Fort Dodge Senior High School

Fort Dodge Senior High (commonly abbreviated FDSH) is the only secular high school in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Located on the North Side next to Martin Luther King Dr, it is a grade 9-12 school, it is home of the Fort Dodge Dodgers.

History

Currently covering convert|248300|sqft|m2, Fort Dodge Senior High School was built in 1958. The swimming pool and additional physical education areas were completed in 1974. The last addition, to the vocational area, was completed in 1979. Its open-floor design and industrial-style architecture is representative of the spacious neo-futuristic school designs that originated in California and other warmer climates during the middle to late 1950s. In the fall of the 2008 school year, the cafeteria and surrounding sections of the interior received extensive renovations, part of a five year plan to improve the student environment and to update the decor.

Athletics

Brick-walled Dodger Stadium, home to Fort Dodge Senior High football, baseball, and track teams, remains one of the state's best athletic facilities, with permanent seating for 5,000 persons in the two concrete bleachers. Dodger Stadium is located in the north central section of the community on an 18 acre tract of land. Built in 1939-1940, Dodger Stadium is a product of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to get depression-era America back to work. In 2008, the school district received over $1,000,000 in private donations to renovate the stadium's locker rooms and grandstands. Some of the funds were also allotted to replace the football field's natural grass playing surface with artificial turf. Work was completed in August 2008, with the inaugural game taking place on August 29, 2008.

Additionally, Fort Dodge hosts the Iowa High School Athletic Association's state softball tournament and state cross country championships.

The FDSH varsity cheer-leading squad are the defending state cheer leading champions.

Music

[Music] has been a popular elective at Fort Dodge Senior High since the beginning of the 20th century. The famous march composer Karl L. King wrote and conducted the majority of his music in Fort Dodge from 1920 until 1971, making marching band a popular activity for students and the community. The All-American Dodger Marching Band performs at all varsity home football games and competes in several regional field marching competitions throughout the year.

In addition to marching band, FDSH offers pep band, two jazz bands, and two concert bands for students to participate in. The Wind Ensemble has received several awards and recognitions for excellence in concert music.

Choir has also been popular with FDSH students. In 1930, director Howard Orth founded the A Cappella Choir, a concert choir consisting of 45 mixed voices, for the purpose of singing more challenging sacred and secular choral literature. Since that time, the choir department has added three other choirs, a vocal jazz choir, a second mixed chorus for beginning music students, and a first-year women's chorus.

Every Spring, FDSH's A Cappella Choir performs a Broadway musical. These musical theater productions have taken place every year since 1927, making it the longest consecutively running high school musical tradition in the United States. The Spring of 2009 will mark the 82nd annual Spring musical. In 1990, A Cappella Choir, under the direction of Larry Mitchell, debuted Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods". This was the national high school debut performance of the show.

External links

* [http://www.fort-dodge.k12.ia.us/sr_high/default.htm Official Website]
* [http://www.fort-dodge.k12.ia.us/sr_high/Stadium.htm Dodge Stadium]
* [http://fdmusic.vndv.com FDSH Music Department]
* http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/502903.html