Alamo Heights High School

Alamo Heights High School is a public high school located in the city of Alamo Heights, Texas and is the only high school in the Alamo Heights Independent School District. Most of the students who attend Alamo Heights HS also attended Alamo Heights Junior School (6-8), either Woodridge Elementary or Cambridge Elementary (1-5), and Howard Early Childhood Center (PreK-K). There is also alternative school at the Robbins Academy (6-12). Others come from nearby private or parochial schools such as St. Luke's Episcopal, St. Mary's Hall, St. Peter Prince of the Apostles, The San Antonio Academy, St. Pius X, or Texas Military Institute and Keystone School.

The district includes three "island cities" including all of Alamo Heights, parts of Terrell Hills and all of Olmos Park. The district also includes a small part of north central San Antonio. Although Alamo Heights High School is a public school, it does accept a limited amount of tuition students every year who live outside of the Alamo Heights district boundaries.

In 2009, the school was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.^[1]

Original High School Building (Now Cambridge Elementary)

Facilities

The two-story school building is divided into four halls: Main, South, Central and North. Main provides access to the attendance and principal's offices, the library, the auditorium and a few classrooms. North contains the mathematics and history departments. Central is occupied by the technology department, as well as the nurse's and counselors' offices. South contains the English and foreign languages departments. The school's main sitting area is outside between North and Central. This area is called "The Oaks" after its many oak trees. The Oaks Building is located across The Oaks from the main building. It contains two art rooms, the language laboratory, which contains computers with headsets for use with recorded language teaching materials and a multi-purpose room. The auditorium is located north of the North Wing, with the band hall north of the auditorium.

The school has several sports facilities, the most visible of which is Harry B. Orem Stadium, used for football and soccer games. The stadium contains a track and there is also a practice field for these sports. The stadium was built in 1938 by the Works Projects Administration. Before 1938, the primary facility was Howard Field, located at the original high school building (now Cambridge Elementary). Former head coach Earl "Mule" Frazier led the football team to its first district championship in 1926 and lends his name to the Alamo Heights mascot.^[2] The school's main facility for basketball and volleyball games is the Mule Dome. There is also a practice gymnasium for basketball. The school has full pool facilities for swimming, diving and water polo. Recently, the "skygym" was opened as an extra basketball court and multi-use gymnasium. The school's baseball field is located in the city's Olmos Basin.

Recently, the school has undergone major construction, including the renovation of the auditorium, addition of a two story science building, addition of a second gymnasium building and a new state-of-the-art weight room, renovation of the Central wing of the school, and the conversion of the old practice gym into a facility for the dance and cheerleading teams.

Academics

Alamo Heights High School is known for its excellence as a college preparatory high school where students benefit from a challenging educational program and a wide array of extra curricular opportunities. Graduates must demonstrate mastery of Reading, Mathematics, and Writing as measured by the (STAAR). Students are encouraged to complete one of the advanced/recommended programs set forth by the Texas State Board of Education. Additional courses in math, science, social studies, foreign language, computer studies, fine arts, public speaking, and journalism distinguish these programs. A seal denoting the student’s program completion is affixed to his/her transcript at the end of the senior year.

In 2012, Alamo Heights was recognized by Newsweek as number 194 out of 1,300 of the nations best public schools. It was also named by Texas Monthly magazine ‘one of only twelve traditional Texas public high schools that excelled in all four of the subject areas’ (i.e. language arts, math, social studies and science).

Curriculum: Alamo Heights has designed programs to meet the needs of students at four levels: GT, PreAP/AP, enriched, and regular. The terminal courses in the honors sequence carry the title AP and follow the College Board’s Advanced Placement curriculum. PreAP/AP courses are offered in the following: English, mathematics, music, science, social studies, foreign languages, and art. Currently, dual credit enrollment courses are offered through San Antonio College for English IV, French IV, Calculus BC, Computer Science III, and Physics II.

22 AP courses offered in subject areas:

• AP English Lang., AP English Lit, AP Studio Art 2D Design, AP Music Theory
• AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics
• AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics
• AP World History, AP US History, AP Human Geography
• AP European History, AP Government and Politics, AP Comparative Government & Politics, AP Economics
• AP Spanish Lang., AP Spanish Lit. AP French Lang, AP Latin Vergil
• AP Psychology^[3]

Faculty: 115 faculty members; 75% with master's degrees and above

Athletics

The Alamo Heights Mules compete in these sports - ^[4]

Cheerleading, Dance,^[5][6] Volleyball, Cross Country, Football, Basketball, Swimming, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Track, Baseball & Softball. JROTC also has athletic competitons such as PT (Physical training)

Non-UIL sports include - Water Polo, Rugby and Lacrosse and Athletic Training. ^[7]

State Titles

• Boys Basketball - ^[8]
  • 1952(3A), 1954(3A)
• Football - ^[9]
  • 2006(4A/D1)
• Boys Golf - ^[10]
  • 1950(City), 1956(2A), 1963(4A), 1964(4A), 1965(4A), 1968(4A), 1970(4A)
• Boys Soccer - ^[11][12]
  • 1987(All), 2012(4A)
• Girls Swimming - ^[13][14]
  • 1973(3A), 2014(4A)
• Team Tennis - ^[15]
  • 1984(4A), 1986(4A), 1987(4A), 1988(4A), 1993(4A), 1994(4A), 1995(4A), 1996(4A), 1998(4A), 1999(4A), 2000(4A),2002(4A)
• Cheerleading - ^[16]
  • 2016(5A)

Notable alumni

• Patrick Bailey, class of 2004, former linebacker for the Tennessee Titans and won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.^[17]
• Angela Belcher, attended, is the Director of the Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT.
• Marie Brenner, class of 1967, is an author, investigative journalist, and writer-at-large for Vanity Fair magazine.
• Chase Clement, class of 2004, was a quarterback for the Las Vegas Locomotives and won the UFL's 2010 Championship Game taking home the game MVP trophy.
• Christopher Cross, class of 1969, is a recording artist with Top 40 hits including "Sailing" and "Arthur's Theme".^[17]
• Light Townsend Cummins, class of 1964, is the official State Historian of Texas.
• Dayna Devon, class of 1988, is a former TV host of the syndicated show- EXTRA.^[17]
• Bette Nesmith Graham, inventor and founder of Liquid Paper
• Kara Hultgreen, class of 1983, (D. 1994), first female carrier-based Navy fighter pilot.^[18]
• Davey Johnson, class of 1961, former manager of MLB's Washington Nationals and 3 times World Series winner as coach & players
• Janet Krueger, class of 1970, is an award-winning Texas artist.
• Brenda Marshall, actress^[19]
• Rick Riordan, class of 1982, is a San Antonio-based novelist of the award winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and the New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson series for children.^[17]
• Joe Straus, class of 1978, is the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
• Clay Tarver, class of 1984, screenwriter for Joy Ride.
• Susan Weddington, class of 1969, state chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 to 2003^[20]
• Jeff Wentworth, class of 1958, served in the Texas Senate from 1993 to 2013 after tenure in the Texas House of Representatives from 1988 to 1993.
• Peter Weller, class of 1965, is an actor in movies such as RoboCop.^[17]
• Forrest Whitley, MLB pitcher with the Houston Astros

See also

• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

References

External links

• Alamo Heights High School