University High School (Spokane Valley, Washington)

Infobox high school | name = University High School
type = 4-year public high school
grades = 9-12
staff = 103 certified, 50 classified
students = approx. 1,900
city = Spokane Valley
state = Washington
country = United States
newspaper = The Mercury
principal = Daryl Hart
mascot = Titans
colors = Crimson and Gold
website = http://www.cvsd.org/university

University High School is a grade 9-12 high school in Spokane Valley, Washington. It is part of the Central Valley School District in Spokane Valley. University (nickname, 'U-Hi' or 'U-High') The school colors are crimson and gold, and it is a 4A school. University High was originally located in a different building, about convert|2|mi|km away from the current one, but the building was deemed old and therefore a new building was voted to be created. The new building can accommodate many more students than the old (approx. 1900), it was built in 2002 and opened in 2003. Unfortunately, because of the number of students attending (and this number continues to grow each year) U-High is no longer accepting choice students, and many of the teachers have to trade classrooms during the day.

Clubs and activities

U-High has many clubs and activities. Amateur radio club, ASB/Leadership, Anime/Asian Culture club, Crimson Crew (Crimson Crew is a group of 200 juniors and seniors who help freshman make the transition into high school), DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) [http://www.deca.org/] , Destination Imagination [http://www.destinationimagination.org/] , Drama, Electronic Communications (radio, broadcasting, etc.), FACSE, FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) [http://www.fbla-pbl.org/] , First Priority (Christian club), French club, GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance), German club, National Honor Society [http://www.nhs.us/s_nhs/index.asp] , Human and Animal Rights Club, Junior Statesmen [https://www.jsa.org/netforumjsf/eweb/StartPage.aspx] , Key Club, Knowledge Bowl [http://www.oesd.wednet.edu/programs_services/IRC/knowledge_bowl.htm] (Knowledge Bowl is a lot like the TV-show "Jeopardy!", only it's played with teams of 3 or 4), Math Club, Spanish club, TSA (Technology Student Association) [http://www.tsaweb.org/] , theater, orchestra, marching band [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=234986937] , concert band, jazz band, choir (Chanteuse Treble Choir, Concert Choir, University Choir, Lirico Chamber Singers (see below), MAN Choir, Titan Jazz Choir) [http://www.uhighchoir.org/] , and WDFY (Washington Drug-Free Youth).

Lirico Chamber Singers

Lirico Chamber Singers, is an elite choral group performing music by composers such as Eric Whitacre, Thomas Talis, William Byrd, Charles Stafford, Nancy Telfer, Michael McGlynn. The Lirico Chamber Singers meet at 6:30 each morning, Monday through Friday. Members of Lirico Chamber Singers have sung at numerous venues and have even traveled to Ireland in the summer of 2006. Members of each upcoming school year for Lirico are chosen after auditions in late May.

Sports

Sports at University High School include: baseball, boys and girls basketball, cheerleading, boys and girls cross country, dance team, football, boys and girls golf, gymnastics, boys and girls soccer, fastpitch softball, slowpitch softball, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls track, volleyball, and wrestling.
Sports Traditions
Central Valley High School is U-High's school rival. Most of the sports events against them have names and are a major part of the school tradition. The most-attended competition, the Stinky Sneaker, had to be moved to the Spokane Arena to accommodate the number of students and teachers present. Almost the entire population of both schools attend this basketball game. The prize is the Stinky Sneaker, an old shoe painted half crimson and gold and half blue and white (CV's colors). They also get the bragging rights for that year. The second most-attended CV-U-High sporting event is called the Greasy Pig, and it's the football game between the two schools. The third most-attended match is the wrestling match, and it's called the Battle of the Bone. The soccer game is called the Muddy Cleat, and most of the other sports have names for their CV-U-High rivalry games as well. All of these competitions, except for the Greasy Pig, are not about who wins and who loses, but about which school displays the most spirit. Until recently the Battle of the Bone was also given to the school who won the match, and not about spirit. The Battle of the Bone is the nastiest of the rivalry games with insults being thrown from one crowd to the other. At the Stinky Sneaker every year, each school chooses a theme using the word 'shoe' in it (anything from Shoesta (fiesta, Mexican themed) to Shoeper Nintendo (video-game related) to Shoerella (Cinderella, fantasy-related). Each school does a half-time presentation and everybody waves themed objects at appointed times.

State Championships
1992 Girls Cross Country
1997 Boys Cross Country
1998 Boys Cross Country
1998 Boys Track
1999 Boys Cross Country
1999 Boys Track
2003 Fastpitch Softball
2005 Wrestling

Hours

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, classes are from 7:35 to 2:15. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is Student Access Time from 7:35 to 8:30, and classes start at 8:30 and end at 2:15. Student Access Time has two purposes: one purpose is Teacher Collaboration time, and the other purpose is a time for students to meet with their teachers to get help either on homework or classwork.

Schedule

University High School is on a trimester system. One trimester is 60 days, and .5 credit is issued for a class one trimester in length. There are 4 classes a day, and then on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays there is a class called TAP, which stands for Tutorial/Advisory Peiod. This is a time when students can do homework, and it also serves as a sort of 'homeroom', even though it's after 1st period. This is the class where students take the WASL (the Washington Assessment of Student Learning), where students do their senior projects, register for the next year, and other various high school-related activities. This class has the same students with the same teacher for all four years of high school. Classes are either 75 or 80 minutes long, depending on the day of the week, and TAP is 25 minutes long.

Facility

On the website, this is what it says about the school building: " The new U-High, which opened fall 2002, is convert|240000|sqft|m2 and sits on a 44 acre site. The school has 75 teaching stations divided among general classrooms, business, science, art, music, professional-technical and health/fitness areas. Our commons/cafeteria area accommodates 800 students for lunch and is a multipupose area where we hold dances and large gatherings. The theater seats 575 and is a great facility for our music concerts, drama productions and guest speakers. The gym seats 2,030 for athletic contests."

Notable alumni

*Brad Walker (athlete), Class of 1999, World Class Pole Vaulter. Currently Competing for USATF.
*Angie Bjorklund, Class of 2007, 2006. She was the 2007 Washington State Girls Basketball Player of the Year and holds every scoring record, boys or girls, in the GSL.Fact|date=August 2008 Angie was heavily recruited by the legendary Pat Summitt (Tennessee Volunteers Women's basketball coach) and is currently Enrolled at the University of Tennessee.Fact|date=August 2008
*Marshel Renz, Class of 2006 and record holder for SAS (Spokane Area Swimming) is currently enrolled at Auburn University, in Auburn, Alabama.Fact|date=August 2008 The Auburn Tigers recently were the 5 time defending NCAA Champions, from 2003-2007.Fact|date=August 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.titanball.com Baseball website]
* [http://www.uhightitangolf.com/cheerleaders.htm Cheerleading website]
* [http://www.uhighchoir.org/ Choir website]
* [http://www.cvsd.org/university/classes/activities/cc/ Cross Country website]
* [http://www.cvsd.org/university/classes/eng/dsmith/titan_debate.asp Debate website]
* [http://www.uhightitangolf.com/footballindex.htm Football website]
* [http://www.uhightitangolf.com/golfindex.htm Golf website]
* [http://www.cvsd.org/university/gymnastics_1.asp Gymnastics website]
* [http://www.uhightitangolf.com/uhighband.htm Marching Band website]
* [http://www.cvsd.org/university University High School website]