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Information About

Iowa City West High School




  Address 2901 Melrose Avenue
  Type Public
  Established 1968
  Grades 9-12
  Students approx 1775
  Principal Dr Jerry Arganbright
  Website http://wwwiowa-cityk12iaus/Schools/West/
  Affiliation Mississippi Valley Conference
  Colors Forest Green and Gold
  Mascot Trojans/Women of Troy
  City Iowa City
  State Iowa
  Country USA




Iowa City West High School is a Public High School in Iowa City , Iowa . It is currently home to over 1775 students, in grades 9 through 12, and 195 teachers, administration, and support staff. All boys athletic teams are called "The Trojans," while all girls teams are called "The Women of Troy."


HISTORY

West High opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 1968, its construction relieving the enrollment requirements of a growing city. The first principal was Edwin K. Barker. The first student council president was Tom Karson. Gina Gelman, a senior in the first graduating class of 1969, composed the new school's fight song, which is set to the tune of the University of Houston fight song. The school's newspaper was named the "West Side Story" and yearbooks were named the "Epic." When it opened, the high school handled grades 10 through 12, with the 9th grade students remaining in the local school district's Junior High Schools.


PRESENT

Recently, West High School's enrollment has reached its maximum capacity of over 1800 students. Because of this, incoming students from non-"feeder schools" (such as Northwest Junior High or North Central Junior High) are required to attend West High's cross-town rival, Iowa City High School .

West High School provides many musical opportunities to its students. There are multiple classes for band, choir, and orchestra. Extracurricular musical activities include select choirs, show choir, jazz band, musicals, and others. West is known to have an outstanding music program.


EXTRACURRICULARS


West High Math Team

Led by coaches Jon Bach (known as "The Creampuff"), James Kirpes, and Joye Walker, the West High Math Team regularly wins numerous awards at local and regional math competitions. Seven time winners of the GPML Midwest Regional Math Competition (covering six states), this team places a great emphasis on learning math, meeting people with similar interests, participating in periodic competitions, and thus enjoying the entire mathematical experience. Notable previous members include John Hegeman (Stanford University), Drew Klein (Yale University), Miller Li (University of Iowa), Paul Hlebowitsh (MIT), Jeffrey Chenhall (University of Michigan), and Nicholas Allendorf (Iowa State University).


West High Forensics


The West High Speech and Debate, or Forensics, team has many participants and consistently gains national recognition.
West High Forensics is a member of the National Forensics League, the Iowa High School Forensics Association and the Iowa High School Speech Association.
Please click Iowa City West High Forensics to see a more detailed summary of the team's current season, history, and goals.


West Side Story student newspaper

West High's student-run, student-produced newspaper, the ''West Side Story'' has gained national recognition as an innovative, professional-quality newsmagazine. Please click West Side Story Student Newspaper for more information on the publication.


Academic Decathalon

The West High Academic Decathalon team, frequently referred to as just ac dec, was formed after a several year hiatus in 2006. Tyson Smith is the staff sponsor and coach. The team qualified for state in its first year by a slight margin but due to schedule complications was unable to send a team.

In its second year during 2007 it fielded two teams for regionals which placed second and third behind the perennial victor Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School by a sizable margin. The team went on to have one team at state and do very well placing a very close second to Jefferson. Students placed very highly including the second place in honors category and captain of the team Alyssa Levitz and the first place varsity category Peter Haugen.

The west high drama club has also gotten high review. They have done a lot of plays, such as Into the woods, Midsummer's night dream, Anything goes, Bat boy, West High Story. The West High Story is about students who go to west high school and face difficult situations and problems everyday and find ways to solve them as best as they can.

The West High Math Club has won state titles in the past.

West High School students are noted for excellence in academics. A vast majority of the students that take Advanced Placement exams receive college credit for those classes and West High traditionally is one of the leading schools in the state in terms of National Merit Scholars .


PROMINENT ALUMNI

  • Nate Kaeding , current All-Pro place kicker for the San Diego Chargers

  • Bart Watson, one time star of the Stanford University ultimate frisbee team and player on the USA team fielded in the world ultimate frisbee championship {Link without Title}

  • Laura Leighton , who starred on Fox's "Melrose Place" (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500359/bio).



EXTERNAL LINKS

  • [http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/Schools/West/ West High's home page]