Sterling High School (Houston)

Sterling High School

Ross Shaw Sterling High School is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas.

Sterling, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District.

The school was named after Ross S. Sterling. Sterling has Houston ISD's magnet program for Aviation Sciences.

History

Ross S. Sterling High School opened as a junior/senior high school (grades 7–12) in the fall of 1965.^{[citation needed]}

This unique, three-building campus featured designed-in air-conditioning which was a new, yet essential, feature for HISD facilities. The Sterling campus had a mirror twin sister campus, James Madison Jr./Senior High School, that opened at the same time as Sterling.^{[citation needed]}

The first principal of Sterling was A.P. (Pete) Dowling, an experienced educator and administrator with HISD.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1967 school year, local radio station KILT staged an enormous promotion contest between area high schools. The contest was simple: Each school had to submit as many individual paper entries as possible with the name of the high school on each sheet. The winning school would be the one that submitted the most pounds of paper. The contest created a lot of non-value added time in many classrooms as reams of copy paper and thousands of boxes of computer punch cards were submitted. Ross Sterling was the winner. The primary prize for winning was a school dance sponsored by KILT featuring a regional band named Southwest F.O.B.^{[citation needed]}

Sterling became a senior high school (grades 10–12) exclusively with the 1968–1969 school year. The Blue Raider football team made its first playoff appearance during the 1970 season when it emerged as district champion. The Raiders then defeated Robert E. Lee in bid-district play but were then victims to the Sam Houston High juggernaut in the area round of the playoffs.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1984-1985 school year, the percentages of Fs at 23 of 26 HISD high school campuses decreased in the spring semester because of the state-implemented No Pass No Play rule, which requires students in high school athletic programs to attain passing grades. At Sterling and Barbara Jordan High School for Careers, the percentages of Fs remained the same.

In 2007, a study by the Associated Press and Johns Hopkins University referred to Sterling as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year. During that year 51% of children zoned to Sterling chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.

Neighborhoods served by Sterling

Houston neighborhoods served by Sterling include Autumn Glen [1], Crestmont, South Park, Crestmont Park, Garden Villas, Wayside, Sterling Lakes [2], King Estates, Edgewood, El Tesoro [3], Panay Park [4], Houston Skyscraper Shadows, Gulf Meadows, Airport Gardens, a portion of South Acres, a portion of South Acres Estates, a portion of Minnetex Place, Mykawa, and a portion of Santa Rosa.

School uniforms

Sterling requires school uniforms .

The Texas Education Agency specified that the parents and/or guardians of students zoned to a school with uniforms may apply for a waiver to opt out of the uniform policy so their children do not have to wear the uniform ; parents must specify "bona fide" reasons, such as religious reasons or philosophical objections.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Sterling include:

• Codwell
• Frost
• Mitchell

(partial)

• Alcott
• Cornelius
• Gregg
• Law
• Mading
• Seguín
• Woodson Elementary

While a portion of Lewis Elementary School's attendance zone corresponds with Sterling's, all of the area is occupied by Hobby Airport.

Middle schools that feed into Sterling include:

• Albert Thomas Middle School (partial)
• Woodson K-8 School's middle school program (partial)
• Hartman Middle School (partial)

Notable alumni

• Yolanda Adams - gospel singer
• Clyde Drexler - Retired Hall-of-Fame NBA basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets (1995 NBA Champion with Rockets).
• Robert Earl Davis (DJ Screw) - rapper, dropped out during the 10th Grade
• Zina Garrison - retired tennis player
• Eric Kaiser (K-Rino) - rapper
• Troy Birklett (Lil Troy) - rapper

See also

• Senior high school

External links

• Sterling High School