Alamo Heights High School

Alamo Heights High School
Location
6900 Broadway Street San Antonio, Texas, 78209 United States
Information
Type	Traditional Public
Established	Original schoolhouse: 1909 Original High School building: 1923 Current High School building: 1950
School district	Alamo Heights Independent School District
Principal	Dr. Linda Foster
Faculty	115
Enrollment	1,543  (2008-09)
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Blue and Gold
Athletics conference	District 27-4A
Mascot	Mule
Website	http://www.ahisd.net/campuses/ahhs/default.htm

Alamo Heights High School is a secondary school located in the city of Alamo Heights, Texas and is the only high school in the Alamo Heights Independent School District. It is also one of the top traditional public high schools in Texas and in the top one percent of public high schools in the nation.

Alamo Heights High School is known for its excellence as a college preparatory high school where students benefit from a challenging educational program and a wide array of extra curricular opportunities. Most of the students who attend Alamo Heights HS also attended Alamo Heights Junior School (6-8), either Woodridge Elementary or Cambridge Elementary (1-5), and Howard Early Childhood Center (PreK-K). There is also alternative school at the Robbins Academy (6-12). Others come from nearby private or parochial schools such as St. Luke's Episcopal, St. Mary's Hall, St. Peter Prince of the Apostles, The San Antonio Academy, St. Pius X, or Texas Military Institute and Keystone School.

The district includes three "island cities" including all of Alamo Heights, parts of Terrell Hills and all of Olmos Park. The district also includes a small part of north central San Antonio. Although Alamo Heights High School is a public school, it does accept a limited amount of tuition students every year who live outside of the Alamo Heights district boundaries.

In 2009, the school was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.

Original High School Building (Now Cambridge Elementary)

Facilities

The two-story school building is divided into four halls: Main, South, Central and North. Main provides access to the attendance and principal's offices, the library, the auditorium and a few classrooms. North contains the mathematics and history departments. Central is occupied by the technology department, as well as the nurse's and counselors' offices. South contains the English and foreign languages departments. The school's main sitting area is outside between North and Central. This area is called "The Oaks" after its many oak trees. The Oaks Building is located across The Oaks from the main building. It contains two art rooms, the language laboratory, which contains computers with headsets for use with recorded language teaching materials and a multi-purpose room. The auditorium is located north of the North Wing, with the band hall north of the auditorium.

The school has several sports facilities, the most visible of which is Harry B. Orem Stadium, used for football and soccer games. The stadium contains a track and there is also a practice field for these sports. The school's main facility for basketball and volleyball games is the Mule Dome. There is also a practice gymnasium for basketball. The school has full pool facilities for swimming, diving and water polo. Recently, the "skygym" was opened as an extra basketball court and multi-use gymnasium. The school's baseball field is located in the city's Olmos Basin.

Recently, the school has undergone major construction, including the renovation of the auditorium, addition of a two story science building, addition of a second gymnasium building and a new state-of-the-art weight room, renovation of the Central wing of the school, and the conversion of the old practice gym into a facility for the dance and cheerleading teams.

Harry B. Orem Stadium

Statistics

• Employs 115 faculty members
• 75% of staff have master's degrees
• Enrollment: 1,543 students
• 95% of graduates attend college
• 80% in four-year colleges and 15% in junior/community colleges

Administration

• Dr. Kevin Brown, district superintendent
• Dr. Linda Foster, principal
• Frank Padilla, Norm Collins, and Terri Duncan, assistant principals

Academics

Alamo Heights High School is known for its excellence as a college preparatory high school where students benefit from a challenging educational program and a wide array of extra curricular opportunities. Graduates must demonstrate mastery of Reading, Mathematics, and Writing as measured by the (TAKS). Students are encouraged to complete one of the advanced/recommended programs set forth by the Texas State Board of Education. Additional courses in math, science, social studies, foreign language, computer studies, fine arts, public speaking, and journalism distinguish these programs. A seal denoting the student’s program completion is affixed to his/her transcript at the end of the senior year.

Alamo Heights High has been recognized by Newsweek as 194th out of 1,300 of the nations best public schools. It was also named by Texas Monthly magazine ‘one of only twelve traditional Texas public high schools that excelled in all four of the subject areas’ (i.e. language arts, math, social studies and science.

Curriculum: Alamo Heights has designed programs to meet the needs of students at four levels: GT, PreAP/AP, enriched, and regular. The terminal courses in the honors sequence carry the title AP and follow the College Board’s Advanced Placement curriculum. PreAP/AP courses are offered in the following: English, mathematics, music, science, social studies, foreign languages, and art. Currently, dual credit enrollment courses are offered through San Antonio College for English IV, French IV, Calculus BC, Computer Science III, and Physics II.

24 AP courses offered in subject areas:

• AP English Lang., AP English Lit.
• AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics
• AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics
• AP World History, AP US History, AP Human Geography,
• AP European History , AP Government, AP Economics
• AP Spanish Lang., AP Spanish Lit. AP French Lang.
• AP French Lit., AP Latin Vergil, AP Latin Lit.
• AP Art 2-D Design, AP Art Drawing, AP Music Theory.
• AP Psychology

Faculty: 115 faculty members; 75% with Master’s degrees and above

Notable teachers

• Paul Foerster was in 1983 named the state recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching in 1983. He has also published mathematical textbooks, including Calculus: Concepts and Applications.

Retiring at the end of the 2010- 2011 school year.

Notable alumni

• Patrick Bailey, class of 2004, is currently a linebacker for the Tennessee Titans and won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.
• Chase Clement, class of 2004, is currently a quarterback for the Las Vegas Locomotives and won the UFL's 2010 Championship Game taking home the game MVP trophy.
• Angela Belcher, attended, is the Director of the Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT.^{[citation needed]}
• Marie Brenner, class of 1967, is an author, investigative journalist, and writer-at-large for Vanity Fair magazine.^{[citation needed]}
• Christopher Cross, class of 1969, is a recording artist with Top 40 hits including "Sailing" and "Arthur's Theme".
• Light Townsend Cummins, class of 1964, is the official State Historian of Texas.^{[citation needed]}
• Dayna Devon, class of 1988, is a fomer TV host of the syndicated show- EXTRA.
• Janet Krueger, class of 1970, is an award-winning Texas artist.^{[citation needed]}
• Robert Reeves, class of 1965, is an astronomy and space exploration author. Asteroid 26591 is named Robertreeves in his honor.
• Rick Riordan, class of 1982, is a San Antonio-based novelist of the award winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and the New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson series for children.
• Joe Straus, class of 1978, is the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.^{[citation needed]}
• Clay Tarver, class of 1984, screenwriter for Joy Ride.^{[citation needed]}
• Peter Weller, class of 1965, is an actor in movies such as RoboCop.

Athletics

The school offers football, tennis, water polo, volleyball and cross country in the fall. It offers basketball, swimming and diving and soccer in the winter and tennis, baseball, softball, water polo, and track and field in the spring. Golf is year round. Club lacrosse and rugby are also available.

The school's mascot is the mule.

Notable athletic achievements

• Football - Class 4A Division II State semifinalist (2003), Class 4A Division I State Champions (2006)
• Men's soccer - State champions (1987), Class 4A State runner-up (2003)
• Track and Field - Regional qualifier (4 x 100 Relay) (2006)
• Cross country - Regional qualifier (2005), (2007), (2008)
• Women's soccer - Class 4A State semifinalist (2006)
• Tennis - State champions (1973, 1984,1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002)
• Water Polo - State runner-up (1996),(1986), state champs, men and women (1973). 3rd place in state for men's water polo in 1985, Undefeated Regional Champions (Boys and Girls) 2010
• Basketball - State runner-up (1951), State Champions (1952, 1954), Class 4A State semifinalist (1988), Class 4A State runner-up (1991)
• Diving -Regional Champions (2003, 2004)
• Swimming- State record for Girls 100m backstroke(2006), State record for Boys 400yd Free Relay (2011), State record for Boys 200yd Free Relay (2011)
• Spurs Dance Team- Nationally Ranked (3rd Place)[2008]
• JROTC - National Champions (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Cheerleading- UCA Finals 2007 (9th), Nationally Ranked (2006, 2007, 2008), UCA Nationals Finals Large Varsity Division II 2010 (6th)
• Rugby - TYRA Division II 2010 (2d)

See also

• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

External links

• Alamo Heights High School