- Chaparral High School (Arizona)
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Chaparral High School Address 6935 E. Gold Dust Avenue
Scottsdale, Arizona, 85253
United StatesCoordinates 33°34′37″N 111°55′56″W / 33.57703°N 111.932241°WCoordinates: 33°34′37″N 111°55′56″W / 33.57703°N 111.932241°W Information Type Public Motto "Rise Above the Ordinary" Established 1972 School district Scottsdale Unified School District Principal Captain America Grades 9th–12th Enrollment 2,127 students (October 1, 2010) Color(s) Gold and Red Mascot Firebirds Website Chaparral H.S. Chaparral High School is a public high school located in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. The mascot is the firebird, and the school colors are scarlet red and gold.
The high school was built in 1972 by Kitaeff Construction and School Design.
Contents
Construction and remodeling
Founded in 1972, the school needed renovation. The rebuilding of the school started early August 2006, and the entire reconstruction of the school was planned to be finished August 2008, before the 2008–09 school year. Due to the delay of demolishing the last (200) building, the school finally finished its last parking lot in late October 2008.
Student body and academics
Chaparral has one of the highest graduation rates in Arizona. Chaparral High School has consistently ranked in Newsweek's list of Best High Schools in America, and in 2007 Chaparral was one of only 12 schools ranked in Arizona.[1] The high school also usually garners more National Merit Semifinalists annually than any other school in the state, and holds the state record for having the most scholars in one year (24 in 2000).[2] Additionally, the school has also earned the record most in-state Presidential Scholars in Arizona, with 17 in 2003.
Chaparral is the only school in Arizona to have students win the highest honors at the Siemens Westinghouse Competition and Intel Science Talent Search, two of the most prestigious science competitions in the U.S.[3]
Athletics
Chaparral competes in 19 interscholastic sports.
Chaparral has had a new, state-of-the-art artificial turf football field installed and constructed a modern field house, which includes a weight room, trainer's office and coaches headquarters and was financed by program supporters. The field is one of the first high school fields of its kind in the greater Phoenix area and is used also by the soccer program and the Chaparral Lacrosse Club.
Baseball
The school has historically been best known for its baseball program, annually ranked in USA Today's Super 25 High School Baseball Team list.[4] Jerry Dawson was the one of three baseball coaches in school history (retired after 2010 season) and had more than 700 victories to go along with 8 state championships. Sam Messina won a state championship this past year, 2011. The school now has 9. Chaparral also has made the final four of the state tournament on 14 occasions in addition to winning 24 regional championships.
Football
In football, Chaparral has won five state championships, including back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000 with teams that went 28–0. The Firebirds won the state championship in 2002 with a 21–14 victory over Greenway. In 2008, Chaparral lost in the state final to Saguaro. In 2009, the football program moved up a division to 5AII where it has dominated, winning back-to-back state championships, defeating Marcos deNiza in 2009 and Centennial in 2010 thereby capping a perfect season at 14–0. The 2010 team put on a dominating performance throughout the season with a stingy defense and an offense that set a state record for points in a season with 727.
Charlie Ragle has been the head football coach for the past four seasons and has a 49–6 record since succeeding Ron Estabrook, who built the program and won more than 120 games in 12 seasons. Lyle Sendlein, a former Chaparral football player currently plays for the Arizona Cardinals as their starting center and long-snapper.
In 2011, ESPN ranked Chaparral tenth in the nation for preseason high school football teams. It played in the Barry Sollenberger Kickoff Classic — which features top Arizona teams against top Nevada teams — in the same year. They lost to Las Vegas's Bishop Gorman High School 42-22.
Badminton
Chaparral's Varsity badminton team is one of the most successful in the state of Arizona. Coach Carrie Davis has coached the team for over 30 years, leading the Firebirds to six state championship titles (1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010). In addition, under Coach Davis, the team placed second in the state three times and has won 18 Regional Championship titles since 1976.
With their State Championship title win in 2004, Chaparral became the first 4A high school badminton team in Arizona to win a repeat state championship title. In 2005, the Firebirds beat their own record by winning another state title.
In fall 2010 the Firebirds badminton team won the state title against their rival, Xavier.
Lacrosse
Chaparral's club lacrosse team won more state championships 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011 than any other school in Arizona. The 2011 Championship was won under the direction of Coach PJ Rovinelli and his staff. Like 2009, it was a game played against the defending champions, the Brophy Broncos, and the Firebirds won by the score of 10–9.
Arts
Chaparral has three concert choirs, a Mixed Jazz group (a co-ed group which performs jazz standards) and a Nothing But Treble group (an all-girls group).
Chaparral also has two orchestras (Symphonic and Concert), two concert bands, a marching band, jazz band, as well as various ensemble groups. In the 2009 season, the Chaparral Marching Band placed second in Division III at the ABODA State Marching Band Championships.
Chaparral is home to Thespian Troupe #203, which performs two main-stage productions, a musical, and Student Productions each year.
Chaparral is also home to the student run comedy improv troupe, Home IMPROVment, which has been around for 5 seasons now and hosts multiple shows each month.
Speech and Debate
At the 2011 Arizona NFL District Qualifiers, Chaparral qualified 3 public forum debate teams and one Humorous Interpretation to the 2011 NFL Nationals in Dallas, Texas. Brian Eckhardt and Maya Sarihan, Darius Ansari and Gabriel Miller, and Vincent Nguyen and Steven Bassett of public forum debate as well as Lawrence Nemeh of HI will be representing Arizona at this prestigious tournament.
Notable alumni
Professional Athletes
Ike Davis
- Brian Bannister, baseball player for the Kansas City Royals
- Darrell Bevell, American football coach for the Seattle Seahawks and former quarterback
- Ike Davis, baseball player for the New York Mets[5]
- Paul Konerko, baseball player for the Chicago White Sox
- Taylor Lewan, football player for the Michigan Wolverines
- Darren Mougey, football player for the Arizona Cardinals
- Craig Roh, football player for the Michigan Wolverines
- Lyle Sendlein, football player for the Arizona Cardinals
- Kyle Williams, football player for the San Francisco 49ers
Entertainment & Media
- The Bella Twins, professional wrestlers and models
- Jason Bellini, journalist, lead news anchor for CBS News on Logo, former CNN correspondent
- Jessica Bowen, American drummer (The Summer Set)
- Alexandra Bracken, author
- Stephenie Meyer, author of the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga book series
- Busy Philipps, actress
- Kenneth Robert Wilson a.k.a. Ginger Fish, American drummer (Marilyn Manson)
- Tim Kelleher, American bassist (My Darling Murder)
References
- ^ "America's Top Public High Schools – Newsweek America's Best High Schools". MSNBC. November 25, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/site/newsweek/. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ "password protected article". Arizona Republic. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?s_site=azcentral&f_site=azcentral&f_sitename=Arizona+Republic%2C+The+%28Phoenix%2C+AZ%29&p_theme=gannett&p_product=ARPB&p_action=search&p_field_base-0=&p_text_base-0=brainiest+school+in+the+valley&Search=Search&p_perpage=10&p_maxdocs=200&p_queryname=700&s_search_type=keyword&p_sort=_rank_%3AD&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date%3AB%2CE&p_text_date-0=. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ "TGen work wins Valley students scholarship cash". Azcentral.com. December 6, 2005. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1206science06.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ Analysis by Chris Lawlor, USA TODAY (June 26, 2006). "Final Super 25 baseball rankings". Usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/baseball/2006-super25.htm. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ "2004 High School Team Of The Year". Baseball America. July 3, 2004. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/leagues/HS_amateur/040703usaj.html. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
External links
Arcadia • Chaparral • Coronado • Desert Mountain • SaguaroClosed Scottsdale High SchoolCategories:- Educational institutions established in 1965
- Public high schools in Arizona
- Education in Scottsdale, Arizona
- Schools in Maricopa County, Arizona
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