Wauwatosa West High School

For schools of a similar name, see West High School.
Wauwatosa West High School
Address
12121 West North Avenue
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 53226
USA
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1960
School district Wauwatosa School District
Principal Frank Calarco
Faculty 67.3 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,033 (as of 2005-06)[1]
Student to teacher ratio 15.3[1]
Color(s) Green & White
Athletics conference Woodland
Nickname Trojan
Newspaper West Side Stories
Yearbook Olympian
Website School website

Wauwatosa West High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in the city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, USA. West opened in 1960 with the first graduating class in 1961 as a sister-school to Wauwatosa East High School; together they are part of the Wauwatosa School District.

History

Associate principal Dale Breitlow was shot and killed in the school on December 1, 1993. Leonard D. McDowell, a 21-year-old former student,[2] shot the principal three times with a .44-caliber Taurus revolver in a second-floor hallway by the math department. McDowell was found guilty of the murder and sane at the time of the shooting.[3][4][5] His life sentence was upheld by the state Court of Appeals in April 1997.[6]

A technology center was named in honor of long-time principal Thomas Steiner, who died on November 18, 2005 from West Nile Virus.

Enrollment

As of the 2011-12 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,033 students and 69 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 15.3.[1]

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

The school won the Wisconsin State Boys Volleyball Championship in 1964, defeating Antigo High School in a pool of 70 participating schools.[7]

The boys' swimming team won the 1971 state championship, defeating runner-up Waukesha High School in a field of 77 participating schools. The school has had 20 individual state swimming champions, tied for 10th of all high schools statewide.[8] The team won sectionals in 2002 and several conference championships from 1999 until 2004, when the Wauwatosa teams were combined.

The Wauwatosa West boys' basketball team was sectional runners-up in 1990 and 1994, and regional champs in 2011.

The Wauwatosa West football team went 17-112 under previous head coach Ben Viet in 16 seasons, including 0-1 in the playoffs. In 1982, West was runner-up in D1 losing to Grafton.

The city on June 4, 2002 gave Wauwatosa West the go-ahead to begin construction on a $1.5 million upgrade of its athletic facilities.[9]

The Wauwatosa West softball team won the regional championship (for the first time in West history) in 2008 by defeating Whitefish Bay 3-2 on May 22, 2008.[10]

The school is one of five on the Wauwatosa Wild Co-Op hockey team, which includes players from Wauwatosa West, Wauwatosa East, New Berlin West, New Berlin Eisenhower, and Whitnall. Their home rink is the Pettit National Ice Center. In 2006, the team upset #9 Homestead High School to win its first regional championship.[11]

Fine arts

Student musicians and thespians participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, including band, orchestra, and theater.[12]

The band department's performing groups include marching band, pep band, concert band, and jazz band.[13] The band traveled to Hawaii in April 2015, visiting and performing at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.[14]

The symphony orchestra and concert orchestra perform throughout the year, including a holiday "Kinderkonzert" for children in the community.[15] Graduating seniors in the orchestra are eligible for a scholarship named after Dave Topolovec, who directed the orchestra for 32 years and helped found the All City String Festival.[16]

The theater department, known as the Trojan Players, puts on two major productions each year.[17] Recent productions and performers have won Tommy Awards,[18][19][20] and one student was nominated for a Jimmy Award at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards,[21][22] where he was named "Most Improved" high school actor in the nation.[23]

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 West High, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 30, 2007.
  2. ↑ Police Arrest Former Student In High School Shooting - Chicago Tribune
  3. ↑ Hull, Jon D. "'Have We Gone Mad?'", Time (magazine), December 20, 1993. Accessed December 30, 2007.
  4. ↑ "Breitlow called `gentle giant'", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 2, 1993
  5. ↑ "One in many shootings", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 29, 2006
  6. ↑ "Tosa West killer fails in his appeal", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 30, 1997
  7. ↑ Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. WIAA State Boys Volleyball Champions (thru 2014) Accessed September 23, 2015.
  8. ↑ Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Boys Swimming & Diving Team Champions (updated thru 2015). Accessed September 23, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Tosa gives thumbs up to school upgrade", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 5, 2002, Accessed December 30, 2007.
  10. ↑ "2008 Softball Assignments - Division 1" (PDF). Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ "WIAA 2006 Hockey Bracket". WIAA, February 25, 2006, Accessed August 27, 2012.
  12. ↑ "West High School: Extracurricular". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Tosa West Bands". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  14. ↑ "CBS 58 - Tosa West band preparing for patriotic concert "larger than ours"". June 29, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Tosa West Orchestra". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  16. ↑ "West Orchestra Director Topolovec Retiring After 34 Years". June 5, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Trojan Players". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  18. ↑ "2015 Tommy Award Recipients" (PDF). Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Overture Announces 2014 Tommy Awards". May 23, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  20. ↑ "West's 'A Chorus Line' Garners a 'Tommy'". June 11, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  21. ↑ "NHSMTA 2015 Nominees". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Sunset Performer, Rayven Burdette – 2015 National High School Musical Theatre Awards". June 4, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  23. ↑ "NHSMTA 2015 Winners". Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  24. ↑ "La Fave, John 1949". Wisconsinhistory.org. 1949-07-13. Retrieved 2012-08-15.

External links

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