Cooper City High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Cooper City High School
Cowboy rider.jpg
"Home of the Cowboys"
Address
9401 Stirling Road
Cooper City, Florida, United States
Information
Established September 1971
Principal Wendy Doll
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,281  (2011–2012)
Average class size 22
Campus Suburban
Color(s)      Red
     Black
     White
Mascot Lasso Larry (formerly Pistol Pete)
Website http://www.coopercityhigh.net/

Cooper City High School is a high school located in Cooper City, Florida which teaches grades 9-12.

The school includes standard high school curriculum plus specialized classes devoted to career development including auto tech and computer programming. It has an average enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. Since the 2004–2005 school year the school principal is Ms. Wendy Doll. The school colors are red, black, and white and the mascot is a cowboy named "Lasso Larry." "Pistol Pete," the former mascot, was deemed inappropriate because he wields two handguns. The school has been awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award.[1] Cooper City has an FCAT school grade of "A" for the 2010–2011 academic year.[2] The school was also ranked #382 in the High School Challenge Index (conducted annually by Newsweek and The Washington Post) of 2011 out of approximately 30,000 schools, marking it as one of the top high schools in the entire nation.[3]

Contents

[edit] Facilities

The school, built in 1971, is aging, but is still capable of holding all of the students that occupy it every day. A new 36-classroom building opened during the 2007–2008 school year. This building was followed by a new cafeteria which opened in May during the 2009–2010 school year.

[edit] Academics

The school operates on a 4x4 block schedule. This means that students typically take four courses per semester. Each class period is approximately 90 minutes in length, allowing for students to be fully immersed into their academic lessons. Block scheduling also allows students to "double-up" in courses, particularly elective and AP courses. "Doubling-up" in a course usually means that the student takes the course for the entire year, meaning that the course takes up one slot in each semester of the student's schedule, but the method can also be used to create three-hour (double) blocks. The latter method is often used in the higher-level vocational courses, such as those taken for the early child care and auto tech programs.

Cooper City offers a wide variety of honors courses. Each honors class awards five points for an A, four points for a B, three points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter. Students often opt to take honors courses for their core classes (English, math, science, and social studies), which typically include biology, chemistry, algebra, geometry, geography, and history courses. Also, many higher-leveled elective courses give students the opportunity to earn honors credit, which encourages students to continue with specific electives throughout their high school career. There are also many stand-alone honors elective courses available, including anatomy, marine science, debate, and personal finance courses.

The school is also well known for its extensive Advanced Placement program. Having 20 available Advanced Placement courses available to the students, the school creates a positive influence for students admitting into college, usually producing valedictorians with well over 10 AP credits simply from courses taken at the school (i.e., 12 credits excluding exams taken by the student independently of Cooper City High). Each AP class awards six points for an A, five points for a B, four points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter.

Cooper City High School offers the following AP courses as of the 2011-2012 school year. Courses marked with an asterisk after their names typically require doubling-up, with students getting honors credit during the first semester and AP credit during the second semester.[4]

  • Biology*
  • Calculus (AB* & BC)
  • Chemistry*
  • English Language & Composition
  • English Literature & Composition
  • Environmental Science
  • European History
  • Human Geography
  • Microeconomics/U.S Government & Politics
(These two courses are coupled-up. Each one is taken for one quarter i.e., nine weeks.)
  • Music Theory
  • Physics B
  • Psychology
  • Spanish Language
  • Spanish Literature
  • Statistics
  • Studio Art (2-D* and Drawing*)
  • U.S. History*
  • World History*

In addition, students are eligible to dual-enroll in courses at Broward College. Dual-enrollment courses can be taken over the summer break or during the school year. Seniors are also eligible to use dual-enrollment courses to replace the third and/or fourth period slots in their class schedules, which would cause them to be listed as "study hall" periods. Dual-enrollment courses give students the opportunity to experience taking a class in a college setting before they even leave high school, which helps to prepare them for when they head off to various colleges after graduating from high school. These courses also provide a GPA boost, with each class awarding the same amount of weighted GPA credit that's given to an AP class taken on the Cooper City High School campus. However, students are typically encouraged to take AP classes instead of dual-enrollment classes if possible, since most colleges prefer AP courses as they're regulated to national standards set by the College Board - unlike the courses given at Broward College, which aren't held to any sort of specific national standard.

Cooper City currently boasts a graduation rate of 97.4%, the highest in the district. Graduates choose from a variety of post-secondary paths, including the military, community college (usually Broward College), Florida schools (including the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Miami), and out-of-state schools (including a variety of prestigious universities such as Stanford, Emerson, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and New York University, and Ivy League schools such as Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania).[5][6]

[edit] Athletics

Cooper City has earned distinctions in its Swimming, Wrestling, Water Polo, Baseball, Volleyball and Cheerleading Programs. The softball team has also won Districts, Regionals, and States in 2009. In the 2010 football season, Cooper City won districts for the first time in the school's history. Cooper City won districts for a second time in 2011, beating the former national champion, St. Thomas Aquinas, for the first time since 1972 in a 21-16 victory.[7]

In order for a student to participate in a sport or other extracurricular activity, the must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on the 4.0 scale each semester and pass at least 3 out of 4 classes each grading period. The student must also maintain a good attendance record. This includes being in attendance for at least half of any given school day in order to participate in any extracurricular activity or athletic event that takes place on the same day.[8]

The sports currently offered at the school (as of the 2011-2012 school year) include the following:[9]

  • Baseball (JV and Varsity)
  • Basketball (Boys JV and Varsity, Girls Varsity)
  • Cheerleading (JV Football and Varsity Football)
  • Color Guard
  • Cross Country
  • Flag Football (Girls)
  • Football (JV and Varsity)
  • Golf (Boys and Girls)
  • Lacrosse (Boys and Girls)
  • Soccer (Boys Varsity, Girls JV and Varsity)
  • Softball (JV and Varsity)
  • Swimming/Diving (Boys and Girls)
  • Tennis (Boys and Girls)
  • Track (Boys and Girls)
  • Volleyball (Boys and Girls)
  • Water Polo (Boys and Girls)
  • Wrestling (Boys and Girls)

[edit] List of clubs and organizations

  • Amnesty International
  • Anime/Art Club
  • Band
  • Best Buddies
  • Chess Club
  • Chorus
  • Colorguard
  • Cowboys Against Cancer
  • Cowboy Television (CTV)
  • DECA – for more info go to http://www.cchsdeca.org
  • Debate Club
  • DFYIT (Drug Free Youth In Town)
  • Dodgeball Club
  • Drama Club
  • FJAS (Florida Junior Academy of Sciences)
  • FMPA (Future Medical Professionals of America)
  • Infinite Club club.infinite.googlepages.com/
  • Kickball Club
  • Varsity Cross Country
  • Varsity Ice Hockey
  • JV Basketball
  • Varsity Basketball
  • JV Football
  • Varsity Football
  • Varsity Baseball
  • Varsity Soccer
  • Human Relations Council
  • Key Club
  • Lacrosse Club- Boys and Girls
  • NJROTC Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
  • Math Club/Tutoring
  • Multicultural club
  • NHS (National Honor Society) – Chapter website: http://www.cchsnhs.com
  • RSDA (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Awareness)
  • SGA (Student Government Association)
  • SITE (Students Improving The Environment)
  • Spanish Club
  • Spanish National Honor Society
  • Florida State Thespians
  • The Adventurers Guild
  • JSU (Jewish Student Union)
  • Junior State of America (JSA)
  • Philosophical Discourse Society
  • PAW (Promoting Animal Welfare)
  • PRES Club (Promoting Reading in the Elementary Setting)
  • VAFA (Voice Against Family Abuse)
  • Venture Club

[edit] CTV News

Cowboy Television, (typically shortened to CTV) is the school's news magazine and variety show. It was developed in 1997 by the school's very own television and mass media class. At that time, the show aired on a monthly schedule.[10] The show now airs every Friday afternoon towards the end of fourth period (at 2:10 PM). Considered to be "America's #1 High School Weekly News Program" by the Student Television Network, the CTV program has been the recipient of various awards.[11]

[edit] Sound of Pride

The school's band, percussion, and color guard programs are collectively known as the Sound of Pride. In order for a student to become a member, they must enroll in a wind ensemble, symphonic band, concert band, percussion, or color guard (eurothymics) class. All of these classes are year-round courses, which take up two slots in the student's schedule - one slot per semester. Students in these classes are also given the opportunity to participate in the school's marching band during the fall. Students are also eligible to sign up for jazz band after the marching season, and many students participate in FBA Solo and Ensemble Festival on the district and state levels.[12]

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Scandals

On May 26, 1993 two Cooper City High school girls were arrested on prostitution charges, giving the school the nickname "Hooker High".[15]

In 2002, a group of Seniors bought an advertisement in the back of the yearbooks to slander the principal at the time, Mr. Vanover . This ad was written in an obvious code, yet slipped by the Yearbook staff and went into print. The code was eventually noticed and covered in all yearbooks sold after the fact.

In 2006, the Senior Class President was charged with hacking into the grade submission site and changing grades for himself and other students.[16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf
  2. ^ FCAT School Grades – High
  3. ^ http://apps.washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge/schools/2011/cooper-city-cooper-city-fl/ High School Challenge Index - 2011
  4. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/files/filesystem/RegistrationCard_11-12-revised_for_posting.pdf 2011-2012 course selection sheet
  5. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/news.cfm?story=79034 News about the class of 2011
  6. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/files/filesystem/School_Profile_2011[1]rev.pdf Cooper City High School Profile 2011-2012
  7. ^ "Cooper City defeats Aquinas for first time since '72, wins District 15-7A". Sun-Sentinel. November 4, 2011. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-11-04/sports/sfl-cooper-city-defeats-st-thomas-aquinas-20111104_1_cowboys-coach-art-taylor-camden-krohn-cooper-city. 
  8. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/athletics.cfm?subpage=24423 Athletics
  9. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/athletics.cfm?subpage=24423 Athletics
  10. ^ http://www.cchsctv.com/episodes/ctv200.html CTV Video - Episode #200
  11. ^ CTV - Awards
  12. ^ http://coopercityhigh.net/student_life.cfm?subpage=27529 Band - 'Sound of Pride'
  13. ^ The Sci-Cave : We Are Scientists
  14. ^ http://www.myspace.com/thepostmarks The Postmarks website
  15. ^ "INQUIRY IN SEX CASE UNRESOLVED". Sun-Sentinel. August 7, 1993. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sun_sentinel/access/89381826.html?dids=89381826:89381826&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Aug+7%2C+1993&author=&pub=Sun+Sentinel&edition=&startpage=6.B&desc=INQUIRY+IN+SEX+CASE+UNRESOLVED. 
  16. ^ http://business.highbeam.com/5861/article-1G1-155810099/class-president-cooper-city-high-charged-grade-changing

[edit] External links
High schools

Coordinates: 26°02′44″N 80°16′22″W / 26.045645°N 80.2728272°W / 26.045645; -80.2728272

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cooper_City_High_School&oldid=477830494"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export