Peoria High School (Arizona)

Infobox_School | name = Peoria High School


motto = "Go Panthers! Exceed!"
established = 1922
type = Public Secondary
principal = Dr. Kayla Carter
faculty = 139
enrollment = 2,218
colors = colorbox|green colorbox|gold Green and Gold
mascot = Panthers
free_label =
free_text =
location = 11200 N. 83rd Avenue, Peoria, Arizona, United States of America
information = 623-486-6300
website = [http://www/sites/PeoriaHS/default.aspx]

Peoria High School, located in the city of Peoria, in the community of Peoria, Arizona opened its doors in 1922 to a small community. Peoria High School is operated by the Peoria Unified School District. While concentrating on academic excellence, the Peoria High School student body has created a solid foundation of clubs, activities, and sports programs. Scholars, athletes, club members, and artists have emerged as leaders. Peoria High School began its journey 1922 with a few number of students. Peoria High School has grown rapidly to several thousand currently enrolled students and over one hundred and fifty full-time staff members, as of 2008.

Academics

Highly performing school

By the State of Arizona's Standard, Peoria High School has been ranked as a Highly Performing School. This ranking means that Peoria ranks in the uppermost region of academics in the State of Arizona. Mathematics, English and history scores have all improved drastically over the past five years and continue to rise. This is partially due to the teachers' understanding of what each student needs and helping them succeed.

Honor programs

Many different academic tracks are offered for students to meet their needs. The first is the basic track which helps the student to take classes that interest them and allow a wide variety with no added weight in GPA. Another track is the honors program which offers somewhat of a harder work load and helps to boost the student's GPA by weighting the grades more. The last track is the A.P. program which offers college level classes and college credit for those that apply. This track weights the grades the same as an honors class, but allows the student to leave high school with a certain number of college credits already to their name. All students may take a mixture of basic, honors and AP if they wish.

Graduate ratio

Peoria High School has more than 95% of its students graduate after four years. The graduation ceremony takes place at the University of Phoenix Stadium, which is located in the neighboring city of Glendale.

Activities

Student government

A major club on campus is the Student Council. The Student Council is a very active club around campus. Some of the council's functions include promoting school spirit by planning spirit weeks, pep rallies, dances, homecoming and the prom. Student Council's advisor is Jennifer McNutt and it includes freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Freshmen elections take place in December. All other elections are held at the end of each year for the following year.

Agriculture department

A nationally recognized program at Peoria is that of agriculture. As one of the only agriculture programs in Arizona, it continues to flourish. Every year, the students plan a 2 day conference for students throughout the state to attend. Mr. Fuller is the head of program.

Peoria Dance Theatre

The Peoria Dance Theatre is a club for females and males who are skilled in all forms of dance. The club holds a dance concert for the community and school twice a year: one in the winter and one in the spring. To join, one must audition for the program, which traditionally occurs in the early spring for the following year. The dance instructor is Andrea Chesley.

M.E.S.A.

Originally designed for minority students, this engineering club is nationally recognized for its excellence and attention to detail. No longer for minority students, anyone may join, regardless of race or year in school. Judith Shipley is the advisor.

Athletic programs

Football

The football team at Peoria High School has a long history of tradition, state championships and pride. Every Friday night football game is a community event at the school. The team's head coach is Doug Clapp.

Cheerleading

Try-outs for the squad are held every spring during a weeklong process. There are two squads to be made: varsity and junior varsity. Cheer camps, practices and games are mandatory to being a member.

Marching Band

The marching band has been the "Pride of Peoria" and has upheld the tradition of the school for years. The marching band mainly plays at halftime during varsity football games, but they also travel to many competitions around the state.

Men's wrestling

Wrestling holds many state titles as a whole and with individual students. The season takes place during the winter and lasts until February.

Other sports

Peoria offers sports year-round for all students to participate in. The sports offered are listed below.

Fall:
* Football [Male]
* Cheerleading [Male and Female]
* Volleyball [Female]
* Cross Country [Male and Female]
* Swim and Dive [Male and Female]
* Golf [Male and Female]

Winter:
* Basketball [Male and Female]
* Wrestling [Male and Female]
* Soccer [Male and Female]
* Cheerleading [Male and Female]
* Winter Drum Line [Male and Female]

Spring:
* Baseball [Male]
* Softball [Female]
* Track and Field [Male and Female]

Notable alumni

* Eric Guliford - Former ASU Star, played with the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints

External links

* [http://portal.peoriaud.k12.az.us/sites/PeoriaHS/default.aspx Peoria High School web page]
* [http://www.peoriaud.k12.az.us Peoria Unified School District]