North Central High School (Washington)

Infobox School2 | name =North Central High School


motto ="Say It Loud, Say It Proud"
established =1908
type =Public high school
grades =9-12
head_name =Principal
head =Steven Gering
head_name2 =Administrator
head2 =Wendy Watson
city =Spokane
state =Washington
country =USA
students =1,610
faculty =
athletics =13 Sports (6 of these both boys and girls)
fight song ="Oh Red and Black"
school_colors =Red and Black
mascot =Indian
website = [http://www.spokaneschools.org/northcentral/ NCHS]

North Central High School is a public high school in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is part of the Spokane Public Schools. The 2006-07 school year enrollment is 1,610 in grades 9-12.

History

North Central High School first opened in September 1908 with only half a wing and 12 classrooms ready for the 200 newly enrolled students. Events in the school's history include the outbreak of scarlet fever that led to every student being checked twice a week by throat specialist, the merging of South Central and North Central, visits by William Jennings Bryan who spoke of the importance of public speaking and Booker T. Washington who spoke of being a slave boy and the founding of a college in Tuskegee, Alabama, and a spirit competition known as Groovy Shoes. [ [http://www.spokaneschools.org/NorthCentral/history/NC_history.htm NC History ] ]

Buildings and Layout

North Central, which is located in the central part of the City of Spokane, Washington, is a multi-story building and a layout on which students sometimes need to trek across the football field to an annex building for some classes. The current building was constructed during 1980-1981, taking the place of the original 1908 North Central building which was torn down. It has an extensive skylight area where seniors usually eat lunch and encompasses over a city block in Spokane, including a combined football/track field, separate baseball and softball fields as well as four tennis courts.

Demographics

Of North Central's 1,610 students (2006-07 school year), 75% are white, 14% are black, 3% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian, 4% American Indian, and 2% are unknown/not provided. 43% of students qualify for free lunches or reduced price lunches. [ [http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/wa/other/1809 Student Teacher Ratio North Central High School - Spokane, Washington - WA ] ]

Notable Current & Former Students

* Ryne Sandberg, Retired Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player [ [http://users.aol.com/rynocub/ryno.htm The Ryne Sandberg Home Page ] ] (North Central's Baseball field is name for him.) [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4186/is_20050105/ai_n11711223]
* Bing Crosby, American singer attended North Central until he could afford to go to Gonzaga Preparatory High School (a preparatory High School in Spokane feeding to Gonzaga University)
* Bruce Alan Grandstaff, platoon sergeant who died in Vietnam, recipient of the Medal of Honor, has a memorial dedicated to him in the skylight area.
* Michael Leach,co-founder of E3 Technology, Inc. a Spokane based business, attended North Central from 1988-1992

Notable Current & Former Teachers

* Tim Rypien, Physical Education teacher. Former baseball player in the Toronto Blue Jays organization [http://www.tdr2.com/camps/WinterBaseballSessions] & younger brother of Mark Rypien. [ [http://www.spokane.net/sports/SportsProfile_Rypien.aspx Sports Profile ] ]

* Randall James, Biology teacher. Ran with the great Steve Prefontaine at the University of Oregon.

*Elsa Pinkham, founder of Doll Shop, Red Feathers, Color Girls.

Athletics

*2006 Boys 3A Cross Country State Champions
*2006 Girls 3A Track State Champions
*2007 3rd 3A Boys Basketball
*2007 2nd 3A Boys Track
*2007 Boys 3A Cross Country State Champions
*2007 Boys West Regional Champions in Nike Team Regional
*2007 Boys Cross Country Qualified For Nike Team National
*2007 6th at Nike Team Nationals
*A list of both Boys' and Girls' sporting events for North Central can be found at this link: [http://www.spokaneschools.org/NorthCentral/sports.htm North Central High School Sports]

References

External links

* [http://www.spokaneschools.org/northcentral/ School Homepage]
* [http://www.spokaneschools.org/ Spokane Public School District Homepage]