Eagle River High School

Infobox School
name = Eagle River High School


motto = excellence, community, respect
established = 2005
type = Public School
principal = Natalie Burnett
free_label = Faculty
free_text = approximately 45
free_label2 = Student
Grades
free_text2 = 9-12
location = 8701 Yosemite Dr., Eagle River, AK 99577
free_label3 = Colors
Mascot
free_text3 = Navy and Silver
free_label5 = Building Size
Phone Number
free_text5 = convert|18200|sqft|m2|abbr=on.
(907) 742 - 2700

Eagle River High School (ERHS) is a public high school in Eagle River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Opened in 2005, it is attended by approximately 840 students living in Eagle River and on Fort Richardson. The current principal is Natalie Burnett.

General information

Eagle River High is part of the Anchorage School District. The School Board allowed the school's colors and mascot to be selected by the students before the school opened, with the results being the Wolves in navy blue and silver. Its mission statement was created in the year 2006, a simple three-word statement of "Excellence, Community, Respect."

History

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in July 31, 2003 with construction on the school completed in August 2005. The main purpose of this school was to relieve the overfilled schools around the Anchorage School District. This school is strategically placed to take advantage of the fabulous views of the community of Eagle River and the mountainsides. ERHS was designed to begin with a total of 800 students, and the school is built for further growth, the gym, library and the cafeteria are designed to hold 1,600 students.

Campus/Building

Eagle River High School is located on a 50 acre site on the south side of Eagle River off of Yosemite Drive. Over 7000 workers and contractors from USKH Inc. and Davis Construction and Engineers began assembly of the 182,000 sq/ft building on July 31, 2003 with the ground breaking ceremony. Construction of the building took about 2 years, ending in August, with the ribbon cutting ceremony on August 17th, 2005. With 46 instruction rooms, and convert|38|ft|m|sing=on ceilings in the commons area, the school fulfills the public need.The school currently enrolls approximately 840 students but it was built with room to grow as its gym and cafeteria are made to hold 600 students. The floor plan has the same basic design as the 1,600-student Dimond High School but is about half the size, using one wing of classrooms instead of two. This design allowed construction workers to improve off the original design and plan ahead so as to maximize any future problems that might be encountered with the overall construction of the building.

The cost of the building was $54 million dollars, with 2% of that being paid for by the state of Alaska through the school debt reimbursement program. School bonds also paid for the high school.The school services students from the Eagle River area as well as Fort Richardson, and the Chugiak area. Most of the schools population came from Chugiak and Bartlett, which was highly advantageous, helping relieve both schools overcrowding problem.

Academics

Eagle River High School (ERHS) offers a number of different classes. These vary from advanced placement to special needs courses. Some of the advanced placement classes that the school offers include Calculus, Biology, Literature, Language, and U.S. Government. The school's first school year, 2005-2006, showed favorable results from the SBA and HSGQE tests, placing Eagle River High School around 10% higher than the Anchorage School District in reading, writing and math (See page 6 of http://www.asdk12.org/depts/assess_eval/POP/0506/schools/EagleRiverHigh.pdf).

In order for students to graduate there are certain requirements each student must meet, they must have twenty-two and a half credits. Each student needs four credits of English and Social Studies, two and half credits of math, three credits of science, a one and a half -credits of gym and seven and a half credits of electives. Along with the gym requirements students have to complete one semester of lifetime personal fitness or have the option to test out of it.

In April 2007, Eagle River High School won the state Science Olympiad Championships, and was invited to represent the state of Alaska in the 2007 National Science Olympiad Competition in Witchita, Kansas.

Athletics

Eagle River is part of Region IV, which competes with all of the other Anchorage-area schools. Eagle River participates in the class 4A sports venue which is the highest sports venue in the state. All primary Alaska School Activities Association-sanctioned sports are offered. These sports include, football, flag football, hockey, softball, girls soccer, boys soccer, basketball, bowling, tennis, cross country running, cross country skiing, track and field, wrestling, volleyball,cheerleading,swimming/dive, and gymnastics.

Notable Athletic Achievements

During the school's first season of softball, 2005-2006 ASAA, the girl’s softball team won the Alaska state championship.

In the 2007 season, the Eagle River High School volleyball team made it to the state championships for the first time and won third place in the Alaska state championship.

The Eagle River High School Cross Country Mens Ski Team placed fourth in Region IV CIC Championships, and finished a solid, yet impressive sixth out of more than 20 teams in the State High School Ski Championships during the 2006-2007 season.

The Eagle River basketball team had an outstanding 2007-2008 season with wins against top region IV schools Dimond and crosstown rival Chugiak.

References

* [http://www.asdk12.org/renewal/HS/eagleriver.asp Eagle River High School website]

External links

* [http://www.asdk12.org/renewal/HS/eagleriver.asp Eagle River High School website]
* [http://www.alaskastar.com Alaska Star]