Garfield Heights High School

Garfield Heights High School is a public high school located in Garfield Heights, Ohio, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It is part of the Garfield Heights City School District. The school currently contains approximately 1500 students. The mascot is the Bulldog and the school colors are blue and gold. The current Principal is Mr. Terrance Olszewski.

New Performing Arts Center

Garfield Heights Board of Education is presented the grand opening of the performing arts center on November 3. The building includes a 792-seat Auditorium, a make-up room for the lady performers, a drama room, several changing rooms for both future Music Express and Drama performers, and two classrooms. one being the Band room, and another for the Choral department. Both departments were ecstatic to begin rehearsing in the new building on October 11, 2007.

History

The school has recently received an "Effective" rating from the state of Ohio, the second highest rating a school can achieve. The district is fed by its own middle school and by five nearby parochial schools.

Athletics

The school's athletic teams are known as the bulldogs and mainly belong to the Northeast Ohio Conference. The school fields athletic teams in football, wrestling, baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, basketball, softball, and hockey. The Ohio High School Athletic Association approved bowling as a sanctioned sport starting in the 2006-2007 school year. The 2005-2006 bowling team won a division and league championship.

Basketball Team

The Garfield Heights High School boys’ basketball team won the 2008 Northeast Ohio Conference Championship after posting a 20-1 record, losing only by a single point to Brunswick near the end of the season. The team took their record into the difficult Warrensville Heights district where they defeated Nordonia before being upset by Cleveland Heights in the semifinals. Heights would go on to lose to state-ranked Warren Harding in the finals. This season saw the first time GH was ever ranked #1 in the Plain Dealer poll and Coach Sonny Johnson has lead the team to a 41-4 clip over the last two seasons. Senior forward Rob Wilson will be heading to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a full athletic scholarship for basketball. Junior point guard Carl "Tay" Jones is being heavily recruited by several schools and is widely considered the #1 point guard in the state of Ohio.

Clubs

The school also contains several student associations/clubs. The Students of Service program provides community service throughout the community and school. Other programs include: Drama Club Art Club, Book Club, Tech Crew, Computer Club.

Academic Challenge Team

The GHHS Academic Challenge team has the highest winning percentage of any team in school history.Fact|date=June 2008 They are in their 23rd season, having won 21 league championships and recently eclipsed 1,300 wins in the history of the program. The team is the most successful of any team in school history, with a winning percentage near .800. On May 5, 2007, the team participated in the Ohio Academic Competition (OAC) State Finals, where they finally won the OAC State Title, defeating defending state champion William V. Fisher Catholic High School in the finals. The team also got second place at the PACE Great Lakes Regional on April 14, 2008, losing to Stow-Munroe Falls High School. On April 19, 2008, the team claimed its 2nd NAQT State Title and on May 3, 2008, the team repeated at OAC State Champions, defeating Solon High School in the finals 58-44. The team started the 2007-2008 school year ranked #23 in the country and #1 in the state of Ohio. The team performed well at both the PACE and NAQT National Tournaments and represented Ohio at the Panasonic Academic Challenge in Orlando. After the 2007-2008 season, Coach Bob Kilner retired with over 700 wins and four state titles to his credit, and several team members quit the team, leaving the future in question. Assistant Coach Helen Lindsay will take over with the assistance of English teacher Jeff Cunningham. The program will live on, but the success of past teams will never come close to being eclipsed.

Music Express

This past 2007 season Garfield Heights Music Express competed in 6 competitions, both in Ohio, and West Virginia. Under the direction of Mr. Steve Pernod, and Mrs. Reiko Carey, choreographed by Antwon Chavis and combo Director Mr. Mark Russo, Music Express took their 2007 show "Light the Fire Within" and won two Grand Championships in both Beavercreek (their first competition of the year) and Grove City's show choir competitions. This was a first for Music Express. Their comical number "Super Geek" won over not only Audiences, but judges. winning two judges choice awards for this number, beating out 2006's "Show Choir Man" by a landslide. they also brought home Best Choreography, Best Crew, Best Combo, Best Vocals, and many more. Mr. Pernod is excited for the 2008 show. They recently began their choreography, and have a wild show set up.

chool Alma Mater

: "Hark the sound of martial feet, breaks upon the air today;": "Sons and daughters of Old Garfield, March along to win the fray;": "Heart and hand and voice united, as they gaily swing along."

: "And the answering heavens echo, to their battle song!": "Fight for Garfield, Win for Garfield, raise her colors old;": "Onward pressing - ever onward for the Blue and Gold."

: "With a voice of mighty thunder, mounting to the sky;": "Hail to thee our Alma Mater, hail old Garfield High."

Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships

* Wrestling - 1960, 1994 cite web|url=http://www.ohsaa.org/|title=Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site|accessdate=2006-12-31|author=OHSAA] cite web|url=http://www.yappi.com/statechamps/wrestling.html|title=Yappi Sports Wrestling|accessdate=2007-02-12|author=Yappi]

Academic Awards

* 2007-2008 GHHS Academic Team -- OAC STATE CHAMPIONS
* 2007-2008 GHHS Academic Team -- NAQT State Champions
* 2007-2008 GHHS Academic Team -- Preseason Polls -- 1st in Ohio, 23rd Nationally
* 2006-2007 GHHS Academic Team -- OAC STATE CHAMPIONS
* 2006-2007 GHHS Academic Team -- NAQT Division I - 4th Place(Team Captain Dan Humphrey was named State MVP)
* 2005-2006 GHHS Academic Team -- NAQT Division I State Champions(Team Captain Jim Hrdlicka was named State MVP)
* 2004-2005 GHHS Academic Team -- NAQT Division I State Runners-Up
* 1998-1999 GHHS Academic Team -- OAC State Runners-Up
* 1996-1997 GHHS Academic Team -- OAC State Runners-Up
* 1989-1990 GHHS Academic Team -- OAC State Runners-Up
* 1986-1988, 1990-2000, 2003-2007 GHHS Academic Team -- Northeast Ohio Academic League Champions
* 1989, 2001, 2002 GHHS Academic Team -- Northeast Ohio Academic League Runners-Up

Notable Alumni

* Wilma Smith - Television news reporter
* Carl Monday - Television news reporter
* Leonard DiCosimo - President, Cleveland Federation of Musicians, Local 4
* Daniel J. Klonowski - Attorney

External links

* [http://www.ghhs66.org/ghhs66/ Class of 1966 website (Alma mater)]
* [http://www.ghhs06.com Class of 2006 website (Paul Glazer) ]

Notes and references