Apex High School

Apex High School
Location
Cary, North Carolina
United States
Information
Type Public high school
Established

1920 as Apex Senior High

1977 as Apex High
Principal Dr. Diann Kearney
Grades 9 - 12
School color(s) Green and Gold 1970-?
Black and Gold ?-2016
Black, Green, and Gold 2016-present
Mascot Yellow Jackets 1920-1976
Cougars 1976-present
Newspaper Legacy
Feeder schools Salem Middle School
Apex Middle School
Website Apex High School

Coordinates: 35°44′42″N 78°50′16″W / 35.74500°N 78.83778°W / 35.74500; -78.83778Apex High School is a public high school that is temporarily located on the campus of the as yet unopened Green Level High School. It is temporarily located in Cary, North Carolina in the United States, and is part of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Its nominal and permanent location is Apex, North Carolina. It is on a 4x4 block scheduling system.

Demolition and New Facility / Temporary Move

Apex High School was selected by WCPSS to receive a major renovation. During the evaluation and planning phases, it was determined that it would be more cost effective and provide better facilities for the students if the existing buildings were removed and a new facility constructed. Groundbreaking for the new Apex High School facility was held on June 2, 2017. The facility will be a large expansion of the square footage of the existing buildings and will eliminate the need for "Pods" and "Trailers" used as expansion classrooms. The 1976 Apex High School building was vacated by staff on June 14, 2017. The administrative staff and student services are temporarily located at Apex Middle School until the Green Level facility is ready for occupancy. Once the "swing space" (the Green Level HS facility located at 7600 Roberts Rd in Cary) is ready for occupancy and all materials from the Laura Duncan Road facility are moved into the building, all staff will be moved to the temporary facility which will be known as Apex High School until AHS moves back to Laura Duncan Rd. The move back to Laura Duncan Rd. in Apex is expected for the summer of 2019 at which time all AHS staff will move back and the temporary facility will open as Green Level High School, a new Wake County Public High School.

Academics

The school posted the seventh highest average SAT score in the Raleigh Durham area: 1658 with 85.7% of students taking the test.[1]

Departments

Athletics

Apex High School fields varsity teams for the following sports: Men's/Women's Basketball, Football, Men's Baseball, Women's Softball, Women's Volleyball, Men's/Women's Soccer, Men's/Women's Lacrosse, Men's/Women's Tennis, Cross Country, Track & Field, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Cheerleading, Men's/Women's Swimming.

Apex High School is the home of the 2015 and 2013 NCHSAA4 4A and 2005 Men's Lacrosse State Champions (Coach John Hayden), the 2006 Men's Soccer State Champions, the 2007 Women's Soccer State Champions, the 2010 Women's State Volleyball Champions, the 2011 Women's Swimming State Championship, and the 2007 (defeating East Chapel Hill), 2008 (defeating Charlotte Catholic), 2009 (defeating Charlotte Catholic), 2011 (defeating Myer's Park) Women's Lacrosse State Champions. 2014 NCHSAA 4A Men's Basketball State Champions (defeating Lake Norman). Men's Basketball coaches 2014 (Head Coach David Neal, Assistant Coaches-Isaac Bristol, Jeff Cropper, and Forrest Moog). The Apex High School Football program reached the 4A West Playoff appearance against rivals Green Hope High School, falling short to make it to Round Two. This was the first time in five seasons they have made it to the playoffs.

Clubs and activities

Apex High School offers 46 different clubs and activities: Academic Decathlon, Amnesty International, Art Club, Chess Club, Chorus, Cougar Club, CougarTV, Dance Club, DECA, Drama Club, Driver's Education, Environmental Club, FCA, FCCLA, French Club, FTA, German Club, GSA, Inline Hockey Club, HOSA, International Ambassador Society, International Thespian Society, Japan Club, Jewish Student Union, Spikeball Club, Key Club, Legacy (Newspaper), Marching band, Minority Empowerment Society, MSA, National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Orchestra, Pink Ribbon Club, Programming Club, Spanish Club, Poster Club, Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica, Step Team (Alpha Chi Sigma), Student Council, Students Against Destructive Decisions, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), Teenage Democrats, Teenage Republicans, Teens Against Poverty, Yearbook, Ultimate Frisbee/Disc Golf Club, Step Team, Video Game club, Model United Nations, Debate Club, Lacrosse Pep Band, Jazz Band, BOOST Club, and Writer's Club.

The Ultimate Frisbee team earned the unofficial title of 2010 Tri-9 Conference Champions in its first year of existence by defeating Holly Springs High School in a home-and-home series, 15-11 and 15-13. In 2011, they achieved 4th place in the North Carolina high school state tournament.

The Apex football team made the playoffs in 2014 for the first time since 2008. That 2008 football team was led by NFL pro Sio Moore, compiling at 10-3 regular season. Moore then went on to play a four-year college career at the University of Connecticut.

Foreign languages

Apex High School offers French, German, and Spanish. Many other language courses are available online.

Music

Apex High School also features Concert and Marching Band directed by Daniel Jarvis. The band currently has three band classes: Concert Band I, Concert Band II, and Concert Band IV (Wind Ensemble). Marching Band is currently an extracurricular activity. The Apex high marching band has won numerous awards among competitions in North Carolina and Virginia including grand champion. The marching band has performed at Walt Disney World and on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Apex concert bands have consistently placed Superior at state concert festival and have, in recent years, placed the 2nd and 3rd largest numbers of students in All District and All State honors bands.

The Apex High School Chorus, directed by Heather Copley, is made up of 140-180 voices, male and female. The ages of students range from fourteen to eighteen. Each year Apex has students who participate in the North Carolina Honors Chorus, and the North Carolina All State Chorus. They have received superior ratings in festivals in and out of state over the course of Heather Copley's reign as director. They have won first place awards in Atlanta, Georgia; Williamsburg, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; Orlando, Florida; Nassau, Bahamas; and Annapolis, Maryland. They have performed by invitation and auditions at Carnegie Hall in New York City; The Biltmore House Candlelight Tour in Asheville, North Carolina; the North Carolina Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the Heritage Festivals of Gold in Chicago; and the Memorial Day Invitational Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Apex is known for its outstanding Women's Chorus. The Apex choirs have also toured Italy and Switzerland. They also performed in the London International Choral Festival in London, England. Apex High School maintains three different choir classes - Choral Ensemble (informally known as the Intermediate Women's Chorus), Concert Chorus (Men's Chorus), and Special Choral Ensemble Honors (Honors Women's Chorus). Each class studies and sings a variety of music from each genre. These choirs perform in concerts throughout the year.

Apex High School Orchestra is known for having strong players who participate in the NC Eastern Regional Orchestra, NC Honors Orchestra and the Raleigh Sinfonietta. Under the direction of Todd Miller, they perform at the Halle Cultural Arts Center. They play music from all periods of Classical music and modern pop music. Apex High School is also known for its Guitar Ensemble, also directed by Miller. The guitar program is the only one in Wake County Public School System. It performs at the school and places in downtown Apex, such as the Halle Cultural Arts Center Halle Cultural Arts Center. The guitar program plays music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras.

Technology

Apex High School features an AOIT (Academy of Information Technology) program. AOIT works to integrate the use of technology into the standard high school curriculum though projects promoting the use of technology in preparing research, conducting presentations, and communicating with teachers and other students. Through the AOIT program Apex High School is also able to offer technical courses covering topics such as the use of desktop applications and introductory programming. The applications courses range from Applications I, covering the use of applications such as Microsoft Office, up to E-Commerce I which covers static web development including XHTML and basic JavaScript and a new capstone course for Seniors: Digital Video and Media. Programming courses offered cover four different programming languages starting with Visual Basic .NET (Computer Programming I) followed by C# (Computer Programming II), SAS (SAS Programming I), and Java (AP Computer Science A).

GSA activities

On 2013's World AIDS Day, Apex High School's GSA scattered over 10,000 condoms in the school's bathrooms to raise AIDS awareness.

References

  1. ↑ deBruyn, Jason. "High schools with highest SAT scores in Raleigh-Durham area". Triangle Business Journal.
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