2010), and The Road Less Traveled (2009) The band program has also explored new trends by instigating the school's first iBand, a group of musicians who use apps on iPads to make music. The iBand group also performed at NCMEA and led an educational session to teach others about the possibilities of iBands. Other parts of the band program include the jazz band, indoor percussion program and various concert groups.

School demographics

The school serves affluent Western Wake, including Cary and Apex. It also features a program to provide bus service from south Raleigh in order to meet county socio-economic status quotas. The future of this program is uncertain as the Wake County Board of Education is debating whether or not to break up this program.

As of 2006, redistricting and explosive population growth may cause dramatic demographic changes. Affluent neighborhoods such as Preston and Weatherstone sit adjacent to old tobacco farms and rural land tracts.

In 2005, 31% of students performed at or above grade-level. The school ranks as a North Carolina Honor School of Excellence and meets capacity requirements as a High Growth School. [23] [24] The school is a traditional (non-magnet) school by official designation (and funding considerations).

The school prides itself on technology integration - 100% of classrooms have internet access, and teachers and students use an online course-reporting and grading system like other new Wake County Public High Schools.


References

  1. ↑ "Green Hope High School webpage". Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  2. 1 2 "About Green Hope High School". Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  3. 1 2 3 Legeros, Mike (2004-07-10). "Yrac Fire Department History (1961-1998)". Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  4. ↑ Jones, Clifford V. (1980). A History of Merger: Wake County Public School System, 1976-1980.
  5. ↑ deBruyn, Jason. "High schools with highest SAT scores in Raleigh-Durham area". Triangle Business Journal.
  6. ↑ "Wake high schools recognized for high graduation rates". WRAL.
  7. ↑ Green Hope is Top WCPSS High School in Newsweek Ratings
  8. ↑ Green Hope Wins 2010/11 Wachovia Cup
  9. ↑ 2013-14 Wells Fargo Cup Final State Standings Announced
  10. ↑ "2011-12 Wells Fargo Cup Final Standings Announced". NCHSAA. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  11. ↑ http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/19/2074992/green-hope-wins-girls-lacrosse.html
  12. ↑ http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/18/3542954/green-hope-harnett-central-repeat.html
  13. ↑ http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/29/1814423/young-gymnasts-lift-falcons-to.html
  14. ↑ Jim Halley (2008-10-14). "School's cross country 'army' has more than 200 runners". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  15. ↑ "Kevin O'Connell". The University of North Carolina. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  16. ↑ "Will Shambley". The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  17. 1 2 "Drew Eibner". The University of Arkansas. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  18. ↑ "Tripp Brizendine". East Carolina University. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  19. ↑ "Kyle Sonday". The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  20. ↑ "Ben Kohles". The University of Virginia. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  21. ↑ "Final Spring Rankings". National Soccer Association of America. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  22. ↑ "Players of the Year". North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  23. ↑ US Senate Committee on Finance; Joint Committee on Taxation (1998-02-10). "Parent and Student Savings Account Plus Act (Modifications)". Archived from the original on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  24. ↑ State Board of Education, North Carolina (1998-02-10). "The ABCs Accountability Model". Retrieved 2007-04-21.

External links

Coordinates: 35°48′18″N 78°52′03″W / 35.80502°N 78.86742°W / 35.80502; -78.86742

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