Hopkins High School

Hopkins High School is a public high school located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. It offers classes for grades 10, 11, and 12. Hopkins High School is part of the Hopkins School District 270 and draws students from the city of Hopkins, central and eastern parts of Minnetonka, western Edina, northern Eden Prairie, Golden Valley, western St. Louis Park, and southern Plymouth. (Minnetonka High School draws students from western Minnetonka.)

History

In the 1970s, there were two high schools in the district: Dwight D. Eisenhower Senior High School, named for the former general and U.S. president and Charles A. Lindbergh Senior High School named for the Minnesota native and famed aviator. In 1982, Hopkins closed Eisenhower High School, located in a 1950s-era building along Highway 7, and renamed the remaining school Hopkins Senior High School. The older building was converted to a community center and theater. Later part of the building was converted for use as an elementary school.

In 2003, voters approved a $60 million bond, permitting the construction of a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) addition to the high school, consisting of a new auditorium, cafeteria and classrooms. Two years later, the Hopkins School District was declared in statutory operating debt by the State of Minnesota. Many support staff were laid off and class sizes increased by more than 30%. In 2007-08 school year, the statutory label was removed.

Academics

Hopkins High School was Minnesota's first National School of Excellence. In 1996, Hopkins was the only high school in Minnesota honored for overall excellence in Redbook's "America's Best High Schools" project. The Language Arts Department has been named a "Center for Excellence" by the National Council of Teachers of English in recognition of the writing program. The Community Involvement program is one of six in the nation honored by the IBM Corporation and U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report also ranked the school #628 in their 2012 list of best public high schools in America.^[3]

Hopkins High School participates in the Advanced Placement Program. In 2005, 494 students took 751 AP exams, with 77% scoring 3 or higher. Students' mean SAT score of 1170 is well above national average, as is the mean ACT score of 23.9. Six teachers are consultants for the College Board and lead workshops and grade national exams.

Since 1998, the school has had 84 National Merit Semifinalists and 141 Commended Scholars.

Hopkins is also home to KHOP-TV which produces both weekly shows and cable programming, a school dance program called the Royelles, a Hip-Hop dance team named Deeply Royal,an improv comedy team named the Ro-Ho, as well as a 20 member Student Government and school newspaper- The Royal Page

Athletics

Hopkins High School is a member of the Lake Conference of the Minnesota State High School League. The school has produced several state championships and Division I prospects. In 2006, the boys and girls basketball teams won state championships. This was the first time in MN Division 4A Basketball that both teams from the same school won. In 2005, the school gained national recognition when student Blake Hoffarber hit a game-tying two-point shot, just after tripping and falling to the floor, at the end of overtime during the state championship game. For that shot, he was awarded an ESPY Play of the Year Award and an appearance on The Today Show as well as guest-appearance invitations to the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show. The 2009 Royals Basketball team won the Class 4A state title that year with a record of 31-0. The team boasted four Division I signees: Royce White (Iowa State), Trent Lockett (Arizona State), Mike Broghammer (Notre Dame) and Raymond Cowels (Santa Clara). In 2011, both the boys and girls basketball teams won state championships. This marks just the fourth time in Minnesota high school history that both a boys and girls team from the same school won state basketball championships in the same year. Hopkins is now responsible for two of those four years winning both titles in 2006, and now in 2011. For the boys, the following four players were named to the all tournament team; Joe Coleman, Marvin Singleton, Zach Stahl, and Siyani Chambers. The girls won three consecutive MN Division 4A state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2012, and graduated four starters moving on to Division I programs including Nia Coffey (Northwestern), Mikaala Shackelford (Illinois), Erin O'Toole (Univ of North Dakota) and Taylor Anderson (Connecticut - track).

The Royals have a rivalry with fellow Lake Conference members the Minnetonka Skippers from Minnetonka High School.

State championships

1. ^ - from 1933 to 1994 an over-all team champion was calculated with a point system involving the scores achieved by schools results in all three events - Cross Country, Slalom, and Ski Jumping. In each event, the school with the two best scores was declared the team champion in that event^[4]

Notable alumni

• Newton Ennis Morton - Founder of the field of genetic epidemiology.
• Ryan Schreiber - Founded Pitchfork Media and Pitchfork Music Festival
• Andrew Dawson - Grammy Award winning music producer and engineer^[5]
• Miriam Johnson - Co-Host of Hometime^[6] on PBS.
• Nadine Strossen - President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991–2008). Hopkins debater.
• P.O.S - rapper/musician and member of the Doomtree collective
• Mike Mictlan - rapper/musician and member of the Doomtree collective^[7]
• Lazerbeak - producer/musician and member of the Doomtree collective^[8]
• Cecil Otter - rapper/musician and member of the Doomtree collective^[9]
• Paper Tiger - producer/musician and member of the Doomtree collective^[10]
• Andrew Sims - rapper/musician and member of the Doomtree collective^[11]
• Aaron Brown - former CNN Anchor
• Joan Guetschow - Olympic athlete (1985 graduate)
• Kris Humphries - Basketball player, Utah Jazz forward (2004–2005), Toronto Raptors (2006–2009), Dallas Mavericks (2009), New Jersey Nets (2010–Present)^[12]
• Blake Hoffarber - Basketball player, Winner of the 2005 "Play of the Year" ESPY^[13]
• Royce White - Basketball Player, Houston Rockets
• Daniel Coleman - Basketball player, AD Vagos (Portugal, 2008–2009), Bourg (France, 2009–2010)
• Nate Berkus - Renowned interior designer
• Jim Korn - NHL player (1980–1990)^[14]
• Dave Snuggerud - NHL Player (1987–1990)
• Jeffrey Lee Parson - Apprehended by FBI for creating MSBlast. B computer virus in 2003^[15]
• Michael Lehan - Football Player, Cleveland Browns cornerback (2003–2005), Miami Dolphins (2006–2008)^[16]
• Alla Ilushka - Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2002, Miss Minnesota USA
• Samantha Harris - Model/Actress, Co-host of Dancing with the Stars
• LeRoy Gardner III - National Champion Wrestler, (2001 and 2003)^[17]
• Todd Sklar - Filmmaker, Box Elder.^[18]
• Garrott Kuzzy - 2010 Olympic Cross Country Skier.
• Kelsey Soby - Former News Reporter at WDAY, now Traffic Reporter at KMSP-TV^[19]
• Zak Khutoretsky - techno DJ/producer, creator & head of the record label Hush Sound, Berghain resident,^[20] and cornerstone of the Minneapolis/St. Paul rave scene^[21][22]

References

External links

• Official website
• Hopkins School District 270
• Hopkins Girls Basketball website
• Hopkins Royals Boys Basketball fan site
• Hopkins Royal Page