Green Bay East High School

Green Bay East High School
Address
1415 East Walnut Street
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301
United States
Coordinates 44°30′25″N 87°59′36″W / 44.50688°N 87.99337°W / 44.50688; -87.99337Coordinates: 44°30′25″N 87°59′36″W / 44.50688°N 87.99337°W / 44.50688; -87.99337
Information
School type Public High School
Established 1860 (1860)
School district Green Bay Area Public School District
Principal Lori Frerk
Grades 9 through 12
Enrollment 1,275 (2014-15)[1]
School color(s)          
Athletics conference Bay Conference
Mascot Red Devil
Rival Green Bay West
Website east.gbaps.org

Green Bay East High School is a public high school in the Green Bay Area Public School District serving the near-east side of Green Bay, Wisconsin and parts of Bellevue and Allouez. Founded in 1856, the school has occupied its current building since 1924.

History

Founded in 1856, the school's first building (nicknamed "Old Brick") was located on Howe Street on land donated to the city by the Astor family. The school traces its beginnings to Professor Furber, who added Latin and mathematics to the grade school curriculum in 1860.[2] The first class to receive diplomas, consisting of four men and two women, was the class of 1875.[2] The school moved to a new location on South Webster Avenue in 1893 and its students became known as the Hilltoppers. After the move, "Old Brick" continued to be used by the school district for administrative purposes.

The school has occupied its current location, at the far east end of Walnut Street, since 1924. Built on 23 acres of land purchased from the Hagemeister family,[3] the building was completed in 1924 and graduated its first class of students in 1925.[2] The South Webster building was torn down when Washington Junior High School (now Washington Middle School) was built in the late 1930s. The "Hilltopper" building's legacy, however, lives on through a maintenance garage and exterior wall on City Stadium made from the building's red sandstone.[2]

East High School's current building has been remodeled several times. The first renovation was in 1927, to the auditorium, with further renovations in 1960, 1967, and 1985. A new, larger gym was added in 1995, and a $21 million renovation project focused on science classrooms, the band and chorus rooms, and multimedia labs began in 2001 and ended in June 2003.[2]

In 2011, East High School added the Institute for the Fine Arts, a specialized study program in vocal and instrumental music performance. In 2013, visual arts were added to the Institute's offerings, with theatre arts coming in 2015.[4]

Demographics

The school is approximately one-third white and one-third Hispanic, with just over an eighth of students being black. Other races make up the remainder of the school. Gender distribution is about equal. Over seventy percent of East students qualify for free or reduced lunch.[5]

Incidents

1999 mercury spill

In March 1999, a 14-year old student stole a small amount of mercury from a chemistry department storage compartment.[6] The chemical made its way to nearby Riviera Lanes, where the school takes students bowling for gym classes, and students poured it on lanes and into bowling balls.[6] 88 individuals, mostly students, were treated for contamination, and the school remained closed for two days afterward. Riviera Lanes also shut down, but was reopened in time for a bowling tournament, and all the owner lost was "109 pairs of shoes."[6]

2006 foiled school shooting

In September 2006, three men were arrested for planning a shooting at East. One had been upset at being rejected by a girl and said that he was going to "shoot the place up" Columbine-style. The student said that his plan grew from the constant bullying he had received at the school.[7] The would-be attack was foiled when a senior who was an acquaintance of the suspects learned of the plan and reported it to school administrators.[7] Police found nine rifles and shotguns, homemade explosives, camouflage clothing, two-way radios, and "hundreds of rounds of ammunition" in the students' houses.[8] All three men were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree intentional homicide and conspiracy to commit damage of property by use of explosives, while one received additional charges for possessing homemade explosives and a sawed-off shotgun.[7] They served three to six years in prison.[9][10]

Extra-curricular activities

Academic and career-focused

Performance

  • Rhapsody in Red (a competing show choir)
  • Stepperz (a step team)
  • Dancing Devilettes (the school's competitive dance team)

Athletics

The school's mascot, the Red Devil, is a reference to the clay-based East River (formerly called the Devil River) that wraps around the school. In January 2014, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association finalized a realignment plan that would send both Green Bay East and Green Bay West to the smaller Bay Conference starting in 2015-2016 due to both schools' athletic programs failing to win any conference titles since 2000 stemming from the growth of athletic programs in suburban schools.[11]

The Red Devils play at City Stadium, home of the Green Bay Packers from 1925 until 1956. Recent renovations of the field included ornamental fencing and monuments to the history of the field, a new scoreboard, and a turf surfacing made possible by contributions from the Green Bay Packers.[12]

Football rivalry with Green Bay West

Green Bay East and its crosstown rival Green Bay West hold one of the oldest high school football rivalries in Wisconsin.[13] Though students played against each other informally since the formation of a citywide team in 1895, the East-West games did not formally begin until 1905.[14] The schools have met almost without interruption since then (except for 1907, when no game was played), and celebrated 100 years of football competition in 2005.[15] Mark Green, then Green Bay's House representative, referenced the 100th game in a September session of the House.[16] In the teams' 2018 meeting, East defeated West 70-0 in the highest scoring game of the rivalry's history. Neither team reached even 60 points at any other time.[17] East currently leads the series 61-49-3.[13]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "East High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "EHS History". East High School. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ "History of Green Bay". City of Green Bay. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  4. ↑ "About Us". Fine Arts Institute at East High. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  5. ↑ "East High in Green Bay, Wisconsin". public-schools.startclass.com. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "East will close for mercury cleanup". Green Bay Press-Gazette. March 7, 1999. p. 1. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Andy Nelesen (September 22, 2006). "District sues to bar suspects from schools". Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. 2. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  8. ↑ "3 Arrested In High School Bomb Plot". Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  9. ↑ Ryan, Courtney. "School leader recalls foiled 'Columbine-Style' plot at Green Bay East High School". WLUK. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  10. ↑ "10th Anniversary of East HS Plot Arrests". WSAU. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  11. ↑ "WIAA approves large conference realignment plan affecting northeastern Wisconsin". WeAreGreenBay.com. January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Green Bay East's City Stadium to get synthetic turf". Press Gazette Media. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  13. 1 2 "Rivalries". Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  14. ↑ "Packers at 100: What makes Green Bay a legendary franchise". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  15. ↑ "16 Sep 2005, Page 20 - Green Bay Press-Gazette at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  16. ↑ Congressional Record, V. 151, Pt. 15, September 8 to September 22, 2005. Government Printing Office.
  17. ↑ "High school football Week 5 takeaways: West isn't seeking sympathy; Bay Port keeps rolling". Press Gazette Media. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  18. ↑ Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League, edited by Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999)
  19. ↑ "The 1936 Green Bay Packers (10-1-1) - World Champions". www.packershistory.net. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  20. ↑ Thomas, Robert McG., Jr (January 16, 1986). "Jim Crowley, Final Member of Four Horsemen, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Jim Crowley Bio". University of Notre Dame. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Curly Lambeau". Biography.com. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Judge Robert J. Parins". Green Bay Packers. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Tony Shalhoub on a Green Bay Childhood". Wall Street Journal. February 18, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Comedy world mourns death of Green Bay native Mitzi Shore at age 87". Green Bay Press Gazette. April 11, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  26. ↑ Berkow, Ira (January 16, 1982). "Red Smith, Sports Columnist Who Won Pulitzer, Dies at 76". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Austin Straubel (1904-1942)". Ironwood Daily Globe. February 6, 1942. p. 2. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
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