Southwest High School (Fort Worth, Texas)

Infobox_School
name = Southwest High School
imagesize = 175px
motto = To provide supportive, academic, and cultural opportunities that result in creative, disciplined, and productive life-long learners.
established = 1967
type = Public
principal = Laura Williams
faculty = 84 (2005-06)
enrollment = 1,525 (2005-06)
grades = 9-12
colors = Cardinal red, royal blue, and white.
mascot = The Raider
location = 4100 Alta Mesa Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76133
country = United States of America
district = Fort Worth Independent School District
website = [http://schools.fortworthisd.net/education/school/school.php?sectiondetailid=1730 Southwest Homepage]

Southwest High School is a public high school in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is one of thirteen high schools in the Fort Worth Independent School District. Enrollment is about 1,500 with a staff of about 100. Southwest is classified as a 4A school in the state of Texas.

Southwest High School was established in 1967 and first opened in 1968 as the Southwest Rebels. Since 1991, however, Southwest has been known as the Raiders.

outhwest History

Southwest High School was established in 1967 and first opened in 1968. Since 1968, thousands of changes have taken place in the school, city, state, country, and world. Thirty-six years ago Southwest was a new, small school in a rural section of the city. The only thing in the area was Southwest and a McDonald's. Today Southwest is just one of the thirteen Fort Worth ISD high schools in a city of more than 600,000 residents. Over the past three decades Southwest High School has integrated, expanded, had hundreds of teachers, and thousands of students. Southwest has consistently led the district in all aspects of academic life over the past thirty-six years.

Southwest opened as the Southwest Rebels. After a student-led protest in 1991, however, the mascot was changed to the Raiders. The school colors are cardinal red, royal blue, and white.

The Campus

The Raider campus is located at 4100 Alta Mesa Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76133. The campus consists of the building, portables scattered around the campus, a baseball field, a softball field, a practice football field with a track, tennis courts, a faculty parking lot, a band parking island, and a main parking lot. Half of the main parking lot has been converted into a makeshift football field where the Raider marching band practices.

Southwest and most other FWISD high schools do not have their own facilities for high school sports games and must use facilities either at other schools or, more commonly, facilities at the Tarrant County College campus. Football games are often played at the Herman E. Clarke stadium at TCC.

Raider Athletics

Raider Athletes tend to excel in what they do. The teams for each sport often take the district titles and advance to playoffs. Football, in recent years, has gone undefeated in district games, making it to playoffs each year. In the 2006-07 school year, the football team lost to the Stephenville Yellow Jackets in the first round of playoffs and in the 2007-08 year, the team lost to the Aledo Bearcats.

In 2007, the Southwest Raider basketball team coached by Scott Gray finally put Southwest up on the state map. The team made it all the way up to the state championship game against Dallas South Oak Cliff but came up short at 80-77.

Raider Music

Choir

In the 2007-08 school year, the Southwest choir earned three first divisions on stage and two first divions and one second division in sight reading. The choir is directed by Sherylynn Porter.

Band

In recent years, the Southwest Raider band has earned numerous first divisions and awards in UIL, TMEA, and other contests across the state. Each year, many students make the district and region bands. Some advance to the area competition where they audition for state. In the 2007-08 year, five students from Southwest made the All-State band.

The Southwest Wind Ensemble placed third in the 2007 TMEA State Honor Band finalist competition. The competition was held among 4A finalists from the regions across the state of Texas. Southwest actually tied for second place but came in third after the tie-breaker rules were applied. This honor makes Southwest the first school ever in the history of the FWISD to advance to state finals in competition.

The Southwest Wind Ensemble also has received national recognition by the National Wind Band Honors project. The award recognizes the Southwest Wind Ensemble as one of the top 3 bands of all entrants received nationwide for Class 4A.

The band staff consists of:
* Stacey Dunn - Head Director (Brass)
* Gaspar Garcia - Assistant Director (Woodwinds)
* Lee Amstutz - Assistant Director (Part Time)
* Darrin Hicks - Percussion
* Jon Gonzalez - Percussion (Part Time)
* Bethany Loncriar - Colorguard

Orchestra

The Southwest orchestra, under the direction of Dan Crosby, doing well. They improve each year.

In December of 2006, the orchestra suffered a severe loss. The longtime director, David Brown, died from a ruptured aorta. The orchestra is still recovering from this loss. "R.I.P. Mr. Brown"

Other Organizations

* ACE
* African-American Culture Club
* Anime Club
* Asian Society
* Concerned Senior Girls
* Debate
* French Club
* GSA
* Hispanic Heritage Club
* JROTC
* Key Club
* Math Club
* National Honor Society
* Spanish Club
* Student Council (the only student council in the Fort Worth ISD that received the Outstanding Student Council award)
* Whiz Quiz

The Legend of Bell and Boo

Up until the 2002-03 school year, a group of senior guys would gather on the sidelines at football games to ring a large bell after every Raider score. These guys were known as The Bell Crew. They would often create crazy dances and chants to boost the spirit and increase the volume of the Raider fans. Unfortunately, in the 2001-02 school year, there was an incident between the crew and a referee at a football game that caused the administration to ban The Bell Crew. While this marked a sad moment for Southwest students, it also marked the beginning of a new tradition that would become the single greatest Southwest spirit group ever created: The Boo Crew.

The Boo Crew was created in the 2002-03 school year. The Boo Crew would single out a certain player on the opposing team and have the Raider fans boo that player. Contrasting The Bell Crew, The Boo Crew membership was opened to all classes and sexes. The group became official after creating their own t-shirt. While the main focus of the group was to boo opposing players, they also cheered on the Raider team. Raider players reported an extra "boost" from The Boo Crew's presence.

Many members of The Boo Crew wished for the former Rebel mascot to be honored in commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of Southwest High School. As a part of this effort, Confederate Battle Flags were flown alongside The Boo Crew. This practice had been traditional part of school pep rallies until 1991 when the Rebel mascot was replaced by the Raider. Principals and Vice-principals urged The Boo Crew to stop flying the flags at football games but, because they didn't break any school rules or laws, they continued to fly them. Soon, the administration became weary of The Boo Crew's ability to complete their goals and stay aligned with school rules and state and federal laws. Some school authorities even requested that The Boo Crew stop booing all together. The students disregarded these requests and continued to be popular for the remainder of their existence.

In an effort to stifle The Boo Crew, the principal banned the famous Boo Crew shirts from being worn to school and games. Temporarily, The Boo Crew was stunned. The Boo Crew, however, regrouped and donned Cardinal Red shirts with no logos at the remaining sporting events. Because booing couldn't be banned by the administration, the tradition continued at baseball, basketball, and soccer events.

The Boo Crew officially ended following the 2002-03 school year. After the exit of the principal during that time, students began to wear The Boo Crew shirts to school once again. Because there were not enough students interested in restarting The Boo Crew, the group exists at Southwest only in legend. The story continues to live on to this day.

Today, Southwest High School has the Rowdy Raiders, a group similar to The Boo Crew. The Rowdy Raiders come to football games dressed in their dark blue, Rowdy Raider shirts. They don't boo anymore but they do get the crowd excited and they fly large SHS flags after each touchdown during the fight song.

Notable Alumni

*Kasey S. Pipes, writer, former speech writer for President George W. Bush
*Oliver Miller, former NBA basketball player
*Nicole Kubes Olympic Judo competitor
*Phoebe Strole, cast member of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening

Feeder patterns

Elementary Schools

* Bruce Shulkey
* J.T. Stevens
* Woodway
* Westcreek

Middle Schools

* Wedgwood 6th
* Wedgwood Middle

External links

* [http://schools.fortworthisd.net/southwest/ Southwest High School home page]
* [http://www.shsraiderband.org/ Southwest Raiders Band Boosters]
* [http://www.southwest-xc.info/ Southwest Cross Country Website]
* [http://staff.tcu.edu/rcobb/ Southwest Raiders Showgirls Website]