Westside High School (Houston)

Infobox Education in the United States
name = Westside High School

---

imagesize = 200px
streetaddress = 14201 Briar Forest
city = Houston
state = TX
zipcode = 77077
coordinates = coord|29|45|34|N|95|38|16|W|display=inline
url = [http://hs.houstonisd.org/westsidehs/ Westside High School]
district = Houston Independent School District
principal = Paul Castro
staff =
schooltype = Suburban public secondary school
grades = 9-12
enrollment = 3,047
language = English
communities = portions of the Westchase District, South Eldridge Parkway portion of the Houston Energy Corridor, Walnut Bend, Briargrove Park
teamname = The Wolves
mascot = Wesley The Wolf
colors = Blue, Black and Silver color box|bluecolor box|blackcolor box|silver
yearbook = "Canidae"
newspaper = "The Howler"
founded = 2000

Westside High School is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. It serves grades 9 through 12, and is part of the Houston Independent School District.

As of 2007, its principal is Paul Castro, who has been in the position since the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year; Castro had been principal at West Briar Middle School prior to becoming the principal of Westside. Westside had one other principal, Scott VanBeck, who opened the school in 2000 and is the Superintendent of HISD's West District as of 2007.

The school is located at 14201 Briar Forest in Houston, Texas, in the 77077 zip code area. Westside High School is outside of Beltway 8, east of State Highway 6, inside State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway), and south of Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway) in the Briar Forest area.

Westside is HISD's Magnet School for Integrated Technology [cite web | title = Magnet Program for Westside High School| url = http://hs.houstonisd.org/westsidehs/Main/magnet.htm] . The program allows students to look at technology from one of five different aspects: Fine Arts, Business, Media Relations, Applied Science/Health Science and Computing Sciences. During the first year, all students will take a technology survey course, a modular course that will introduce the students to the five strands of the program. The second year, students will be asked to choose one of the five strands on which to focus their elective courses.

Westside High School is also known for its academic programs, ranking #463, #196,#230, and #245 in Newsweek Magazine's 2005 [cite web | title = America's Top Public High Schools| url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2005&search=Westside] , 2006 [cite web | title = America's Top Public High Schools| url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2006&search=Westside] ,2007 [cite web | title = America's Top Public High Schools| url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2007&search=Westside] ,and 2008 lists, respectively, of the top 1,200 high schools in the United States. Among the school's faculty is the 2005 Houston Independent School District Secondary Teacher of the Year, Nobuo Cedric French.

Many students in other parts of Houston ISD transfer to Westside to escape home schools that do not have a good academic performance, causing the attendance figures of those schools to suffer. [cite web | title = Transfer policy hinders schools| url = http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3900502]

The school's mascot for its sports teams is the "Wolves".

History

Westside first opened in 2000, removing about 1,000 students from Lee High School which was experiencing overcrowding at the time." [http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/06/16/40houston.h23.html Personal Touches] ." "Education Week".]

On June 22, 2005 a prank attack involving Molotov cocktails thrown at the building in the middle of the night resulted in minor damage. One classroom sustained a broken window and fire damage. As it was during summer break, no school activities were interrupted. [cite web | title = Vandal Throws 3 Molotov Cocktails At High School| url = http://www.click2houston.com/news/4638713/detail.html]

According to the October 2006 "For Your Information" newsletter, Westside was one of four high schools that took the most Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

At about 2:30 PM on April 10, 2008 17-year old Vincent Agwuoke, scheduled to graduate from Westside that June after attending Westside for almost four years, entered the deep end of a school pool during a Physics class; a news article stated that students could not see the boy, apparently unable to swim, as his dark clothing blended with the painted lane. Agwuoke's body was taken out of the water and emergency crews performed CPR. He was taken to Hermann Memorial City Hospital. Agwuoke was pronounced dead at the hospital. [" [http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080410_mh_westsidepoolaccident_.4f1a9ec9.html?npc Westside student drowns in school pool] ." "KHOU-TV".] [" [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5691012.html HISD: High school student pulled from pool, dies at hospital] ." "Houston Chronicle".] [" [http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6067481 Student dies after being pulled from pool] ." "KTRK-TV".]

Recognitions

Westside is known for a dance troupe which has been featured in "People" magazine and on Good Morning America. At one point, a reality show was planned for the troupe. [" [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/01/earlyshow/contributors/tracysmith/main652723.shtml Teaching Teens Success] ," "The Early Show"]

Westside High School has multiple state-ranked athletics programs. Westside won the Division II State Lacrosse title in 2004. Westside High School also is a haven for nonconventional athletics programs, as it has a rugby team incorporated with a public high school in the Houston Independent School District. The Westside Wrestling program has won Districts for the past seven years and has had three individual state champions: Courtney Sanders (215), Trent Murrell (160), and James Hazzard (171).

Westside High School has won its first SECME State Competition in 2008.

Athletics

Westside High School's sports' mascot is the "Wolves." The girls teams are sometimes known as the "Lady Wolves".

Sports at the school include [cite web | title = Westside High Sports| url = http://www.westsidehighsports.org/index.cfm/MenuItemID/107.htm] :columns |width=260px
col1 =
*Baseball
*Basketball (Boys & Girls)
*Cross-Country (Boys & Girls)
*Football
*Golf (Boys & Girls)
*Lacrosse
*Rugby (Boys & Girls)
*Soccer (Boys & Girls)
col2 =
*Softball
*Swimming/Diving (Boys & Girls)
*Tennis (Boys & Girls)
*Track & Field (Boys & Girls)
*Volleyball
*Water Polo (Boys & Girls)
*Wrestling (Boys & Girls)

Organizations and Clubs

Westside has about 50 different clubs and organizations in addition to its athletic programs [cite web | title = Clubs And Activities| url = http://hs.houstonisd.org/westsidehs/Clubs/index.html] .

Special Interest:Asian Cultural Society,Bike Club, BSA Advancement, BPA, Chinese Club, Christians on Campus,
Close Up, Ecology Club,EOE Step Club,
Fellowship of Christian Athletes,Fitness Club, French Club,
Future Farmers of America,Future Teachers of America,Gaming/Anime Club,
Gay-Straight Alliance,
Guitar Hero Club,History Club,Hot Air Balloon Club,Howlin' Respect,Humanities,Investment Club,Latin Club,Math Club,Movie Buffs,Name That Book,They Say Literacy Magazine Club,SECME
Ultimate Frisbee,
Young Democrats,
Young Republicans,W.O.R.D.

Performing Arts:Art Club (2D and 3D Animation, Drawing and Painting), Marching Band, National Thespian Honor Society, Orchestra,Band,Speech and Debate Team, Tri-Music Honor Society,Westside Choir, Westside Pride Dance Team

Academics and Honors:Asian Honor Society,
National Honor Society,
Spanish National Honor Society,
Quiz Bowl

Service and Spirit:Cheerleaders, Drill Team, Ecology Club, Interact Club, Key Club, JROTC, L.I.F.E, Recycling Club, S.A.V.E. Club, SADD

News:"Canidae" (Yearbook), "The Howler" (Newspaper)

Outback Program

Westside has a three-year entrepreneurship program designed by the National Restaurant Education Foundation to educate students about how businesses run [cite web | title = Outback Cafe| url = http://molecules.ws/outback/index.html] . Outback Steakhouse sponsors the program and helped build a full-scale commercial kitchen and dining hall directly into the school.

Students learn the production aspect of the restaurant business in addition to basic business principles and cooking methods in the first year of the program, culminating in SaveServe certification by the end of the second year.

Aside from the program itself, the restaurant is open to students and the general public during lunchtime hours in the school year. Outback also caters exclusively for school functions.

Areas served

When Westside opened in 2000, it relieved Lee High School of about 1,000 students that year."Tee Time." "Houston Press". [http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-11-13/news/tee-time/ 1] .]

The Westside High School zone" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/WestsideHS.pdf Westside High School Attendance Zone] ," "Houston Independent School District"] covers small portions of the Westchase district that are north of Westheimer and the South Eldridge Parkway portion of the Houston Energy Corridor. Westside also covers several other neighborhoods, including Ashford Hill, Ashford West, Ashford South, the Houston ISD part of Ashford Forest, Walnut Bend, Briar Oaks, Briargrove Park, Briar Village, Briarhills, Lakeside Enclave, Lakeside Forest, Lakeside Landing, Lakeside Place, Parkway Villages, Reflections, Shadowbriar, and April Village.

Several gated communities, including Lakes of Parkway, are zoned to Westside High School.

Students residing in the Lee attendance zone" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/LeeHS.pdf Lee High School Attendance Zone] ," "Houston Independent School District"] , including the Uptown district, the neighborhoods of Briargrove [" [http://www.briargrove.org/images/MapOutline1.gifBriargrove Subdivision] ." "Briargrove Property Owners, Inc." Accessed September 24, 2008.] , Briarcroft, Larchmont, Briar Meadow, Gulfton, Tanglewilde, Shenandoah, [" [http://www.sca77081.com/downloads/maps/NeighborhoodWithSubdivisionsMarked.pdf NeighborhoodWithSubdivisionsMarked.pdf] (Composite map). "Harris County Appraisal District". Accessed October 6, 2008.] Sharpstown Country Club Estates, Woodlake Forest, Jeanetta, and St. George Place (Lamar Terrace), and small portions of Westchase east of Gessner, may go to Lamar High, Lee High, or Westside High School. Small portions of the city of Hunters Creek Village and Piney Point Village are zoned to Lee with Lamar and Westside as options. [http://web.archive.org/web/20050509100740/hs.houstonisd.org/leehs/home2.htm Home Page] as of May 9, 2005. "Lee High School".]

In late 2005, the school absorbed more than 200 Hurricane Katrina evacuees who had moved into the Westside zone.

Feeder patterns

Feeding from the Westside boundary

Elementary schools that directly feed into Westside include:
*Ashford (Pre-K through 2) " [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/AshfordES.pdf Ashford Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Askew (Kindergarten through 4) " [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/AskewES.pdf Askew Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Barbara Bush [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/BushES.pdf Bush Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Daily [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/DailyES.pdf Daily Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Shadowbriar (3 through 5) (3rd through 5th graders in the Ashford zone and 5th graders in the Askew zone attend Shadowbriar)
*Walnut Bend [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/WalnutBendES.pdf Walnut Bend Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Emerson (partial) (the rest of Emerson indirectly feeds into Westside) [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/EmersonES.pdf Emerson Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

Middle schools that directly feed into Westside include all of West Briar [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/WestBriarMS.pdf West Briar Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] and parts of Revere " [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/RevereMS.pdf Revere Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] . Residents of the Westside attendance zone and the Revere attendance zone may apply to West Briar.

Residents of the Emerson Elementary School attendance zone may apply for the [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowes Briarmeadow Charter School] , so the K-8 school feeds into Westside." [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowEs/parentInfoRegistration.html Registration] ." "Briarmeadow Charter School".]

Feeding from the Lee boundary

Other schools also feed into Westside, since students zoned to Lee High School also have the option to go to Westside High School or Lamar High School.

Elementary schools that feed into Lee (and therefore also feed into Westside) include:

columns |width=260px
col1 =
*Briargrove [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/BriargroveES.pdf Briargrove Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Benavidez [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/BenavidezES.pdf Benavidez Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Piney Point [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/PineyPointES.pdf Piney Point Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Rodriguez [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/RodriguezES.pdf Rodriguez Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
col2 =(portions)
*Braeburn [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/BraeburnES.pdf Braeburn Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Condit [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/ConditES.pdf Condit Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Cunningham [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/CunninghamES.pdf Cunningham Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Emerson [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/EmersonES.pdf Emerson Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Neff [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/NeffES.pdf Neff Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*St. George Place [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/StGeorgeplaceES.pdf St. George Place Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Sutton [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/SuttonES.pdf Sutton Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*White [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/WhiteES.pdf White Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

Middle schools that feed into Lee (and therefore also feed into Westside) include:
*Grady [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/GradyMS.pdf Grady Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".] Partial:
*Long [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/LongMS.pdf Long Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Pershing [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/PershingMS.pdf Pershing Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]
*Revere
*Sharpstown [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/SharpstownMS.pdf Sharpstown Middle Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

K-8 schools that feed into Lee (and therefore also feed into Westside) include:
*Pilgrim [" [http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/PilgrimES.pdf Pilgrim Elementary Attendance Zone] ." "Houston Independent School District".]

All pupils zoned to Long and Pershing Middle Schools may attend Pin Oak Middle School. [" [http://web.archive.org/web/20020214054405/http://dist.houstonisd.org/southwest/schools/pin_oak/letter5.htm Pin Oak Middle School] ." "The Southwest District". "Houston Independent School District".] Accordingly, Pin Oak also feeds into Lee High School.

Residents of the Briargrove, Emerson, Pilgrim, and Piney Point elementary attendance zones may apply for the [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowes Briarmeadow Charter School] , so the K-8 school feeds into Lee." [http://es.houstonisd.org/briarmeadowEs/parentInfoRegistration.html Registration] ." "Briarmeadow Charter School".]

Feeding from magnet schools

Some students who graduate from T. H. Rogers School in the 8th grade choose to go to Westside.

Feeding from private schools

Students of some private schools, such as [http://www.jp2.org John Paul II School] , matriculate to Westside. [" [http://www.jp2.org/OurPrograms/middleschool-overview.htm Middle School - Overview] ," "John Paul II School"]

Transportation

Houston ISD provides school buses for students who live more than two miles away from the school or who have major obstacles between their houses and the school. Students are eligible if they are zoned to Westside or are in the Westside magnet program.

A METRO bus stop (Briar Forest Drive @ Briar Home Drive) is located next to the school. Bus line 53 (Downtown/Galleria) stops at Briar Forest and Briar Home.

Notable Alumni

Veronica Scott ’05, President & CEO, Fuchsia [(2006-09-06) [http://www.click2houston.com/family/9798276/detail.html "Students Build Fashion Business"] NBC News. Retrieved 2008-09-08] [ [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2005_3839044"High school friends start fashion business"] The Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-10-06.]

ee also

External links

* [http://hs.houstonisd.org/westsidehs/ Westside High School home page]
* [http://www.whsforums.com Westside Academic Forum]
* [http://westsidehightx.alumniclass.com/ Westside Alumni Site]
* [http://www.westsidehighsports.org/ Westside High School sports]
* [http://www.wolfband.org/ Westside High School Band Program]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/01/earlyshow/contributors/tracysmith/main652723.shtml CBS news article on the dance troupe]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678?s=100&np=13&sort=raa Newsweek Top 1,200 High Schools Ranking]

References