- for schools of the same name
- South High School is a high school in the Washington Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. It is part of Denver Public Schools.
- History
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In 1893, high school classes were established in two rooms of the Grant school (now Grant Middle School). By 1907, an addition had to be added because of overcrowding. In January 1925, there were 800 students in the senior high school section and more space was desperately needed. A bond issue was voted into effect in October 1925, and funds for a new school were raised. The cost of construction was $1,252,000; the building was intended to last a century.
- When the Denver school board made the decision to close Manual High School for the 2006-2007 academic year to restructure the program, South accepted 157 displaced students, the largest number among the schools in the district.
- Campus
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South High School was designed by the architectural firm of Fisher & Fisher in the time's popular Romanesque style. Sculptor Robert Garrison created many of the building's adornment, including the 3 foot (1 meter) tall gargoyle above the building's main entrance; the symbolic protector of South inspired by a gargoyle at the Italian Cathedral of Spoleto.
- Although there are some differences, South's Clock Tower is thought to be a replica of the one at Santa Maria in Cosmedin. After the tower's original roof deck began to leak, a State Historical Fund grant was secured to replace the roof and update the electrical work.
- Many of the changes to the building have been to subdivide former study halls and repurpose other rooms into usable classroom space. The boys' gym, or North Gym, had a balcony allowing for spectator basketball games removed in the late fifties and early sixties with the addition of the auxiliary gym, the girls' locker rooms and the new JROTC offices. In 1964 the southwest wing was added, followed in 1989 by a new gymnasium. Thus completing an expansion planned before World War II but never realized because of the rationing and shortages due to the war.
- In 1992, South High School was designated as a National Historic Landmark.
- Students & Academics
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South High school offers many Advanced placement courses, that will prepare a student for college as well as offering college credit in the following subjects: AP English Literature & Comp, AP English Language & Comp, AP European History, AP Art History, AP American History, AP Political Science, AP U.S. Government, AP Calculus, AP Chemistry & Lab, AP Biology & Lab, AP Spanish Language and AP Studio Art. South offers many advanced (X) courses and honors courses as well as many elective art, music and physical education classes. The school makes it easy for students to plan for college by offering a college summit course, and a "Future Center", sponsored by the Denver Scholarship Foundation. The Future Center provides students help with anything regarding colleges (applications, how to get financial aid etc.)
- Faculty
- Improvement
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South High School was one of 16 schools nation-wide selected by the College Board for inclusion in the EXCELerator School Improvement Model program beginning the 2007-2008 school year. The project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Extracurricular activities
- Alumni Association
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South High School has the most active alumni association of all the public high schools in Denver. South High Alumni and Friends, Inc (SHAFI) has office and museum space in the basement of the high school, in what was once a classroom and the gun range for the JROTC program. In recent years the alumni association has been responsible for the restoration of the clock tower and new flag pole.
- Among it’s activities SHAFI maintains a database of all graduates of South High School, is building a database of faculty and staff of the school, publishes a newsletter several times a year for its members, and maintains a school museum. Due to its prominence as a South Denver landmark the museum has also become the repository for Washington Park, and surrounding neighborhood, history, artifacts and memorabilia. It has also serves as a repository for the memorabilia of the middle (jr. high school) and even the elementary schools that feed into the high school.
- Controversy
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When Denver Public School named it’s four cardinal direction high schools (East, West, North and South) each took a mascot and imagery associated with that direction. For example West High School took the ‘cowboy’ as it’s mascot.
- South High School took imagery from the civil war specifically the South. This included taking the Johnny Reb head as it’s mascot, and using the Confederate Flag to a lesser extent. The imagery was incorporated into the name of the yearbook, “The Johnny Reb,” (changing it from “The Tower Book”) and school newspaper, “The Confederate.”
- The images and mascot began to cause controversy in the late 1970s. By 1980 South’s first African American principal, Harold Scott, suggested that the mascot be changed to the ‘Penguins.’ He did not anticipate the attachment the student body had to the name “Rebel” nor the furor that ensued and the suggestion was dropped.
- Gradually, due to his wake up call and the growing change in public attitudes the use of the Confederate Flag would fall from use. The school’s yearbook and newspaper became known as the Gargoyle. Even the Johnny Reb Head would be seen less and less.
- During the 2007-2008 school year the student body began discussing changing the mascot. They eventually decided on a gargoyle with the school’s famous clock tower in the background. On Thursday, February 19, 2009 the students made a presentation to the Denver Public School board asking for the change, which was granted.
- Though in a compromise with school Alumni the name “Rebel,” was kept.
- There is still some controversy over whether the new mascot is a griffin or a gargoyle. Another Denver Public School, Grant Middle School (Denver), claimed the griffin a decade or so before, after it was forced to change it’s mascot from “the Blue Devils.”
- Notable alumni
- Verne Byers '37 (known in High School as Vincent Beyer)
- Stan Brakhage '51, experimental film maker
- Calais Campbell, football player
- Conor Casey, professional soccer player in Major League Soccer
- Diana DeGette, United States Representative from Colorado's 1st district
- Patricia Elliott, '56, TV Actress & Personality.
- John Hall '52, Nobel laureate (Physics)
- Marilyn Hickey, evangelist
- Michael Lavine '81, photographer
- Fred Meissner, world renowned geoscientist, professor at the Colorado School of Mines and author
- John A. Sells, '50 historian, author
- Bert Stiles '38, author and Purple Heart recipient
- Robert M. Warner '45, 6th Archivist of the United States, 1980-1985, pushed for the National Archives and Records Administration to become its own independent federal agency
- Nick Willhite '59, pitched from - for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Senators, California Angels and New York Mets.
- External links
- Denver South High School
- Denver South High School Athletics
- South High Alumni & Friends, Inc. (SHAFI)
- Records site SHAFI refers to
- Change of school mascot - Denver Post
- 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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