Centerville High School (Centerville, Ohio)

Infobox Secondary school

name = Centerville High School
native_name =
motto = "Let Us Be Known By Our Spirit"
established = 1885
type = Public secondary school
gender =
principal = Eileen Booher
asst principal =
vice principal =
campus director =
founder =
faculty = >100
teaching_staff =
students = 2731
grades = 9–12
address = 500 East Franklin Street
city = Centerville
state = Ohio
country = USA
district = Centerville City Schools
oversight_label =
oversight =
accreditation =
campus =
colors = Black and gold
athletics =
mascot = Elk
emblem =
yearbook = Elkonian
newspaper = Pursuit
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
testname =
testaverage =
National_ranking =
website = http://www.centerville.k12.oh.us
footnotes =
picture =
image_caption =
picture2 =
image_caption2 =

Centerville High School is a public school of secondary education for grades 9–12 located in Centerville, Ohio, situated ten miles south of Dayton. It is the only high school in the Centerville City School District, which also includes three middle schools, six elementary schools, and two K–1 schools, or "primary villages." The district serves all of the city of Centerville and Washington Township, as well as property parcels in the city of Kettering near the Moraine Country Club. Centerville High School has the third highest student population in Ohio. [cite journal|last=Smiga|first=Gary|title=Building for Our Future|journal=Accent|volume=34|issue=2|pages=4|month=June | year=2006]

History

Washington Township first began offering formal education in 1803 with a school building housing grades 1–6. Nine one-room elementary schools were also erected. In 1848, the Old Stone Academy was constructed and the first high school courses were offered. Private schools over the blacksmith shop and in Old Township Hall also offered similar courses.

In 1885, the Washington Township High School was built at 101 West Franklin Street. The first class graduated in 1890. In 1924, the Magsig building was built as a centralized school (grades 1-12). Washington Township High School became a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1951. In April 1955, the Central Unit of what is now Cline Elementary School was opened and junior high and the three-year high school were moved there. Kindergarten was added at Magsig. The name of the high school officially became Centerville High School in 1963. In 1966, CHS became a four-year high school with classes split by department between Magsig and Cline (then known as the South building) and students walking back and forth between classes. Tower Heights Middle School and Hithergreen Middle School were built for grades 6–8 in 1966. Hadley Watts Middle School became the third middle school in 1969. In 1973, the first part of the present-day high school was completed, becoming the East Unit in addition to the Magsig and South Units.

In 1975–76, the entire high school was finally taught inside the current building with Central, East, and West units. Magsig was changed to a middle school, and the old South was changed to W.O. Cline Elementary School. The stadium and athletic fields were built behind the high school in 1979 and the auxiliary gym, as well as the new South Unit in 1980. In 1982, Hithergreen Middle School and Village South Elementary School were closed. Hithergreen is now a retirement home, but in 1991, Village South was reopened as Centerville Kindergarten Village. During the 1999–2000 school year, the Athletic Entrance, Athletic Office, and weight room were completed.

In May 2005, voters in Centerville/Washington Township supported a $4.4 million operating levy and a $2.5 million bond issue designed to compensate for a predicted district enrollment increase to 9000 students. Part of this levy includes a new addition to the front. The addition, completed over the summer, includes 9 new chemistry and physics classrooms and 3 new labs, a new main entrance, additional classroom space, and improved cafeteria commons areas. This addition is now finished and used daily by the students. The new cafeteria areas provide several booths to students and less space for the lunch line area. A new 1200-seat auditorium with state-of-the-art acoustics is slated for completion in December 2007. [cite web|url=http://student.centerville.k12.oh.us/czone/chsfront.html|title=CHS Front Addition|accessdate=2006-07-15|author=Centerville City School District|work=Construction Zone]

Curriculum and activities

Centerville High School's curriculum offers 25 Advanced Placement tests in 18 courses in science, mathematics, history, government, language, economics, and psychology. The high school also offers more esoteric courses such as Introduction to Street Jam, Creative Foods, Needle Arts, and Chaos and Fractal Geometry (dealing with such topics as fractals, chaos theory, Julia and Mandelbrot sets, strange attractors and non-Euclidean geometry). ["Centerville High School Course of Studies." (2006-2007).] In the foreign language department, CHS offers traditional courses such as Spanish, French, and German, as well as Latin, American Sign Language, and Mandarin Chinese. Latin is also offered online.

Some courses are also offered online for students. These courses give the same credit as its normal counter-part. The school requires at least 15 hours of face-to-face meetings between the students and the instructors. The 2007-2008 web courses offer 4 English courses, Digital Art and Design (formerly Multimedia Design), Latin I/II, Geometry and Algebra, 2 types of biology, and 4 social studies classes.

Performing arts

Centerville High School's theatre program usually puts on four main-stage productions per year. (Before the 2008-2009 the Main Stage season usually consisted of 3 productions but a fall musical was added for this school year.) Part of the recent construction at Centerville included the addition of a new $7.5 million theatre which consists of a 1,200+ seat auditorium, as well as classrooms for new acting, technical theatre and dance classes. The theatre opened in December 2007. The new theatre addition is at the rear of the school with an entrance adjacent to the marching band's parking lot.

In addition to student musical and theatrical performances, the Performing Arts Center is also rented out to various groups. Some notable performers who have performed at the venue are Doyle Lawson, The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, World Renowned Jon Petz, Udit & Aditya Naryan, and Indian Idol’s Aditi Paul.

Along with the new theatre come new classes. In the 2007–2008 school year, CHS offered Acting I and II, Technical Theatre I and II, and various levels of Dance. The 2008–2009 school year will combine the entry level classes into Theatre I and Theatre II. Advanced classes are offered with the new Technical Theatre Tech Prep class and Honors Advanced Acting and Directing. The two advanced classes will put on an entirely student produced show near the end of the year along with Extreme Theatre, A night of one acts, and childrens play.

Music/Band

Centerville High School's music program includes a marching band, the Centerville Jazz Band; a nationally ranked orchestra program; a choral program; and concert band programs.

The school's band program consists of the Centerville Jazz Band, the Winter Guard and Winter Percussion, the Jazz Ensembles (Jazz I, Jazz II, and Jazz III), the Basketball Pep Band (BBPB), Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and the Concert Band. The Centerville Jazz Band has competed in several of the Bands of America regional and national competitions since 1990, winning the Grand National competition in 1992. The Winter Percussion Ensemble won the Scholastic World Gold Medal at the Winterguard International World Championships in 2004, finishing 2nd in 2005. In 2006, Centerville was the only high school to produce two finalist lines, the World Line (5th, Scholastic World) and the A-Line (10th, Scholastic A). The Jazz is the subject of a film documentary "From the 50 Yard Line".

The orchestra program at CHS consists of its Symphonic Orchestra, as well as the Concert Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra (Quartet), and an Alternative Strings program (which plays bluegrass, jazz, and electronic music). The prestigious Centerville High School Symphonic Orchestra ranks as one of the best nationwide. In 2002, the Symphonic Orchestra competed at the American String Teachers Association National Competition and placed fourth, and four years later, in 2006, tied for second in its division at the same competition. In addition, the Symphonic Orchestra has received the highest rating of Superior in all areas at the Ohio Music Education Association String Orchestra Adjudication for five years consecutively, starting in 2001.

Centerville High School also has three choirs, known as Concert choir, Elktonians and Forte. Forte was added in the 2007–2008 school year. The choirs have sung at a variety of venues.

College-career preparatory programs

Vocational courses at the high school (commonly known as block classes, because they span multiple periods) include Technical Theatre (new to the 2008-2009 school year), Biotechnology, Engineering Technology, Information Technology, Exercise Science, International Business Management, Marketing, Environmental Management, Broadcast Management, Mass Communications and Publication Journalism. The Broadcast Management class hosts a fully functional radio station, FM 101.5 WCWT (aka "The Beef"). The Mass Communications students publish the school's monthly newspaper, Pursuit, as well as put on the television news show, Centerville News Network. "CNN" started doing the morning announcements in 2008 instead of occasional broadcasts. Students in Publication Journalism are responsible for the school's yearbook, the Elkonian.

chool of Possibilities

School Of Possibilities (SoP) is an alternative educational pathway offered at Centerville High School. The mission at SoP is to get students back on track who have been having schooling issues. The object of SoP is to let students have the opportunity to learn academics by techniques other than those used in a traditional classroom. [ [http://www.centerville.k12.oh.us/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1133 Centerville City Schools, School of Possibilities] ]

Extracurricular activities

Centerville High School hosts over 30 clubs, ranging in topic from foreign language to community service, as well as teams that consistently place at the national and global level. Clubs include Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Destination Imagination, Speech and Debate, Model United Nations, Academic Team, and Mock Trial.

Centerville's Science Olympiad team has made it to the state tournament every year since its creation in 1985, and has qualified for the national tournament for 18 out of its 21 years. The team has also been the reigning state champion for six consecutive years, and in 2007 placed second in the nation. At the 2005 state competition, the team set a state record for best team score, placing first with only 78 points.

Beginning in the 2007–2008 school year, Centerville High School will initiate a chapter of the National Art Honor Society. The mission of the National Art Honor Society is to recognize the academically and artistically successful student through service, leadership and extracurricular opportunities within the community.

Athletics

Centerville is a member of the Greater Western Ohio Conference. 14 sports are offered for boys and 12 sports and support groups are offered for girls.

tate championships

This is a list of championships in the Ohio High School Athletic Association
* Baseball - 1928cite web|url=http://www.yappi.com/baseball/StateChamps.html|title=Yappi Sports Baseball|accessdate=2007-02-12|author=Yappi]
* Hockey – 1979cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Girls Bowling - 2008cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Boys Soccer – 1984cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Girls Golf – 1995cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Girls Gymnastics – 1977cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Girls Swimming – 2004cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]
* Girls Track and Field – 1981cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA]

The boys' volleyball team has won 3 state championships (1994, 2001, 2002) [cite web|title=Elks Volleyball|accessdate=2007-01-08|publisher=Centerville High School|url=http://www.elksvolleyball.com/] as members of the Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association. [cite web|title=Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association|accessdate=2007-01-08|url=http://www.ohioboysvolleyball.com/]

Awards

In 2006, "Newsweek"/"The Washington Post" ranked Centerville High School as 2nd in the greater Dayton area, 18th in the state of Ohio, and 955th in the nation. [cite news|last=Elliott|first=Scott|title=Oakwood, Centerville nationally ranked|publisher=Dayton Daily News|date=2006-04-02|url=http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/education/entries/2006/05/02/oakwood_centerv_1.html|accessdate=2006-07-15] The Centerville City School District is one of only 17 districts to have received the Ohio Education Department's highest rating of Excellent every year since the rating system's inception in 2000. Also, Centerville High School was awarded the United States Department of Education's highest honor by becoming a Blue Ribbon School in 1984 and again in 1993. Centerville High School is one of only 7 high schools in Ohio to have been recognized more than once, as of 2002. [cite paper|author=U.S. Department of Education|title=Blue Ribbon Schools Program|year=2002|url=http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2006-07-15] In November 1991, Centerville High School became the first high school in the United States to communicate directly via satellite with Russian students from Moscow School #23 in a television broadcast entitled "Sharing Freedom.""Centerville High School Student Handbook." (2005-2006).] In the spring of 1991, CHS was nominated by the Ohio Department of Education as one of Reebok's America's Best Schools under the category of "Overall Excellence." In 1988, CHS was one of 23 school nationwide to be awarded the Excellence in Education Award in the Drug-Free Schools Program by the U.S. Department of Education.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Centerville High School include:
*Carla Battaglia-Greene (1981), former Big Ten champion/record holder (heptathlon/javelin); NCAA All-American at Indiana University
*Andy Harmon (Class of 1987), former professional football player with the Philadelphia Eagles (1991-1997)
*A. J. Hawk (2002), professional football player for Green Bay Packers, outside linebacker; 2-time NCAA All-American at Ohio State
*Kirk Herbstreit (Class of 1988), ESPN sports analyst, former quarterback at Ohio State
*Gordon Jump, actor (WKRP in Cincinnati)
*Mike Nugent (Class of 2001), professional football player for NY Jets; Kicker; Ohio State
*Chip Reese (Class of 1969), former professional poker player
*Stephanie Studebaker, veterinarian and a former Congressional candidate
*Jeff Yagher (Class of 1979), starred in the series V and appeared on many TV series including: Six Feet Under, Alias, Star Trek Voyager, Murder She Wrote and Perry Mason. He has also appeared in movies including My Fellow Americans, Shag, View from the Top;
*Kevin Yagher (Class of 1980), Beginning with such characters as Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) and Chucky in the "Child's Play" films, Kevin Yagher has established himself as one of the top make-up effects artists by developing and creating life-like creatures, aliens, animals and humans with meticulous detail.

External links

* [http://www.centerville.k12.oh.us/ Centerville High School website]
* [http://www.centervilleband.org/ Centerville Jazz Band website]
* [http://www.centervilleorchestra.org/ Centerville Schools Orchestra website]
* [http://www.elksfootball.com/ Centerville "Elks" Football website]
* [http://www.elkscc.com/ Centerville Men's Cross Country website]
* [http://chstennis.otca.us/home Centerville Boys' Tennis website]
* [http://chsjvtennis.otca.us/elk Centerville Girls' JV Tennis website]
* [http://www.elkssoccer.com/ Centerville Boys' Soccer website]
* [http://student.centerville.k12.oh.us/chs/pursuit/ Centerville Pursuit Magazine website]
* [http://www.elksvolleyball.com/ Centerville Boys' and Girls' Volleyball website]
* [http://centervillebasketball.com/ Centerville Basketball website]
* [http://www.centervillegymnastics.com/ Centerville Gymnastics website]
* [http://www.centervillescienceolympiad.org/ Centerville Science Olympiad]
* [http://www.elkslacrosse.com/ Centerville "Elks" Lacrosse]

References