Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas)

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Bellaire High School
Location
Bellaire, Texas, USA
Information
Type Public Secondary
Established 1955
School district Houston Independent School District
Principal Tim Salem
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 3,456
Campus Urban
Color(s) Red, White
Mascot Cardinals
Newspaper Three Penny Press
Yearbook Carillon
Website Bellaire's Home Page

Bellaire High School is a secondary school located in Bellaire, Texas, United States, with a zip code of 77401. Bellaire High School is part of the Houston Independent School District.

Bellaire High School serves the incorporated city of Bellaire and the Houston neighborhood of Meyerland, and other Houston neighborhoods.

Contents

[edit] About the school

With over 20,000 high schools in the United States, the school ranked number 80,[1] 86,[2] 112,[3] 109th[4] and 100th[5] in Newsweek's 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008, respectively, lists of the top high schools, meaning Bellaire's academic program ranks in top 0.5% in the country. The Challenge Index ranks schools by the number of AP and IB tests taken by students at a school in 2002 divided by the number of graduating seniors. 323 students at Bellaire High School in the 2004–2005 academic year earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

In the past several years, Bellaire has produced several international science competition winners: a finalist in the Siemens Competition in 2008, a Third Award in Molecular Biology in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007, an honorable mention (research paper) in the 2006 First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics, a silver medal in the International Biology Olympiad in 2005, a U.S. delegate to the ExpoScience International in 2005, a Third Award in Zoology in the ISEF in 2002, and a silver medal in the International Chemistry Olympiad in 2001. The science fair team places high in the Texas Science and Engineering Fair and the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston each year. In the 2005 Siemens Westinghouse Competition, Bellaire had a regional finalist (only 36 regional finalists in individual projects are selected each year from over thousands of projects).[6]

The school's baseball program, which has been ranked first in the first regular season Easton Sports National High School baseball poll[7] in 2004, won the Texas High School Baseball championship seven times with several former or current Major League Baseball players. Seven students made it to the World Finals Qualifiers in the 2006 Odyssey of the Mind competition under the leadership of teacher Debra Jones.

Bellaire also has a wide variety of music, and fine arts programs; for example, 6 students made it to the 2005–2006 Texas All-State Orchestra. The orchestra ranked Second Place in the 2003 TMEA High School Honor Orchestra. The debate team is also known and frequently places high nationally, with several national qualifiers each year. In 2005, Bellaire had 9 national debate qualifiers. In 2006, Bellaire Debate had a team place 6th & 15th in the national tournament and was one of five schools in the nation to receive an Excellence in Debate award from the National Forensic League. In 2008 and 2009, Bellaire won first place in the National Public Policy Forum Debate. The Bellaire Theatre Department won 1st place at the state UIL One-Act Play Competition in 2004. Carillon, the school yearbook team, has won numerous Gold Crown awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and won an Honorable Mention in the 2005 National Scholastic Press Association "Design of the Year."

During both the 2006-2007 school year and the 2007-2008 school year the Bellaire Choir achieved rankings of "outstanding" for Men's Chorale, Women's Chorale and for the Mixed Choir.[citation needed] There have also been a number of performers that have achieved personal accomplishments in recent years. Jeremy Yang earned the right to perform with the All State Choir in the 2007-2008 school year as one of 8 basses for that year. Many members of the choir participated in UIL Solo & Ensemble Competition. Twenty-six soloists made it to state with eight of them gaining an outstanding rating and one student, Daniel Rossiter, also achieved a ranking of "Outstanding Soloist."[8]

In the 2006-2007 school year, 52 students achieved the title of National Merit Semifinalist. In 2005 and 2006, five students scored perfect scores on their SAT's, two students scored perfect scores on their PSAT's, and one student scored a perfect score on her ACT. In the 2005–2006 school year, 40 students earned the title National Merit Scholar. In the same school year, 57 students scored a perfect 800 on at least one of the three sections (critical reading, math, and writing) on their SAT I Reasoning Tests, and 78 students scored a perfect 800 on at least one of their SAT II Subject Tests. Class of 2002 had 63 National Merit Scholars, the highest number of such recognition in the school's history.[citation needed] In the 2007-2008 school year, 32 Bellaire students were named National Merit Scholarship Program Finalists, 3 were named National Achievement Scholarship ProgramFinalists, and 11 were named National Hispanic Recognition Program Finalists. Bellaire led the Houston Independent School District in number of National Merit Program Finalists.[9]

A mathematics teacher, Ed Mazzoni, was awarded the American Star of Teaching from the United States Department of Education in 2005, the highest honor a secondary school teacher can receive. After competing with thousand of students in the United States, a student won Third Place in the 2005 National High School Essay Contest. The Bellaire economics challenge team won First Place at the 2004 National Economics Challenge in West Region and Third Place in the 2006 National Economics Challenge. In December 2007 a Human Geography teacher was selected to participate in Polartrec's research program, traveling to Antarctica to spend 2 months working on a project entitled "Monitoring the Effects of Human Activities at McMurdo Station, Antarctica".[10]

[edit] Special programs

Bellaire High School is denoted as a Magnet school for foreign languages, offering a wide array of languages taught from Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian, and Latin. All languages are available at the IB level, and AP courses are taught in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Latin.

In 2005, over 900 students tested for a space in the Magnet program; Bellaire had only 150 available spots. In the 2004–2005 school year, the TAKS passing percentages for all Magnet students in reading, math, science, and social studies were 100%, 99%, 96%, and 100% respectively.

Bellaire High School has Advanced Placement and IB Diploma Programme (International Baccalaureate) programs. Bellaire High School has been an IB World School since September 1979. In the last examination session, students completed the following exams (in both standard and higher levels): Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, English A1, French B, Geography, German B, Hindi B, Italian B, Latin, Mandarin B, Mathematics, Music, Physics, Psychology, Russian B, Spanish Ab., Spanish B, Theory of Knowledge, and Visual Arts. In the 2005–2006 school year, there were 24 students who successfully received their IB Diplomas.[11]

[edit] Issues with the academic environment

According to an October 2004 Whatkidscando.org report called "Students as Allies in Improving Their High Schools," in many of Houston ISD's top high schools, including Bellaire, over one half of students are enrolled in high-level courses. According to the surveys given by the organization, many of the students at the schools cited academic pressure issues. 82 percent stated that they do not miss school during illnesses, stating that the makeup work would be too difficult.[12]

Bellaire High School is well-known for its "GPA war/game" in which many students will choose their classes as selectively as possible to achieve a higher GPA.[13] Bellaire's GPA is based on a 5.0 scale, but because students need to take some 4.0-scale classes, including health and physical education there are never perfect 5.0s. The highest GPA ever achieved was a 4.9318 by Harry Huang (Bellaire Class of 2003).[14][15][16] Usually, a GPA of 4.8 or higher will earn a student rank in top 15 people in his or her class.[16]

[edit] History

Bellaire opened in 1955.[17]

In September 1991 Bellaire was one of 32 HISD schools that had capped enrollments; in other words the school was filled to capacity and excess students had to attend other schools.[18]

In February 2006, a stabbing involving two male freshman occurred in a school stairwell. The victim survived the stabbing while the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted.[19]

During the same year Todd Spivak of the Houston Press reported about the magazine's feature "These Kids Go to the Best Public High School in Houston." Spivak said that Bellaire High School had "strong, consistent leadership and a diverse student population" but that it received a lower rating due to a "surprisingly high dropout rate." Spivak said that the survey indicated that Bellaire graduated two thirds of its students. Dr. Robert Sanborn, president and CEO of the Children at Risk organization, said that at Bellaire an achievement gap existed between the top-performing students and the lowest-performing students.[20]

In 2007 13 percent of high school-aged children zoned to Bellaire chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.[21]

[edit] Location

Bellaire High School is located at 29°41′31″N 95°28′06″W / 29.69194°N 95.46833°W / 29.69194; -95.46833 inside the city of Bellaire, which is mostly residential. Bellaire High School is surrounded by single family houses. Bellaire High School is only about 2 minutes away from Meyerland Plaza, an outdoor shopping center in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston. The city of Bellaire is an enclave of the southwest area of Houston. Bellaire City Library and the Bellaire Fire Department are a few blocks away from the school.

[edit] Student body

Bellaire High School had 3,392 students during the 2006-2007 school year.

21% of Bellaire students qualified for free or reduced lunch.[22]

As of 2006, Bellaire is the only comprehensive high school in Houston ISD where White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic students each represent more than 10% of the student body. In the 2003–2004 school year, according to the Houston Independent School District, Bellaire students had a 95.0% attendance rate, 0.9% dropout rate, 748 graduate counts, and 602 Texas Scholars.[22]

Many students in other parts of Houston ISD transfer to Bellaire to escape home schools that do not have good academic performance, causing the attendance figures of those schools to suffer.[23]

[edit] Clubs and organizations

There are around 80 clubs[24] at Bellaire High School. Some large clubs or organizations (with 50 or more members) at Bellaire High School include: Choir, Ritmo Latino, European Cultures Club, The Bellaire Leo Club, Academic Challenge Team, African American Association, American Red Cross, Band, Bellaire International Student Association, Chinese Honor Society, Chinese Language Club, Christian Student Union, Debate, French National Honor Society, German National Honor Society,Japanese club, Japanese National Honors Society, Junior Classical League, Live Music Club, Model UN, Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, Science Connection, Orchestra, European Cultures Club, Antares, Spanish National Honor Society, SEA-ARK Environmental Club, Table Tennis Team Club, Theater, and United Way Kids Way. The Choir, Debate, Academic Challenge, Baseball Team, Feed Houston, Magic Club, Ping-Pong Club, Lacrosse Club, Best Buddies, Booster Club, Birdkeppers Club, Harry Potter Club, Latin Club, Yoga Club, Ms-150, Academic Decathlon,Science Fair Team, and Business Professionals of America have won numerous local and state championships.

[edit] Neighborhoods served

All pupils in the city of Bellaire are zoned to Bellaire High School.[25][26] Several parts of Houston that are around the city of Bellaire, including Meyerland,[27] Braesmont, parts of Braeswood Place that are west of Stella Link and parts that are south of South Braeswood (including the subdivisions of Ayrshire and Braes Terrace), Linkwood, Knollwood Village, Woodshire, Woodside, Westridge, Maplewood, Maplewood North, about half of Westwood, Flack Estates, and a small portion of Willow Meadows, are zoned to Bellaire High School.[28] A small portion of Southside Place is zoned to Bellaire High School.[29]

[edit] Transportation

Houston ISD provides school buses for students who live more than two miles away from the school or who have major obstacles between their houses and the school. Students are eligible if they are zoned to Bellaire or are in the Bellaire magnet program. A METRO bus stop (Maple at South Rice) is located at the school's entrance. Bus line 33 (Post Oak Crosstown) stops at Maple at South Rice.

[edit] Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Bellaire[26] include:

Partial:

Middle schools that feed into Bellaire include parts of Cullen,[43] Fondren,[44] Johnston,[45] Long,[46] Pershing,[47] and Ryan.[48] All pupils zoned to Johnston, Long, and Pershing Middle Schools may apply to Pin Oak Middle School's regular program;[49] therefore Pin Oak also feeds into Bellaire High School.

Many pupils who are in the Vanguard program and attend middle school at Lanier or T.H. Rogers choose to go to Bellaire High School. Some students who are enrolled in private schools in the 8th grade choose to go to Bellaire for high school.[50][51][52]

[edit] Sister School

Bellaire has a sister school in Germany.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Top High Schools" Newsweek via Cold Spring Harbor High School. 2002
  2. ^ "2003 List: The Top High Schools" Newsweek. 24 May 2003
  3. ^ "The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools" Newsweek. 5 August 2005
  4. ^ "The Complete List of the 1,200 Top U.S. Schools" Newsweek. 23 May 2006
  5. ^ "The Top of the Class: The Complete list of the 1300 top U.S. high schools" Newsweek. 19 May 2008
  6. ^ "PTO Newsletter Fall 2005" Bellaire HS PTO. Fall 2005
  7. ^ "BELLAIRE H.S. NO. 1 IN EASTON SPORTS" COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWSPAPER (www.baseballnews.com) POLL. 9 March 2004
  8. ^ "TSSEC Results"
  9. ^ "Houston Chronicle"
  10. ^ "Polartrec"
  11. ^ "Bellaire High School" International Baccalaureate Organization. 2005
  12. ^ "Students as Allies in Improving Their High Schools" Whatkidscando.org October 2004
  13. ^ "Special option to replace affirmative action," University of Houston
  14. ^ "Student faces suspension over alleged racist remarks, Houston Chronicle, January 18, 2003
  15. ^ "Top student is spared suspension," Houston Chronicle, January 22, 2003
  16. ^ a b "FOCUS: CLASS RANK, Houston Chronicle, December 4, 2002
  17. ^ "School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on September 24, 2008.
  18. ^ Markley, Melanie. "32 schools hit enrollment cap." Houston Chronicle. Thursday September 26, 1991. A17. Retrieved on April 24, 2009.
  19. ^ Bellaire High School stabbing suspect gets plea deal, KHOU-TV.com - March 16, 2006
  20. ^ Spivak, Todd. "The Also-Rans." Houston Press. March 2, 2006. Retrieved on April 20, 2009.
  21. ^ Radcliffe, Jennifer. "Critics: In HISD, too many don't go where zoned / Black leaders argue bond has no fix to get kids back to schools in their neighborhoods." Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 14, 2007. B1 MetFront.
  22. ^ a b "Bellaire High School" Profile. Houston Independent School District.
  23. ^ "Transfer policy hinders schools," Houston Chronicle, September 4, 2005
  24. ^ "Clubs and Groups" Bellaire High Website. 2005
  25. ^ "Bellaire City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
  26. ^ a b "Bellaire High School Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  27. ^ Meyerland Section Map. Meyerland. Accessed September 20, 2008.
  28. ^ "Block Book Map Search." Harris County Tax Office. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  29. ^ "Southside Place City." United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
  30. ^ "Lovett Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  31. ^ "Braeburn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  32. ^ "Condit Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  33. ^ "Cunningham Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  34. ^ "Herod Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  35. ^ "Horn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  36. ^ "Kolter Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  37. ^ "Longfellow Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  38. ^ "Red Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  39. ^ "Roberts Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  40. ^ "Shearn Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  41. ^ "Mark Twain Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  42. ^ "Whidby Elementary Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  43. ^ Cullen Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  44. ^ Fondren Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  45. ^ Johnston Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  46. ^ Long Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  47. ^ Pershing Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  48. ^ Ryan Middle Attendance Zone." Houston Independent School District.
  49. ^ "Pin Oak Middle School." The Southwest District. Houston Independent School District.
  50. ^ "About Us" St. Mark's Episcopal School. Accessed 18 July 2006
  51. ^ "Class of 2004 - Presbyterian School". Presbyterian School. Accessed 18 July 2006
  52. ^ "River Oaks Baptist School ~ Where Do Our Students Go From Here?" River Oaks Baptist School. Accessed 25 August 2006
  53. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Distinguished HISD Alumni." Houston Independent School District.
  54. ^ Congressional Biographical Directory
  55. ^ "Amazon.com: Mi Sueno de America/ My American Dream: Books: Yuliana Gallegos,Georgina Baeza:," Amazon.com
  56. ^ "Niña mexicana se destaca en Houston como escritora," Houston Chronicle, December 11, 2007
  57. ^ "This teen author leads by example," Los Angeles Times
  58. ^ "Teenage Author Writes to Motivate Others," 88.7 KUHF
  59. ^ "Raising Arizona." Sports Illustrated. March 12, 2008.

[edit] See also

Houston portal


[edit] External links

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Alternative 7-12 schools
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