Myers Park High School

Myers Park High School
A World of Difference
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America
Information
Type	Public
Established	1951
School district	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Principal	Mr. Thomas L. Spivey
Faculty	162
Enrollment	2863[1]
Color(s)	Kelly Green and White
Mascot	Mustang
Information	[phone]
Website	http://www.mphs-ptsa.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers_Park_High_School

Myers Park High School is a secondary school in Charlotte, North Carolina. The school opened its doors in 1951 and has a rich sense of history and a legacy of academic success. With a 62-acre campus and 13 individual buildings, students are able to learn in an environment similar to a small college.

The Ranking

The Newsweek Magazine has ranked Myers Park in the Top 40 Best High Schools in the United States, for three consecutive years. The Ranking of America's High Schools takes place every year among 1,950 high schools in the United States.^[2]

• In 2007 Myers Park was ranked the 27th best high school in the country.
• In 2008 Myers Park was ranked the 33rd best high school in the country.
• In 2009 Myers Park was ranked the 39th best high school in the country.

The Campus

Myers Park High School is located at 2400 Colony Road in the Myers Park neighborhood. Two entrances are on Colony Road; a third is on Runnymede Avenue. The front circle of the school contains a garden housing a brick wall in the shape of a pentagon. In the middle of the front circle stand two marble statues as a monument to the World Trade Center Towers, dedicated in 2002 by Senator Elizabeth Dole.

The campus is centered around a quadrangle, commonly known as the "quad". The Student Center (SC), Math Building, Social Studies Building, Auditorium, and Language Arts Building (LA) all open onto this large grassy area where many students eat lunch. Behind LA are buildings that house science, vocational, and mobile classrooms. The campus was built in the collegiate mold, with the entire campus revolving around an open quad area. The campus is about 62 acres (250,000 m²); the size of a college campus.

Students

The class of 2004 received over $4.2 million in scholarships and the class of 2005 received over $4.9 million. In 2005, 90% of graduating seniors pursued further education after high school. 93% went to a four-year college and 7% went to a community or technical college.^{[citation needed]}

Extracurricular activities

The school mascot is a green mustang. The school's official colors are kelly green and white.

Myers Park has 30 junior varsity and varsity sports for males and females. In 2008 the Men's soccer team completed an undefeated season winning the state title while climbing to number 3 in the country (as ranked by ESPN) and in 2010 the Men's Lacrosse team won the state title by defeating Apex High School 15–11 at the Durham Athletic Park. Myers Park is also home to 3 club sports, Women's Lacrosse, Field Hockey, and Rugby. Myers Park has developed an intense rivalry with nearby school South Mecklenburg this rivalry is biggest in football and basketball, the mustangs were victorious in 2010 with a 31–29 victory in football, while splitting basketball contest at 1–1.

The debate team won the State Championship eight out of the last eleven years.

The Myers Park Hoofprint, the student paper, was named a First Place newspaper by the American Scholastic Press Association in 2008. The ASPA also named one of the Hoofprint's front pages a First Place Front Page, one of only six pages in the nation to be so honored.^[3]

The yearbook, the Myers Park Mustang, was named a First Place Yearbook by the American Scholastic Press Association in 2009.

The Myers Park Pegasus is the school's literary-art magazine. The 2008–2009 edition of the magazine earned various awards: the highest award ranking from the National Council of Teachers of English, the gold medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the first place award from the American Scholastic Press Association, an award of distinction from the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association and the first place prize from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.

In 2010, The Myers Park Mustangs Varsity Men's Lacrosse won the Inaugural North Carolina 4A State Lacrosse Championship.

In 2008, The Myers Park Mustangs Varsity Soccer team won the North Carolina 4A State Soccer Championship.

In 2008, the Myers Park Mustangs Women's Varsity Tennis team won the North Carolina 4A State Championship.

Notable alumni

• Omar Gaither, Carolina Panthers linebacker and special teams player
• Haywoode Workman, former Indiana Pacers guard, current National Basketball Association referee
• Ben Browder, actor, television series Farscape and Stargate SG-1.
• Seth Avett, musician, The Avett Brothers
• Hannah Tosco of the band Justincase
• Brian Holberton, baseball player at The University of North Carolina, competed in the College World Series in 2011.
• Miller Snyder, Kicker/Punter at the University of North Carolina, Snyder was an All-American at Myers Park and competed in the US Army All-American Bowl following his senior season in 2010.
• Everett Withers, Interim head football coach at The University of North Carolina (2011–). Was promoted following the firing of Butch Davis on July 27th, 2011. Withers was named head coach the following day.

Graham Tillett Allison, Jr. (born 23 March 1940) is an American political scientist and professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Walter Estes Dellinger III (born May 15, 1941 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is the Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University and head of the appellate practice at O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C.

Curriculum

The curriculum provides for different levels of instruction: Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and honors courses.

Allegations of coerced dropouts

During March 2007, allegations were made that Myers Park was coercing low-performing students to drop out in an effort to boost test scores. A Time Magazine article cited claims of students who stated that they were told that they would not be allowed to return to Myers Park.^[4]

A subsequent Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools investigation^[5] found no evidence that the Myers Park administration attempted to coerce students to drop out, or to falsify data to reduce dropout statistics. A number of students with large numbers of absences were dropped from enrollment on the basis of attendance, which is an incorrect procedure.^[6]

Myers Park: the Musical

In fall of 2010, a Myers Park senior, Nicholas de la Canal, approached the Myers Park theatre teacher, Caitlin Cornwell, and the Myers Park administration with the idea to write a play based on the people and event of Myers Park. After receiving very little feedback, de la Canal went to work on what was primarily meant to be a short, one-act satirical play. However, almost immediately after finishing his work in December of 2010, it was announced that because of budget cuts to the school system, there would be money to purchase rights to perform a spring musical. Immediately after hearing this news, de la Canal set to work on a full-length, two-act musical comedy entitled Myers Park: the Musical.^[7], ^[8]

De la Canal finished this work in February of 2011. The Myers Park administration team, led by principal Thomas L. Spivey, requested a copy of the book on lyrics of this new musical to approve before allowing any work to be done on the production. After reading the musical, the administration censored the production on the grounds of inappropriate content that had the capacity to emotionally damage members of the Myers Park administration team. Specifically, administrators had concerns about the principal, Thomas Spivey, being depicted as having a toupee and one of the Vice Principals, Jason Kline, as having a troubled childhood in which his (fictional) high school sweetheart leaves him which enrages the character to the point that he murders his mother onstage with a cutthroat razor in the style of Sweeney Todd.

De la Canal questioned the legality of the decision.

After posting an announcement on the school's morning announcements advertising upcoming auditions for the musical, de la Canal was immediately suspended for one day by Vice Principal Carlos Grant on grounds of insubordination and unauthorized use of a computer. de la Canal appealed the decision to the school principal, and in June of 2011, Principal Spivey repealed the suspension. All attempts to put the production onstage have proved unsuccessful thus far.^[9],^[10]

References

1. ^ School Profile – School Level. Ncreportcards.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
2. ^ Myers Park – Ranking America's High Schools 2011 – The Washington Post. Apps.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
3. ^ American Scholastic Press Association. Asan.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
4. ^ "Is a Top School Forcing Out Low-Performing Students?". Time.com (2007-03-14). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
5. ^ Welcome to My CMS. Extranet.cms.k12.nc.us (1996-11-12). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
6. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
7. ^ Doss, Ann. (2011-06-17) Myers Park graduation prank nets lifetime ban | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper. Charlotteobserver.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
8. ^ Polka-dot boxer graduation prank gets teen banned from school | Schools | Myers Park – Dilworth News. Myerspark-dilworth.wbtv.com (2011-06-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
9. ^ Myers Park: the Musical. Myersparkmusical.yolasite.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
10. ^ Press, Associated. (2011-06-17) Graduate Banned After Stunt | Charlotte News | Weather | Carolina Panthers | Bobcats | FOX Charlotte | Top Stories. FOX Charlotte. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.

External links

• Myers Park Parent Teacher Student Association Homepage
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Myers Park High School Page

Coordinates: 35°10′21″N 80°49′54″W / 35.172371°N 80.831752°W / 35.172371; -80.831752