- Bellevue West High School is a public secondary school located in Bellevue, Nebraska. The school principal is Mr. Kevin Rohlfs. Their mascot is the Thunderbird and their school colors are purple, gold and white. The school's cross-town rival is Bellevue East.Bellevue West is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. The school also serves as an off-campus location for the Omaha, Nebraska, Metropolitan Community College.
- Music
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The school's instrumental music department has three concert bands (Concert, Symphonic, and Wind Ensemble), two jazz bands, and a marching band. The Thunderbird Marching Band competes successfully both at the regional and national level. The band encompasses many types of shows, many of which can be found on youtube.com. The school's vocal music department consists of three main choirs (Concert Choir, Arie Armonie, and West High Singers) as well as a show choir (West Connection), a contemporary a cappella group (Project 424) and various other extracurricular small ensembles. The varsity choir, West High Singers, has been invited several times over the past few years to perform with the Omaha Symphony.
- AFJROTC
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The Bellevue West Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Program participates in Hurricane Katrina relief, stocking a local food pantry, spear-heading the local Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign in Bellevue as well as numerous other community outreach programs. Bellevue West AFJROTC is considered one of the nations top ROTC units and has been awarded outstanding wing for the last fourteen years in a row. This award was first earned during the 1984-85 school year.
- Drill Teams
- c/Maj William Johns (Men's Varsity Drill Team Commander - 1982-1983) brought the Men's Drill Team to regional prominence by commanding the team to a 1st place finish at the UNO drill meet. c/Maj Johns finished 2nd in the Outstanding Commander voting.
- This standard of excellence continued as the "silent" drill routine was initiated during the 1984-1985 school year. Bellevue West's Men's Varsity Drill Team (with Weapons) took first place at the UNO drill meet. c/Maj Ron Palmerton (Men's Varsity Drill Team Commander - 1983-1985) was awarded the program's first Outstanding Commander's Medal at this drill meet. The program also went on to win 3rd place at the UNL drill meet and 2nd place at the ISU drill meet that same year. All drill routines were created by the cadets without any outside drill coaching or in put from the Aeroscience Instructors.
- Bellevue West's "silent" form of drilling was reinitiated in the Men's Varsity team during the 1990-91 school year by the team commander with the aid of a drill coach and input from the team. It differs from the "call and response" drill technique in that no commands are used during the entire performance. The team relies on an internal count, or beat, to guide the drill. This method was revolutionary in the region at the time. Today the men and women's drill teams are considered some of the best in the country and are the pinnacle on which other schools base their routines. In 2007 and 2008 both the mens and women's teams went down to Florida for the National Competition and brought home first, second, and third place trophies for their exhibition routines. A video prepared by a member of and showcasing the 1990-91 Men's drill team can be found here: 1991 Drill Demonstration
- Sports
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Baseball- Have won one state championship (1978). Appeared in the state tournament four times (1978, 1983, 1989, 1991). Failure of the baseball program throughout the mid to late 1990's can be directly related to varsity head baseball coach Don Story. Focus towards enjoying the game of baseball and developing baseball talent was diverted towards building a baseball field in search of self-gratification. He directed his players to construct his field of dreams rather than taking extra batting practice, ground balls, or teaching the game of baseball. Players spent half of the alloted practice time working on the game of baseball and other time was spent maintaining the field. Their time was spent building dugouts, the batting cage, installing the back stop and hitter's eye, etc. Often times, participation in field maintenance and game playing time were related Coach Story's knowledge of the game of baseball was that of a little league coach. He was a worthless coach that ruined a lot of talent throughout his tenure as head coach. Thankfully, the athletic department finally sent Story packing. Good riddance.This is opinion.
- Basketball (Boys)- Have won three state championships (2000, 2004, 2005). Have been runners-up four times (1991, 1999, 2006, 2007). Have appeared in 13 state tournaments (1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
- Basketball (Girls)- Have won two state championship (2007, 2009). Have appeared in five state tournaments (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009).
- Bowling (Boys and Girls) - Have won more state championships than any other high school team in Nebraska's history including recent girls state titles in 2004, 2006, and 2007 and boys recent state titles in 2001, 2005, 2006, and 2007. The boy's team had the only team baker 300 game in state history in 2006. Each team typically earns an average of 7-9 medals throughout 10 tournaments a season.
- Cross Country (Boys and Girls) - Second place finish (1995) and third place finish (2006-07). 2006 Nike Team Nationals qualifier.
- Boys track finish 8th in 2007, their highest finish in the last 5 years
- Drill Team (Boys and Girls)- Numerous trophies (ranging from 75-100 per year). Traveled to the National Tournament in Washington D.C. (2005) where they took the trophy for Best Overall Drill Team. Then in 2006 and 2007 took National trophys again including Best overall in the 2006 meet. Both the 2006 and 2007 Nationals took place in Daytona Beach, Florida.
- Football- Have been to ten state tournaments (1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). The Thunderbirds have beaten cross-town rival Bellevue East nine times in a row from 1999-2008 except for 2009 when East came back from 3-34 at the half to win 35-34. .Also went undefeated during the regular season in 2004.
- Soccer (Boys)- Have one runner-up at the state tournament (1999). Have been to three state tournaments (1992, 1999, 2006).
- Soccer (Girls)- Have appeared in one state tournament (1988).
- Softball- Have appeared in one state tournament (2006).
- Volleyball- Have won 12 state championships (1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006), and been runners-up once (1999). Have appeared in 20 state tournaments (1987-2006).
- Wrestling- Had a second place team finish in 1980. Have had ten state champions including: Jerry McCaw (twice), Bob Lineberry , Jeff Peterson, Doug Hassel (twice), Mark Traynowicz, Mike Plambeck, Terry Bradshaw, Peter Isham.
- More sports:Golf (Boys and Girls),Swimming and Diving (Boys and Girls),Tennis (Boys and Girls),Track and Field (Boys and Girls),
- Notable alumni
- Mark Traynowicz, NFL player for the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals
- Seth Neuffer, Film and Television Music Composer
- Mike Slaton, NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings
- Erick Strickland, went on to play at the University of Nebraska, and then in the NBA
- Scott Roewer, Professional Organizer and host of The Fine Living Networks, Time Makeover.
- Fight song
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The following lyrics are put to the song Oregon, Mighty Oregon.
We’re the Thunderbirds of West High
We’re the purple, gold and white
We will cheer our team to vict’ry
We will always prove our might. - Thunderbirds are proud and loyal
And we'll always give our best
We will fight to win our battles
Thunderbirds of Bellevue West. - Spoken:
Cheer, cheer for Bellevue West
Cause we are Nebraska’s best
Fight, fight with all your might
Bellevue West Thunderbirds win tonight!
(Repeat song) - See also
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John Faiman, current Thunderbird head football coach
- External links
- Bellevue West website
- Bellevue West High School Alumni Website
- Bellevue West Thunderbird band website
- Bellevue West cross-country 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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