Chaparral High School (Arizona)

Chaparral High School
Address
6935 E. Gold Dust Avenue Scottsdale, Arizona, 85253 United States
Coordinates	33°34′37″N 111°55′56″W
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"A Tradition of Excellence"
Established	1972
School district	Scottsdale Unified School District
Principal	Gayle Holland
Grades	9th–12th
Enrollment	2,127 students  (October 1, 2010)
Color(s)	Gold and Red
Mascot	Firebirds
Website	Chaparral H.S.

Chaparral High School is a public high school located in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. The mascot is the firebird, and the school colors are scarlet red and gold.

The high school was built in 1972 by Kitaeff Construction and School Design.

Construction and remodeling

Founded in 1972, the school needed renovation. The rebuilding of the school started early August 2006, and the entire reconstruction of the school was planned to be finished August 2008, before the 2008–09 school year. Due to the delay of demolishing the last (200) building, the school finally finished its last parking lot in late October 2008.

Student body and academics

Chaparral has one of the highest graduation rates in Arizona. Chaparral High School has consistently ranked in Newsweek's list of Best High Schools in America, and in 2007 Chaparral was one of only 12 schools ranked in Arizona. The high school also usually garners more National Merit Semifinalists annually than any other school in the state, and holds the state record for having the most scholars in one year (24 in 2000). Additionally, the school has also earned the record most in-state Presidential Scholars in Arizona, with 17 in 2003.

Chaparral is the only school in Arizona to have students win the highest honors at the Siemens Westinghouse Competition and Intel Science Talent Search, two of the most prestigious science competitions in the U.S.

Teams

Chaparral competes in 19 interscholastic sports.

Chaparral has had a new, state-of-the-art artificial turf football field installed and constructed a modern field house, which includes a weight room, trainer's office and coaches headquarters and was financed by program supporters. The field is one of the first high school fields of its kind in the greater Phoenix area and is used also by the soccer program and the Chaparral Lacrosse Club.

Baseball

The school has historically been best known for its baseball program, annually ranked in USA Today's Super 25 High School Baseball Team list. Jerry Dawson was the one of three baseball coaches in school history (retired after 2010 season) and had more than 700 victories to go along with 8 state championships. Sam Messina won a state championship this past year, 2011. The school now has 9. Chaparral also has made the final four of the state tournament on 14 occasions in addition to winning 24 regional championships.

Football

In football, Chaparral has won six state championships, including back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000 with teams that went 28–0. The Firebirds won the state championship in 2002 with a 21–14 victory over Greenway. Under the tenure of head coach Charlie Ragle, Chaparral appeared in four straight state titles and won three of them. In 2008, Chaparral lost in the 4A Division I state final to Saguaro High School 38-0. In 2009, the football program moved up a division to 5A-II where it would dominate the next two seasons, winning back-to-back state championships over Marcos de Niza High School in 2009 and Peoria's Centennial High School in 2010 The 2010 team, which went undefeated, put on a dominating performance throughout the season with a stingy defense and an offense that set a state record for points in a season with 727. In 2011, ESPN ranked Chaparral tenth in the nation for preseason high school football teams. It played in the Barry Sollenberger Kickoff Classic — which features top Arizona teams against top Nevada teams — in the same year, losing to Las Vegas's Bishop Gorman High School 42-22, but the team won a third state title — this time in the new Division II, over Cienega High School from Vail — in 2011.

After the 2011 season, Ragle announced he was leaving to join Rich Rodriguez as an assistant at the University of Arizona. He had a 63-7 record while at the school. Offensive coordinator Dave Huffine was promoted as his replacement.

Badminton

Chaparral's Varsity badminton team is one of the most successful in the state of Arizona. Coach Carrie Davis has coached the team for over 30 years, leading the Firebirds to six state championship titles (1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010). In addition, under Coach Davis, the team placed second in the state three times and has won 18 Regional Championship titles since 1976.

With their State Championship title win in 2004, Chaparral became the first 4A high school badminton team in Arizona to win a repeat state championship title. In 2005, the Firebirds beat their own record by winning a third straight state title, becoming the only 4A high school badminton team in Arizona to do so.

In fall 2010 the Firebirds badminton team won the state title against their rival, Xavier.

Lacrosse

Chaparral's club lacrosse team won more state championships 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011 than any other school in Arizona. The 2011 Championship was won under the direction of Coach PJ Rovinelli and his staff. Like 2009, it was a game played against the defending champions, the Brophy Broncos, and the Firebirds won by the score of 10–9.

Wrestling

Chaparral has an ever growing wrestling program led by coach Terrence Tillet. The wrestling team started with 7 students its first year, but now has over 70. In 2011 there was only one state champion, Carlo Roman. He won freshman state in the 145 division. He is now varsity 138 and is looking to win varsity state.

Robotics

Chaparral is home of the Firebird Robotics Team. Firebird robotics is part of the FIRST organization and their official team number is 3019. More information can be found at their website (link under external links)

Arts

Chaparral has three concert choirs, a Mixed Jazz group (a co-ed group which performs jazz standards) and a Nothing But Treble group (an all-girls group).

Chaparral also has two orchestras (Symphonic and Concert), two concert bands, a marching band, jazz band, as well as various ensemble groups. In the 2009 season, the Chaparral Marching Band placed second in Division III at the ABODA State Marching Band Championships.

Chaparral is home to Thespian Troupe #203, which performs two main-stage productions, a musical, and Student Productions each year.

Chaparral is also home to the student run comedy improv troupe, Home IMPROVment, which has run for 6 seasons as of 2012 and hosts multiple shows each per year.

Notable alumni

Professional Athletes

Ike Davis

• Brian Bannister, baseball player for the Kansas City Royals
• Darrell Bevell, American football coach for the Seattle Seahawks and former quarterback
• Ike Davis, baseball player for the New York Mets
• Paul Konerko, baseball player for the Chicago White Sox
• Taylor Lewan, football player for the Michigan Wolverines
• Darren Mougey, football player for the Arizona Cardinals
• Lyle Sendlein, football player for the Arizona Cardinals
• Kyle Williams, football player for the San Francisco 49ers

Entertainment & Media

• The Bella Twins, professional wrestlers and models
• Jason Bellini, journalist, lead news anchor for CBS News on Logo, former CNN correspondent
• Alexandra Bracken, author
• Stephenie Meyer, author of the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga book series
• Busy Philipps, actress
• Kenneth Robert Wilson a.k.a. Ginger Fish, drummer (Marilyn Manson)
• Alex Karim, Full Time Legend

External links

• Chaparral High School Online
• Firebird Robotics