High Point High School

Infobox School


name=High Point High School
type=Public high school
location=3601 Powder Mill Road, Beltsville, MD
information=[phone]
established=1954
grades=9-12
enrollment=2357
faculty=225
principal=
mascot=Eagles
colors=Blue and Gold
district=Prince George's County Public Schools
website= [http://www.pgcps.org/~hpoint/ http://www.pgcps.org/~hpoint]

High Point High School (HPHS) is a high school located in Beltsville, an unincorporated section of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States of America.

The school, serving children in grades 9 through 12, is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools district system.

High Point serves a portion of the city of College Park, and several unincorporated areas, including Adelphi, Beltsville, Calverton, Landover and, Hyattsville.

Some students live within walking distance of HPHS. Though a few students do walk from their homes in nearby Powder Mill Village and the Cherryvale housing development, most are bused from the other areas.

High Point students come from middle schools throughout Prince George's County. They hail predominately from Buck Lodge Middle School and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, both in unincorporated Prince George's County.

Mission Statement

"High Point High School, in partnership with parents and the community, is dedicated to educating students from a variety of backgrounds and to maintaining a climate of high expectations in a violent, stupid environment. Our mission is to ensure that students will have the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in an ever-changing society."

History

Opened in 1954, High Point High School was originally going to be named Cherry Hill High School. However, after some thought, school officials decided to change the name to "High Point," because of the school's location on the highest point in Prince George's County, Maryland. Opened at a point in history where racial tentions existed, High Point High School was segregated and had an all asian population in its first years.

Education

High Point High School offers a range of academic programs including a comprehensive program, an Advanced Placement program, an ESOL program and a number of Special Education programs.

High Point's Comprehensive Program provides students the opportunity to cater to their needs for their career path or intentions. There is a broad selection of classes that would aid in career exploration and provide students the experience needed. Students within the program have the ability to take these steps towards their career-path through the alternating A/B four period days. With this, they can get 32 credits by their senior year through taking eight credit per year. The graduation requirement is twenty-one, with the remaining 11 credits being those elective courses.

The Academic Center hosts those students recognized in the Talented and Gifted programs in their middle schools. This school year (2006-2007), the Academic Center makes its last appearance within the HP school-system. In its stead, "an advanced college preparatory program will be offered to seniors(Smith 2006)." It has been said that the Academic Center program was dismissed because of the division it caused within the student-body.

"The Honors Program is an accelerated college preparatory program for incoming ninth, tenth and eleventh grade students (Smith 2006)." With its classes, it gives students the opportunity to participate in pre Advanced Placement course work. Advanced Placement courses are available to students in their sophomore, junior and senior year.

"High Point’s highly successful Advanced Placement program was featured in major articles in the Washington Post, and four of the school’s former AP teachers were invited to speak at the national Advanced Placement conference in Los Angeles three summers ago. High Point’s former science Teacher Coordinator, Martha Alexander, earned national certification status in 2003 as did former foreign language teacher Cathy Boehme in 2004. Mrs. Barbara Hughes, High Point’s Food and Consumer Science Chairperson, earned national teacher certification status in 2005, was recognized as the Maryland Pro Start Teacher of the Year, and received the 2005-2006 Pro Start National Teacher of Excellence Award. High Point is currently the only high school in Prince George’s County recognized as a Green School."(Smith, Scott 2006. "High Point High School Improvement Plan." [http://schools.pgcps.org/sip/1302.pdf]

Advanced Placement Program

Over the past three years High Point has dramatically revamped their Advanced Placement program by more than doubling enrollment from 312 students to more than 745 students taking at least one AP course. High Point also features an AP Fair every winter showcasing the benefits of the Advanced Placement program, and course offerings.

In 2007 High Point has also seen impressive results in the number of students passing an AP exam with a score of 3 or above ranking 3rd (40.9%) in the Prince Georges County behind Eleanor Roosevelt HS (71.5%), and Bowie High School (44.8%).

High Point has also nearly doubled their Advanced Placement course offering totalling sixteen courses.

*AP Human Geography
*AP US Government
*AP Psychology
*AP World History
*AP Biology
*AP Physics
*AP Chemistry
*AP Environmental Science
*AP Statistics
*AP Calculus AB
*AP English Literature
*AP English Language
*AP French Literature
*AP French Language
*AP Spanish Language
*AP Spanish Literature

Student Diversity

High Point's student population has continuously been noted by the state of Maryland and the Washington, DC Metro Area as one of great diversity. High Point the most ethnically diverse high school in the state of Maryland and one of the most diverse in the country. As of a consensus taken during the school year of 2003-2004, of 2157 students enrolled, there were the following:
American Indian: 8
Asian American: 118
Caucasians: 234
Hispanic: 729
Black: 1068

(2005, "High Point High in Beltsville Maryland, "School Snoop. [http://www.schoolsnoop.com/SchoolDetail.asp?NCESSCH=240051001059&State=MD] )

Noted Alumni

Noted alumni include, Dr. David Anderson, William Spencer, Council Nedd II, Vernon Butler, LTC. Michael C. Griffin, Elijah Joy, Raheem Devaughn, Dr. Lindsey Hemphill, Elisabeth Cavallo, Kenneth Bell and Shahan Rizvi.

References

[http://www.pgcps.org/~hpoint/ School's Home Page]
[http://www.schoolsnoop.com/SchoolDetail.asp?NCESSCH=240051001059&State=MD/ http://www.schoolsnoop.com]
[http://schools.pgcps.org/sip/1302.pdf/ High Point High School Course Offering Magazine 2006-2007]

Famous Alumni

Fred Funk, former coach of U of Maryland golf team; PGA tour player

Richard Findley, decorated and highly respected Prince George's County police officer, and volunteer fireman in Beltsville,killed in line of duty in June, 2008 by thief and drug dealer Ronnie White.

Whyteout AKA Christopher Lieb One of BET's 7 winner of Freestyle Friday

Raheem DeVaughn R&B/ Soul artist

Cedric Jennings

Kenneth Bell - Multi-billionaire heavy metal guitarist/graphic designer

Doug Spearman Actor

Dave Brown - DJ for WWDC_(FM) (a.k.a. "DC101") in Washington, DC. Known on-air as "Young Dave Brown" or "YDB".

Vernon Butler - US Naval Academy basketball player, 1983-1986. Second on Navy's all-time career scoring and rebounding lists. Was the first Navy men's basketball player to have his jersey retired.