Friendly High School

Friendly High School
Location
10000 Allentown Road Friendly, Maryland, United States
Coordinates	38°45′8″N 76°58′7″W
Information
School type	Public High School
Founded	1970
School district	Prince Georges County Public Schools
Principal	Mr Raynah Adams
Staff	approximately 60
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,900  (2008–2009)
Language	English
Color(s)	Blue and Red
Mascot	Patriots
Feeder schools	Isaac J Gourdine Middle School Eugene Burroughs Middle School
Rival schools	Gwynn Park High School
Website	http://www.pgcps.org/~friendly Friendly High School

Friendly High School is a public high school in unincorporated Friendly, Maryland in Prince George's County, a county in the state of Maryland in the United States of America. The school's mission is "To build an educated community of lifelong learners and productive citizens who are able to compete in a global economy." The school's first classes began in 1970 with 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. The first seniors graduated in 1972.

History

In 2010, Friendly High School was mentioned at length in the biography and career retrospective book of Friendly High School alumni, Eisner and Inkpot Award-winning artist Dave Dorman's book, Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman (IDW Publishing / Desperado Publishing). Dorman played defensive end on the football team that won the state championship in the 1970s and attributes his drive and ability to focus and set goals on his high school athletic career. Media:http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Thunder-Art-Dave-Dorman/dp/1600106730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322411599&sr=8-1

In 2004 Sheryl Cashin said in The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream that Friendly High was one of several mostly black, mostly middle class PG County public high schools that was "decidedly underachieving: fewer than half of the seniors at these schools went on to attend four-year colleges in recent years."

School uniforms

Friendly has a mandatory school uniform policy that began with the 2006–2007 school year. Due to excessive violence throughout local neighborhoods, uniforms were a way of neutralizing conflicts.^{[citation needed]}

School championships

The school has won State Championships in the sports of Basketball in 1998, 2003 and 2004, Football and, in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and in 2006 Indoor and Outdoor track. During the 2006 football season, the Patriots were undefeated, and ended their perfect season by winning the 3A state championship by beating River Hill High School on December 9, 2006 led by star quarterback Joe Haden. They also did the same in 1999 beating Eastern Technical High School.

Friendly High School has produced professional basketball players Dickey Simpkins (Providence), Sam Young (Pitt), Jamal Shivers (Bowie State) and more. Friendly High School has recently won two Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association championships (1999 & 2006) under the leadership of coach George Early.

In 2008 the baseball team had a resurgence, winning the County 3A/2A/1A title. That year they lost the County Championship game to a very talented Eleanor Roosevelt high school team.

In 2011, the boys basketball team made it back to the County 3A/2A/1A title after losing it two years ago to Laurel High School. They defeated Henry Wise claiming the County 3A/2A/1A title.

Friendly High School is in a suburban area near Washington D.C. approximately 20 miles down Maryland Route 210.

Notable alumni

• Martin Lawrence
• Rodrick Bryant
• Paul Dell'Isola
• Joe Haden
• Leon Joe
• Donald Malloy
• Roslyn Brock McCallister
• Dickey Simpkins
• Robert Green
• Dave Dorman
• James Simmons

References

James Simmons

External links

• Friendly High School