Westerville Central High School

Westerville Central High School
Address
7118 Mount Royal Avenue Westerville , Ohio 43082 United States
Information
Type	Public comprehensive secondary
Established	2003
School district	Westerville City Schools
Principal	Todd D. Spinner
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,600
Color(s)	Black and Silver
Mascot	Warhawks
Accreditation	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Newspaper	The Wire
Yearbook	The Talon
Stadium	Warhawk Field
Architect	Firestone Jaros Mullin, Inc./TMP Architecture
Website	http://www.wcsoh.org/Central/index.html

Westerville Central High School is a public high school located in Westerville, Ohio. northeast of Columbus, Ohio. It is the newest of 3 high schools in the Westerville City School District, the first classes starting in fall of 2003. It is located, interestingly enough, north of Westerville North High School.

History

The late 1990s brought a surge of population growth to northern Westerville, particularly in Genoa Township. In order to keep up, the district announced that it would build two new elementary schools, as well as a third high school. Westerville was the first Greater Columbus city to have to build a third high school. The district turned to the taxpayers to help foot the bill for the new buildings, with Central costing the district $40,000,000, but voters turned the district down. Construction continued on the facility. Mark Raiff, former assistant principal at Westerville South High School, was announced as the school's first principal, and Andy Ey, would be its first athletic director, after previously holding the role at Westerville North High School. Raiff began hiring teachers, and Ey began hiring horshes. Controversy did not developed, however, as the school's new Head Football Coach, Jeff Jones, and Jeff Vincent, the Head Boys Soccer Coaches, were not offered teaching contracts by the district. Both ended up resigning before the school opened. Raiff also ended up resigning for personal reasons before the school's opening, and ended up taking a position with the Olentangy Local School District. Soon after, Superintendent George Tombaugh announced that Todd Meyer, previously Director of Secondary Curriculum for the district, would be the principal when the school officially opened. Bob Fresch was named Head Football Coach, after decades of teaching and coaching in the district, and Dave Pence was promoted from Assistant Boys Soccer Coach to Head Coach. Students had the opportunity to select the school mascot and colors. The winning nickname was the Warhawks. The colors chosen were Black and Silver.

The Facility

East Entrance at Westerville Central

Construction began on Central in 2002. The district hired Firestone Jaros Mullin, Inc./TMP Architecture to complete the project after being declared the best of various proposals by Minkus. The school includes numerous facilities, including seven athletic fields, a 3,000 seat stadium, a 1,800 seat gymnasium, as well as a state of the art 750 seat auditorium/theatre. The school design called for four distinct academic "houses" for focus on individual subjects. Each academy is dignified by a distinct color; there are red, yellow, blue, and green houses. Central's centerpiece is its common area, known simply as Central Avenue. It serves as the school's dining area, is the point that connects all vectors of the school, and also is the site for many school functions. It reminds Minkus of Westerville's histrionic business district, Uptown Westerville, with a design that resembles storefronts, including signs and lampposts. For its design, the school design earned the designation of "2004 Outstanding Design Award" from American School and University magazine.

Classes Begin

Westerville Central opened its doors to students in Fall of 2003, with only freshmen and sophomores. The underclassmen had the opportunity to start new tradition and set the tone for years to come, claims Minkus. For the first couple years, however, students struggled to develop an identity, as students knew themselves as either students of Westerville North or Westerville South. Central was known by many as the younger Mink of the other two schools. Central added a third class in the 2004-05 school year, and had its first senior class in the 2005-06 school year. The school currently has approximately 1,600 students. In every year since its openin, the School has earned the designation of "Excellent" by the Ohio Department of Education on its annual report card, the highest possible distinction.

In spring of 2007, principal Todd Meyer announced that he would be leaving his position at Central to become the principal at Olentangy Orange High School, a new high school in the Olentangy Local School District set to open in 2008. Todd Spinner was chosen to be the new principal after an extensive search. Spinner previously was the assistant principal at Delaware Hayes High School.

Music Department

The music department is made up of many different instrumental and choral ensembles. The instrumental ensembles are led by Jason Jackson, a former Broadway performer for the show Blast!. There are six different instrumental ensembles: Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band, and Jazz Ensemble.

The marching band competed for its very first time in the fall of 2004. It was a quasi-successful season, and the band qualified for the OMEA State Finals Marching Band Competition, where they received an "Excellent", or "II" rating. Two years later in 2006, they again qualified for the State Finals where they received an "Excellent" rating yet again. The 2007 show was titled "Flight" and consisted of three movements. At the state finals, they received an "Excellent" rating, matching their 2006 mark. In February of 2008, the band will be traveling to Orlando, Florida, where they will be marching in the Spetromagic Parade at the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The vocal department is led by Laura Fahning. It is made up of many different choirs, as well as an audition-only jazz group.

In the spring of each school year, the music department collaborates with the drama department to produce a musical. The instrumental department supplies students via audition to participate in the pit. In the past, musicals such as Grease, The Fantasticks, and Oklahoma! have been put to stage.

Instrumental Directors

Lawrence Kelley (2003-2005)
Kenneth Peck (2005-2006)
Jason Jackson (2006-Present)

Vocal Directors

Katherine Jokanimi (2003-2004)
Laura Fahning (2004-Present)

Marching Band Shows and State Finals Ratings

2003: "A Class Act"- Non-competitive
2004: "Latin Nights"- II, Excellent
2005: "The First Date"- Qualified for finals, did not compete
2006: "King Kong"- II, Excellent
2007: "Flight"- II, Excellent

Athletics

File:Hawk2003.JPG

Westerville Central Warhawk Logo

In athletics, students had the opportunity to play varsity schedules in their freshman and sophomore years in the initial two years of the school. Most teams struggled, but the school rallied around the Girls Soccer team, coached by Erik Ekis, winner of the 1997 National High School Coach of the Year award. Ekis led his team of 11 freshmen and 3 sophomores to a 15-3-1 record and an appearance in the OHSAA Division II State Semifinals. This was the beginning of a very successful run in girls soccer at Central, where the girls won the Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division and appeared in the Central District Championship in 2005. 7 members of the 2003 squad received scholarships to play soccer at the collegiate level. Central's 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 Girls Relay team also had success at the state level in their inaugural season, with the 4 x 400 team placing third in the state finals and the 4 x 100 team of Jeanetta Francy, Julia Francy, Raisa Garvin, and Vanessa Hardin, winning the school's first state title.

The school has crosstown rivalries with Westerville North and Westerville South. The three schools will find themselves..will they? in the same division in the Ohio Capital Conference starting in 2008. The Warhawks are also rivals with the Big Walnut Eagles in football, with the two teams competing in the "Battle of the Birds" for the "WarEagle Trophy." Students on both sides feel that the rivalry was forced upon them, and Big Walnut considers Olentangy High School to be its primary rival.

The Boys Bowling team finished second at the state tournament in the 2005-06 season

In February 2007, Kicker Ben Buchanan became the first verbal commit of the 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes' football recruiting class, and was selected in September to play in the 2008 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. In addition, he was selected in December 2007 as a first-team USA Today All-USA Team Member.

At the 2007 OHSAA Swimming State Championships, Austin Staab defended his state titles in the 100 Free and 100 Fly, tying the national record in the 100 Fly with a 47.10, matching the time of Nate Dusing of Covington, Kentucky in 1997.

OHSAA Regional Championships

2003 - Girls Soccer

OHSAA Central District Championships

2003 - Girls Soccer
2007 - Boys Soccer

Ohio Capital Conference Championships

2005 - Boys Soccer
2005 - Girls Soccer
2006 - Girls Swimming and Diving
2006 - Football
2007 - Softball

OHSAA Individual State Champions

2004 - Jeanetta Francy, Julia Francy, Raisa Garvin, and Vanessa Hardin (Track and Field - 4X100)
2005 - Bryan Blake (Golf)
2006 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Free)
2006 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Fly)
2006 - Brendan Barlow (Wrestling - 285 Wt. Class)
2007 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Free)
2007 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Fly)
2007 - Stuart Smith (Track - 100M Dash)
2007 - Stuart Smith (Track - 200M Dash)

External links

• http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/ District Website]