Mesa High School (Mesa, Arizona)

Mesa High School (Mesa, Arizona)
Carry On
Address
1630 East Southern Avenue Mesa, Arizona, 85204-5220  United States
Coordinates	33°23′47″N 111°47′41″W / 33.396323°N 111.794642°W / 33.396323; -111.794642Coordinates: 33°23′47″N 111°47′41″W / 33.396323°N 111.794642°W / 33.396323; -111.794642
Information
Type	Public secondary (U.S.)
Established	1898
Oversight	Mesa Public Schools
Principal	Lisa Creaser[1]
Assistant principals	Bradley Cosseboom, Scot Schmidt, Vanessa Casillas , Jill Benza, Vicki Jones [2]
Faculty	187[3]
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	3,411 (2011-2012[4])
• Grade 9	945 [Grade 9]
• Grade 10	817 [Grade 10]
• Grade 11	794 [Grade 11]
• Grade 12	855 [Grade 12]
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Purple & Gold
Mascot	Jackrabbit
Newspaper	The Jackrabbit
Yearbook	Superstition
Feeder schools	Kino Junior High School, Taylor Junior High School, Poston Junior High School[5]
Website	http://www.mpsaz.org/mesa

Mesa High School is a public high school in Mesa, Arizona, United States. Mesa High School currently accommodates grades 9-12 as part of Mesa Public Schools.

History

The first high school classes in Mesa began in September 1899 on the second floor of the red brick north elementary school, later rebuilt and known as Irving School. The first Mesa Union High School district was organized on December 26, 1907, with John D. Loper as superintendent. The Town Council had leased all of Block 20 to the University of Arizona for 99 years to use as an experimental farm. This was the land bounded by Center and Macdonald, Second and Third Avenues. It didn't take long to discover that the block was not large enough, and so, on January 4, 1908, they sold it to the school district for $75. Construction began immediately on the building known as "Old Main". The 1909 graduating class graduated from that original twelve room building. The school had a main floor auditorium with a swimming pool in the basement. The auditorium was used for assemblies, with folding chairs for the early comers and standing room only for the rest. Ten years later, eight more rooms were added plus a small auditorium-gymnasium. During basketball games, spectators sat in the balcony (above the freshman section) or on the stage because the gym was not wide enough for sideline bleachers.^[6]

Entrance to the school, adorned by a sign donated by the class of 1998

In September 1932, a football player named Zedo Ishikawa was accidentally killed with a shotgun blast to the chest. As he neared death he said, "Tell Coach Coutchie and the boys to carry on." As time went on, students began repeating the theme "Carry On" to one another. Eventually it became the school's official motto.

In 1936, the WPA and PWA provided funds for new construction, and the New Building was constructed west of the Main Building with an arcade in between. The land for this was purchased from Harvey Bush, for $4,000. A new gymnasium building, which included an agriculture shop and auto shop, was also built south of the Main Building — the new site for school dances and basketball games.^[6]

In 1967, Mesa won their homecoming football game against rival Westwood High. Then, on Sunday night, October 1, 1967, a disastrous fire started in the science lab, completely destroying the sixty-year-old "Old Main".^[7] Classes continued to graduate from the old campus until 1972 when the new Mesa High was built, at a different location (farther east and south). The original Mesa High campus, minus the destroyed Old Main, would be reused in the 1970s as Mesa Central High School, which became the district's vocational school in the 1980s and closed in 1991.

Academics

In the 1983-84 school year, it was honored as a Blue Ribbon school.^[8]

AIMS test scores for MHS were below the state average in reading, math, and writing for 2002 through 2004, but they improved to substantially above average for 2005.^[9]

Athletics

The school won 5A state championships in 2004 for boys basketball,and three straight 5A-I titles in wrestling from 2006 to 2008. Anthony Robles, who was born without a right leg, won individual state championships in 2005 and 2006. He later went on to win the 2006 Senior Nationals' and wrestled at Arizona State University on a full scholarship. Robles finished fourth at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships at 125 pounds, seventh at the 2010 tournament, and was national champion in 2011.^[10] Home to the Ordaz brothers; Mayk (160) and John Ordaz (130). The only two time state champion siblings that both recorded undefeated seasons; twice in their high school career, (2009-2012), on the top ten wrestler list from Arizona. ^[11]

*The Arizona Interscholastic Association recognized these sports and the regular season games thereof as official during these years, but did not conduct playoffs to determine AIA state champions for them until 1959 for football and 1983 for soccer. In such times, the press declared state champions (and state runners-up), similar to how the Associated Press independently crowns national champions for some sports at the college level.

Feeder schools

Junior High Schools

The junior high schools that feed into Mesa High School (and elementary schools feeding into the high schools):^[28]

• Kino Junior High School (Elementary Schools: Edison, Eisenhower, Holmes, Kerr, Lehi, Lincoln, Lowell)
• Poston Junior High School (Elementary Schools: Entz, Field, Hale, Hawthorne, Highland, Longfellow)
• Taylor Junior High School (Elementary Schools: Irving, Johnson, Keller, Lindbergh, Porter, Robson, Wilson)

Notable alumni

References

External links

• Mesa High School Home of the Jackrabbits - Official Mesa High School Website
• GreatSchools.net Mesa High School School Overview - School Evaluation & Statistics
• Mesa Football - Official Football Site
• Mesa Basketball - Official Boys Basketball Site
• LinkedIn - Lisa Creaser - Lisa Creaser Principal at Mesa Public Schools