- Groves High School (Wylie E. Groves High School or Groves) is a high school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, in the Birmingham Public School District. Groves' colors are green, white, & yellow and its mascot is Freddy the Falcon. Groves' inter-district rival is Seaholm High School. The current principal is Fred Procter, the assistant principal is Cathy Hurley, and the athletic director is Tom Flynn. The school consistently ranks as one of the best schools in the state of Michigan as a result of high test scores on the SAT, ACT, AP, and MEAP exams.
- History
- Name
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In 1951, the first high school in Birmingham opened under the name Birmingham High (which is now known as Seaholm High School). At the time, the principal was Ernest W. Seaholm and the treasurer was Wylie E. Groves. When Birmingham had to build another school to accommodate the incoming baby boomers, these men's names would become the source of the modern names of Birmingham's two main high schools: Seaholm High School and Groves High School.
- Building history
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Completed in 1959, the building was an example of the International Style applied to ordinary school design, resulting in a modernistic exterior look similar to much subsequent school construction. The building's original architectural "signature" was a scalloped circular white roof over the central administrative core; it is no longer visible. The building has a grid-like floor plan, with three main hallways intersected by six shorter ones. Liberal use was made of glass walls and interior courtyards, with energy costs not yet a major concern in 1959. Since the school's opening, the building has undergone periodic renovations, the most extensive occurring from 1999-2001 when the school was completely remodeled and brought up to 21st century standards. The school features state of the art technology, including seven computer labs (including one for modern languages) and a large media center; state of the art science labs for biology, chemistry, physics, CAD, and robotics; a little theatre that seats approximately 300; an auditorium that seats approximately 1200; art studios for drawing, photography, jewelry, ceramics, and graphic design; a TV studio; and a large, open commons area where students gather for lunch, dances, and other activities. In 2005, construction began to renovate the athletic wing of the school, as well as to build a new competitive size swimming pool. The former swimming pool will be converted into classrooms, a fitness center, and a dance studio. The school was one of the first schools in Michigan to use artificial "FieldTurf" for its football/soccer field.
- Early years
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The school opened in the fall of 1959 with 1,052 students in grades seven through ten. Intended eventually to be Birmingham's second high school, it was named after a local civic leader and school board member. In the first year, students selected the school colors (green and white), team nickname (Falcons), fight song ("Rise Up, All Falcons"), names of the yearbook ("Talon") and newspaper ("Scriptor"), etc. The original tenth graders became the first class of graduating seniors in 1962. For a brief period the school was a junior and senior high school, and the classes of 1965, 1966 and 1967 spent grades seven through twelve there. The lower grades were eliminated as new junior high schools were built. This pattern enabled the school district to accommodate, with phased construction, the demographic wave of babyboomers emerging from elementary schools in the late 1950s and 1960s.
- Academics
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As stated above, Groves consistently ranks the top of the state in terms of test scores, ranking just above Birmingham's other high school, Seaholm. The school offers numerous Honors and Advanced Placement courses for students to elect. Advanced Placement is offered for Chemistry, Physics, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Computer Science, Economics, English Language, English Literature, Environmental Science, European History, French, Music Theory, Psychology, Spanish, Statistics, US History, and US Government. Additionally, AP Biology and AP Human Geography may be taken at Seaholm High School. The school has a variety of academic elective options for students who do not wish to take Honors or AP courses. The school also offers many courses in journalism, with the newspaper- "The Scriptor", the yearbook- "The Talon", and the television production- "The Fann (Falcon Action News Network)"
- Athletics and Activities
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The school offers over thirty varsity sports for both men and women. Most sports are broken down into varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen teams. Groves is a member of the Oakland Activities Association and has won league championships in nearly every sport since the league's inception in 1994. Groves also offers a variety of activities for students to participate in, including instrumental music (both band and orchestra), forensics team, eco club, interact club, fashion club, Amnesty club, Gay-Straight Alliance club, Japanese club, Spanish club, French club, debate team, theatre, quiz bowl, bowling club, photography club, and the National Honor Society. Both the forensics and debate teams have enjoyed success in recent years. The forensics team finished second in the state in 2007, while the debate team finished first in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
- Groves Student Congress (GSC) is responsible for planning school-wide activities and events such as Spirit Week, Field Day, Extreme Dodgeball, Operation Volleyball, Sadie Hawkins Dance, Wylie's Winter Week, and two blood drives. Members of GSC are elected in school-wide elections. In addition, each class elects its own government, which is responsible for planning class-wide events. Groves students also run their own events independent of the school, including the seniors-only "Water Wars" tournament at the end of the year.
- State Championships
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- Birmingham Unified is a combined team of Groves and Seaholm students
- Fight Song
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Groves' fight song is "Rise Up, All Falcons" and is as followed:
- "Rise up, all falcons, Rise Up.
- Unite all falcons, Unite.
- For our colors we will fight,
- and today we'll show our might,
- so, fight on all you falcons fight!
- We'll sing to Groves of Birmingham,
- we'll sing to green and white.
- We're here to cheer for victory,
- so, let's go, fight-fight-fight!
- Rise up all falcons, Rise up.
- Unite all falcons, Unite.
- For our colors we will fight,
- and today we'll show our might,
- so, fight on all you falcons, fight!
- FIGHT!"
- Rankings
- U.S. News and World Report
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Groves received a "Silver Medal" on U.S. News and World Report's rankings of Best High Schools in America in 2007. This means that the school was one of the top schools in the country based on the "College Readiness Index" used by the magazine. Groves was one of thirteen schools in Michigan in 2007 to receive this award (no Michigan schools received a "Gold Medal"). Its index score of 39.3 was the fourth highest in the state. This school is behind private schools such as Cranbrook, U of D Jesuit, and Detroit Country Day School.
- Groves is absent from U.S. News and World Report's 2008 & 2009 rankings.
- Newsweek
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- In 2005 Groves was ranked #800
[ on Newsweek's Best High Schools in America, which is based on the percentage of seniors who take advanced placement exams. In 2006 Groves' rank dropped slightly to #854.][ Groves saw it's highest ranking yet in 2007 when it was ranked #774.][ Later, in 2008, Groves gained 148 spots above 2007's ranking to #643][ on Newsweek's Best High Schools in America.]- Notable alumni
- See also
- Birmingham City School District
- Seaholm High School
- External links
- Groves' Website
Extra-Curricular Groups
- Groves' Orchestra Website
- Groves' Newspaper Website
- Groves' Band Website
- Groves' Forensics Team Website
Sports Teams
- Groves' Hockey Team Website
- Groves' Swimming & Diving Team Website
- Groves' Soccer Team Website
- Groves' Football Team Website
- Groves' Water Polo Team Website
- Groves' Volleyball Team 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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