Mulberry High School

Mulberry High School
Location
One Panther Place (Northeast Fourth Circle) Mulberry, FL 33860 Mulberry, Florida, United States
Coordinates	27°53′49″N 81°58′19″W / 27.89694°N 81.97194°W / 27.89694; -81.97194Coordinates: 27°53′49″N 81°58′19″W / 27.89694°N 81.97194°W / 27.89694; -81.97194
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Where today meets tomorrow's goals
Established	1914
School district	Polk County Public Schools
Principal	Patricia Barnes
Enrollment	1005 [1]
Number of students	9th through 12th grades
Mascot	Panther
Information	[phone]
Website	schools.polk-fl.net/MHS/

Mulberry High School (also referred to as Mulberry Senior High School) is a four-year public high school located in Mulberry, Florida, serving the city and surrounding areas. Its enrollment is 1005 students.^[1]

History

Mulberry's then-only public school began high school classes in 1907. In 1914, a separate high school was constructed; it was a two-story brick building with six classrooms and an auditorium, costing approximately $12,500.^[2]

In 1921, the first edition of the MHS yearbook was published, titled The Mulberry Tree in honor of the city's famed mulberry tree.

In 1922, land was donated for the construction of a new high school, on the east side of what is now Northeast First Avenue; construction was completed in 1924. Also in 1924, MHS began inter-school football play.

During the Great Depression, many schools cut their terms or lost their accreditation, and the state of Florida ran out of money, but MHS was able to stay open thanks to taxes paid by area phosphate firms.^[2]

In 1955, the current school was constructed on 65 acres (260,000 m²) of land given by Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corporation and International Minerals and Chemical Corporation;^[3] the old high school was converted to an elementary school, Purcell. ^[4]

Notable alumni

• John Vincent Atanasoff, 1920 graduate,^[5] inventor of the electronic digital computer
  • Graduated after two years;^[6] in 1985, the school's computer center was named for him. ^[7]
• Dedrick Dodge (1965-), safety in the National Football League from 1991-1998.^[8]
• Bob Murphy, 1962 graduate^[9] professional golfer and sportscaster.
• Raulin C. Platt, 2009 graduate

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Polk County Public School District web site
2. ^ ^{a b} Fisher, James Arthur Fisher (1974). The History of Mulberry and Frontier Florida: A Model for the Teaching of Local History. Xerox University Microfilms. 
3. ^ Huddle, James A. (1970). Controlled Modular Scheduling with Complete Flexibility. Bartow, Florida: Polk County Schools. 
4. ^ Purcell Elementary School (PDF). School Improvement Plan. http://www.polk-fl.net/accountability/sip/0506/1141.pdf. Retrieved 2006-09-07. 
5. ^ School Board of Polk County, Florida, Department of Community Relations. "1985 Polk County Schools Hall of Fame Inductees". http://www.polk-fl.net/CommunityRelations/HOF/hof1985.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
6. ^ Scalable Computing Laboratory (Iowa State University and United States Department of Energy). "Biographies". http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/ABC/Biographies.html. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
7. ^ "The Way It Was". The Ledger. 2005-10-15. http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051115/NEWS/511150313&SearchID=73253375795188. Retrieved 2006-09-07. 
8. ^ Dedrick Dodge, database Football. Accessed December 8, 2007.
9. ^ "Polk Celebrities". The Ledger. 2006-03-20. http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050320/NEWS/503200315/1171/GTP13. Retrieved 2006-08-10. 

External links

• Official site
• MHS–related news at The Ledger newspaper (Lakeland, Florida)
• Football History