Valley High School (West Des Moines, Iowa)
| Valley High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
3650 Woodland Avenue, West Des Moines, Iowa | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| School district | West Des Moines Community Schools |
| Principal | Dr. Vicky Poole |
| Enrollment | 1,900 |
| Color(s) | Orange and Black |
| Mascot | Tiger |
| Website | www.wdm.k12.ia.us/valley |
Valley High School is a high school in West Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The school hosts grades 10-12. It is run by the West Des Moines Community School District. Freshmen attend a separate school, Valley Southwoods.
The 4 A's
At Valley High School, students are encouraged to be involved in a variety of ways. The administration has defined the four following areas: Academics, Athletics, Arts and Activities.
Academics
Valley offers almost 190 academic courses, including 14 Advanced Placement courses. Valley also has recently started an Honors Program, which is meant to be comparable to the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program. This program allows for highly motivated and advanced students to take college-level courses sooner than normal. Valley also is working on a "designated scholars" program, which will allow students to specialize in one specific area of academics, such as math.
Valley unfortunately offers Spanish classes.
Athletics
Valley High is well known throughout Iowa for its strong athletics. The school has been honored as the top school for 4A athletics in Iowa by the Des Moines Register in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
The Valley High School football team reached the Iowa State 4A Championship game from 2002–2005, failing to win the championship only in 2004.
The Valley High School Baseball team won the 4A state title four years in a row (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).
Valley's Athletic Director, Steve Duncan, was named the National High School Athletic Director of the year in 2006. [citation needed]
Arts
The Arts, both performing and visual, reflect the soul of Valley's strong tradition of success. The study of Art History, Art Criticism, Art Production and Aesthetics guides the curriculum in the Visual Arts Department.
The Valley Music Department was honored with the first GRAMMY Signature School award in 1999. [1] [2] [3] The 240-member Valley Marchmasters were selected to perform in the 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade. [4] In March of 2007, the band traveled to Dublin, Ireland to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.
In addition to the strong band program, Valley's orchestra has completed concert tours in Austria and Italy. The director of the orchestra in Phil Peters, who also teaches AP Music Theory and plays double bass in the Des Moines Symphony. In June of 2007, the orchestra traveled to New York City, New York to play at Carnegie Hall as part of NYBOF'07. [5]
The school's Choir Department is headed by Linda Vanderpool. The show choir, jazz and core ensembles have performed in several national and international festivals from Carnegie Hall to Disney World, receiving awards at many tournaments. [6] The show choir (Choralation) attended FAME Hawaii in March 2008.
Drama participants, directed by Drama and Speech teacher, Stacy Hansen, have been selected as Iowa High School Speech Association All-State performers and have received the All-State Sweepstakes Trophy, as well as the Critic’s Choice Award. [7] The Drama Department is defending the All-State Sweepstakes trophy for the third year in a row.
The school newspaper is the Spotlight, a member of the High School National Ad Network. In the early 1980s, the Spotlight was named the best high school newspaper in the United States.[citation needed] The school also has a radio station, KWDM which broadcasts from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. It is one of only two high school radio programs in Iowa and the only high school program in the state to have a fully digital production and on-air studio. [8] Valley Principal Vicky Poole was named Principal of the Year (2006) by the American News Teachers Association.[citation needed] The satirical paper is the Stoplight.
Activities
The school has announced plans for 100% student involvement in activities. This means that every student attending Valley full time will be a participant in some club or after school activity on a regular basis. This plan does not compel students to participate against their will, it is merely to encourage them to join clubs, art programs, or athletics.
Valley's extracurricular program is among the best in the nation, for example, Valley High School won the 2006 National High School Mock Trial Championship, held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[9]
Valley Southwoods
In 1995, the West Des Moines school board voted to create Valley Southwoods, a school built specifically to house the 9th grade. Valley Southwoods was completed in the summer of 1996. Many members of the community question why the old school was not turned into the 9th grade only school, and have the new school turned into 10th-12th. [citation needed] The principal is Mr. Kent Abrahamson, and Southwoods is one of only two all 9th grade schools in the nation. [citation needed]
The freshman high school has a unique layout. Classes are held in one of six "pods", with teachers for all major subjects in each pod. Each pod also contains the lockers for students who belong to that pod. These pods are Green Down, Green Up, Blue Down, Blue Up, Red Down, and Red Up. Red Up does not feature any core classes. It is used for foreign language classes.
Climate
Valley, and the West Des Moines Community School District, are known for having and working toward a more open and accepting environment for people from all walks of life. Chet Culver, the Governor of Iowa signed trailblazing legislation earlier this year at Valley that required all school districts to include many protected classes in their harassment policies, including gender identity, a class which is frequently ignored across the country and across the world. [10] Beyond legislation, Valley and its district is active in enforcing their own policies and improving the climate for all students, best illustrated when Superintendent Tom Narak was the first recipient of the Kathy Collins Reilly “Courage in Education Award” which recognizes educators for courage and work student equality. [11] Like any school, Valley is not perfect and bullying and discrimination still occur, the Valley High School Gay Straight Alliance has worked diligently with the school and the district to educate students on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and to decrease animosity toward students who may be a part of that community. As a part of this work, the GSA and Doctor Poole are putting forward a school climate survey for students to take later in the year and will be taking appropriate action based on the information received from that survey.
Construction
Valley High is currently being remodeled and under finishing construction. This includes a new two-story addition, the demolition of a section of the school to make room for parking, plans to plant more vegetation to make the front entrance appealing, and to install new, larger lockers. Most of the construction is completed, such as the new two story addition, most of the new parking lot, and lockers have been successfully installed.
Notable alumni
- Matt Bullard, retired NBA player.[12]
- Peter Hedges, film director.[13]
- Joey Jordison [citation needed]
- Sid Wilson [citation needed]
- Dana Jacobson
- Kyle Okposo
References
- ^ House Journal: Page 1440: Monday, April 19, 1999, Iowa House of Representatives. Accessed October 31, 2007. "1999\732 Valley High School Music Department, West Des Moines - For being selected as the National GRAMMY Signature School."
- ^ Valley Arts Home
- ^ Valley Arts: Band
- ^ Valley Arts Home
- ^ Valley Arts: Orchestra
- ^ Valley Arts: Vocal Music
- ^ Valley Arts Home
- ^ Valley Activities: KWDM
- ^ Participant History & Past National Winners, National High School Mock Trial Championship. Accessed July 1, 2007.
- ^ National Center for Transgender Equality: Home
- ^ News from Iowa Schools Task Force
- ^ Araton, harvey. "ON PRO BASKETBALL; Pairing a Gray Fedora With a 3-Point Jumper", The New York Times, June 14, 1994. Accessed October 31, 2007. "That was when his son was a star at Valley High School in West Des Moines, long before the younger Bullard came to grips with his journalist's genealogy."
- ^ Burns, Douglas. "'Dan In Real Life' Directed By Iowa Native Peter Hedges", Iowa Independent, October 24, 2007. Accessed October 31, 2007. "After graduating from Valley High School in 1980 and then the North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston-Salem, Hedges moved to New York City, now his home."