Westerville Central High School
| Westerville Central High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
7118 Mount Royal Avenue Westerville , Ohio 43082 United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public comprehensive secondary |
| Established | 2003 |
| School district | Westerville City Schools |
| Principal | Todd Spinner |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 1,600 |
| Color(s) | Black and Silver |
| Mascot | Warhawks |
| Accreditation | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools |
| Newspaper | The Wire |
| Yearbook | The Talon |
| Stadium | Warhawk Field |
| Website | http://www.wcsoh.org/Central/index.html |
Westerville Central High School is a public high school located in Westerville, Ohio. northeast of Columbus, Ohio. It is the newest of 3 high schools in the Westerville City School District, the first classes starting in fall of 2003. It is located, interestingly enough, north of Westerville North High School.
History
The late 1990s brought a surge of population growth to northern Westerville, particularly in Genoa Township. In order to keep up, the district announced that it would build two new elementary schools, as well as a third high school. Westerville was the first Greater Columbus city to have to build a third high school. The district turned to the taxpayers to help foot the bill for the new buildings, Central costing the district $40,000,000, but voters turned the district down. Construction continued on the facility. Mark Raiff, former assistant principal at Westerville South High School, was announced as the school's first principal, and Andy Ey, would be its first athletic director, after previously holding the role at Westerville North High School. Raiff began hiring teaches, and Ey began hiring coaches. Controversy developed, however, as the school's new Head Football Coach, Jeff Jones, and Jeff Vincent, the Head Boys Soccer Coaches, were not given teaching contracts by the district. Both ended up resigning before the school opened. Raiff also ended up resigning for personal reasons before the school's opening, and ended up taking a position with the Olentangy Local School District. Soon after, Superintendent George Tombaugh announced that Todd Meyer, previously Director of Secondary Curriculum, would be the principal when the school officially opened. Bob Fresch was named Head Football Coach, after decades of teaching and coaching in the district, and Dave Pence was promoted from Assistant Boys Soccer Coach to Head Coach. Students had the opportunity to select the school mascot and colors. The winning nickname was the Warhawks. The colors chosen were Black and Silver.
The Facility
Construction began on Central in 2002. The district hired Firestone Jaros Mullin, Inc./TMP Architecture to complete the project after being declared the best of various proposals.
The school includes numerous facilities, including seven athletic fields, a 3,000 seat stadium, a 1,800 seat gymnasium, as well as a state of the art 750 seat auditorium/theatre. The school design called for four distinct academic "houses" for focus on individual subjects. Each academy is dignified by a distinct color; there are red, yellow, blue, and green houses. Central's centerpiece is its common area, known simply as Central Avenue. It serves as the school's dining area, is the point that connects all sectors of the school, and also is the site for many school functions. It reminds many of Westerville's historic business district, Uptown Westerville, with a design that resembles storefronts, including signs and lampposts. For its design, the school design earned the designation of "2004 Outstanding Design Award" from American School and University magazine.
Classes Begin
Westerville Central opened its doors to students in Fall of 2003, with only freshmen and sophomores. The underclassmen had the opportunity to start new tradition and set the tone for years to come. For the first couple years, however, students struggled to develop an identity, as students knew themselves as either students of Westerville North or Westerville South. Central was known by many as the younger sibling of the other two schools. Central added a third class in the 2004-05 school year, and had its first senior class in the 2005-06 school year. The school currently has approximately 1,600 students. The School was given the designation of "Excellent" by the Ohio Department of Education in 2006, the highest possible distinction.
In spring of 2007, principal Todd Meyer announced that he would be leaving his position at Central to become the principal at Olentangy Orange High School, a new high school in the Olentangy Local School District set to open in 2008. Todd Spinner was chosen to be the new principal after an extensive search. Spinner previously was the assistant principal at Delaware Hayes High School.
Music Department
The music department is made up of many different instrumental and choral ensembles. The instrumental ensembles are led by Jason Jackson, a former Broadway performer for the show Blast!. There are six different instrumental ensembles: Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band, and Jazz Ensemble. Their marching band's 2006 show was King Kong and featured African percussion instruments in the third number. This show received a Superior rating at a band competition, granting the band access to the 2006 State Finals where the band received an Excellent rating. In February of 2008, the band will be traveling to Orlando, Florida, where they will be marching in the Spetromagic Parade at the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Theatre Department
The acclaimed Westerville Central Theatre Department has quickly established a reputation of high-quality performances, ranging from their talent both onstage and off, as well as their sets and creative choices, using fully the high school's multi-award-winning auditorium. All of the shows are directed by Scott Paynter, and Pam Hayes is the technical director.
Its inaugural production being "Jabberwock", the theatre department has followed with such illustrious shows as Oklahoma! and Grease, while polishing unknown gems that include Good News, Radio T.B.S, and Faith County.
The annual New York trip that the theatre department sponsors is leaving MLK Weekend 2008, and will be seeing either Hairspray (musical) or The Drowsy Chaperone, Wicked (musical) or Young Frankenstein (musical), and Mary Poppins (musical) or The Little Mermaid (musical). The trip will cost around $1000 per person.
2007-2008 Season
The 2007-08 Westerville Central Theatre Department Season includes Robin Hood in November, Pippin (musical) in March, The Odd Couple in May, as well as a children's show in May that goes toward theatre scholarships. Other proceeds go to support the National Diseased Pubococcygeus Research Fund. "Be strong like Superman, with your hands on your hips, and know that ordinary life is pure bliss!" - Sandra R. Swenk (1988-2006).
Athletics
In athletics, students had the opportunity to play varsity schedules in their freshman and sophomore years in the initial two years of the school.
Most teams
struggled, but the school rallied around the Girls Soccer team, coached by Erik Ekis, winner of the 1997 National High School Coach of the Year award. Ekis led his team of 11 freshmen and 3 sophomores to a 15-3-1 record and an appearance in the Ohio Division II State Semifinals. This was the beginning of a dynasty in girls soccer at Westerville Central, where the girls won the Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division and appeared in the Central District Championship in 2005. 7 members of the 2003 squad received scholarships to play soccer at the collegiate level. Central's 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 Girls Relay team also had success at the state level in their inaugural season, with the 4 x 400 team placing third in the state finals and the 4 x 100 team of Jeanetta Francy, Julia Francy, Raisa Garvin, and Vanessa Hardin, winning the school's first state title.
The school has crosstown rivalries with Westerville North and Westerville South. The three schools will find themselves in the same division in the Ohio Capital Conference starting in 2008. The Warhawks are also rivals with the Big Walnut Eagles in football, with the two teams competing in the "Battle of the Birds" for the "WarEagle Trophy." Central is 0-3 in its rivalry with its Delaware County counterpart.
In February 2007, Kicker Ben Buchanan became the first verbal commit of the 2008 Ohio State Buckeyes' football recruiting class.
The Boys Bowling team finished second at the state tournament in the 2005-06 season.
At the 2007 Ohio High School Athletic Association Swimming State Championships, Austin Staab defended his state titles in the 100 Free and 100 Fly, tying the national record in the 100 Fly with a 47.10, matching the time of Nate Dusing of Covington, Kentucky in 1997.
Ohio Capital Conference Championships:
2005 - Boys Soccer
2005 - Girls Soccer
2006 - Girls Swimming and Diving
2006 - Football
2007 - Softball
State Champions:
2004 - Jeanetta Francy, Julia Francy, Raisa Garvin, and Vanessa Hardin (Track and Field 4X100)
2005 - Bryan Blake (Golf)
2006 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Free)
2006 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Fly)
2006 - Brendan Barlow (Wrestling - 275 Wt. Class)
2007 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Free)
2007 - Austin Staab (Swimming - 100 Fly)
2007 - Stuart Smith (Track - 100M Dash)
2007 - Stuart Smith (Track - 200M Dash)
External links
- http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us/ District Website]