Vestavia Hills High School

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Vestavia Hills High School

Established	1970
Type	Public
Principal	Mr. Caswell McWaters
Faculty	126
Students	1648 (2006-2007)
Grades	High school (9-12)
Location	Vestavia Hills, AL USA
Accreditation	Southern Association of Secondary Schools
Colors	Red and Blue
Mascot	Rebels
Newspaper	The Vedette
Website	http://www.vestavia.k12.al.us/high/

Vestavia Hills High School aerial photo

Vestavia Hills High School (VHHS), founded in 1970, is a public high school in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. Part of the Vestavia Hills School System, the high school is known primarily for the success of its band, math, debate, and baseball teams.

The creation of an independent school system was a landmark event in the history of Vestavia Hills and their quality is locally recognized as the city's greatest asset. The high school, which is noted for excellence nationally as well as on a statewide level, is also an asset to a region not recognized for committing adequate resources to primary education.

The student enrollment for the 2006-2007 academic year is 1648. The current school principal is Cas McWaters.

The school mascot is the Rebel (a cartoon depiction of a "Southern gentleman" patterned after the University of Mississippi mascot). Occasional controversy about the use of the Rebel mascot has not made much impact in Vestavia Hills, which has an overwhelmingly white student body. The name "Rebels", the mascot, the Confederate battle flag (though not the school's official flag) as a rallying symbol was the subject of a school board debate in November 2000. After hearing many opinions, mostly in favor of keeping these symbols, the board took the advice of its legal counsel and made no new policy. The use of the flag, once common, is now strongly discouraged and remains a divisive issue among students.

However, the school has renewed the issue recently by giving out free school flags at a recent pep rally. This school flag was designed over 10 years ago, but failed to garner the attention of the student body. The second attempt has proved much more successful, with students readily accepting and vaunting the flag.^{[citation needed]}

1 Academics
- 1.1 Faculty
- 1.2 Achievements
2 Athletic programs
3 Alumni
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Academics

Vestavia has 150 courses available on yearly basis. Vestavia offerers a number of AP courses ( U.S. History, European History, English Language & Lit., Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Psychology, Physics B, Physics C, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, French, Latin, Spanish, German, Government, Economics, Art, Music Theory, etc.). Vestavia also offers a number of AL or Honors courses. Also Dual Enrollment classes are available for both English and Math.

The graduating class of 2004 had a S.A.T. Verbal mean of 604 and a Math mean of 611. The average ACT composite score was 24.4. There were 20 National Merit Finalists and 3 National Achievement Finalists in the Class of 2004.[1]

[edit] Faculty

The school employs 126 teachers (for a student:teacher ratio of 13:1). The average Vestavia Hills teacher has 16 years of experience, with 78% of the faculty holding Master's or more advanced degrees. Nine of the school's teachers have achieved "National Board Certification" with seven more on track to be certified.

Outstanding teaching staff include Kay Tipton, chair of the math department since 1989, who has won Cornell University's Outstanding High School Educator Award, the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award, and received the White House Commission of Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teacher Award three times.

Former Debate Coach Marilee Dukes was inducted to the National Forensics League Hall of Fame in 2004. [2] She is also in the Tournament of Champions Coaches Hall of Fame. Dukes coached at Alabama’s Vestavia Hills High School for over twenty years and made the program one of the powerhouses of the 1990s. Her students have claimed the championships and top speaker awards at every major national tournament during her tenure, and she has coached debaters to finals at the Tournament of Champions an unprecedented seven times. She is one of ten coaches honored by having a debate round in the Barkley Forum for High Schools at Emory University named after her. [3].

Former Band Director Ted Galloway not only conducted performing groups of consistently high quality, but also brought many legendary jazz musicians, such as Urbie Green to the school for performances.

[edit] Achievements

Vestavia's math team has dominated national competition for more than a decade. The team has earned 15 first-place and 2 second-place finishes in their 17 National Mu Alpha Theta Convention competitions. Most recently, the team won first place recognition in the national competition in Fort Collins, Colorado in July 2006. [4] Other successes include four victories at the regional Furman University Wylie Mathematics Tournament from 1999 to 2004 [5]

The debate team, winners of seven national championships, has the distinction of being the first team in history to win both the Lincoln-Douglas Debate and the Policy Debate in the National Forensic League championships. [6] Vestavia is also the only school to have two national champions in Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Vestavia's newspaper, The Vedette, received the All-Alabama award for the 2005-2006 school year. The All-Alabama award, sponsored by the Alabama Scholastic Press Association is the highest award that can be given to a high school newspaper in Alabama.

Vestavia has a long-standing tradition of a quality music department. Both the band and choir have won numerous state and regional awards, and consistently place best-in-class in competition. Vestavia's jazz program, in particular, has been notable since its founding by bandleader Ted Galloway. The bands are currently under the direction of Jerell Horton, assisted by Heather Chesser. Vestavia's choirs are currently under the direction of Megan Rudolph.

[edit] Athletic programs

Vestavia Hills High School fields varsity teams in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, golf, tennis, softball, swimming, volleyball, lacrosse, cross country/track and field, and weight training.

The Vestavia athletics program has produced several notable successes. The baseball team, under the late Coach Sammy Dunn, won nine state titles in the highest division of competition, including seven straight from 1994-2000 and the 1998 national championship. Dunn's 27-year record at Vestavia was 647-146. The wrestling, soccer (state championship in 1996), golf and tennis teams have also enjoyed notable successes.

[edit] Alumni

Notable alumni of Vestavia Hills High School include:

Chris Hammond (1984), Major League Baseball pitcher (Reds, Marlins, Braves, Yankees, A's, Padres)
Michael Papajohn (1983), Hollywood Actor, Producer & Stuntman
Jeff Taylor (1983), founder of Monster.com and EONS.com
Tanner Colby (1993), writer, producer "National Lampoon Radio Hour" & Belushi: A Biography.
Colter Bean (1995), Major League Baseball pitcher (New York Yankees)
Josh Hancock (1996), Major League Baseball pitcher (St. Louis Cardinals)
Jo S. Kittinger, children's book author
Susan Patterson, opera soprano
Jeanne Wilson, three-time world champion wheelchair weightlifter
Rebecca Moore, Miss Alabama USA 2007