- Smoky Hill High School is located in Aurora, Colorado and currently has around 2,600 students. Smoky Hill is part of the Cherry Creek School District and was the second high school built by the district in 1974.
- It goes by the short name 'Smoky'. The name actually comes from the fact that the school is located not far from the Smoky Hill Trail, an old pioneer trail stretching from Kansas to Denver.
- Curriculum
-
In 1991, Smoky Hill became the second high school in Colorado to offer the International Baccalaureate Program. Since that time Smoky has been recognized in Newsweek's nationwide list of excellent high schools. Also, in 2006 Smoky Hill's AVID program was the only school in the AVID Western Division to be recognized as a National Demonstration School with Distinction. Smoky Hill also supports the Advanced Placement program and offers nineteen AP classes.
- Extracurricular Studies
- Model UN
-
The Model UN program at Smoky Hill High School is coached by Donald Hawley and Janice Zuk in which the students represent the countries given and assume the roles as delegates as in UN. After preparation, Model UN teams from different schools meet at the scheduled confereces. During the conference, given issues are discussed among the delegates in process of developing a successful resolution. The Smoky Hill High School Model UN team has received numerous awards including many best delegations award. In 2008, November 10, Cherry Creek High School and Smoky Hill High School hosted a conference named the 2008 Cherry Creek - Smoky Hill Model Conference.
- World Affairs Challenge
-
World Affairs Challenge is a group of students led by Janice Zuk that has a long history in yearly competition at University of Denver. During the 2007-2008 school year, Smoky Hill received the first place award for Overall Performance in Role-Play, Collaborative Question, and the Global Awareness Test. In the 2008-2009 competition Smoky Hill received the flowing awards: 1st Place Formal Presentation - Water, 1st Place Formal Presentation - Human Relations/Global Trade, 1st Place Formal Presentation - Energy. In addition, several students were awarded individual awards for scores on the Global Awareness Test from the Clean Water team. Also, Smoky Hill had one member from each team in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd designations for the Collaborative Question teams. More notably, Smoky Hill's Clean Water team won first place overall.
- Choir
-
The choir program has had a lengthy tradition of excellence and is currently under the direction of Mike Grant and Jim Techau. The SHHS choirs have boasted 14 performances at the Colorado Music Educators Association convention since 1992, and is known in the area for a unique familial dynamic, rich and mature tone quality, and extremely varied and difficult performance repertoire.
- In April 2006 during the choir program's bi-annual "tour" the Smoky Hill Symphonic and Chamber Choirs performed at the Worlds of Fun Music Competition in Kansas City. The Symphonic Choir took first place all around and the Chamber Choir took second place. During the same tour both the Mixed Jazz Choir and Women's Jazz Choir performed at the School of Music Vocations at the Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa. All of the choirs gave performances at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska.
- In January 2007 the Symphonic Choir participated in the Colorado Music Educators Association for the 14th time. It was Mike Grant's first experience at CMEA, and his 2nd state convention performance (FL-ACDA, 1999). That following year in January 2008, The Advanced Women's Chorale under the direction of Mr. Jim Techau attended the same conference, making it Smoky Hill's 14th performance.
- Acclaimed Accompanist Rob Lowe announced in May 2007 that he would indeed be retiring from Smoky Hill High School. The following 2007-2008 semester, the choir program welcomed Accompanist Darren Wirth.
- In July 2008 Smoky Hill Choir will be sponsoring a summer Vocal Jazz Workshop with the School for Music Vocations and the Jazz Group "First Take."
- Digital-Evolutions
-
Digital-Evolutions is an accelerated exploratory technology & design program and a Hewlett Packard showcase classroom. The program introduces students to graphic design, multimedia, programming, video production, and a heavy focus on 3D visualization & animation. In the fall of 2005, Digital-Evolutions hosted an international 3D animation event, 3December. In 2006, Digital-Evolutions created and sponsored a state-wide animation showcase, GetRendered!. In the spring of 2007, student teams took first, second and third place at both the regional and the state level SkillsUSA animation contests.
- Drama
-
The Smoky Hill Drama department has received many awards over the years, and has attracted many students. The head for most Drama-related affairs is Mr. Brown. The shows are always very popular, with hundreds of people flocking to the ticket booth whenever it's time for one of these performances to happen.
- In 2009, the Smoky Hill Drama program's musical production of All Shook Up was named the Aurora Sentinel's Readers' Choice for Best Theatrical Performance.
- In March 2007 Smoky Hill High School performed the musical Barnum. Students had to learn new and complicated tasks to make the show a success such as Trapeze, Silks, Stilts, Juggling, and Tightrope.
- In April 2007 students Jon Lannen and Joshua Roth produced "Voices from the Shore," A play written by Max Bush. The play dealt with the topic of Mental Illness and explored the reaches of Schizophrenia among other psychological disorders.
- Band
-
There are several different bands that students can participate in. The beginner/basic level band is the Smoky Hill Concert Band. The intermediate band is known as the Smoky Hill Symphonic Band. The most advanced ensemble is the Smoky Hill Wind Symphony. Students can audition for the Jazz Band, where some of the best musicians in the school go to further study their craft. There is also a marching band. All Smoky Hill bands are under the direction of Mr. Zak Ruffert and Mr. Mavity.
- Orchestra
-
Smoky Hill High School has had the honor of having Ms. Chelsea Peele as its established Orchestra Conductor and teacher of stringed instruments. There are two different orchestras depending on skill level, String and Symphonic. Students must audition for Symphonic Orchestra, but any student may take the String Orchestra class. The orchestra also provides an after school club, the Chamber Orchestra, for kids who would like to perform much more challenging chamber music with others.
- Robotics
-
In 2005, Smoky Hill formed the Smoky Hill Area Robotics Club (SHARC) under programming teacher John Champion. It has been a part of the FIRST robotics competitions since 2006, earned 2nd place in the Colorado School of Mines Robo Landminer Competition, and hosts monthly robotics competitions. Despite early financial hardships, the program has flourished due to several extremely dedicated adults from the community and Smoky, $6000 worth of grants from NASA to purchase the FIRST robot kit and a $5000 grant from Lowe's to purchase professional-grade tools for metal, plastic, and wood working.
- Science Bowl
-
The school's Science Bowl team has been nationally recognized under coach Mary Bartholomew for several years in the past. In 2003, students from Smoky Hill High School won top honors at the Colorado Science Bowl Competition at the Colorado School of Mines. In 2006, for the fifth year in a row, students from Smoky Hill High School won top honors and fifth place at the U.S. Department of Energy Science Bowl.
- In 2008, a related competition, the Colorado Metro Chemistry Competition, was undertaken by the school's chemistry students under the coaching of Mrs. Mary Bartholomew. Two of Smoky Hill's teams won 1st and 2nd place in the Chemistry Bowl competition, while several Smoky Hill students won honors in the various side competitions. Smoky Hill took 1st place among the many Colorado high schools attending Metro Chemistry Day in 2008 as well.
- Ocean Bowl
-
Smoky Hill High School's Ocean Sciences Bowl is under the coaching of Mr. Ken Hamner. In 2007, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl team placed 5th in the nation, claiming victory even over the defending 1st place team from the previous year, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. In 2008, Smoky Hill High School placed second in the Regional Ocean Bowl Competition.
- Newspaper
-
The Smoky Hill Express has been recognized by the Colorado High School Press Association in recent years as one of the top student newspapers in Colorado, under adviser Carrie Faust. The 2005-2006 staff, under editor-in-chief Ashley Casullo, placed third and the 2006-2007 staff, under Alan Dicker and Young Lim, placed second at CHSPA's annual 5A state newspaper sweepstakes.
- In 2006, The Express made headline news when it published an article and prompted the closing of a "secret room" above the auditorium that had been a long-time tradition among drama students.
- Yearbook
-
The Smoky Hill Yearbook staff has published many books, a series titled "Summit". Currently under the advisory of Carrie Faust, the Summit Staff is composed of all students, and is student run in all its entirety. Under Faust, the Summit staff has won the Pacemaker award and a CSPA Silver Crown.
- Athletics
-
Athletically, Smoky Hill High School is part of the 8-team Centennial League that also includes Cherry Creek, Grandview, Arapahoe, Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Mullen, and Overland high schools.
- Cheerleading
-
Smoky has one of the top cheerleading squads in the state. In the 2007-2008 season the squad placed 1st in the regional competition, 4th at state and 18th at nationals. The best the team has ever done at nationals was 8th place in 2004.
- Track & Field
-
In 1992, Smoky Hill won its first state championship in any sport, defeating Montbello High School in the 6A Track and Field State Championships. With continued success and top ten performances in the state meet the Buffaloes pulled of a three time State Championship run during the years 2002-2005
- Soccer
-
In the 2006 season Danny Winsor led the Smoky Hill High School boys varsity soccer team to win the class 5A state title game. In the 2007 season, Smoky Hill High School won their second consecutive state championship against Grandview High School with a win of 3 to 1.
- Cross-Country
-
The Buffalo cross-country team has usually been in the top tier of state teams, since the schools inception. Greg Weich, who coached from 1996-2005, was a nationally recognized coach. In 2004, the girls team took second in the Nike Team Nationals. The boys side's best showing at the state meet was in 2005, where they took third behind Grant Duin.
- Inline Hockey
-
The Smoky Hill Buffaloes had a very successful 2008 season, with three of their four teams qualifying for the playoffs. They all proceeded to advance to their respective championships as well. The Junior Varsity teams won the championships in both the 4A and 5A divisions. The Varsity 5A team advanced all the way to their championship by ousting Mountain Vista High School and Douglas County High School, respectively, before falling to the Lewis-Palmer Rangers 7-4.
- Volleyball
-
The Lady buffs volleyball team has competed in the Centennial league since the beginning. With the competition of Creek, Grandview, Eaglecrest, and Mullen, the Buffs have been competing in the top league in the state. In the past 9 years the 5A girls volleyball Championship has been taken by the centennial league, Smoky Hill claiming 3 of these Championships. The championship teams were lead by Steve Huntingdale, a known coach for Front Range Volleyball who is now coaching at Montana State. After he left the program, Katie Hagen took over for three years. This year, coach Lisa Huggins, who played her college career at Iowa State, lead a team of 9 seniors to districts, tieing for 9th in state. The Lady Buffs were not expected to finish in the top 20 this season.
- International Baccalaureate
-
In 1991, Smoky Hill became the second International Baccalaureate Diploma School established in the state of Colorado.
- The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is an educational programme examined in one of three languages (English, French or Spanish) and is a leading university entrance course.
- The programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, is a recognized pre-university educational programme. Students take six subjects, and must also pass 3 extra requirements, for example Theory of Knowledge (ToK), a 4000-word Extended Essay (EE), and a requirement of at least a total of 150 hours in CAS (Creative, Action, Service)
- Notable alumni
- Lesley Chilcott, (1986) Academy Award winning co-producer of An Inconvenient Truth
- Alison Dunlap, (1987) professional mountain biker, two-time Olympian, World Mountain Bike Champion (2001)
- Members of the Aurora-based band Fear Before.
- Adrian Miller, (1987) Special assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the President’s Initiative for One America during the Clinton administration. Presently serves on Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's cabinet.
- Tracy Phillips, (1992) Actress and dancer. Rising star with several movie, television, and music video credits. Daughter of Dallas Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips and granddaughter of NFL coaching legend Bum Phillips.
- Craig Johnson, (1979) Current quarterbacks' coach for the Tennessee Titans.
- Notable Faculty
- Angie Paccione, former Colorado state representative and 2006 Colorado Fourth Congressional District candidate. Paccione taught at Smoky Hill in the 1990s, coached varsity boy's basketball, and was Dean of Students.
- See also
- List of high schools in Colorado
- External links
- Smoky Hill High School official web site
- Aurora on YourHub.com
- Smoky Hill High School Choir web site
- Smoky Hill High School Drama web site
- 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.
-
Add/edit information about this school (e.g., awards, news stories, notable alumni, fun facts)
|
Visit school website
View current housing listings in this area
Find your graduating class at Classmates.com
Review school: 
