- Cherry Creek High School (commonly Cherry Creek, Creek, or CCHS) is the oldest of six high schools in the Cherry Creek School District in suburban Denver, Colorado. It is one of the largest high schools in the Denver metro area, with an campus and over 3700 students. Cherry Creek High School has been designated a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education and has received an "Excellent" rating on the Colorado School Accountability Report.
- History
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In 1950, seven small school districts in Arapahoe County were consolidated to form Cherry Creek School District No. 5, eliminating original School District #19 and making its one-room schoolhouse obsolete. In 1953 the schoolhouse was sold at public auction; and for the next 16 years, it was used as a storage shed. The consolidation brought the eight schools of Ash Grove, Castlewood, Cherry Creek, Cherry Hills (Cherry Creek), Cunningham, Maple Grove, Mountain View, and Sullivan (Mountain View) together for educating elementary students, but Cherry Creek area high school students did not have their own school until 1955. Appropriately, it was named Cherry Creek High School. On September 6, 1955 , the school opened its doors to 364 high school students (grades 9-12) and an additional 349 younger students (grades 7-8) who had to wait until the following year for their own Cherry Creek Junior High School building to be completed.
- The district bought land at the corner of South Holly Street and East Belleview Avenue in 1965, and built a second junior high school, Cherry Creek West Junior High, which opened its doors in September 1966 to 655 students, although construction was not complete until that November (for example, there was no cafeteria until then). When Cherry Creek West Junior High was opened, both it and the original junior high, renamed Cherry Creek East Junior High (now known as Campus Middle School), housed grades 7-9, making the high school a three year high school (grades 10-12).
- Four separate additions were made to the high school building before 1970, more than doubling its size. The Vocational-Practical Arts Center (1970), and the Performing Fine Arts Center (1974) were added to the campus unit between the West Building, which was the entire Cherry Creek High School in 1955, and the East Building. The latter reverted to the high school when Campus Middle School was built in 1971 (grades 7-8), and Cherry Creek became again a four-year high school. Additional major renovations occurred in 1997 when the Vocational Industrial Arts Building was transformed into the Information Center. Additions to East, Fine Arts, and West were completed in 2005.
- The original $800 one-room Cherry Creek Schoolhouse, found on a ranch north of Parker, was purchased and brought back to the high school campus in 1969. Restored and now serving as a museum-classroom, it rests south of the Information Center building.
- Campus
- Location
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The Cherry Creek High School campus is located in the city of Greenwood Village on East Union Avenue between Yosemite Street and Dayton Street. It is directly across the street from Cherry Creek State Park. Also located on the property are the Cherry Creek School District's West Admissions building, West Maintenance building, and Education Service Center. It is adjacent to the building and campus of Campus Middle School, one of Creek's feeder schools.
- Facilities
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The campus contains four buildings (West, Information Center (IC), Fine Arts, and East) with 170 classrooms, eight tennis courts, a baseball diamond, two practice football fields, and Stutler Bowl, Creek's stadium, and a challenge course. The West Building, by far the largest of the four, houses two gyms, a swimming pool, a weight room, Shillinglaw Lecture Center, and the Creek Cafe, a DECA run cafeteria. The Information Center Building has a library and technology center, the Registrar's Office, the Counseling and Post-Grad Center, and another cafeteria. Connected to IC by the "Fine Arts Tunnel", the Fine Arts Building features a large theater, music labs, and art labs. The East Building contains a gym and the Attendance and Security offices. The sprawling campus is meant to evoke a large "college-like" feel in order to prepare students for college life.
- Academics
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In 2008, Newsweek ranked the school as the 282nd best public high school in the country for academics. U.S. News and World Report gave Cherry Creek a silver medal in their 2008 public high school ratings. Cherry Creek was placed 5th in a list of the top public and private high schools in Denver in an article in 5280.The school has received seven PRIDE awards from North Central, the highest ever awarded.
- The class of 2008 had 23 National Merit finalists and two National Hispanic Scholars. 94.7% of the Class of 2007 attended college. Cherry Creek received the 2005 Colorado High Performance Library Center Award. The library holds over 46,000 volumes and numerous online subscription databases. 1,300 computers across the campus offer Internet access. Cherry Creek faculty founded the Cherry Creek Diversity Conference.
- The class of 2009 recieved over $1 million in scholarship money from schools ranging all over the United States
- Advanced Placement
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Cherry Creek High School offers Advanced Placement (AP) exams in 28 subject areas. In 2007, 906 students took 2,374 AP exams, and 87% of the students scored 3 or higher (considered passing). The next year 986 students took 2,240 AP exams, 88% scoring 3 or higher. Creek has been recognized as one of the nation's top high schools for AP participation in math, science, and technology, receiving the 2008 Advanced Placement Siemens Award. Creek is also the only school in Colorado to have offered AP French Literature every year.
- Faculty and Staff
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331 staff members work with CCHS students each day, and of those, 229 are certified teachers. Over 67% of the faculty has eleven or more years of experience in education. Nine members of the faculty possess doctorate degrees, and a total of 76% have earned at least a master’s degree. Five deans and eleven guidance counselors provide students with support services.
- The student-to-teacher ratio in 2004 was 21.3 for the 9th grade, 19.2 for 10th grade, 18.7 for 11th grade, and 18.8 for the 12th grade.
- Principals
- Richard Womack
- Leonard Shillinglaw (1956-1966)
- Dr. Ivan Muse (1966-1968)
- Dr. Walter Armistead (1968-1970)
- Dr. Donald K. Goe (1970-1973)
- Henry F. Cotton (1973-1988)
- Dr. Mary Gill (1988-1993)
- Dr. Kathy Smith (1993-2009)
- Ryan Silva (2009- )
The school's current principal, Dr. Kathy Smith, recently announced her retirement at the end of the 2008-2009 school year. One of the current Assistant Principals, Ryan Silva, will be filling her spot.- Athletics
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CCHS is part of the 8-team Centennial League that also includes Arapahoe, Grandview, Cherokee Trail, Smoky Hill, Eaglecrest, Mullen, and Overland.[1]
- In addition to over 160 state championships, Cherry Creek has won three Wells-Fargo Cups as the All-Sport Champion in the state of Colorado. In 2005, Sports Illustrated named it the 5th-best high school athletics program in the nation. It was also appointed the top athletic high school in the state in both 2006 and 2007 by Mile High Sports Magazine. It is also well-known for its successful tennis team. The current athletic director, Randy McCall, came under fire early 2008 for his second job as an NCAA basketball official, which he often missed half of each school week for.
- Football
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The Cherry Creek football program has experienced a large amount of success, having won eight state championships. In the 2007 football season, John Elway was the quarterbacks' coach for the varsity football team on which his son, Jack Elway, played.
- Tennis
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The school is perhaps best known for its tennis program, which is considered to be one of the best in the United States. Over a 28-year span, from 1972 to 2000, the boys' team won 316 consecutive dual matches, a national record for the sport. Additionally, the school has won 36 state titles in boys' tennis alone. Cherry Creek High School has produced many notable athletes including ATP professional Jeff Salzenstein and several other tennis products.
- Women's Swimming
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Cherry Creek is also a power in women's swimming, with 25 state titles. As a senior in 1991, five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Amy Van Dyken won two individual state titles (she also won a pair as a junior) and helped the Bruins earn a state team championship.
- State Championships
- Extracurriculars
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Cherry Creek High School offers more than 90 activity organizations, the majority of which are open to all students. Many are nationally recognized, including the Union Street Journal, Fine Print, the Speech and Debate Team, Amnesty International, Key Club, Future Business Leaders of America, and DECA. The Speech and Debate Team is one of the top ten in the nation and part of “The 400" society, the top one-half of one percent of the National Forensics League school speech programs. The team has won the district competition for 23 years. Cherry Creek also has a notable Model United Nations program, and the school is known for an annual Model U.N. competition hosted by its team. Over 40 schools across Colorado and international students from Escuala Continentale in Mexico City come to Cherry Creek High school to partake in United Nations simulations.
- Union Street Journal
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The Union Street Journal is Cherry Creek High School's student newspaper, a full-color monthly broadsheet of 16-20 pages. Published on the third Thursday of every month, it includes several sections, including a signature "center spotlight" page that reflects on school events. The USJ has received a Superior award for the state of Colorado from the National Council of Teachers of English. The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) has named the USJ a "Gold Crown Newspaper" three times (1983, 1986, and 1988), meaning it was one of the top high school newspapers in the nation. In 1989, 1991, and 1993, the USJ was named a "Silver Crown Newspaper." From 1984 to 1990, USJ staff members won 24 Gold Circle Awards from the CSPA. In more recent years, the newspaper has been the recipient of several honors from the Colorado High School Press Association, including four first-place awards in 2007 for ad design, front-page layout, and editorial writing.
- Alumni
- Academics
- Steven Gubser, professor at Princeton University, first American to win the International Physics Olympiad, received Sloan Fellowship
- Arthur McEvoy, author, Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School
- William Philpott, environmental historian and writer, Illinois State University
- Media/Film
- Amanda Aardsma, actress, model, Miss Colorado Teen USA, Finalist Miss Teen USA
- Neal Baer, executive producer for the television show Special Victims Unit
- Steve Frakes, Hollywood special effects and make-up artist
- Holly Hacker, reporter for the Dallas Morning News
- Jeff McAdam, Sports Reporter/Anchor for KXXV/KRHD in College Station
- Tracey Needham, actress, best known for the television shows Life Goes On and JAG
- Aimee Sporer, former news anchor for KCNC-TV in Denver
- David Tauchen, reporter for KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs
- John Wells, producer for television shows including ER and The West Wing
- Ricky Young, former city editor for the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean
- Music
- Brian Joseph, folk singer-songwriter
- Ben Levy, double bassist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops
- Mieka Pauley, singer-songwriter
- Sean York, saxophonist for Benedictine College
- Trina Struble, principal harpist for the Cleveland Orchestra
- smallboifunk, indie Hip Hop artist
- Whitney Whyte, singer-songwriter
- Austin Wintory, soundtrack composer for the game flOw and numerous movies
- Politics
- Michael Huttner, liberal activist, political consultant, and founder of ProgressNow
- Ed Woodland, current mayor of Eagle, Colorado
- Sports
- David Aardsma, pitcher for the Seattle Mariners
- Tom Ashworth, Offensive Tackle for the Seattle Seahawks
- Josh Bard, Washington Nationals catcher
- J.D. Brookhart, head football coach at the University of Akron
- John Burke, Major League Baseball pitcher, first-ever draft pick of the Colorado Rockies
- Amy Van Dyken, Olympic swimmer and gold medalist
- Matt Iseman, host of Sports Soup
- Brad Lidge, reliever, All-Star and World Series Champion for the Philadelphia Phillies
- Darnell McDonald, outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds
- Donzell McDonald, former MLB player for the New York Yankees
- Jill McGill, professional LPGA golfer
- Tyler Polumbus, NFL player for the Denver Broncos
- Mark Randall, former NBA basketball player, led the Kansas Jayhawks to the 1991 National Championship Game
- Mike Reid, PGA golfer
- Michael Ruffin, Portland Trail Blazers forward
- Jeff Salzenstein, tennis player
- Eve Torres, WWE Diva for the SmackDown! Brand
- Sean Tufts, linebacker for the Carolina Panthers
- Jonathan Vaughters, former professional cyclist, Tour de France competitor, and current director of the Garmin-Chipotle cycling team
- External links
- Cherry Creek High School: Official Website
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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