Southern Guilford High School

Southern Guilford High School was founded in 1970 in the Sumner area of Guilford County, North Carolina. It operates on a block, college-styled schedule (4 classes each semester) as opposed to the traditional bell schedule that has 6 periods year long. Southern has an enrollment of around 1021, grades 9-12. In 2007 it was rated as one of the top public high schools in the nation by [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/| Newsweek] . Its current principal is Jim Gibson, formerly assistant principal at Andrews High School in High Point.

Colors and Mascot

Originally, the mascot for Southern was the Indian, but due to a lawsuit against its supposedly derogatory name symbolism, it was changed in 2004 to the Storm. Even after the drastic change in mascot, Southern Guilford's colors remain true to maroon and gold.

Rivalry

Southern Guilford's rivals include Trinity High School and Southeast Guilford High School.

outhern Academy

In 2005 Southern Guilford was turned into a magnet school for people the study of agriscience, education, and medicine. Students are able to explore the fields of pre-medicine, sports medicine, nursing, biotechnology, and agriscience research, botany and horticulture science, veterinary technology and elementary-, middle-, and upper-grades education. Preset course schedules not only reflect NC graduation standards, but also incorporate Honors and AP courses in the student-selected specialized area of the Advanced Sciences or Education strand. Fifteen credits of the total coursework are comprised of academy-designated classes in order for the student to graduate Southern Guilford’s Academy. For the upcoming 2007-2008 school year, William Miller will be taking over the position of the SG Academy Coordinator, replacing Greg Thompson.

Agriscience Strand

The Agriscience program consists of studies in botany, horticulture, biotechnology and animal science. Academy courses include agriscience applications, animal science I,II, horticulture I,II, agriscience advanced studies and horticulture landscape construction.

Education Strand

It has the smallest number of students out of the three strands. Academy courses include teacher cadet I,II and advanced placement psychology.

Medicine Strand

The Medicine strand concentrates on sports medicine, nursing and pre-medicine. Academy courses include health team relations, sports medicine I,II, medical careers I,II and anatomy/physiology.

Extracurriculars

Southern Guilford has a wide selection of activities that let its students get more involved, including (but not limited to):
*Language Clubs (including Spanish, French, and German)
*Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA)
*Band
*Bringing Equailty and Tolorence To Southern(B.E.A.T.T.S.)
*Chorus
*Art Guild
*Newspaper
*Fellowship of Christan Athletes
*Interact Club
*Junior Civitan
*International Club
*Science Club
*First Priority
*Future Farmers of America (FFA)
*Student Council
*Gender and Other Open Discussions (GOOD)
*Ladies of Distinction
*National Honors Society
*National Technical Honors Society
*Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA)
*Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
*Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD)/ Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE)
*International Thespian Society
*Drama Club
*Drama
**The Southern drama program has put on many plays including the Spring productions of "The Tempest" (2008), "7 Brides for 7 Brothers" (2007), "A MidSummer Night's Dream" (2006), "Bye-Bye Birdie" (2005), and many others.

Dress Code

A Standard Mode of Dress (SMOD) will commence for the first time for the 2007-2008 school year at Southern.

Controversies

In 2007, a 16-year-old high school student (Windy Hager) attending South Brunswick High School, married her 40-year-old teacher (Brenton Wuchae), a former teacher at Southern Guilford. Making [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,285794,00.html national news] , it was discovered that Wuchae had inappropriate relationships with female students at Southern Guilford High School when he taught. Wuchae later began teaching at South Brunswick in Brunswick County, North Carolina
Brunswick County, about 225 miles south on the South Carolina border. He coached cross-country runner Windy Hager, whom he married the same day he resigned in mid-June. Her parents have said they reluctantly signed consent forms allowing the marriage. Attorney Robert Tatum is representing the Hager family. Mr. Tatum is currently representing a number of families whose children have been abused at Brunswick County Schools.

External links

* [http://schoolcenter.gcsnc.com/education/school/school.php?sectionid=6964 Southern Guilford High School Website]

* [http://sgband.org Southern Guilford High School Band Website]