Oakland Mills High School

Oakland Mills High School
Address
9410 Kilimanjaro Road Columbia, Maryland 21045 USA
Coordinates	39°12′31″N 76°50′21″W / 39.20861°N 76.83917°W / 39.20861; -76.83917Coordinates: 39°12′31″N 76°50′21″W / 39.20861°N 76.83917°W / 39.20861; -76.83917
Information
Type	Public high school
Opened	1973
School board	Howard County Public Schools Board of Education
School district	Howard County Public Schools
School number	(240) 236-7000
School code	201411
Principal	Dr. Jeffrey Fink
Grades	9-12
Age range	13-18
Number of students	1,161[1]
Average class size	30
Hours in school day	7
Campus	Suburban
School colour(s)	Orange      Black      White
Mascot	Super Scorp
Team name	Scorpions
Rivals	Wilde Lake, River Hill
Newspaper	The Scroll (omscroll.com)
Website	Oakland Mills High School website

Oakland Mills High School

Oakland Mills High School was established in 1973 as one of the first high schools to serve the planned developed new town of Columbia, Maryland area, established by James Rouse and his Rouse Company in 1967 in Howard County, midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.. It is part of the Howard County Public Schools system. (HCPSS)

The building had its first renovation in 1991, and another in 1998. A new addition was put onto OMHS in 2004, the "new wing," raising its total capacity to 1,400 students.^[1]

Demographics

Oakland Mills is one of the largest minority populated schools in the Howard County Public School System. Of the student body,^[1] 43.9% are African American, 20.2% are White, 21.6% are Hispanic, 6.6% are Asian, 0% are Native American, and 7.2% are two or more races.

For students receiving special services in the 2016-2017 year, leas many as 6.1% were with limited English proficiency, 44.9% received free/reduced lunches, and 10.1% were enrolled in special education. The graduation rate was 90.4%.

In 2007, Guidance Counselor Pauline Phillips was named 2006 Howard County Counselor of the Year, and 2006 Maryland State Counselor of the Year.

Kimberly Feldman, 9th grade English teacher, was named 2010 Howard County Teacher of the Year, and was a finalist for Maryland Teacher of the Year.^[2]

In 2011, health teacher Kimberly Rosado was awarded Teacher of the Year by the senior class. Principal Frank Eastham tied as Howard County's Principal of the Year. Senior Alexis Adams served as the sole Student Member of the Board (SMOB) for the Howard County Board of Education.

Activities

The athletics at Oakland Mills enjoy a widespread and rabid fan base, with black and orange-clad Spirit Club members found at every game. Popular school slogans include "You can't spell cHaMpiOnS without OMHS" and "There's no place like hOMe".

The school also has an accomplished music and drama program. The choir, band, and orchestra are consistently given high ratings at various adjudications and festivals, including the annual WBAL Kids Campaign concert held at the school. Singers from the choir program have performed live on radio for the WBAL Kids Campaign. The Oakland Mills High School Chamber Singers are an active ensemble in their community. The select ensemble has been invited twice to the University of Maryland College Park high school invitational. Multiple members have been a part of nearby select ensembles such as the Maryland All State choirs and Howard County GT/Honor Choir. Oakland Mills has participated twice in the Baltimore area Critics and Awards Program for High School Students (the "Cappies"). The 2005 show, Footloose was nominated for 11 awards, winning two (Ensemble in a Musical and Cameo Actress). The 2006 spring musical, Seussical, was nominated for 13 awards.

The school is also home to over 30 clubs and organizations, including Howard County's only Air Force JROTC program.

The school's boys' cross country team has won a state record 12 cross country state titles, including six in a row in the late eighties and early nineties. The team also had a surge of championships around the start of the 21st century, including some narrow victories over Glenelg High School.

Gifted and Talented achievements

In the 2009-2010 school year about 30% of students were enrolled in GT classes and about 20% in AP classes, according to the High School Needs/Data Assessment. The enrollment of students in OMHS's 18 AP courses has increased by 4% since 2008; this includes a 3% increase of African American students and a 2% increase of Hispanic students.

Students have been successful in higher-level classes. 89% of OMHS students who took the English Language and Composition AP/GT exam received a passing score of 3 or higher, and 86% of students who took the World History AP/GT exam received a 3 or higher. Both of these numbers impressively exceed the national average pass rate of 53%.^[3]

From the 2009-2010 school year to the 2010-2011 school year, there has been a 12.5% increase in the size of the OMHS National Honor Society. Currently, 38% of the students in NHS are minorities and 14% are African American.

Since 2009, there have been 67 Maryland Distinguished Scholars: six semifinalists, and nine finalists. There were 19 National Merit Scholars and five finalists. In the class of 2011, OMHS had six National Achievement Scholars, a program for African American students. Of those six, two were finalists.

Since 2009, the school has had one or more students accepted into six of the eight Ivy League schools, including Brown University, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University, as well as other prestigious schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, the Juilliard School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Stanford University. A number of these acceptances have been of minority students, including Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Athletics

Oakland Mills High School has won many state championships. Here is a list of the titles that the school owns:

Notable alumni

• Larry Aaron III - Up and coming Marshall University Football player, killed at 19^[16]
• D'Monroe - Broadway and Off-Broadway actor
• Darryl Gee - US Olympic soccer player^[17]
• Christian Gronet - founder of Solyndra
• David Howard - 7th round pick (241 overall) by the Tennessee Titans in the 2010 NFL Draft
• Bree Newsome - activist^[18]
• Randy Pausch - professor at Carnegie Mellon University who gained a level of internet and YouTube notoriety for recording what is known as his inspirational "Last Lecture" due to a battle with terminal pancreatic cancer^[19]
• Clint Peay - fullback, men's national team player, DC United Star, and US Olympic soccer player
• J.T. Rembert - Former Marshall University football player, died before 30 from heart issues^[20]
• Rob Ryerson - former professional soccer player, soccer coach at Mount St. Mary's University
• Rich Ryerson - former professional soccer player, head coach of the UNLV Rebels men's soccer team
• Dave Sitek - musician known for TV on The Radio, Akimilli
• Terry W. Virts - NASA astronaut^[21]
• Dante Washington - men's national team player, MLS scorer, and US Olympic soccer player^[22]

Rappers

Oakland Mills has had a number of students and alumni that were amateur rappers, as well as other musicians.

Here are just a few of the more recent artists:

• Jaden Ealey - "Lor Torch"

https://www.spinrilla.com/E4T

• Takim Herring - "$Takk$"

https://soundcloud.com/kinggtak

• Dazairius Savoy - "ItsDazMan"

https://soundcloud.com/daz0320

• Daiquan Anderson - “Dai$avage” https://m.soundcloud.com/user-477716154

References and notes

External links

• Official OMHS website
• Dr. Randy Pausch, OMHS alumnus, "Final Lecture"