Glenvar High School

Glenvar High School is a public high school in Roanoke County, Virginia. It is one of the five high schools for the Roanoke County public school system. Glenvar High School serves the western end of Roanoke County and is located in the community of Glenvar, which is immediately west of Salem, Virginia.

History

Glenvar High School was opened in 1966 by Roanoke County public schools. Most, if not all, of the student body would previously have attended Andrew Lewis High School in Salem. However, the student bodies of Glenvar and Andrew Lewis were consolidated into the new Salem High School for the 1977–1978 school year. The former high schools became junior high schools.

Beginning with the 1982–1983 school year, the city of Salem established an independent school district and enrollment in Salem High School was limited to students from the city. Glenvar High School was reopened to serve western Roanoke County. The school housed grades 7 through 12 until a new building was constructed for Glenvar Middle School in 1996.

Academics

Glenvar High School is a comprehensive high school which includes grades 9–12 with a student enrollment of 650. The school offers courses in multiple academic disciplines including Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses. Specialized vocational education is available at the Arnold R. Burton Technology Center in Salem. Pass rates for Virginia's Standards of Learning tests average over 90%, which makes the school fully accredited.

The earth science and ecology students of Glenvar High School raise some of the brook trout hatchlings from Paint Bank, Virginia, which survive at a rate of 10 per cent, rather than the 1 to 3 percent that survive in the wild. They are released in the Roaring Run creek in Botetourt County, Virginia.^[2]

Athletics and extracurriculars

Glenvar High School is a member of the Virginia High School League and competes in the A Three Rivers District. Glenvar competed in Group AA (called Group IB before 1971) when it was opened but dropped down to Group A shortly after it reopened. Glenvar has enjoyed success in athletics through its history. Glenvar captured Group AA state championships in football, men's basketball, men's outdoor track, and wrestling. Glenvar has won Group A state championships in baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, golf, women's softball, wrestling, volleyball, and men's tennis. Glenvar won the Wachovia Cup, the VHSL's award for overall athletic excellence, in Group A for the 1993–1994 school year.

Coach Richard "Dickie" Myers spent over thirty years coaching wrestling, cross country, and track. He was the wrestling head coach for the 1971 and 1972 state championship teams and coached many individual state champions in wrestling and track. Jamie Soltis, current principal of Glenvar Middle School, was one of Myers' products in wrestling and track. Soltis won two state titles in wrestling at 103 and 112 pounds. Soltis also won state championships in track and cross country under the coaching of Myers.

GTV

In 2004, an elite group of students named A STAT Film (Sandeep, Tyler, Alex, Tim) created, produced, directed, and edited a weekly TV Show for the students and faculty of Glenvar High School. The show (which lasted for 2 years) eventually replaced the school's daily broadcast of Channel One News. The show was a huge success and inspired the most creative minds of Glenvar to collaborate together.

The staff of GTV spent most of its efforts trying to gain the approval of then principal Curtis Hicks for air. This resulted in heavy scrutiny which taught the GTV staff a valuable lesson in censorship. The first season of GTV can be seen on YouTube.

References

External links

• Glenvar High School
• Great Schools site
• Virginia Department of Education Report Card
• GTV