Ballard High School (Louisville, Kentucky)

Infobox Secondary school
name = Ballard High School

motto = Home of Champions
established = 1968
type = Public Secondary
principal = Dr. James Jury
students = 1,700
grades = 9–12
city = Louisville
state = Kentucky
country = ,United States
district = Jefferson County Public Schools
campus = Suburban
colors = Maroon █, White █, and Powder Blue █
mascot = Bruins
newspaper =
free_label_1 = Faculty
free_1 = 200
free_label_2 = Campus size
free_2 = 30 acres
website = [http://www.ballardhighschool.com Ballard High School]

Ballard High School is a senior high school in the eastern suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. The school opened in the fall of 1968. The first students were in grades 7-9, and a grade was added each year as the building was expanded. This kept the school system from having to transfer upperclass students from other high schools after ties to another school had been established. The first class (consisting of the original freshmen) graduated in 1972. Ballard was led until the mid-1980s by principal Patrick Crawford. The school currently offers grades 9-12.

Ballard has a long-standing tradition of excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. Ballard's mission is to expose students to a solid liberal arts curriculum consisting of high-level courses and award-winning arts programs. Ballard offers a solid Advance Program curriculum which, according to their website, includes 19 College Board Advance Placement(AP) courses. Ballard consistently scores above the national mean on the ACT and SAT test, and has the highest CATS scores in Jefferson County of non-selective schools. Ballard offers French, Japanese, Latin and Spanish and has a world travel program, which gives students the opportunity to travel to Europe each year. Ballard continues to rank 2nd in the district and top 10 in the state for numbers of National Merit Scholars. Ballard High School was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an exemplary school.

Ballard is a good academic institution in the Louisville metropolitan area and consists of students from all across the city. Ballard was the first Jefferson County public high school recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. They were also the national high school academic quiz bowl champions in 1990 by winning the Panasonic Academic Challenge. In 1984 Sherleen S. Sisney, a teacher of History, Economics and Political Science, won the National Teacher of the Year award.

Campus

The campus at Ballard High School consists of the main school building as well as the fine arts building. The main building is referred to by students and faculty as four separate buildings (North, South, East, and West), although all four sections are connected to each other by overhead walkways. The South and North buildings house the majority of the classrooms at Ballard High School as well as the North and South offices. The West building's first floor is the home of Ballard's famed art department and the 2nd floor houses the Library. The East building's 1st floor contains the three cafeterias, the Ballard Bank, and the Ballard Student Guidance Center (College Counselor.) The East building second floor is the home of Ballard's award-winning Music department as well as both the large and small gymnasiums.

The Sandy Allen Fine Arts Center is a state-of-the-art performing arts facility on the Ballard High School campus. The convert|22500|sqft|m2|-1|abbr=on. facility, which opened in 1998, seats 900 and features some of the best architecture in the Louisville area. The fine arts center is used for musical and theatrical productions put on by the school's fine arts department.

In Kentucky care must be taken not to confuse this school with Ballard Memorial High School, the public high school that serves Ballard County in the far-western Jackson Purchase.

Choir, Band, Orchestra and Speech

The Ballard choral program is the largest in the state of Kentucky's and has the largest number of students accepted to KMEA. The Choir received distinguished ratings at the regional KMEA Assessment in 2005 and has received National and International awards in the past. They have offered a tradition dating back at least since the early 1980s of having select choral students comprise a Madrigal singers group.

Ballard's Concert Band received distinguished ratings at regional and statewide concert band and solo/ensemble events. In 2006 the Marching Bruins won the prestigious Grand Champion Award at the Mid-States Band Association's championships.

The Ballard Orchestra received distinguished ratings at the 2005 regional KMEA Large Ensemble Assessment. Ballard's Debate Team features three of the six of the policy debate teams in Jefferson County. Ballard's quick recall team is ranked second in the county league while suffering only one defeat to duPont Manual High School.

Athletics

Athletics at Ballard are competitive and very successful, winning 57 team state championships and many other individual championships. Ballard is a Kentucky powerhouse in baseball, basketball, American football, lacrosse, track, softball, tennis and soccer. Ballard Baseball, Ballard Basketball, and Ballard Football have sent many athletes on to college and to the pro ranks. Ballard has been run by longtime principal Sandy Allen who retired after the 2003-2004 school year. The principal as of the 2004-2005 school year is Dr. James Jury. The head basketball coach is Chris Renner and the head baseball coach is Greg Gilbert. The basketball team was the state runner up in 1987, 2003 and 2007 and won the state championship in 1977, 1988 and 1999. The girls' Softball team is a perennial power and were the State runner's up in 2005. Several current Ballard basketball players are solid prospects such as Ra'von Lee and Antiquawn Beckham. Ballard's nine state Championships in soccer outnumber those of any other program in Kentucky (1976, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1999). The soccer team was also ranked number one in the nation in the championship season of 1999. Under the leadership of coach Damon Bootes they went 27-0 en route to a state championship. That same team sent 14 players on to play Division 1 soccer at the collegiate level.

Football

:Founded: 1970:Conference: Class 6A:Division: District 6-5:Home field: Pat Crawford Stadium, seating capacity of 6,000.:Uniform colors: Maroon, white, Black:Helmet design: Maroon shell with Ballard B on one side and white numbers on the opposite side:Athletic director: Chris Kinney:Main Rivals: Eastern Eagles, Male Bulldogs, Trinity Shamrocks:Coach: Mike Jackson:Record: 3-2

Basketball

:Founded: 1970:Conference: Class 6A:Division: 7th Region:Home Court: Jim Reuther Gymnasium, seating capacity of 2,000.:Uniform colors: Maroon, White, Black:Main Rivals: Eastern High School, Louisville Male High School, Jeffersontown High School, Trinity High School, Scott County High School, Oak Hill Academy:Head Coach: Chris Renner (most victorious coach of all time in Ballard's history: 258):Record: 2007-2008 season 13-8

Lacrosse

:Founded: 2003:Conference: Class 3A:Division: 7th Region:Home Field: Pat Crawford Stadium, seating capacity of 6,000.:Uniform colors: Black, White Maroon, Baby Blue:Main Rivals: Trinity High School, Louisville Collegiate School:Head Coach: Tyler Montgomery:Record: 2007-2008 season 11-4

Fight song

(Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March):"Three cheers for our Ballard High":"Maroon and white our colors fly High":"Send a victory cheer on High":"Our spirit and pride will never Die!"

:"Whether the odds be great or be small":"Our Ballard High will win over all":"As our mighty team goes marching:"Onward to victory, VICTORY!"

Trivia

Ballard has one of the highest graduation rates in the state of Kentucky, with 97.27% of seniors graduating.

Ballard is considered a 5 star school and is ranked 8th out of 213 schools for being one of Kentucky's best public high schools, according to a popular high school analyst called SchoolDigger.

The school has a history of senior-year pranks. Some of the more infamous ones was the 1974 release of three greased pigs into the school hallways; more recently, a pair of seniors vandalized the principal's office and the famed mural hallway with eggs and whitewash, which was reported on the next morning's television news.

In the 2005-2006 school year, a local news channel trespassed onto the school's property. They had a hidden camera and recorded their trespassing, and hallway routines in the school. Later that week, the story was on the nightly news and told viewers how easy it was to break into Ballard High School.

Notable alumni

*India Chiles - former outfielder with University of Tennessee's women's softball team; 2007 Women's College World Series All-Tournament team
*Jerry Eaves - former N.B.A Player with the Utah Jazz, currently Head Men's Basketball coach at North Carolina A&T
*Colonel Walter M. Herd - commander of special operations in Afghanistan.
*G.J Hart - CEO of Texas Roadhouse Inc and Owner of The Improv, a World Famous Comedy club
*Lee Raker - former N.B.A player with the San Diego Clippers
*Jill Hertzman - Professional Woman's Tennis Player
*John Hillerich IV- President & CEO of Hillerich & Bradsby, a company that makes sports equipment including the Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
*Allan Houston – former guard for the New York Knicks
*Jeremi Johnson – starting fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals.
*Mark Jurich - former baseball star at the University of Louisville who currently plays for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
*James Kim - 1989 graduate and technology analyst who worked for CNET as the Senior Editor. The Kim family became stranded on a rural road in Oregon and James left the family to find help. His family was rescued after days of being trapped in the snow and James' body was found on December 6, 2006.
*Jeff Lamp - former N.B.A forward drafted in the first round in 1981 by the Portland Trail Blazers
*Bill Plaschke - sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times and panelist on Around the Horn on ESPN
*Jeremy Sowers - former pitcher at Vanderbilt University and 6th overall draft pick in the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, who currently plays for the Cleveland Indians,
*Josh Sowers - former pitcher at Yale University and a 10th round selection in the 2005 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, and currently plays for the Lansing Lugnuts.
*Jon Sonnheim - General Assignment Reporter, WYMT, Hazard, KY.
*DeJuan Wheat - former N.B.A Player and University of Louisville basketball star drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1997.
*Andy Weingarten - Meteorologist, WAVE-3, Louisville, KY

External links

* [http://www.ballardhighschool.com/ Ballard High School website]
* [http://www.thebruinsden.com/ Ballard High School's Sports Website]
* [http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Schools/High/ballard/index.html JCPS Website]
* [http://www.ballardhighschool.org Alumni website]
* [http://ballard-lacrosse.blogspot.com/ Ballard Men's Lacrosse Team]