Sammamish High School
Sammamish High School | |
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Location | |
100 140th Ave. SE Bellevue, Washington U.S | |
Information | |
Type | Public High School |
Established | 1959, 2004 (renovated) |
School district | Bellevue S.D. (#405) |
Principal | Scott Powers |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 1,007 (October 2016) |
Color(s) |
Red, Black, & White |
Athletics |
WIAA Class 2A, SeaKing District Two |
Athletics conference | KingCo 2A |
Mascot | Thunderbird |
Nickname | Totems |
Rivals | Interlake, Bellevue |
Newspaper | Totem Talks Blog |
Yearbook | Thunderbird |
Website |
Sammamish High School Bellevue S.D. site: SHS Sammamishtotems.org |
Sammamish High School (commonly Sammamish or SHS) is a public secondary school in Bellevue, Washington, USA, serving students in grades 9–12. Opened in 1959, the school was the second of the four traditional high schools in the Bellevue School District, with admission based primarily on the locations of students' homes. The school's nickname is the Totems, the mascot is the Thunderbird, and its colors are red, black, and white. The current principal is Scott Powers, with Thomas Gangle and Anecia Grigsby as assistant principals.
Sammamish generally serves students from the east zone of the district, but students from outside its attendance area can enroll at the school through its open enrollment policy. Sammamish High's feeder elementary schools are Cherry Crest, Stevenson, Lake Hills, Phantom Lake, and Spiritridge. Its feeder middle schools are Odle and Tillicum.[1]
Demographics
In the 2016-2017 school year, the total student enrollment was 1,007. The racial demographics are: 5% Black/African American, 21% Asian, 18% Hispanic, 8% Multi-Ethnic and 47% white. 32% of students speak a first language other than English and 38% qualify for free or reduced lunches[2]
Academics
Sammamish is well known for its magnet programs (Sammamish Visual and Performing Arts Center), Advanced Placement classes, and career and technical programs.[1] Sammamish was named the Washington state recipient of 2006-07 Siemens Awards of Advanced Placement.[3] This award recognizes the excellence of Sammamish's Advanced Placement instruction and student performances.[4]
Starting with the 2007-08 academic year, Sammamish switched from a 4-period daily block schedule to a 7-period schedule. Then-principal Laura Bang-Knudsen and Program Delivery Council Facilitator George Westergaard cited the need for a waiver, lack of sufficient faculty, parent or student support to get the waiver and inability to come up with a schedule that would not require a waiver and would not sacrifice curriculum coverage time.[5]
Advanced Placement
Sammamish offers Advanced Placement classes. 9th graders are required to take AP Human Geography. From 2002 through 2006, Sammamish students' scores counted for over 50% of all the passing exams in AP Calculus BC for the entire state.[6]
Sammamish was ranked as #168 in 2008, #108 in 2007, #193 in 2006, #225 in 2005, and #141 in 2003[7] out of all the high schools in United States by Newsweek Magazine. The ranking is based on the number of Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate tests taken divided by number of graduating seniors. All five high schools[8] in the district are consistently ranked as the top five high schools in the Washington state since the inception of the Newsweek ranking. The validity of these rankings is disputed for various reasons, such as that Sammamish's lack of an IB program deflates its rating as compared to its neighbor Interlake High School.[9]
Athletics
Sammamish is a member of the Kingco Athletic Conference,[10] in WIAA Class 2A (formerly 3A and 4A). Twenty two sports are played over the course of three seasons at Sammamish, with Cheer and Drill active year-round. Past statistics can be found at the WIAA website.[11]
Sammamish High School State Championship Games WIAA State Tournament History, inquire by selecting Sammamish HS | |||||||
Year | Sport | Winning Team | Losing Team | Location (all in Washington) | Class | ||
1964 | Boys' Golf | Everett | 310 | Sammamish | 294 | 4A | |
1970 | State Frisbee Championship | Sammamish | 3 gms | O'Dea (Seattle) | 2 gms | Bellevue | 4A |
1976 | Girls' Basketball | Sammamish | 45 | Walla Walla | 34 | Pacific Lutheran University | 4A |
1977 | Girls' Basketball | Sammamish | 53 | Garfield | 30 | Pacific Lutheran University | 4A |
1977 | Girls' Track and Field | Sammamish | 64 | Roosevelt | 56 | 4A | |
1978 | Boys' Basketball | Garfield | 58 | Sammamish | 56 | Seattle Coliseum, Seattle | 4A |
1978 | Boys' Soccer | Shorewood | 2 | Sammamish | 0 | Seattle | 4A |
1978 | Girls' Track and Field | Sammamish | 55 | Roosevelt | 26 | 4A | |
1978 | Girls' Cross Country | Bellarmine Prep | 106 | Sammamish | 80 | 4A | |
1979 | Boys' Soccer | Sammamish | 6 | O'Dea | 2 | Seattle | 4A |
1979 | Girls' Track and Field | Sammamish | 44 | Lincoln (Tacoma) | 38 | 4A | |
1981 | Boys' Soccer | Highline | 2 | Sammamish | 0 | Seattle | 4A |
1985 | Boys' Cross Country | Redmond | 111 | Sammamish | 51 | 4A | |
1989 | Girls' Tennis | Sammamish | tie-breaker[12] | Bellarmine Prep | 4A | ||
1989 | Girls' Soccer | Jefferson | 3 | Sammamish | 1 | Renton | 4A |
1990 | Girls' Tennis | Sammamish | tie-breaker[12] | Bellarmine Prep | 4A | ||
1990 | Girls' Track and Field | Sammamish | 74 | Lake Washington | 54 | 4A | |
1990 | Girls' Soccer | Sammamish | 1 | Federal Way | 0 | Shoreline | 4A |
1992 | Girls' Soccer | Federal Way | 3 | Sammamish | 0 | Shoreline | 4A |
1995 | Boys' Basketball | Evergreen | 64 | Sammamish | 59 (OT) | Kingdome, Seattle | 4A |
1996 | Girls' Tennis | Sammamish | 4A[13] | ||||
1999 | Boys' Football | Prosser | 42 | Sammamish | 38 | Tacoma Dome | 3A |
1999 | Boys' Water Polo | Sammamish | 11 | Mercer Island | 10 | King County Aquatics Center | 3A[13] |
2000 | Boys' Water Polo | Mercer Island | 16 | Sammamish | 8 | King County Aquatics Center | 3A[14] |
2002 | Drill Team | Sammamish | S | Sun Dome, Yakima | 3A | ||
2015 | Boys Golf | Sammamish | Liberty Lake Golf Course | 2A |
This list only includes school championship games and does not include the 55 individual and group first place championships and 11 second-place finishes in track and field, cross country, swimming, golf, gymnastics, tennis, and wrestling.
Activities
Sammamish High School is home to a variety of extracurricular activities.[15] Associated Student Body and administrators coordinate these throughout the schoolyear. Academically, the school houses chapters of the National Honor Society, National Arts Honor Society, Tri-M (Music Honor Society), Mu Alpha Theta (National Math Honor Society), and as of the 2006-07 school year, a successful and competitive Policy/Lincoln Douglas Debate team, which has competed at the semi-final level of the Auburn Regional Forensics Invitational. An active Multicultural Club conducts events to demonstrate the diversity of the student body and coordinates the annual "Taste of Sammamish" culinary festival. Also, the Arts Magnet Program creates opportunities for students to participate in actual production. Other clubs include the Black Student Union and the LGBTQ club. Sammamish is very supportive of all communities. Sammamish is home to Thespian Troupe 2241. The school's theater, opened in early 2005 and cost the district $4.5 million[16] and is now home to at least two student productions each year. It contains professional equipment and is sometimes available to outside groups for rent, making it the third professional-quality theater in King County, Washington.[17] Sammamish Graphic Arts students often participate in state and regional graphics competitions. The school offers a fully functional hot glass studio and extensive programs centered on healthcare. The jazz choir has won numerous awards,[18] and along with jazz band competes in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival each year. Jazz choir was recently featured in Bellevue Community College's Vocal Jazz Invitational with its award-winning vocal jazz ensemble Celebration!. In February 2007, Sammamish won 1st Runner-up in the most competitive Multi-Mic Division at Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.[19]
Notable alumni
- Megan Hilty, Tony nominated Broadway actress [20]
- Rob McKenna, the former Republican Attorney General of Washington. He was elected in November 2004 for a term beginning in January 2005. He won re-election in November 2008 with over 59 percent statewide. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Washington in 2012.
- Kevin Seal, actor and television presenter. He was an MTV VJ in the late 1980s, the host of the pilot of Club MTV (according to an MTV special) and one of the hosts of the influential alternative-music program 120 Minutes, which debuted in 1986. After leaving the program, he hosted MTV's Headbangers Ball from 1987 to 1988 and Kevin Seal: Sporting Fool for which he won a Cable Ace Award in 1990.[21][22]
- Andy Smallman, educator and founding director of the Puget Sound Community School in Seattle, Wash.[23]. Andy's online class "The Practice of Kindness" drew national media interest in 2009.[24]
- Ann Wilson, musician, co-founder of Heart[13]
Notes and references
- 1 2 "Sammamish High School Home Page". bsd405.org. Archived from the original on 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- ↑ "About - Sammamish High School" (PDF). bsd405.org. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
- ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
- ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
- ↑ "Letter to Sammamish Students, Parents and Staff, Dec. 13, 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 6, 2007.
- ↑ "Sammamish Senior High". seattletimes.com. The Seattle Times. 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
- ↑ "America's Top Public High Schools".
- ↑ Bellevue High School (Washington), Newport High School, and Interlake High School, International School
- ↑ Education Sector: Analysis and Perspectives: Challenged Index Archived 2007-06-08 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "KingCo Home Page". KingCoAthletics.com.
- ↑ "WIAA Schedules". Archived from the original on 2006-11-14.
- 1 2 Won via tie-breaker having defeated Bellarmine Prep
- 1 2 3 Peterson, Matt (September 17, 2002). "Spotlight: Sammamish High School". The Seattle Times.
- ↑ MIKE McLAUGHLIN (8 November 2000). "Preps Beat: Power shift complete in water polo". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
- ↑ Bain, Lara (2005-05-06). "New theater ready to take stage at Sammamish High". The Seattle Times.
- ↑ "Mahlum: Sammamish High School Performing Arts Center". Archived from the original on 2005-10-18.
- ↑ "BSD\fowlers's Home". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26.
- ↑ Today@Idaho - News Article Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Owen, Rob (January 29, 2012). "'Smash's' Megan Hilty 'obsessed' with singing". The Seattle Times. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ↑ "ACE Awards List". apnewsarchive.com. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ↑ "Whatever Happened to the Video Stars?". July 25, 2006.
- ↑ Puget Sound Community School
- ↑ Seattle Times: Kindness taught in Seattle school's online class Archived December 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.