Woodbury High School (Minnesota)

Woodbury High School, formerly Woodbury Senior High, is a high school serving grades 9-12 in Woodbury, Minnesota. It is part of the South Washington County School District. The school's mascot is 'Roar the Lion' and the school colors are blue and white. The school opened in 1976.

Overview

Enrollment for the school is about 2,014 students.This is one of the 3 public high schools in the district. In 2009-2010, the high school followed a 4 block period schedule, with 82 minutes in each class. In the 2010-2011 school year this changed to a 6 period schedule with around 54 minutes in each class.^[1] Woodbury High School is one of the few public high schools in Minnesota to receive a distinguished Great Schools rating of 10 out of 10.

Academics

All schools in Minnesota are required by law to administer the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test, better known as the MCA, a standardized test used to measure student and school performance. In 2014 Woodbury High School scored 70.6% proficient in Mathematics, 77.4% proficient in Reading, and 78.8% proficient in Science.^[2] Compared to statewide results, Woodbury scored 11.1, 20.8, and 17.4 percentage points higher in proficiency respectively.

The school average composite ACT score is 24.8.^[3]

Woodbury High School is the 9th highest ranked high school in Minnesota by U.S. News & World Report, earning its Silver award.^[4] GreatSchools.org gave Woodbury a 10 out of 10 GreatSchools rating.^[5] In 2014 Newsweek magazine ranked Woodbury High School as the 45th best high school in the United States, placing it as 2nd best in Minnesota.^[6] Niche (company) gave Woodbury High School the title of fourth best high school in Minnesota.^[7]

Music department

The Woodbury Music Department supports a very comprehensive music program. The program includes 3 concert bands, 2 jazz ensembles, a marching band, and pep band. Tark Katzenmeyer has been the Woodbury High School Band Director since 2013. The Woodbury High School Band program has two websites: http://woodburyband.blogspot.com/ and http://whsbb.org/wp/.

School Bands

Woodbury High School hosts a varsity band, a symphony band, a concert band, and a marching band.

Varsity Band

The Varsity Band is composed to mostly high school freshmen, but may include older students who are restarting their band process.

Symphony Band

The intermediate level band is made up of students grades 9-12. Each student has their own role in this band, it is designed to make students better and be able to move up to the concert band.

Concert Band

The Concert Band is the advanced level band and is the band program's premier and award-winning performing ensemble. Students in all grade levels may audition into the Concert Band, audition materials are released each spring, or at the director's discretion.^[8] In the year 2016, the Concert band traveled to Denver, Colorado.

Jazz Ensembles

The Woodbury HS Jazz Ensembles perform jazz music of many styles when they appear in community events and concert performances. Jazz events begin in late November as the Marching Band season comes to an end.^[9]

Marching Royals

The Marching Royals are made up of an all-volunteer group of students from grades 9-12 who are a part of the Woodbury High School Band Program. The Woodbury Royals marching band performs at every home football game under the lights. Re-kindled in 2007, the Marching Royals have concluded their seventh performing season this fall of 2013. Because of its members, their families, the community, and Band Boosters, they have been dubbed the "Pride of Woodbury High School." ^[10] The Marching Royals have been under the direction of Brent Comeau since 2007, making 2013 Brent's 7th season as the director. He has since moved on to East Ridge High School to continue his conducting career. The band is now under the direction of Tark Katzenmeyer as of Fall 2013. Heather Moreno is the Marching Royal's colorguard instructor. Brandon Steinmetz is the Drumline and Front Ensemble instructor.

The Marching Royals have performed across the nation; including the 2013 Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City,^[11] halftime at a Minnesota Vikings game at Mall of America Field in the fall of 2013,^[12] and in front of 30,000 spectators in the Disney Festival of Fantasy parade at Disney World in Orlando, FL.^[13] In the Fall of 2016 the Marching Royals will play at the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawai'i.

Pep Band

The Woodbury High School Pep Band is composed of all the members of the band program. As a part of regular band class, students perform for select athletic events throughout the school year.^[14] The Pep Band also accompanies select Woodbury sports teams to state, playing them on to victory.

References

External links

• http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/whs/
• http://whsbb.org/web/