- Murray High School (Utah)
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Murray High School 
Murray High School's main entrance and plaza Striving for excellence past, present, and future.Location 5440 S. State Street
Murray City, Utah
United StatesCoordinates 40°39′15″N 111°53′20″W / 40.65417°N 111.88889°WCoordinates: 40°39′15″N 111°53′20″W / 40.65417°N 111.88889°W Information Type Public Established 1916 (Hillcrest Location)
1954 (Current Location)School district Murray City School District Principal Dr. David Dunn Faculty 79 Grades 10-12 Number of students 1,585 (2008-2009 School Year) Campus size 21 acres (85,000 m2) Athletics conference 5-A Region II Mascot Spartan (Past Mascot was the Smelterites) Website http://schools.murrayschools.org/schools/mhs/ Murray High School is the only high school in the Murray City School District in Murray, Utah. Murray High School is one of the smallest high schools in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area with 1,585 students enrolled in the 2008-2009 school year, the school enrolls students in grades 10-12. The school's mascot is the Spartan, the school colors are orange and black (Past Orange and Purple). Murray High is a 5-A school in Utah's 5 Division high school sports leagues (1A being the smallest, and 5A being the largest). Murray High School is well known on television for its part in many Disney Channel Movies and TV programs, the recent, High School Musical: Get in the Picture[1] and is the high school which American Idol (season 7) runner-up winner David Archuleta attended[2], the school is also known for offering the highest amount of Salt Lake Community College Concurrent Enrollment classes in the state of Utah.[3]
Contents
Building history
Murray High School was originally located on the east side of State Street at the current Hillcrest Junior High location, another Murray City School District School, at 126 East 5300 South Murray, UT. From 1916-54 Hillcrest Junior High was renamed Murray High and Junior High, and then served specifically as Murray Junior High from 1954-1960. It was rebuilt and moved across to the west side of State Street in 1954. The colors and mascot also were different from what they are currently, the old mascot was the Smelterites from the historic and famous Murray Smoke Stacks and the old school colors were purple and orange. The building was replaced because of new earthquake codes in which it would be to expensive to upgrade the school, and with the fast change in technology in education led to its demolition in 2001.
New building
Murray High is the newest school in the Murray School District, opened in 2003 to serve around 1,600 students. The 260,000-square-foot (24,000 m2), 3 level school is built on the same 21 acres (85,000 m2) as the previous high school. MHS is a state-of-the-art building: with natural lighting in almost every classroom, a commons area which serves as a lunchroom and a lobby for evening performances, wireless Internet connections in every classroom, a geothermal heating and cooling system which would reduce future energy bills 10-20%, an expanded auditorium, retrofitted for earthquakes one of the great improvements from the old building, two gyms, and a courtyard which is used greatly as an extension of the lunchroom and serves as the venue for MHS Arts Fest held every year. The building design of the new Murray High School focuses on greatly improving the academic environment and better serves students, faculty, and teachers than what the old building would have provided.
Academics
- Murray High School currently provides the most Salt Lake Community College Concurrent Enrollment classes in the state of Utah with over 40 classes in which students could take and earn SLCC credit and also in-state college credit. Murray High ranks #1 in the state for the number of SLCC (Salt Lake Community College) associate degrees earned by high school seniors.[4]
- Murray High School also is the venue for Region Solo and Ensemble for instrumental music classes. And is the venue for State Jazz Ensemble. Both allow students from all over the state come and compete and attend clinics to improve overall playing.
- In 2008 the Murray High School Advanced Culinary Arts students were awarded the title of "Best New School" in the ProStart State Culinary Competition.
- Murray High School also will be one of the few schools in Utah piloting the Utah State Office of Education U-PASS & criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) online, the school has received $100,000 dollars to purchase new laptops and upgrade current computers for the future years. The administration of Spring 2008 criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) through computer-based testing (CBT) will be performed through Pearson’s assessment systems.[5]
- Graduation rate is 95% (as of 2009)[4]
Going green
At the beginning of the 2007-2008 year, administrators, along with MHS's Environmental Club, started a program to save energy and money. Adjustments at the school, and other schools and offices in the district, will include changes to the thermostats; and during weekends and long breaks, copy machines and computers are unplugged, and running water to restrooms is turned off. Also, students at Murray High participate in a recycling program in which students may throw their trash into recycling bins placed throughout the school.[6] Since its beginnings, the district has saved $405,000, all of which went into teachers' budgets. It is projected that in four years the district will have saved one million dollars, or a twenty percent savings per month.[7]
Films and other productions shot at Murray
Disney filmed three movies at the high school: A few of the scenes from the wrestling movie Take Down (1978) was filmed prior to the rebuilding, Read It and Weep (2006), the auditorium scene of High School Musical(2006), Minutemen (2008)[8], High School Musical: Get in the Picture (2008),[9] and was the host venue for American Idol (season 7) runner-up winner David Archuleta homecoming television episode.[10]
Disney has always donated generous amounts of funds to help and thank Murray High for having them film inside and outside the building and is expecting to film more films at the school in the future.
Sport State Titles
- Men's Cross Country: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
- Men's Track: 1947, 1948, 1998
- Baseball: 1979, 1989, 1991, 1993 [11]
- Men's Basketball: 1931, 1996
- Football: 1954, 1975, 1977[11]
- Women's Softball: 1990, 2005, 2007[11]
- Men's Swimming: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2006
- Men's Water Polo Club: 2008 [11]
- Women's Swimming: 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 2000
- Men's Soccer: 2001[11]
- Ice Hockey Club: 1998, 1999, 2005 [12]
- Men's Tennis: 1990
- Women's Tennis: 2005 [11]
- Men's Lacrosse Club: 1997, 1998, 2007 [11]
- Women's Lacrosse Club: 2008 [11]
NOTE: State championships for all sports can be viewed at the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) web site.
Sports National Titles
Notable alumni
- David Archuleta, Runner-up on American Idol (season 7) [2]
- Britton Johnsen, NBA basketball player, Utah's Mr. Basketball 1996-1997, & player for the Turkish club Galatasaray Cafe Crown.[15]
- Mark Koncar, NFL player for the Green Bay Packers (retired)
References
- ^ ksl.com - ‘High School Musical' reality show wraps up filming
- ^ a b Deseret News | Murray High teen moving up on 'Idol'
- ^ http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/accred/reports/TeamReports/MurrayHS.pdf
- ^ a b http://www.ksl.com/sid=6258271&nid=691&sch_id=5948808 ksl.com-Principal's Letter
- ^ Computer Based Testing | Utah State Office of Education
- ^ Going Green
- ^ http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6796931 ksl.com-'Saving energy is saving teachers' jobs'
- ^ Deseret Morning News | Disney moment for Murray, Highland
- ^ ksl.com - ‘High School Musical' reality show wraps up filming
- ^ http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3238568 ksl.com KSL Channel 5 News| 'Homecoming being planned for Utah's American Idol contestant'
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sport State Titles
- ^ http://www.murrayhockey.com Official Murray Hockey Page
- ^ 1998 USA Hockey National Champions
- ^ 2005 USA Hockey National Champions
- ^ BASKETBOL - Britton Johnsen, Galatasaray Cafe Crown’da - 30.01.2008 20:27:00
External links
Categories:- High schools in Utah
- Educational institutions established in 1916
- Schools in Salt Lake County, Utah
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