Memorial High School (Hedwig Village, Texas)

Memorial Senior High School opened in 1962 to relieve overcrowding at Spring Branch High School. Memorial was the second high school to open in SBISD. At the time, students living north of Old Katy Road attended Spring Branch and students living south of Old Katy Road attended Memorial. This arrangement lasted until Spring Woods High School opened in 1964.

The design of the school was classic early 1960s in the South, with a large, open campus. Each classroom building opened into an outside breezeway, to maximize air flow as the school did not have air conditioning.

When Memorial first opened, the area surrounding the school was largely forest and rice fields, but it rapidly grew as new subdivisions were built, and by the mid-1960s, Memorial's enrollment exceeded 3,000 students, a number much larger than the school was meant to hold. This problem was resolved with the opening of Westchester Senior High School in 1967,[3] and later Stratford Senior High School in 1974.

At the time, Memorial's main rivals were the Spring Branch Bears and Westchester Wildcats. However, by the mid-1980s, the enrollment of nearly every school across the district had dropped precariously, and it was decided that Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools would be closed. Memorial remained open, and took in students from both Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools.

Today, Memorial is the oldest high school still operating in Spring Branch ISD. The school has received extensive renovations, which began during the 1996–1997 school year. Every building in the school was gutted and refurbished, outdated facilities were replaced and the campus was made more secure.

In 2011, Memorial High School was named the #10 most posh public school in the country, as it pulls from a very wealthy area of Houston.[4]

In January 2017 a vandal sprayed graffiti of a racist character on the school property.[5]

The inside of the school campus

The campus is two blocks south of Interstate 10. Memorial City Mall is to the west.[5]

Memorial serves[6] students in all of the Memorial Villages (including Bunker Hill Village,[7] Hedwig Village,[8] Hilshire Village,[9] Spring Valley Village,[10] and most of Hunters Creek Village[11] and Piney Point Village[12]). While the school has a Houston address, it is located in the city of Hedwig Village,[8] and it draws from a small portion of Houston in the Memorial and Spring Branch regions (including Stablewood, Afton Village, Brykerwoods, Monarch Oaks, Spring Oaks, Sandalwood, Whispering Oaks, and portions of Westview Terrace).[6] A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.[13] Memorial High School has eleven lunch vendors that deliver meals to students on campus during their respective lunch periods. [14]

Memorial High Stadium

Memorial has a rivalry with Stratford High School.[15] Memorial also has a formerly successful football team, which went to the state semifinals in December 2010 in the Division II bracket. The 1979 Mustangs went all the way to the state finals, a school record as of yet unbeaten.

As of 2012, the Memorial tennis team had a district record of 73-0 and has finished in the state finals for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Memorial also has tennis, soccer, track & field, cross country, swimming//diving, basketball, golf, baseball, softball, and volleyball teams. The school also has a club field hockey team for girls, and club lacrosse and rugby for both boys and girls.

As of 2017[5]

• Asian/Pacific Islander 16%
• Hispanic/Latino 17%
• Black 2%
• White 65%

Memorial was named a 1988-89 National Blue Ribbon School.[16]

The school was ranked 258th,[17] 133rd,[18] 103rd,[19] 126th,[20] 225th,[21] 307th,[22] and 254th[23] in Newsweek's 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States since the list's inception in 2003.[note 1] It was also ranked 239th[24] and 233rd[25] in U.S. News' 2012 and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States.

Memorial was given the College Readiness Award by the Texas ACT Council in 2008 and 2010. The school was awarded the Just 4 The Kids (NCEA) High Performing School award in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, it was named an Honor Roll School by the Texas Business & Education Coalition.[26] Memorial was named one of the Top 10 Best High Schools in the Area by Children at Risk in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. It was also given the TAKS Gold Performance Award in 2012.[27]

The school achieved "recognized" status in the accountability ratings system by the Texas Education Agency in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.[28][29][note 2]

It was awarded five stars and ranked in the top ten high schools in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in 2002.[30]

• Koby Clemens — professional baseball player with the Sugar Land Skeeters[44]
• Michael Dell — founder and CEO of Dell, Inc[45]
• David Fahrenthold — 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author[46]
• Jeffery Hildebrand—Founder Hilcorp Energy Company
• Bill Baumann —- former San Antonio attorney
• Walker Lukens—singer-songwriter
• Cory Morrow — country singer and songwriter[47]
• Steve Munisteri — chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2010 to 2016.[48]
• Alex Kim—State Judge, 323rd District Court of Tarrant County, Texas[49]
• Michael Simms—publisher, founder of Autumn House Press
• Otto Wood—drummer of Waterparks (band)
• Bobby Mcginnis - NFL Offensive Lineman
• Jennifer Williams - Diplomat
• Doug Dawson - Professional Football Player

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Memorial High School (Hedwig Village, Texas).

• Memorial High School
• Memorial High School Baseball official site
• Memorial High School Theatre
• Memorial High School Mustang Band
• MHS Orchestra
• Memorial Mustang Outreach Bunch
• Spring Branch ISD News