Memorial High School (Hedwig Village, Texas)
Memorial High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
935 Echo Lane Hedwig Village , Texas 77024 United States | |
Coordinates | 29°46′50″N 95°31′22″W / 29.78061°N 95.52278°W |
Information | |
Type | Public |
Principal | Lisa Weir |
Grades | 9 - 12 |
Enrollment | 2,600 (2014-15)[1] |
Color(s) | |
Mascot | Mustang |
Nickname | Memorial |
Rival | Stratford High School |
Newspaper | The Anvil |
Yearbook | The Reata |
Website | mhs |
Memorial High School (MHS) is a secondary school located at 935 Echo Lane in Hedwig Village, Texas, United States, in Greater Houston.[2]
Memorial serves students in portions of the Memorial and Spring Branch regions of Houston and several enclaves within the portions. Memorial is part of the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) and serves grades 9 through 12. As of 2005, the district was granted a $500 million education grant, $150 million of which belongs to Memorial High School.
History
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
Memorial Senior High School opened in 1962 to relieve overcrowding at Spring Branch High School. Memorial was the second high school to open in SBISD. At the time, students living north of Old Katy Road attended Spring Branch and students living south of Old Katy Road attended Memorial. This arrangement lasted until Spring Woods High School opened in 1964.
The design of the school was classic early 1960s in the South, with a large, open campus. Each classroom building opened into an outside breezeway, to maximize air flow as the school did not have air conditioning.
When Memorial first opened, the area surrounding the school was largely forest and rice fields, but it rapidly grew as new subdivisions were built, and by the mid-1960s, Memorial's enrollment exceeded 3,000 students, a number much larger than the school was meant to hold.[citation needed] This problem was resolved with the opening of Westchester Senior High School in 1967,[3] and later Stratford Senior High School in 1974.[citation needed]
At the time, Memorial's main rivals were the Spring Branch Bears and Westchester Wildcats. However, by the mid-1980s, the enrollment of nearly every school across the district had dropped precariously, and it was decided that Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools would be closed. Memorial remained open, and took in students from both Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools.[citation needed]
Today, Memorial is the oldest high school still operating in Spring Branch ISD. The school has received extensive renovations, which began during the 1996–1997 school year. Every building in the school was gutted and refurbished, outdated facilities were replaced and the campus was made more secure.
In 2011, Memorial High School was named the #10 most posh public school in the country, as it pulls from a very wealthy area of Houston.[4]
In January 2017 a vandal sprayed graffiti of a racist character on the school property.[5]
Campus
The campus is two blocks south of Interstate 10. Memorial City Mall is to the west.[5]
Neighborhoods served
Memorial serves students in all of the Memorial Villages (including Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Hilshire Village, Spring Valley Village, and most of Hunters Creek Village and Piney Point Village). While the school has a Houston address, it is located in the city of Hedwig Village and it draws from a small portion of Houston in the Memorial and Spring Branch regions (including Stablewood, Afton Village, Brykerwoods, Monarch Oaks, Spring Oaks, Sandalwood, Whispering Oaks, and portions of Westview Terrace).[6] A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.[7]
Athletics
Memorial has a rivalry with Stratford High School.[8] Memorial also has a formerly successful football team, which went to the state semifinals in December 2010, in the Division II bracket (in which a .500 season will get into the playoffs). Back when a team had to win its district championship to enter the playoffs, the 1979 Mustangs went all the way to the state finals, a school record as yet unbeaten.[citation needed]
As of 2012, the Memorial tennis team had a district record of 73-0 and has finished in the state finals for 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Memorial also has tennis, soccer, track & field, cross country, swimming//diving, basketball, golf, baseball, softball, and volleyball teams. The school also has a club field hockey team for girls, and club lacrosse and rugby for both boys and girls.
Ethnic distribution
- Asian/Pacific Islander 16%
- Hispanic/Latino 17%
- Black 2%
- White almost 66%
Awards and honors
Memorial was named a 1988-89 National Blue Ribbon School.[9]
The school was ranked 258th,[10] 133rd,[11] 103rd,[12] 126th,[13] 225th,[14] 307th,[15] and 254th[16] in Newsweek's 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States since the list's inception in 2003.[note 1] It was also ranked 239th[17] and 233rd[18] in U.S. News' 2012 and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States.
Memorial was given the College Readiness Award by the Texas ACT Council in 2008 and 2010. The school was awarded the Just 4 The Kids (NCEA) High Performing School award in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, it was named an Honor Roll School by the Texas Business & Education Coalition.[19] Memorial was named one of the Top 10 Best High Schools in the Area by Children at Risk in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. It was also given the TAKS Gold Performance Award in 2012.[20]
The school achieved "recognized" status in the accountability ratings system by the Texas Education Agency in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.[21][22][note 2]
It was awarded five stars and ranked in the top ten high schools in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in 2002.[23]
Feeder patterns
Feeding from public schools
Elementary schools that feed into Memorial High School include:[24]
- Bunker Hill
- Frostwood
- Hunters Creek
- Memorial Drive
- Valley Oaks
- Housman (partial)
- Rummel Creek (partial)
Middle schools that feed into Memorial High School include:[24]
- H. M. Landrum (partial)
- Memorial Middle School (partial)
- Spring Branch Middle School (partial)
- Cornerstone Academy (partial)
Feeding from private schools
Some private schools, such as First Baptist Academy,[25] Grace School,[26] Presbyterian School,[27] River Oaks Baptist School,[28] St. Francis Episcopal Day School,[29] and The Regis School of the Sacred Heart,[30] have students that matriculate into Memorial.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
- Koby Clemens — professional baseball player with the Sugar Land Skeeters[37]
- Michael Dell — founder and CEO of Dell, Inc[38]
- David Fahrenthold — 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author[39]
- Jeffery Hildebrand -- Founder Hilcorp Energy Company
- Cory Morrow — counry singer and songwriter[40]
- Steve Munisteri — chairman of the Republican Party of Texas since June 12, 2010[41]
Notes
References
- ^ "MEMORIAL H S". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
- ^ "Hedwig Village city, Texas." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
- ^ Hughes, Kim. "Westchester High all-alumni reunion planned for Nov. 10" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. November 4, 2007. Retrieved on June 25, 2015.
- ^ The 10 Most Posh Public School Systems in America
- ^ a b c Webb, Shelby; Andrew Kragie (2017-01-04). "Racist graffiti scrawled across Memorial High in Spring Branch ISD". Memorial Examiner at the Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ "High School Boundaries Archived 2007-10-05 at the Wayback Machine." Spring Branch Independent School District. Retrieved on March 25, 2009.
- ^ Memorial City Management District Boundary Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine." Memorial City District. Retrieved on January 25, 2009.
- ^ Connelly, Richard. "Memorial High: Staying Classy As Ever With The Stratford Rivalry." Houston Press. Tuesday October 6, 2009. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
- ^ Blue Ribbon School Program Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2003 at MSNBC.com
- ^ The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools (2005–2006)
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2006 at MSNBC.com
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2007 at MSNBC.com
- ^ Memorial High named to Newsweek's best in U.S. list
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2012 at newsweek.com
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2013 at newsweek.com
- ^ Memorial High named to U.S News's best in U.S. list
- ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2013 at usnews.com
- ^ Memorial High School 2011-12
- ^ Memorial High School 2012-13
- ^ Accountability District Multiyear History 1995-2002
- ^ Accountability District Multiyear History 2004-2011 Archived 2012-07-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Texas Monthly's Best High Schools
- ^ a b Spring Branch ISD feeder schools
- ^ First Baptist Academy
- ^ Grace School
- ^ Presbyterian School
- ^ River Oaks Baptist School
- ^ St. Francis Episcopal Day School
- ^ The Regis School of the Sacred Heart
- ^ "FBA at a Glance Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine," First Baptist Academy
- ^ "Grace School Quick Facts Archived 2013-08-01 at the Wayback Machine," Grace School
- ^ "Beyond PS Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine," Presbyterian School
- ^ "Where Do Our Students Go From Here?," River Oaks Baptist School
- ^ "High School Placement," St. Francis Episcopal Day School
- ^ "Alumni: Where Are They Now?," The Regis School of the Sacred Heart
- ^ Koby Clemens Minor League Statistics and History. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
- ^ "Michael Dell." Texas Association of School Boards. March 15, 2008. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
- ^ The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners - National Reporting
- ^ "V." Utopia Artists.
- ^ "Biography: Personal Information for Stephen P. Munisteri" (PDF). betweenthesynapse.com. Retrieved September 27, 2010.