Jesse O. Sanderson High School

Jesse O. Sanderson High School
Location
5500 Dixon Drive Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Information
Founded	1968
Enrollment	2015
Schedule type	2x4 Block
Color(s)	Royal Blue, Scarlet and White
Mascot	Spartan
Website	sandersonhs.org

Jesse O. Sanderson High School, more commonly called Sanderson High School (SHS), is a co-educational 9–12 public high school in the Wake County Public School System. The school was founded in 1968 and is named after a former superintendent of Raleigh public schools, Jesse O. Sanderson. It is located at 5500 Dixon Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Sanderson runs on a 2x4 block schedule and is one of the few high schools in Wake County to do so. It is known for its large stadium (known as Gregson Stadium and Catapano Field), and for being located inside Raleigh's Greenway Trail System,^[1] in the North Hills suburb in the county's House Creek Township outside Interstate 440.

Academics

As of 2012 the school has approximately 2,015 enrolled students and approximately 111 hired educators. 24 of the teachers are National Board Certified Teachers.

Many Advanced Placement courses are offered. Also, the Paideia program, named after a Greek style of learning, is offered to 9th and 10th graders.

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) program received the highest test scores in Wake County.

Demographics

As of 2012, 52% of the student body is male, with the other 48% being female, 54% of them being White, 47% of the student body is of minority background- 25% is African American, 13% is Hispanic American, 4% is Asian American, 0.3% is Native American, while the remaining 4% is multiracial. 130 students have a limited English proficiency.^[2]

Economic background

As of 2012 28% of the students receive free lunch, 4% receive reduced price lunch, and 68% receive no lunch benefits.

Sanderson in society

Sanderson is a major participant in the Food Bank of Central and center North Carolina's Students Against Hunger Food Drive. The food drive is led at the school by the Student Government Association. Sanderson has won ten of the last eleven food drive competitions, facing off against local rival high schools such as Millbrook High School and Leesville Road High School. In 2011, the school collected 222,668.1 pounds of food, following a steady yearly increase.

Sanderson also participates in other feeding ministries through their club, Coalition for the Homeless. They pack bag lunches and distribute them to the local homeless population and glean on local farms.

Holly Days

Sanderson opens their doors once a year to the public to raise money for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The event brings more than 150 vendors who sell jewelry, crafts, holiday decor, food, and more.

All proceeds from the event go to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina

Clubs

Student publications are:

• The Sandscipt – A monthly student made newspaper.
• The Lankonikos – the schools yearly year book.

Sanderson offers a variety of student clubs, including a handful of national organizations as well as a series of local organizations. Some of the national organizations Sanderson offers are International Thespian Society, FIST Club (Friends Intent on Stopping Tormenting) Academy of Finance, Air Force ROTC, Business Alliance, DECA, FCCLA, Technology Student Association (TSA), Photography Club, Spartan Productions, Japanese Culture Club, Future Teachers of America, National Art Honor Society, Gay/Straight Alliance, National Honor Society, Young Republicans, Young Democrats.

Sanderson's student government has received much recognition for their participation in the Sanderson community. It is one of the only four high schools in the state (alongside Sun Valley High School, Terry Sanford High School, and Seventy-First High School) and 131 in the country to earn the National Association of Student Councils Gold Council of Excellence in 2010.^[3]

Performing Arts

Sanderson is know around the state for their Theater Troop, Marching Band, And chorus department. In recent years all three have be recognized for being one of the best programs in the area.

Sanderson Theater Ensemble In recent years Sanderson's theater ensemble has been recognized for outstanding achievement in ensemble acting, and distinguished play for both The Yellow Boat at the North Carolina State High School Play Festival(2015), and Elephants Grave Yard at their regional competition in 2014. The leader of the program and director of both highly award Show Peter Comperatora was awarded for excellence in direction for both of this shows. He was also awarded for excellence in direction in 2013 for Metamorphose. The Ensemble also puts on a fall play and a spring musical each year.^[4]

Sanderson Marching Band The Sanderson marching band in know around the state for hosting the Capital Band expo each year in October were they invite school from across the state and beyond to show off their skill in one of the few competitions on its kind. The marching band also competes in regional band competitions, winning Grand twoChampion awards in competitions in 2011 and 2014 ^[4]

Sanderson Sandpipers For many years the Sanderson Sandpipers have been now around the state not only for their collection of talent as an ensemble, but also for their teacher and director Marshall Butler, Jr. how has been honored around the county for his talent of bring the best out of his students. he has been recognized as an outstanding music educator by the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.^[5] 2014.^[4]

Athletics

Sanderson has won thirty-four state championships, and 131 conference championships. Sanderson's sports team play under the Spartan identity. Their athletic director is Tony Lewis, He assumed this position after Bob Catapano retired in 2010.

Men's Cross Country Coached by Ashley Taylor and assisted by Jason Bochart, Sanderson's men's cross country team won the 2009 NCHSAA 4A State Championship at Tanglewood Park. The team, consisting of Matt Schick, Phil Hathaway, Matt Geisz, Mitchell Feldman, Benjamin Boyles, Andrew White, and Patrick Crawford, beat rival Needham Broughton High School by 3 points to win their first state title in cross country.

Men's Soccer Sanderson's men's soccer team has won eleven 4A state soccer championships; they also once held the national record for most consecutive games without a loss at 103, which is still the state record. Over the past decade they have also produced a number of Division 1 players such as Clark Brisson, Caleb Norkus, Justin Wyatt, Will Summey, Will Craven, JP Rafferty, Matt Boyd, Glenn Scott, Costin Gregory, and Nick Williams.^[6]

Wrestling Sanderson's wrestling team has won eleven conference championships, recently placing in the top three of the conference the last eight years and has won the conference championship recently in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. The team was coached by Jeremy Barefoot (3x Coach of the Year since 2004) in-till he stepped down in July 2014. Former assistant coach Alex Johnson took over leading for the 2014-15 school year. leading them to their 5th consecutive conference championship. He left at the end of the year and is no longer an active member of the coaching staff. The 2015-16 school year marked the first year for new head coach Nicholas Shriner. It was also the first year that no member of the teams coaching staff had worked with former head coach Jeremy Barefoot. It was also the first year in half a decade that Sanderson lost the Conference Championship.

Cheerleading Sanderson's cheerleading squad has won multiple state championships(2005,2008,2010) recently under the leadership of coach Jocelyn Bradford, who is also the chief student government adviser at the school. Sanderson's JV and Varsity Cheerleading squads placed first in the Wake County Cheerleading Competition, as well as both winning Grand Champions.

Administration

Gregory Decker became principal in the fall of 2008 after his predecessor, Cathy Moore was promoted to assistant superintendent. After being principal of the school for eight years. She was named Wake County principal of the year in 2007. Under Decker's leadership, Sanderson's graduation rate has started to grow. ^[7]

Notable alumni

• Steve Dobrogosz, Pianist and composer (Class of 1974)
• Steve Kenney, Professional football player for the Philadelphia Eagles; Offensive linesman at Clemson University (1974)
• David Sedaris, Noted author and humorist (1975)
• Amy Sedaris, Author, humorist and actress; Creator and star of the "Strangers with Candy" television series on Comedy Central and the 2006 major motion picture release of the same title (1979)
• Clark Brisson, All American soccer player at the University Of South Carolina; Played eight years in the National Professional Soccer League; Currently assistant coach at the University of New Haven^[8] (1987)
• David Fox, Swimmer at NCSU; 1996 Olympic gold medalist (1989)
• Caleb Norkus, Soccer standout at University of North Carolina; Professional soccer player for the Carolina Railhawks (1997)
• Shaofu Zhang, Student filmmaker at UNC Wilmington; Member of Academy Award winning Disney team that animated Big Hero 6 (2002)^[9]
• Gregory Walters, played for the Carolina Railhawks in 2008 (2003)
• Annie E. Clark, Women's and civil rights activist. (2006)
• Matt James, former Wake Forest University football player. (2010)^[10]

References

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 35°51′38″N 78°38′49″W / 35.8604281°N 78.6469478°W / 35.8604281; -78.6469478