Cooper City High School

Cooper City High School
Address
9401 Stirling Road Cooper City, Florida 33328 United States
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"Home of the Cowboys"
Established	September 1971
School district	Broward County Public Schools
Principal	Wendy Doll
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2,218[1] (2014-15)
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Red      Black      White
Mascot	Pistol Pete (formerly Lasso Larry), a cowboy
Website	www.browardschools.com/coopercityhigh

Cooper City High School is a high school located in Cooper City, Florida which teaches grades 9-12. The school includes standard high school curriculum plus specialized classes devoted to career development including auto tech and computer programming. It has an average enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. Since the 2004–2005 school year the school principal is Ms. Wendy Doll. The school colors are red, black, and white and the mascot is a cowboy named "Pistol Pete." Pistol Pete was once deemed inappropriate because he wields two handguns and was replaced with Lasso Larry, but was brought back in the 2014–2015 school year. The school has been awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award.^[2] Cooper City has an FCAT school grade of "A" for the 2013–2014 academic year.^[3] The school was also ranked #382 in the High School Challenge Index of 2011 out of approximately 30,000 schools, marking it as one of the top high schools in the entire nation.^[4] It is the 46th best school in the state of Florida out of 762 schools as reported by U.S. News & World Report.^[5]

Facilities

Classes were first held in 1971 behind city hall on SW 90th Avenue. The original buildings on Stirling Road were completed in time for the 1972 school year. Over time, Building 1, the main academic building, started to deteriorate with roof leaks, inefficient air conditioning units and water intrusion.^[6] A new 36-classroom building opened during the 2007–2008 school year.^[7] This building was followed by a new cafeteria which opened in May during the 2009–2010 school year. An entirely new building to replace Building 1 started construction during the 2012-2013 school year and opened in November of the 2013-2014 school year, complete with new general purpose classrooms, a science wing, a new childcare building, business labs, an automotive facility, and new offices. Building 1 was demolished and is now two grass fields, one of which is used for student parking. The back part of the original school (the media center, the music wing, the early childcare wing, the auditorium, the gym and the locker rooms) have either been remodeled, left as is, or repurposed..

Academics

Prior to the 2012-2013 school year, the school operated on a semester block schedule, where students had four 90-minute classes that changed each semester (except for some courses such as band and childcare that lasted the entire year). From the 2012-2013 school year through the 2015-2016 school year, the school operated on a "straight seven" class period system due to county budget cuts, where each class was 50 minutes and courses such as auto-tech and childcare took up two class periods.

As of the 2016-2017 school year, the school operates on a 4x4 A/B block, meaning students get seven classes and a study hall "personalization" period at 90 minutes each, but split up between "A" or "Red" days and "B" or "Black" days.

Cooper City offers a wide variety of honors courses. Each honors class awards five points for an A, four points for a B, three points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter. Students often opt to take honors courses for their core classes (English, math, science, and social studies), which typically include biology, chemistry, algebra, geometry, and history courses. Also, many higher-leveled elective courses give students the opportunity to earn honors credit, which encourages students to continue with specific electives throughout their high school career. There are also many stand-alone honors elective courses available, including anatomy, marine science, debate, and personal finance courses.

The AP participation rate is 50 percent.^[8] Each AP class awards six points for an A, five points for a B, four points for a C, one point for a D, or zero points for an F to the student's weighted GPA per quarter.

Cooper City High School offers the following AP courses as of the 2017-2018 school year. Courses marked with an asterisk after their names typically require doubling-up, with students getting honors credit during the first semester and AP credit during the second semester.^[9]

• Biology
• Calculus (AB & BC)
• Chemistry
• Computer Science A
• Computer Science Principles
• English Language & Composition
• English Literature & Composition
• Environmental Science
• European History
• Human Geography
• Music Theory
• Physics 1
• Psychology
• Research
• Seminar
• Spanish Language
• Spanish Literature
• Statistics
• Studio Art (2-D* and Drawing*)
• U.S. Government & Politics*
• U.S. History
• World History

In addition, students are eligible to dual-enroll in courses at Broward College. Dual-enrollment courses can be taken over the summer break or during the school year. Sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to use dual-enrollment courses to replace the sixth and/or seventh period slots in their class schedules, however sophomores are not allowed to leave campus early. Dual-enrollment courses give students the opportunity to experience taking a class in a college setting before they even leave high school, which helps to prepare them for when they head off to various colleges after graduating from high school. These courses also provide a GPA boost, with each class awarding the same amount of weighted GPA credit that's given to an AP class taken on the Cooper City High School campus.

Cooper City currently boasts a graduation rate of 97.4%, the highest in the district.

Athletics

Cooper City has earned distinctions in its baseball, cheerleading, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling programs. The softball team has won district, regional, and in 2009, state. In the 2010 football season, Cooper City won district for the first time in the school's history. Cooper City Football won district for a second time in 2011, beating the former national champion, St. Thomas Aquinas, for the first time since 1972 in a 21-16 victory.^[10] The Boys' Tennis Team was a 3-time FHSAA State Qualifier (1986, 1987 and 1988) winning the overall FHSAA 4A State Tennis Team Championships in 1988 and with it, the school's first ever state team championship.^[11][12] The sports currently offered at the school (as of the 2013-2014 school year) include the following:^[13]

• Baseball (JV and Varsity)
• Basketball (Boys' JV and Varsity, Girls' Varsity)
• Cheerleading (JV Football and Varsity Football)
• Cross Country
• Flag Football (Girls)
• Football (JV and Varsity)
• Golf (Boys and Girls)
• Lacrosse (Boys and Girls)
• Soccer (Boys' Varsity, Girls' JV and Varsity)
• Softball (JV and Varsity)
• Swimming/Diving (Boys and Girls)
• Tennis (Boys and Girls) FHSAA 4A Boys' Team Champions - 1988^[14][12]
• Track (Boys and Girls)
• Volleyball (Boys and Girls)
• Water Polo (Boys and Girls)
• Wrestling

CTV News

Cowboy Television, (typically shortened to CTV) is the school's news magazine and variety show. It was developed in 1997 by the school's television and mass media class. At that time, the show aired on a monthly schedule.^[15] The show now airs every Friday via an internal broadcasting system. Considered to be "America's #1 High School Weekly News Program" by the Student Television Network, the CTV program has been the recipient of various awards.^[16]

Sound of Pride

The marching band, known as the Sound of Pride,^[17] attends various competitions, parades, and community events. In recent years, the program has prepared two field shows: one with simpler drill, more popular music, and sometimes dancing for the football game crowd (dubbed the "Cowboy Show" by the members and staff)^[18] as well as a competition or "comp" show, which has complicated drill with music and movements that help to convey the theme being portrayed by the performers (otherwise known as a "corps-style" show).^[19][20] Since 2002 the program has attended the Florida Marching Band Coalition-sanctioned regionals and the Florida Marching Band Championships in the Tampa Bay Area. There are three concert bands: the concert band, the symphonic band, and the wind ensemble, as well as a jazz band. The program also includes varsity and junior varsity indoor guards during the winter that attend South Florida Winter Guard Association (SFWGA) contests and Winter Guard International (WGI) regionals. The varsity guard attends the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. The students are eligible to participate the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) Solo and Ensemble festival and the concert bands attend FBA's concert festival each year at the district level, and, if they achieve a superior rating, the state level. Also, the chorus program has been restarted after several years of being defunct. The program performs a winter concert with holiday-themed music in December, as well as an end-of-the-year show each May called Encore! Inspired by Blast!, the show features the concert bands, jazz band, winter guards and chorus as well as various acts put together by the band and guard students. Also, the marching band show from that year is staged indoors and is the closer for the night.

The winter guard was ranked 10th in Scholastic A Class in 1997, 9th in Scholastic Open Class in 1999, 14th in Scholastic A Class in 2006, 8th in Scholastic A Class in 2007, 14th in Scholastic Open Class in 2009 and 15th in Scholastic Open Class in 2013 in the Winter Guard International World Championships, and in 2010 the color guard was ranked first in Class 4A in the Florida Marching Band Championships . The percussion has also been ranked as one of the best in the state multiple times and produces many members that go on to join various drum corps and indoor percussion groups. The marching band has ranked first many times at local competitions and has earned many high brass, high woodwind, high percussion and high auxiliary awards. The program has marched in several parades, some of which include: 1991 when the band marched in the Channel 6 Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, 1992 when the band marched in the 58th annual King Orange Jamboree Parade,^[21] 1997 when the band first went to the London New Year's Day Parade, and 2015 when the band marched in the Davie Orange Blossom Parade. The band also marches in the Cooper City Founder's Day Parade every year . In 2016, the band participated in the Allstate Sugar Bowl band competition, parade, and halftime show in New Orleans. They won the competition, sweeping all captions, allowing them the honor of holding the football field-sized flag while the national anthem was being sung . The ensemble became FMBC Class 4A State Champions in 2008. In 2009 the wind ensemble attended the Music For All/Bands of America National Concert Festival.^[22] The program has received 5 Otto J. Kraushaar awards. This award is given to programs that have received superiors in marching, district concert and state concert all in one year. Less than one percent of programs receive this award, making it the highest honor that can be given to Florida band programs .

Demographics

As of the 2017-2018 school year, the total enrollment was 2,279. The ethnic makeup of the school was 48.4% White, 6.97% Black, 32.2% Hispanic, 6.39% Asian or Pacific Islander, 5.13% Multiracial, and 0.83% Native American or Native Alaskan.^[23]

Notable alumni

• Bobby Estalella, Major League Baseball catcher
• Olindo Mare, American football placekicker for the Carolina Panthers
• Niki Taylor, model
• Krissy Taylor, model, younger sister of Niki Taylor
• Larry Boone Recording Artist, Musician

References

External links

• Cooper City High School website

Coordinates: 26°02′44″N 80°16′22″W / 26.045645°N 80.2728272°W / 26.045645; -80.2728272