Colleyville Heritage High School

Colleyville Heritage High School
File:CHHSBuildingImage.png
Address
5401 Heritage Avenue Colleyville , Texas 76034-5919 United States
Information
School type	Public high school
Motto	"The Traditions Begin"
School district	Grapevine-Colleyville ISD
Principal	Joe Harrington
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2289 (2010)
Color(s)	Red & Black
Athletics conference	UIL Class AAAAA
Mascot	Panthers/Lady Panthers
Website	Colleyville Heritage Panthers

Colleyville Heritage High School is a public secondary school in Colleyville, a city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in the U.S. state of Texas. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves students in Colleyville and surrounding area. In 2011, the school was rated "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.

CHHS is located several miles west and in sight of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The high school has been categorized as one of the top 100 high schools in the United States of America by the Newsweek magazine's Challenge Index. Colleyville Heritage High School celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006. Students come from Heritage Middle School, half of Grapevine Middle School and half of Colleyville Middle School. Although Colleyville Heritage is in Colleyville, only 45% of its student body lives in Colleyville, while the other 45% lives in Grapevine and 10% lives in Euless.

History

On March 1, 1994 the Cadence Group General Contractor began clearing the 64 acres (260,000 m²) between Heritage Avenue and State Highway 121 that would be eventually become Colleyville Heritage High School. CHHS opened its doors on August 15, 1996 with a student population of 1,369, making it the second high school in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. It is located across the street from Heritage Elementary and Middle School, which feed into the high school.

Academics

CHHS has the distinction of being recognized on a repeated basis by Newsweek magazine as one of the nation’s top 100 high schools based on students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses and success in those courses. The school offers over 17 AP courses for students beginning as early as their freshman year. In addition, CHHS offers dual enrollment courses in conjunction with Tarrant County College and work programs through Career and Technology Education classes.

Athletics

Football

Colleyville Heritage Panther Football has enjoyed several successful seasons in recent years, including a run to the Texas state quarterfinals in 2006. Heritage has a spirited rivalry with the crosstown Grapevine High School. The Panthers' first rivalry win drew a stadium crowd of 11,298 who saw Colleyville's first win against rival Grapevine 33-14 in the 2001 season. Heritage went on that year to become district champions for the first time with a 10-2 record (best in school history). CHHS best season record came in 2011 when the varsity team went 9-1 (second best after 2001 team went 9-1) with its only loss to the #1 ranked Trinity Trojans in a 3-point overtime loss.

Varsity home football games are played at Mustang-Panther Stadium, a 9,100-seat multi-purpose venue which it shares with Grapevine High School. The junior varsity and freshman football teams play their games on the CHHS campus at a smaller facility.

Steroid controversy

Colleyville Heritage became the focus of a district investigation during the 2004-2005 school year after a Panther football/baseball player and his mother confronted school administrators and GCISD about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. The student came forward only after his mother discovered a bag full of syringes and vials of liquids in his bedroom closet. The school and district officials dismissed the mother's claims, and the school's head football coach went as far calling her a "liar" in a Dallas Morning News interview. Under mounting pressure from district officials, local and national media, and law enforcement, a total of nine other CHHS athletes confessed to use of steroids and other PEDs. In February 2005, The Dallas Morning News published an in-depth report entitled "The Secret Edge", a look at the topic of steroids in high school sports. One section on the report's website was called "Colleyville Heritage's team secret".

The scandal at CHHS, as well as the well-publicized suicide of a student-athlete in Plano, Texas resulted in the implementation of random drug testing by the University Interscholastic League in 2007.

Dance

The varsity dance team at Colleyville Heritage High School, The Premier Panteras, is well- known in the dance community. They have won several national championships including first place in the large division at MA nationals in both 2009 and 2011. The team performs jazz or hip hop dances at pep rallies, and performs kick, pom, field jazz, or prop dances at all varsity football games. They are notorious for scoring well in the modern style of dance at competition.

State titles

• Girls' Soccer
  • 1999(4A)
  • 2011(5A) Finalists

Fine arts

The Panther Band, Percussion, and Colorguard

The Colleyville Heritage Panther Band has enjoyed a colorful past dating back to the creation of CHHS in 1996. Each season, the band consistently places highly at local, regional, and national marching competitions, winning the Carrollton Tournament of Bands in October 2005. The band itself makes frequent performances around the country, performing in locales such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Antonio in the last decade alone. In 2008, members of the band performed in West Lothian, Scotland, an international sister city of Colleyville. In 2009, the Panther Band placed eleventh(11th) out of fourteen(14) finalist at the Bands of America Super Regional in San Antonio, Texas. This is the highest the band has placed in a Bands of America Super Regional event.

The Panther Band represented the state of Texas in the 2003 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and attended the Bands of America Grand Nationals competition in 2008 held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Additionally, many of its upperclassmen members audition and perform during the summer with Drum Corps International, as well as exclusive UIL Region, Area, and State groups.

The Colleyville Heritage High School Drumline competes as a separate program against other ensembles at various levels of competition. The Panther Drumline frequently wins caption awards at various contests. In 2008, the Panther Drumline was awarded the world championship by the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), in the Lonestar drumline competition, they were awarded 2nd place in 2010, and 1st place in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011.

Theatre

The Colleyville Heritage Theatre department has existed since the school's opening. Its curriculum features courses ranging from beginning to advanced acting, technical theatre, and also directing. Numerous productions are performed in the school's main auditorium and more intimate black box theater throughout the year; past productions have included West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Bye Bye Birdie, and Anything Goes. In addition to its regular season, the department also works each year to compete in the Texas UIL one-act play competition. The department has been involved in the International Thespian Society (Troupe 5610), even presenting the play Bang, Bang You're Dead at the Society's annual conference, which came to Texas in 2003.

Speech and debate

The Colleyville debate team has been in existence since 1996. The team has won the Texas Forensics Association state tournament multiple times, in addition to being highly competitive at the national level. In 2008 the team of Evan DeFilippis and James Hamraie won the National Forensics League Tournament and were finalists in the Tournament of Champions. That year, Evan and James won the Baker Award for the top debate team in the country.

Notable alumni

• Jaimie Alexander '02, actress (Kyle XY, Thor)
• Annie Ilonzeh '01, actress (Charlie's Angels, He's Just Not That into You)
• Disco Curtis '10, rock band made up of alumni
• Christian Ponder '06, 12th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2011 NFL Draft
• Stephen Lambdin '06 is a 15x Multi-National Taekwondo team member representing the U.S.