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Trenton High School (Michigan)

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Coordinates: 42°08′35″N 83°12′00″W / 42.143°N 83.2°W / 42.143; -83.2
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Trenton High School
Trenton High School
Address
Map
2601 Charlton Road

Trenton
,
Michigan

USA
Coordinates42°08′35″N 83°12′00″W / 42.143°N 83.2°W / 42.143; -83.2
Information
TypePublic secondary
Established1900
Grades9-12
Enrollmentabout 975
CampusSuburban
Color(s)blue and gold
MascotTrojans
NewspaperTrojan Trumpet
YearbookMonguagon
WebsiteTrenton High School

Trenton High School is a public high school in Trenton, Michigan, one of four schools in the Trenton Public School District. The school serves the city of Trenton and is a magnet school for special education students, specifically for those with hearing disabilities, from across Downriver. Enrollment for the 2009-10 school year was about 970.

Mission

The Trenton High School staff is committed to educating all its students in learning the essential skills necessary to become well rounded, responsible, caring, lifelong learning citizens.[1]

History

The current school complex was constructed in 1953 on a plot bounded by West, Westfield and Charlton roads and Edsel Drive. The school was built to handle a surge in students following World War II and the expansion of western Trenton, which was quickly expanding.[2] The building was known as West Road Elementary School and housed elementary school students until Hedke, Anderson, Foley and Owen elementary schools opened in the 1950s.

The original campus consisted of a two-story, L-shaped structure, with academic center on the eastern side and athletics on the west. Later, during the 1967-68 school year, a two-story wing was added to the north of the building, housing the school's library and classrooms. The school is due for major mechanical and electrical upgrades starting in the spring of 2009 as part of the recently passed bond issue. The school's football field received major renovations in 2001. The existing high school replaced Slocum-Truax School, which opened in 1924 and took up an entire city block at Harrison Avenue and Fifth Street. The building—named after city founders Abram Caleb Truax and Giles Slocum—cost the district $165,000 to build.[3]

The school's first state championship came in the form of the Class D boys' state track title in 1927.[4] The structure, which later served as a junior high school, was demolished in the late 1970s, although the building's stone sign was saved and is displayed on the site, now a public park. Until Slocum-Truax, high school classes were held in buildings with other classes. The first schoolhouse in Trenton was constructed in the 1830s near the Detroit River. Later, a log structure at what is now Jefferson Avenue and Elm Street also served as a school. The first designated high school was a two-story building near Slocum's Island built in the 1870s.[5] The district also operated out of a red building at St. Joseph and Third streets built in 1900 for $10,000, records show.[6] That structure was torn down in 1963.

Athletics

Trenton is a member of the Downriver League. The school's mascot is the Trojan. The school is best known for its hockey teams, which have won 12 state titles in 18 championship game appearances since the late 1970s- including an unprecedented 28-0-0 season in 1995-96, and the most recent state championship in the 09-10 season.[7] Their main rivals are Detroit Catholic Central High School and Huron High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan). The school has been home to some Michigan coaching legends as well. Also notable are the girls' softball team, boys' baseball team, boys' and girls' swimming and diving team, and the boys' track and field team. Trenton also played a 1999 Trenton vs. CC game that never ended because of an injury. Trenton won the game in 2010 during a Gatorade Replay the Series game, with the score being 4-2. In 2004 the boys' golf team won its first state title an had state ranked teams in the 2 years that followed.

Music

The Trenton High School Instrumental Music Department has been widely recognized for its accomplished musicians. Alumni have performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Opera House Orchestra.

The THS Hockey Pep Band has been featured in the Detroit News and Hockey Weekly, and appeared several times on the WDIV-TV program "State Champs," for which the band performed the theme song. The group was the first hockey pep band ever to play at the state hockey semifinals and finals.[citation needed] The 130-plus member THS Marching Band has been a Michigan Competing Bands Association Top Ten Finalist seventeen times and has performed around the country, including at the 1999, 2000 and 2001 National Outback Bowl in Tampa.[8]

The THS Band was also featured in a command performance on WXYZ's "Kelly and Company" salute to late University of Michigan head football coach, Bo Schembechler. The THS Jazz Band has performed at the Detroit Montreux Jazz Festival, Toronto Music In The Parks Festival, Virginia Beach Music Festival, Chicago Navy Pier Jazz Weekend, and all around the state of Michigan.[citation needed] THS Jazz Band alumni have been jazz ensemble members at University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, and Central Michigan University.

Former Trenton HS Band Director Rick Goward is the director of bands at Henry Ford Community College and leads the school Jazz Ensemble. The Trenton Jazz Band also performed for Vice President Al Gore at the 1998 opening of the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit. Mike Kurilko has been the Director of Bands at Trenton High School since 1987.

Television production

Trenton Public Schools television started in 1978 by English teacher Dennis Hamilton. Students in the Television Production Classes - Introduction to Electronic Media Production and Advanced Electronic Media Production - are trained to conceptualize, research, shoot, design graphics, and edit television programs.

The present television facility was conceptualized by Hamilton in 1981, built, and dedicated in October 1982. Hamilton, and the late Superintendent Neil E. Van Riper, negotiated an agreement with then cable company United Cable of Michigan, to split the monies allotted to the City of Trenton's Public Access Studio between the City of Trenton and Trenton Public Schools in order to equip the television studio constructed in the former vocal music room in the high school. A total of $186,500 was spent, specifically on television equipment for the district.

Leanne Shultz currently runs the program.

Notable alumni

  • Jim Diamond is an American music producer, musician, and runs Ghetto Recorders studio, Detroit, MI.
  • Ann Marie Lipinski, former Chicago Tribune editor and Pulitzer Prize winner, who was editor of the Trojan Trumpet [1], graduated in 1974.
  • Bradley A. Smith Law professor, a Clinton appointee to the Federal Election Commission, elected Chairman of the Commission in 2004, was born and raised in Trenton, elected Senior Class President, and graduated Trenton High in 1976.
  • Irwin Kemp (1927) brought home a collection of four gold medals from the 1927 Michigan High School Athletic Association track and field championships; in addition to running the anchor-leg on Trenton's victorious 880-yard relay, Kemp took first-place in the javelin throw, the 100-yard, and 220-yard dash.[9]
  • Lt. Gen. Ronald F. Sams, the Inspector General of the Air Force, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C.. is a former drum major for the Trenton High School Marching Band.[4]
  • Author and Inventor Steven J. Frey (featured on Season 2 of ABC's American Inventor) was born in Trenton is a 1983 graduate of Trenton High School.
  • Former NHL player Larry DePalma was born in Trenton and is a 1983 Trenton High School graduate.
  • Hunter Smith, class of 2011, married Bobby Orr

References

  1. ^ http://www.trenton.k12.mi.us/ths.htm
  2. ^ "City of Trenton Web site". Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  3. ^ http://www.trentonschools.com/district/history
  4. ^ http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/btr/yearly.htm
  5. ^ http://www.trentonschools.com/district/history
  6. ^ http://www.trentonhistoricalsociety.org/history.html
  7. ^ http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/SPORTS09/803090657/1064/SPORTS16
  8. ^ http://www.outbackbowl.com/events/halftime_show.html
  9. ^ http://www.mhsaa.com/MHSAA_ARCHIVE/sports/btr/yearlyindv1920.html
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