Flower Mound High School

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Flower Mound High School
File:Jaghead.gif
Address
Map
3411 Peters Colony

Flower Mound
,
TX

United States
Information
TypePublic High School
MottoA World Class School Educating Tomorrow's Leaders
Established1999
School districtLewisville ISD
PrincipalPaul Moon
Faculty141
Grades9 – 12
Enrollment2980
Color(s)Blue, Silver, and White
Athletics conference5A
MascotJaguar
PublicationThe Wire
Websitehttp://fmhs.lisd.net

Flower Mound High School (FMHS) is part of Lewisville Independent School District and located in Flower Mound, Texas. The school is located on 52 acres of land that were purchased in 1993.[1] FMHS was the second high school built in Flower Mound, after Edward S. Marcus High School. With the expansion of Flower Mound in the 1980s and 1990s (from 1980 to 2000, the town grew from 4,402 to 50,702 residents), a second high school was built to accomodate the growth.[2][3] Flower Mound High School was the first high school to be built in Lewisville ISD since Marcus opened in 1981.

History

On March 6, 1995, Lewisville ISD broke ground on the first of two $32 million dollar high schools.[4] Intended to relieve pressure off of Marcus and Lewisville High Schools, plans were set for a 280,000 square foot campus, including two gymnasiums, a cafetorium, an auditorium, a band hall, a football field, tennis courts, and three parking lots.[5] To accomodate additional students, an unplanned wing containing 45 additional classrooms was completed in time for the 2000-2001 school year.[1]. Two of the original planned parking lots, as well as another unplanned addition, a second cafeteria, were not completed until after the school opened.[4][5]

108 staff members, led by principal Norman Reuther, taught the first student body of 986 freshman and sophomores.[1] The school was recognized as exemplary in the charter year[6]. In the school's second year, varsity sports were introduced and the student body grew to include grades nine through twelve.[1] In August 2001, Reuther welcomed the school's first senior class; the student body grew to over 2,400 students.

Flower Mound high school has grown in student enrollment every year since its founding in 1999.

Principal Norman Reuther left FMHS at the end of the 2003 school year; assistant principal Jack Clark subsequently took over the position of principal. Under his leadership the school's enrollment continued to grow (see graph, right). In Spring 2007, Clark and his wife and head counselor, Donna, announced their retirement. Paul Moon, an assistant principal at the school, was selected to head the school.[1] In January 2008, Moon announced that FMHS would undergo an expansion, adding a third gymnasium and a second band room, to be completed in May 2009.[7] In Spring 2008, LISD began random drug testing of all high school students in extracurricular and co-curricular groups; 75 weekly random students from FMHS were tested that Spring, and 48 students per week will be tested for the 2008-09 school year.[8]

In 2000, Kansas State University threatened legal action against FMHS for an alleged copyright violation on the Jaguar logo. Rather than pay a liscensing fee to KSU, as some schools in Texas were currently doing, principal Reuther ordered a re-design of the logo, as seen above, to avoid the 8% merchandise commission.[9]

2007 FMHS graduates earned over ten million dollars in scholarships, exceeding $14,000 per person. The 2008 graduating class accumulated approximately $15,500,000 in scholarship money, exceeding an average of $22,000 per graduate.[citation needed]

Athletics

Flower Mound High School is a 5A school, competing as part of the UIL in District 6-5A, the classification for schools with the largest enrollment. Its main rival is Marcus High School, the school FMHS plays against annually in the Mound Showdown. The main sports the Jaguars compete in include football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, hockey, softball, tennis, swimming, track, volleyball, and wrestling. In the 2006-2007 school year, every athletic team at the school advanced to playoffs, with several winning the District title.

The 2008 Jags baseball team advanced to the Class 5A Regional Finals in 2008, losing .[10] In 2008 boys' basketball, the Jaguars advanced to the Regional Quarterfinals, the furthest they had ever advanced, before losing to Colleyville Heritage.[11] 2007 was the first year for the Jaguar Football program to reach playoffs; in 2008, the Jags again advanced to playoffs, but lost in the first round to defending Class 5A State Champions Carroll Senior High School.[12] The 2008 Lady Jags softball team advanced to the Regional Semifinals, where they lost to Weatherford High School.[13] In 2008, the school's swimming team placed second at the UIL Class 5A State Swimming and Diving Championships held in Austin, the highest finish ever for any LISD school.[13]

Fine Arts

FMHS Theatre Department provides the community with play productions. FMHS Theatre has been recognized on the state level winning 3rd place in the UIL One Act Play contest in 2005 for their production of "Into the Woods". In April 2008, the Dramatic Paws UIL One-Act Play, The Rimers of Eldritch, was selected to compete at the State level, becoming one of the top 8 plays in the state of Texas in Conference 5A. At the state level FMHS won Best Technician and Honorable Mention All Star Cast. The theatre department has also advanced to state in the UIL design competition in 2007, while the Dramatic Paws, the varsity theater group, advanced their one-act play Dark of the Moon to the region competition, making it one of the top 24 shows in the state. The Performing Arts Departments were also awarded an Honorable Mention award in the Showstopper Best High School Musical contest by USA WEEKEND magazine for their production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie". They were the only entry recognized for the state of Texas.

The FMHS Choral program consists of four large ensembles (Varsity & JV Mixed, Varsity & JV Treble) and two smaller Jazz ensembles (Shades of Blue and Azure). The Jaguar Chorale performed at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio on February 28, 2007, one of only three 5A choirs in the state so honored, in addition to performing Mozart's Requiem with Colleyville Heritage and Hebron earlier in the 2006-2007 school year. In 2008, the Jaguar Choral will perform at the Southwestern division of the American Choral Directors Association Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Jaguar Choral has received Superior ratings at UIL Contest, as well as the other three choirs, and Shades of Blue and Azure have received Superior ratings at Solo and Ensemble.

The FMHS Orchestra consists of two groups of musical ensembles. The Symphonic Orchestra is the lower of the two groups and consists primarily of freshman and sophomores with few juniors and seniors. The Chamber Orchestra is comprised primarily of seniors. Both ensembles are award-winning and have been received Superior ratings at UIL Contest. The Superior ratings continue at many festivals and competitions around the Dallas Metroplex and across the country. Numerous musicians in the orchestra have made the LISD All-District and TMEA Region 24 All-Region orchestras, and some have joined the TMEA All-State orchestra. The FMHS Orchestra takes regular trips to perform in competitions. The Chamber Orchestra has been invited to the Midwest Clinic, an International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, after their recording was chosen by the judges.

In March 2006, Flower Mound High School received its second consecutive GRAMMY Signature Schools Gold Award, which recognizes the top six secondary schools in the nation in the field of music education.[14][15] The 2005 and 2006 Gold Awards came with a $7,000 and $5,000 scholarship, respectively, to further the musical instruction of FMHS's students. Per GRAMMY Foundation rules, after winning the Gold Award for two consecutive years, the school will not again be eligible to win any GRAMMY award until 2008.[16]

Art

The school's Art department and its students entered the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, a statewide competition, receiving 62 ‘Superior’ ratings at Regionals, 14 Gold Medals at State, and 7 Gold Seals, which allows those seven pieces to tour Texas on an Art Exhibition.

The Jaguar Band

The FMHS Band in 2005
The Jaguar Band performs at UIL District 2007-2008

The FMHS Marching Band and Drumline compete in competitions and are highly ranked in the state. The FMHS Drumline won 1st place at the 2006 PASIC Marching Percussion Festival along with several other awards including Best Snare Line, Best Cymbal Line, and Best Front Ensemble. In 2007 the drumline won first with Best Drumline, Best Tenor Line, Best Snare Line, and Best Pit, and best overall. The 2007-2008 contest show is entitled "Music of Queen" and features Queen's hit songs Bicycle Race and Bohemian Rhapsody. The band is currently under the corporate sponsorship of Dick's Sporting Goods.

Academics

FMHS uses block scheduling to separate the school day into four periods; one-half state credit per period is earned for every nine weeks of instruction. Grading for courses is based upon a discrete 100 point scale; students pass a course if they receive a 70 or higher. While credit by examination is available for students who have failed courses, resulting scores are not used in grade point average calculations. LISD uses a weighted scale for GPA calculation, giving greater weight to Advanced Placement (AP) and pre-AP courses; the resulting grade points are then averaged to produce a student's GPA on a 120-point scale to determine class rank.[17]

In the past four available years, Flower Mound High School has received Gold Performance Acknowledgments from the TEA for its Attendance (2002-06), AP/IB results (2002-06), College Admissions (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006), and the Recommended High School Program (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006).Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[18]

Advanced classes

Currently, the only advanced academic classes offered by Flower Mound High School are Advanced Placement and pre-Advanced Placement courses, though various auxiliary courses are offered to give students further research into disciplines of their choice as "elective" courses.

2,779 students attended FMHS in the 2006-2007 school year, with core subject classes averaging a student to teacher ratio of 25:1. Over half the students of FMHS are in Pre-AP or AP classes; 72% of 2007 graduates went on to a 4-year college, and 19% entered a 2-year college. The school has received a "Recognized" rating from the TEA.[17]

In 2007, 36.4% of FMHS students took at least one AP or dual-enrollment course in the 2005-2006 school year; 32.2% of the school population took at least one AP or IB testCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The school currently recognizes 77 AP Scholars, 41 AP Scholars with Honor, 39 AP Scholars with Distinction, and 6 National Scholars.[17]

The FMHS 11th grade team placed 1st in the nation in WordMasters, an annual critical reading and analysis competition; six FMHS students received accolades for their perfect scores.

Standardized testing

Flower Mound has consistently performed well on the College Board's PSAT/NMSQT testing. The high school's 2007 graduating class contained 13 National Merit Semifinalists, 12 of whom attained Finalist status; the 2008 class featured 19 Semifinalists, 17 of whom advanced to Finalist status. 2008 also featured 35 Commended Scholars and 9 Hispanic Scholars.

Based upon 2006-07 SAT scores, the average Flower Mound student scores a 1644 on the SAT with writing, compared to a National average of 1511. On the ACT, the average Flower Mound composite score is 22.7, compared to the National average of 21.2.

School song

Flower Mound We Vow To Honor You In Everything We Do.
As Our High School Memories Pass On By We'll Love And Cherish You.

Jaguar Spirit Ever Present, Like No Other We Will Stand.
With Great Pride We Will Strive To Be Finest In The Land.

We Will Fight United By Our Silver, White And Navy Blue.
Flower Mound We Pledge To Always Be Forever Tried and True.

Co-curricular and extracurricular activities

The school's co-curricular and extracurricular offerings include, but are not limited to:

Academic Decathlon AFJROTC Ambassadors Art Club
Band Baseball Basketball Bowling Club
BPA Cheerleading Choir Circle of Friends
Color guard Computer Science Club Cross Country Debate
DECA Drill Team (Rosettes) Drumline English Honor Society
FBLA FCA FCCLA Football
French Club German Club Golf Habitat for Humanity
Hockey Interact International Thespian Society Irish Club
JCL (Latin Chapter) Math Club Mu Alpha Theta National Honor Society
National Technical Honor Society Newspaper Orchestra Photography Club
Psychology Club Robotics Club Rosettes Russian Club
Soccer Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica Spanish Club Spirit Club (Jag Crew)
Student Council Swimming Tennis Theatre ("Paws" and "Prents")
Track and Field UIL (all events) Volleyball Winter Guard
Wrestling Yearbook Young Democrats Young Republicans

Academic Decathlon

2007 saw the first year that the FMHS Academic Decathlon team advanced to the state competition. Ranked 26th based upon regional scores, the team improved to 10th at the State competition held in Katy, Texas, setting a new school team record score (41,288) at the same time. That record was broken in January 2008 when the team placed third at the Region IX competition with 42,941 points and became ranked 12th statewide going into the Texas State finals, where they placed 11th with a team record of 43,291.

Debate

Fourteen students qualified for the National Forensic League's National Tournament in 2007. In addition, 35 qualified for the State Tournament, where the team ranked 11th in the State.

Math Club

The Flower Mound High School Math Club participates and excels in several state and national competitions, including the AMC and AIME tests, the Trig-Star competition, UIL Mathematics, UIL Number Sense, UIL Calculator, the Best Of Texas competition, TMSCA tests, and the UT Arlington Calculus Bowl.

The Math Club annually sponsors the AMC and AIME tests and invites motivated and mathematically-advanced students to participate. In 2006 and 2007, the school was on the AMC 12 Merit Roll and ten and three students, respectively, qualified for the AIME competition, scoring higher than no fewer than 95% of all other participants across the nation.[19]

The Trig-Star competition, a nationally-held trigonometry competition sponsored by the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors and the National Society of Professional Surveyors, is also open to the student body and by invite. In 2007, one student won the State Competition and placed 5th nationally, the highest Texas finishes in years.[20]

At the TMSCA State Championship held annually in San Antonio, the math club often places in the top 20 schools; however, it only attends when it can raise the funds to travel to the competition, as it has managed to do in 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2008.[21]

Attending to UT Arlington Calculus Bowl for the first time, a five-person team from FMHS captured first place from three-time champion The Oakridge School.[22]

Robotics Club

In 2007, the Flower Mound Robotics Team qualified for the international MATE Center/MTS ROV Committee International ROV Competition held in St. John's, Canada. The team placed third in the Ranger category, and team member Luke Cragin was declared the Engineering MVP at the tournament.[23]

UIL academics

Flower Mound holds claim to two UIL Academic State Champioship titles. The first was won in 2001-2002 by Austin Little in 5A Computer Science, and the second was won in 2006-2007 by Christine Barcellona in 5A Literary Criticism.[24]

With the new district realignment for the 2007 and 2008 school years, Flower Mound won team events at the district level for Calculator, Current Issues, Computer Science, Literary Criticism, Mathematics, Number Sense, Science, and Spelling, as well as qualifying in One Act Play for the Area competition. At the Region I-5A competition in Lubbock, the Literary Criticism team placed second and qualified for the Wild Card spot, with several members qualifying for the State competition in Austin. There, the Literary Criticism team placed second.

FMHS placed third overall at State in the Group event of Theater in 2008.

Feeder schools

Elementary schools that feed into Flower Mound include [25]:

  • Bluebonnet
  • Donald
  • Forest Vista
  • Garden Ridge
  • Liberty
  • Old Settlers
  • Vickery (West of Garden Ridge)
  • Wellington

Middle schools that feed into Flower Mound include:

See Also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "History of FMHS". Flower Mound High School. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  2. ^ 1980 Census of Population and Housing. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.
  3. ^ Census 2000. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.
  4. ^ a b Becka, Holly (1995-03-05). "Campus construction to begin New high school is Lewisville district's 1st in 15 years". The Dallas Morning News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ a b Okada, Bryon (1997-11-01). "CaFlower Mound eager to bring students home New high school expected to stop feed into Lewisville". The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ "Academic Excellence Indicator System". Texas Education Agency. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  7. ^ "Construction Department Board Report - June 2008" (PDF). Lewsiville Independent School District. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  8. ^ Laurie Fox (2008-03-20). "Lewisville schools' new drug-testing program is the most ambitious in North Texas". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  9. ^ Associated Press (2000-01-30). "Texas high school upset over K-State logo flap". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  10. ^ Justin Thomas (2008-05-31). "Flower Mound swept by Carroll in regional final". Flower Mound Leader. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  11. ^ Steve Gamel (2008-02-27). "Jaguars fall to Colleyville Heritage". The News Connection. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  12. ^ Ricky Moore (2008-06-20). "Texas Football tabs Marcus to return to playoffs". Flower Mound Leader. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  13. ^ a b Ricky Moore (2008-07-06). "SOFTBALL: Weatherford ends Flower Mound's playoff run". Flower Mound Leader. Retrieved 2008-08-06. Cite error: The named reference "jags_sb" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  14. ^ "Flower Mound High concert date changed". The Dallas Morning News. 2005-04-24. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  15. ^ "2006 GRAMMY Signature Schools Named". Grammy.com. 2006-03-09. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  16. ^ "Benchmarks for Evaluation" (PDF). Grammy in the Schools. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  17. ^ a b c "Flower Mound High School Profile" (PDF). Flower Mound High School. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  18. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000. "Census Demographic Profiles, Flower Mound High School" (PDF). CenStats Databases. Retrieved 2009-01-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[dead link]
  19. ^ AMC 12 Archives
  20. ^ NSPS Trig-Star Program - Awards
  21. ^ http://texasmath.org/_results.html
  22. ^ [1]
  23. ^ ROV Competitions!
  24. ^ UIL: Academics - Archives
  25. ^ "2008-2009 LISD Feeder School Chart" (PDF). Lewisville Independent School District. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
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