Kickapoo High School (Springfield, Missouri)

Kickapoo High School
Address
3710 S Jefferson Ave
Springfield, Missouri
United States
Coordinates 37°08′48″N 93°17′25″W / 37.14654°N 93.29018°W / 37.14654; -93.29018Coordinates: 37°08′48″N 93°17′25″W / 37.14654°N 93.29018°W / 37.14654; -93.29018
Information
Type US Public Secondary
Motto Spirit, Tradition, Excellence, Opportunity, Community, Performance
Established 1971
School district Springfield Public Schools
Principal Kelly Allison
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,830 (2014-15)[1]
Campus Closed
Color(s)          
Gold and Brown
Mascot Chief
Rival Glendale High School
Website sps.k12.mo.us/khs/

Kickapoo High School is a high school in Springfield, Missouri. Kickapoo officially opened in October 1971,[2] the fifth of Springfield Public Schools's five high schools. It is named "Kickapoo" after its location in a part of Springfield known as the "Kickapoo Prairie" and after the Native American Tribe. The school's mascot is the "Kickapoo Chief". In 2014 it had about 2,100 students and 100 teachers,[3] making Kickapoo the largest of the five high schools in Springfield. After adjustments were made to district lines, this number dropped to 1,800 in the 2015-2016 school year.

Academics

Kickapoo 's characteristics include: Honors, Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement courses, an Orthopedically Handicapped Program, a Learning Resource and a Japanese language program. Kickapoo also participates in a program known as A+, in which students must maintain a 2.5 GPA and complete a certain number of service hours, most of which are completed through peer tutoring. Students who successfully complete the A+ program automatically get a free two-year scholarship to a two-year college in the state.

Journalism

PN Media is a student-produced news organization on the campus of Kickapoo High School. The flagship paper, The Prairie News, has been published since the school opened in 1971.

In 2008 the program underwent a major revision when the paper was renamed 'PN Media'. In May 2009 KHS Prairie News was launched to provide Kickapoo students with a more up-todate news source.

In recent years, the Journalism Department switched its publication to a full color magazine dubbed the "KHQ" standing for "Kickapoo High Quarterly."

Kickapoo is also host of the ChiefTV Network. This is a student produced broadcast journalism group which produces video announcements on a daily basis.

Student Mentoring System

For many years, sophomores and juniors at Kickapoo could apply to be part of the Freshman Mentoring Program, as well as Compton Integration. These students were charged with assimilating groups of freshmen into the school culture. They also assigned rudimentary study skills and research tasks to all freshmen. This program took place during Chief Time.

As of the 2014-2015 school year, the appointment of a new coordinator for the system led to re-formatting of the entire concept. Rather than the mentoring continuing to be exclusive to freshmen across the school, it was decided that it would be expanded to include all of the other grades. All Chief Mentors are not only responsible for their weekly tutoring times, but also high school assimilation activities (like the Freshman Pow-Wow) and volunteering events with local organizations.

School Schedule

Block System

The school schedule is a four block system: Each day, students have four classes around 95 minutes each in length. The semester is 18 weeks long.

Chief Time

The 2004/2005 school year saw the introduction of a program called 'Chief Time.' In the 2011/2012 School year, the Chief Time schedule was changed to include 35 minutes in each class throughout the week. Students may do different things during this block, depending on their grade and academic status.

Students with extreme academic issues can be assigned to a Chief Time class where they receive tutoring for the duration of Chief Time.

Camp Barnabas Fundraising

During the 2006/2007 school year, there were two fundraisers for an organization called Camp Barnabas.[4] Between the two, about $4,000 was raised. An unidentified corporate donor matched that amount for a total donation of around $8,000.

Stop the Bop

Kickapoo adopted the Stop The Bop[5] fundraiser from a Pennsylvania school. The Hanson song MMMBop was played between classes until the student body donated $2,000.

Spirit Shirts

Kickapoo's name has led to the making of a number of creative spirit shirts sold to the students. The most widely known of these being the famous "Fear the 'Poo" shirts in both brown and gold. The 2007/2008 shirt reads "Smoke the Totem Pole," which depicts Kickapoo at the top of a totem pole, followed by Hillcrest, Parkview, Central, and at the bottom, Glendale: Kickapoo's biggest rival. Some shirts feature a camouflage design with "Fear the Poo" on them. This represents going to battle against rival Glendale. Several shirts include puns, such as "Flushing the Competition Since 1972".

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "KICKAPOO HIGH". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Kickapoo School History". Kickapoo High School. Springfield Public Schools. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "SPS - Kickapoo High School". Springfield Public Schools. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  4. ↑ 'Stop The Bop' To Raise Katrina $$ cbsnews.com. URL Accessed May 17, 2007.
  5. ↑ Camp Barnabas Home Page campbarnabas.org. URL Accessed May 17, 2007.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.