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Memorial High School (Hedwig Village, Texas)

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For other schools of the same name, see Memorial High School.
Memorial High School
Address

935 Echo Lane, Hedwig Village (Houston address), Texas 77024 Satellite image

Established
Community
Type

Public

Students

2,265 students
- co-ed

Ethnic Distribution Source

American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.1%
Asian/Pacific Islander 10.6%
Hispanic/Latino 12.8%
Black 1.1%
White 75.4%

Grades

9 to 12

Principal

Lisa Weir

Nickname

Memorial, Big Red

Mascot

Mustang Max and Mustang Sally

Colors

Red and white

Publications

The Anvil

Yearbook

The Reata

Website

MHSweb

Memorial High School

Memorial High School (MHS) is a secondary school located at 935 Echo Lane in Hedwig Village, Texas, United States.[1]

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 and serves grades 9 through 12. As of 2005 SBISD was granted a 500 Million education grant, 150 Million of which belongs to Memorial High School.

History

Memorial Senior High School opened in 1962 to relieve overcrowding at Spring Branch High School. Memorial was the second high school to open in the Spring Branch Independent School District. At the time, students living north of Old Katy Road would attend Spring Branch and students living south of Old Katy Road would attend 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. This problem was resolved with the opening of Westchester Senior High School in 1967, and later Stratford Senior High School in 1974. 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.

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.[2]

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).[3] A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.[4]

Athletics

Memorial has a rivalry with Stratford High School.[5] Memorial also has a 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. [6] As of 2012, the Memorial tennis team has a district record of 73-0 and has finished in the state finals for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Notable alumni

  • Niloufar Molavi - PwC US Energy Leader
  • John Norris - MTV VJ
  • Dave Donalson - Professional skateboarder
  • Mark Strama - Member of the Texas House of Representatives
  • Chet Edwards, Past Member of the Texas State Senate and U. S. House of Representatives
  • Shannon Kelley - Offensive Assistant Football Coach at Houston Baptist University and husband of Mary Lou Retton

Awards and honors

Memorial was named a 1988-89 National Blue Ribbon School.[14]

The school was ranked 258th,[15] 133rd,[16] 103rd,[17] 126th,[18] 225th,[19] 307th,[20] and 254th[21] 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[22] and 233rd[23] in U.S. News's 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.[24] 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.[25]

The school has also gained "recognized" status in the accountability ratings system by the Texas Education Agency in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.[26][27][note 2]

It was awarded five stars and ranked in the top ten high schools in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in 2002.[28]

Feeder patterns

Feeding from public schools

Elementary schools that feed into Memorial High School include:[29]

Middle schools that feed into Memorial High School include:[29]

Feeding from private schools

Some private schools, such as First Baptist Academy, Grace School, Presbyterian School, River Oaks Baptist School, St. Francis Episcopal Day School, and The Regis School of the Sacred Heart, have students that matriculate into Memorial.[30][31][32][33][34][35]

Notes

  1. ^ Note that Newsweek did not compile a list in 2004.
  2. ^ Note that no state accountability ratings were assigned in 2003 and 2012.

References

  1. ^ "Hedwig Village city, Texas." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
  2. ^ The 10 Most Posh Public School Systems in America
  3. ^ "High School Boundaries." Spring Branch Independent School District. Retrieved on March 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Memorial City Management District Boundary." Memorial City District. Retrieved on January 25, 2009.
  5. ^ Connelly, Richard. "Memorial High: Staying Classy As Ever With The Stratford Rivalry." Houston Press. Tuesday October 6, 2009. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
  6. ^ R. Latham, 1979 team member
  7. ^ Turner, Ronnie (June 7, 2007). "Memorial's Ahrens, Rice's Savery taken in 1st round". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  8. ^ Koby Clemens Minor League Statistics and History. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  9. ^ "Michael Dell." Texas Association of School Boards. March 15, 2008. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
  10. ^ "CORY MORROW." Utopia Artists.
  11. ^ "Biography: Personal Information for Stephen P. Munisteri" (PDF). betweenthesynapse.com. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  12. ^ "Dominique Sachse" Channel 2 News. Retrieved on October 7, 2009.
  13. ^ The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners - Feature Writing
  14. ^ BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS PROGRAM
  15. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2003 at MSNBC.com
  16. ^ The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools (2005–2006)
  17. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2006 at MSNBC.com
  18. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2007 at MSNBC.com
  19. ^ Memorial High named to Newsweek’s best in U.S. list
  20. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2012 at newsweek.com
  21. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2013 at newsweek.com
  22. ^ Memorial High named to U.S News's best in U.S. list
  23. ^ America's Top Public High Schools 2013 at usnews.com
  24. ^ Memorial High School 2011-12
  25. ^ Memorial High School 2012-13
  26. ^ Accountability District Multiyear History 1995-2002
  27. ^ Accountability District Multiyear History 2004-2011
  28. ^ Texas Monthly's Best High Schools
  29. ^ a b Spring Branch ISD feeder schools Cite error: The named reference "multiple" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  30. ^ "FBA at a Glance," First Baptist Academy
  31. ^ "Grace School Quick Facts," Grace School
  32. ^ "Beyond PS," Presbyterian School
  33. ^ "Where Do Our Students Go From Here?," River Oaks Baptist School
  34. ^ "High School Placement," St. Francis Episcopal Day School
  35. ^ "Alumni: Where Are They Now?," The Regis School of the Sacred Heart
Preceded by National Academic Championship champion
1996 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Houston Jones High School
 Texas 4A State Basketball Champions
1966 		Succeeded by
San Antonio Lee High School

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