Basic High School
| Basic High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 400 N. Palo Verde Drive Henderson, NV, 89015 |
|
| Information | |
| School type | Public high school |
| Motto | Success Is Just A Paw Print Away! |
| Established | 1942 |
| School district | Clark County School District |
| Dean | Karen Peterson Todd Peterson |
| Principal | David Bechtel |
| Vice principal | Greg Hunter Jason Kathan Roxanne Kelley |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 2,340 |
| School Colour(s) | Blue and silver |
| Athletics conference | Sunrise 4A Region |
| Team name | Wolves |
| Website | http://www.basichighschool.com |
Basic High School is a nine-month public high school that is part of the Clark County School District and is located in Henderson, Nevada. It has five "Smaller Learning Communities": Freshman Academy; Institute of Business, Technology, and Mass Communication; Institute of Health, Wellness, and Medical Technologies; Institute of Law, Justice, and Public Service; and Institute of Creative and Technical Arts.[1]
Contents |
[edit] School Name
During the World War II era, numerous factories located themselves to the Las Vegas valley (among these factories were Basic Management Industries (Basic Magnesium Inc.) and Timet). When the state of Nevada decided to create a city for the workers of these businesses, the name decided upon was "Basic." The newly-found Basic, Nevada needed a school for their children to attend, hence Basic High School received the name of its city (the city of Basic is now the city of Henderson, Nevada). The original name of this school, however, was Railroad Pass High School. The name was changed to Basic High School in 1945.[2]
[edit] History and traditions
Basic High School opened in 1942.The school, then located where the city hall of Henderson now stands, graduated its first class of ten students in 1943. In 1954 it moved to a site near Van Wagenen Street and Pacific Avenue (the current site of Burkholder Jr. High School). Since 1973 Basic High School has been located at 400 N. Palo Verde Drive.[3]
Until the opening of Green Valley High School, Basic was the only high school in the city of Henderson. A long-standing rivalry existed between Basic and Green Valley. A large white "B" is painted on a local mountain during the week of Homecoming which stands for Basic; it's visible throughout the entire city of Henderson year-long. The original "B" was painted near the old Basic High School on Black Mountain, now known as Burkholder Middle School, which was also maintained for many years long after Basic relocated to its current campus.
[edit] School features
A three-story building is very noticeable on the Basic High School campus; most classrooms here are classes for freshmen students, and it is referred to as the "800 Building" since all classes here are in the 800's.
An Advanced Placement Program is also offered at Basic High School.
Basic High School is one of the few schools in Henderson which still has an annual Homecoming parade.
[edit] Clubs and organizations
The school features several clubs, including a chess club, Bible club, math club, French club and Spanish Club. It is also one of the few high schools in the county to have a robotics club, which builds and designs high-tech robots and enters them at annual competitions at UNLV.
Basic's "El Lobo" yearbook is also set to high standards, for it has won national praise for many years. The 2005 El Lobo Volume LXIII (63rd) yearbook was awarded Silver Medalist by the CSPA and named All-American with four marks of distinction for the 16th consecutive year. The yearbook is published by Herff Jones publishing company.
The Lone Wolf Newspaper of Basic High School is the oldest newspaper in Henderson, Nevada. The 2008-2009 school year was its 66th year of publication. It has been published longer than the prominent Las Vegas Sun newspaper, owned by Greenspun Media founded in 1950. In 2009 the Lone Wolf won 2nd Place in the 33rd Annual Las Vegas Review-Journal High School Journalism awards in the "Reduced" format for best high school newspaper.[4]
Basic High School also has a "Freshmen Academy" which is a program that allows better communication between Freshmen teachers, parents, and students in an effort to decrease drop-out rates. It works by having all the members of The 'Freshman Academy' in 3 classes together, (usually Biology, English, and Algebra) which helps them make friends and build a better foundation for the rest of their stay at Basic.
Along with those, representatives from their thespian troop (Carli Barnum, Jeremy Ines, JacQueline Vokoun, Tessa Thompson, and David Griffin) competed at the State Thespian Conference in 2010 and won first place in their category of "Group Musical," with the performance of "Your Fault/Last Midnight" from Sondheim's Into the Woods. The following year, representatives from their troop (Jeremy Ines and JacQueline Vokoun) once again placed first at the conference in the "Duet Musical" category with "Serious" from "Legally Blonde the Musical".[citation needed]
Basic High School offers a Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC), which has competed nationally, in armed and unarmed drill, physical fitness, and markmanship. Basic's MCJROTC Armed Drill Team won the National Championships at the United States Air Force Academy Invitational in Colorado Springs, CO from 1997-2003. They currently hold other national titles.
Basic High School also offers courses in performing arts such as Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Theatre.
[edit] Athletics
Basic High School's athletics programs is known as the Wolves and competes in the Southeast Division of the Sunrise 4A Region. The school's Baseball and Basketball programs won state championships in 1955, 1956 and in 1959. In 1959 Paul Hornyak, Senior point guard was the first High School All American in basketball for the state of Nevada. The schools football program has won two state championships the first in 1953 in Class 3A and the second in 1960 in Class 2A and a 3A championship was won by the girl's volleyball squad in 1975. The Basic High School Wrestling Team placed second in State in 1971,1972,1973 and 1974, finally winning the 3A Championship in 1975.
[edit] Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association State Championships
- Baseball - 1955, 1956, 1959, 1982, 1987
- Basketball - 1956, 1959, 1960
- Cross Country (Boys & Girls) - 1987, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1998
- Football - 1953, 1960
- Volleyball (Boys) - 1998, 2002
- Volleyball (Girls) - 1978
- Wrestling- 1975
- Bowling (Girls) - 2011
[edit] Mission statement
Basic High School's mission statement is, "Basic High School challenges students to pursue their individual learning goals while preparing themselves for the future." A school pride statement that is written on the walls of the main hallway, states, "For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack," which is line from the popular poem "The Law for the Wolves" by Rudyard Kipling.
[edit] Notable alumni and faculty
[edit] Students
- Harry Reid - Senator (D-NV) and Senate Majority Leader
- Tanya Tucker was a student when Delta Dawn song became a hit
- Glen Charles and Les Charles The two were writer-producers for The Bob Newhart Show, created and produced Taxi, formed the Charles-Burrows-Charles production company with James Burrows, and created and produced the television series Cheers. The brothers also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1999 film, Pushing Tin.
- Scott Baker - former professional baseball pitcher.
- Chris Latham - former professional baseball player.
- Micah Schnurstein - professional baseball infielder, currently with the Birmingham Barons (CWS)
- Dizzy D Flashy-Rapper from basic high school class of 09 was on BET
[edit] Faculty
- Mike O'Callaghan - former Nevada governor, notable students include Sen. Harry Reid.
[edit] References
- ^ "Small Learning Communities". Basic High School. http://www.basichighschool.com/small_learning_communities.shtml. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Lyle, Michael (26 July 2011). "Railroad Pass stands the test of time". Las Vegas Review Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/view/railroad-pass-stands-the-test-of-time-126159168.html. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Koch, Ed (3 October 2005). "Getting back to Basic High School". Las Vegas Sun. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2005/oct/03/getting-back-to-basic-high-school/. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
- ^ Thevenot, Carri Geer (15 May 2009). "Green Valley High School's newspaper judged the best". Las Vegas Review Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/news/breaking_news/45147052.html. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
[edit] External Links
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