West Anchorage High School

For schools of a similar name, see West High School (disambiguation).

West Anchorage High School
Location
1700 Hillcrest Drive Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Coordinates	61.2012°N 149.9154°W / 61.2012; -149.9154
Information
Type	Public secondary
Established	1953
School district	Anchorage School District
Principal	Rick Stone
Teaching staff	105
Enrollment	1,836
Campus	Open
Color(s)	Orange & Black
Mascot	Eagles
Newspaper	Screaming Eagle, Potty Press
Yearbook	The Anchor
A picture of West Anchorage High School and its auditorium

West Anchorage High School is a public high school in Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska and part of the Anchorage School District. Serving the western parts of downtown and midtown Anchorage, it had an enrollment of 1,836 as of October 1, 2010, making it the second-largest school in Alaska after its cross-town neighbor East High School.

History

The school was established as Anchorage High School in 1953, during a boom period in Anchorage. Anchorage had gone from having one school, to having to hold classes in World War II-surplus Quonset huts, in less than a decade due to the buildup of Anchorage in conjunction with WWII. The Anchorage Independent School District, which consolidated the City of Anchorage with adjacent areas for the purpose of providing education services, was formed in response. A period of heightened school construction would follow throughout the 1950s.

The year after the school opened, Anchorage Community College began holding classes in the building as well, which continued until they moved to their current Goose Lake campus in the early 1970s.

West High is attended by approximately 2,000 students in grades 9-12 instructed by roughly 125 faculty. Its mascot is the eagle and the school's colors are orange and black. Class colors are yellow (freshmen) and alternate to blue, red, green for three consecutive years after students reach their sophomore year.

Building

West High School is adjacent to Romig Middle School. The schools share a library and track. When Romig was built, the library currently serving West was designed to be utilized by both schools. The original library of West High has been known in later years as "The Cove" and has primarily served as classroom space since the library was moved.

The Good Friday Earthquake of March 27, 1964 destroyed most of the school's second floor, as well as damaging the first floor. Currently, the band/orchestra and choir rooms are all that is left of the destroyed floor.

A network of tunnels was constructed underneath the school, as it was built during war-time. The school's science wing was added in 1996 with an indoor planetarium and eight science classrooms with attached labs. A major renovation to the school in 2000 added new hallway, classrooms, a pool and additional lockers.

Auditorium and Gymnasium

West is also home to an 2,000 seat auditorium, the largest of any high school in Alaska. From the time of its construction in 1954, until 1984, it was the largest meeting space in the city.

It has hosted many events and concerts including Steppenwolf, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, A Prairie Home Companion, Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Öyster Cult, Bee Gees, Ted Nugent, Nazareth, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, and Itzhak Perlman. The Grateful Dead held their only Alaska shows in the auditorium over the summer solstice, June 19–21, 1980. In 2008, renovations were completed that refurbished the entirety of the auditorium.

The gym seats as many as 4,500 people for some events. Professional wrestling matches held at the West High Gym, usually headlined by Sandor Szabo, were a staple of the Fur Rendezvous Festival during the 1950s. Jerry Prevo, pastor of Anchorage Baptist Temple, became a public figure as a result of a rally held there in 1978. Prevo, largely unknown at the time outside of his East Anchorage congregation and related military constituencies, packed the gym for a rally which was headlined by a speech by Paul Harvey.

Until the construction of the Sullivan Arena and the Egan Center, under what Anchorage titled "Project 80s," the West High auditorium and gymnasium were the primary venues in Anchorage for many concerts and other similar events. The only other venues in Anchorage which could accommodate sizable crowds were the Anchorage Sports Arena, a large Quonset hut-type structure on Fireweed Lane which has been a retail property since 1980, and the Buckner Field House on Fort Richardson.

Eagle emblem

The original 1953 floor tile bearing the school's seal (eagle logo and name) is kept well-preserved, and encircled by a chain barrier. The eagle on the front of the auditorium was presented to the school by the class of 1971. Bill Evans was the artist. Sheryl Heikes was also heavily involved. Both class of 1971.

Future Renovations

In 2008, the Alaska State Legislature appropriated $900,000 to create a master plan for redeveloping West Anchorage High School and Romig Middle School as 21st Century schools in a center of community.

Both West and Romig’s Parent Teacher Student Associations and the eight Anchorage Community councils feeding the schools have supported redeveloping the campus consistent with the Pre-Planning Vision Report complete in the spring of 2008.

The planning process moves forward in November 2008 with a community wide effort to define the 21st century educational programs for West and Romig as well as design the campus as a center of community. Meetings will be scheduled over the next year, seeking input from the schools, teachers, parents, students, the Municipality, businesses, non-profit agencies, and community as a whole. The planning process will be completed in December 2009 with sufficient detail to design, finance, and redevelop both schools to meet the educational needs of the 21st century and become a center of community.

Academics

International Baccalaureate

West High has been an International Baccalaureate World School since February 2004, and is currently the only high school in the Anchorage School District with an International Baccalaureate program. 13 students graduated from the program in May 2008.

School Through the Arts

West is also home to the School Through the Arts Program, which integrates the study of arts into high school courses. Freshmen take STTA history and English classes, as well as an STTA art studio course. Sophomores take the STTA history and English courses, and other non-STTA arts classes. Juniors and Seniors continue taking arts classes but take their history and English classes in the normal school program.

Graduation requirements

As with all schools in the Anchorage School District, students must complete 22.5 credits (1 semester = .5 credits), as well as pass the state mandated High School Graduation Qualifying Exam.

• Language Arts: 4 credits (including one semester of composition)
• Social Studies: 4 credits (including one semester of each Alaska Studies, Economics, U.S. Government, and Area Studies)
• Mathematics: 2.5 credits (all credits are Algebra I material or over)
• Sciences: 3 credits (including one year of each life and physical science)
• Physical Education: 1.5 credits (must pass Lifetime Personal Fitness test or class. Quarter credit PE waivers are offered for participation in school sponsored sports)
• Electives: 7.5 credits

Extracurricular activities

Green Team

West High Green Team is an environmental conservation organization, run by students at West High. The team received a grant from Green Star for the 2005-2006 school year for establishing a recycling program at the school.

Key Club

In 2011, West student Collyn Mosquito founded a Key Club organization at the West High School.

Newspaper

The school newspaper, the "Screaming Eagle", is part of the High School National Ad Network.

Yearbook

The school's yearbook, The Anchor, has been published since at least 1963.

Drama, debate, and forensics

West's competitive Drama, Debate, and Forensics team competes in the Alaska School Activities Association's state championship 4A division.

Theatre

West's theatre program was accepted as a representative of the American High School Theatre Festival at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2007, where they performed Moby Dick, The Musical. West was the first high school from the state of Alaska nominated to attend the festival.

The theatre department's 2006-'07 season included: Eagle's Dare, a night of improvisational comedy, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a night of student-directed one-acts, Annie, Much Ado About Nothing, and Moby Dick: The Musical.

Olympiada of Spoken Russian

Russian language students at West High traditionally compete in the National Competition of Spoken Russian. Students participate from first year through fourth year as students of Russian language. Native Speakers of Russian also compete in their own division.

Sports

West High School participates in all 18 sports sanctioned by the Alaska Schools Activities Association as well as bowling, which is sponsored by Anchorage Scholastic Bowling League. Students from Steller Secondary School often compete with students from West because Steller does not offer interscholastic sports.

Notable alumni

• Ty Conklin, professional ice hockey goaltender currently with the Detroit Red Wings
• Eric Croft, class of 1982, attorney and Democratic politician
• David Cuddy, class of 1970, retired banker, businessman and Republican politician
• Mike Doogan, class of 1966, writer, former columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, currently a member of the Alaska House of Representatives
• Ramon Harris, former NCAA College basketball player for the Kentucky Wildcats
• William Oefelein, former NASA astronaut; flew as pilot of the STS-116 space shuttle mission
• Paul O'Neill, class of 1954, 72nd United States Secretary of the Treasury
• Don Simpson (1943–1996), Hollywood film producer
• Bill Stolt (1900–2001), class of 1920, mayor of Anchorage 1941-1944, Anchorage businessman for many decades

See also

• List of high schools in Alaska

External links

• Official site
• West High School's theatre homepage
• West High School's alumni association