Southwest High School (Kansas City, Missouri)
| Southwest Early College Campus | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
6512 Wornall Road , Kansas City | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1927 |
| Closed | 2016 |
| School district | KCMSD |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Color(s) | Black and Orange |
Southwest High School was a comprehensive high school located at 6512 Wornall Road in Kansas City, Missouri. It was part of the Kansas City, Missouri School District.
Background
Southwest High School was established in 1927. After closing its doors in the 1990s, the building was reoccupied by Southwest Charter School until 2005. The school is in the Brookside neighborhood, at 6512 Wornall Road, two blocks south of Border Star Montessori. This is the only school in the Kansas City, Missouri School District that has an on-site planetarium and science laboratories.
For five decades, Southwest High School had a predominantly white student body. In the late 1960s, a few black students began attending.
It was not until the 1970s that the black student population increased significantly at Southwest High. In 1973, Southwest had a black student population of 2%. By the late 1970s, the black student population was approximately 60% due to busing and attendance boundary changes that began during the 1975-1976 school year.
Southwest became part of the school district again in August 2008, opening as Southwest Early College Campus. SWECC is based on math and science, and allows students to earn 20 to 60 hours of college credit from the University of Missouri-Kansas City before graduating.
The school closed again at the end of the 2015-2016 school year[1], and remains closed as of October 2018.
Academie Lafayette, a French-immersion charter school, was scheduled to have high school classes in the Southwest building starting with the 2015-2016 school year. The Kansas City School District made the announcement June 9, 2014.[2] However, this plan was canceled.
Future
As of 2018, community groups and the Kansas City School District are considering uses for the building[3]. The facility needs significant maintenance and updates before it can be used again.
Alumni
- Robert Altman - film director
- Henry Bloch - co-founder of H&R Block
- Richard Bloch - co-founder of H&R Block
- Evan S. Connell - novelist, poet, and short story writer
- Chris Cooper - actor
- Bill Jennings - former MLB player (St. Louis Browns)
- Michael Jones - pro football player
- Dave Nicholson - former Major League Baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves)
- Joe Nolan - former MLB player (New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles)
- Berton Roueché - medical writer who wrote for The New Yorker magazine for almost fifty years
- Parsons Dance Company - choreographer David Parsons
- Richard Smalley - 1961 Nobel Prize winner
- Tech N9ne - birth name Aaron Yates, rapper
- Calvin Trillin - journalist, humorist, and novelist
- Ruth Warrick - actor; original All My Children cast member
- Halbert White – econometrician, Class of 1968 salutatorian.[4]
- Chuck Wild - composer, producer, Emmy-nominated songwriter
- Larry Winn - businessman and U.S. Representative from Kansas 1967-1985
- Sir Robert Worcester - top British political commentator and market research pioneer
References
- ^ As Kansas City's Southwest High School Closes, Graduates Look Back On A Storied Past
- ^ Southwest High again becoming a charter school
- ^ Back off, Missouri lawmakers. KC school district should decide future of Southwest High School
- ^ My Journey to UC San Diego Archived 2015-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
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