Edina High School

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Edina High School
Address
6754 Valley View Road
Edina, Minnesota
United States
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Information
Type Public
Established 1949
Principal Dr. Bruce Locklear
Number of students 1,940
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Kelly Green and White          
Athletics Lake Conference
Team name Hornets
Rivals Eden Prairie High School
USNWR ranking 197
Average ACT scores 29
Website

Edina High School is a three-year public high school located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The current student population is 1,940.

Edina High School was ranked as 197th best public high school in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report.[1] Minnesota Department of Education certified Edina as a "Five Star School" and the U. S. Department of Education recognized it as a "National School of Excellence". Newsweek ranked the school #89 in their "List of the 69 Top High Schools in America",[2] and the Grammy Foundation selected it as one of forty-two "Signature Schools" recognizing Edina's contributions to music education. Ninety-five percent of seniors go on to college and eighty-six percent finish in five years. 30% of Edina graduates responded in a recent survey that they conducted 10 years after graduation they had completed graduate school degrees or were pursuing graduate degrees .[3]

A second high school, Edina West High School, opened fall, 1973, next to Valley View Junior High School, and Edina High School was renamed Edina East High School. Due to declining student enrollment, the two school combined eight years later. Edina East closed in spring, 1981, and the building eventually became the Edina Community Center, the district administrative offices and Welcome Center, and the home of Normandale Elementary school, while Edina West became Edina High School.

History

File:Edina High Ent.jpg
Edina High School Main Entrance

Before a high school opened in Edina, students looking to extend their education past eighth grade had to find their way down to the old Central High School at 4th Avenue and South 11th Street in Minneapolis.[4] By the 1940s some Edina students in grades 10 through 12 attended private high schools. Of those who could not afford to attend a private high school, some were enrolled at St. Louis Park High School while many others were being "farmed out" to West and Southwest High Schools in Minneapolis. In 1941, Minneapolis schools raised their tuition for out-of-city students, and despite the increase, Edina residents voted to pay the increased tuition rather than build their own high school.

During the mid-1940s, support for an Edina-Morningside junior and senior high school was increasing. However, World War II and the resulting shortage of building materials delayed construction of the Edina-Morningside Junior and Edina-Morningside Senior High School. But after the war, support for the new school began to resurface. Two sites for the new school had the most support. One was on the property that is currently occupied by the Edina Country Club near 50th Street and Wooddale Avenue and the other was at West 56th Street and Normandale Road. Although the 50th and Wooddale site was the center of the village's population at the time, the 56th and Normandale site was nearer to the school district's geographic center and was the eventual site chosen to build the new school.

The first high school to open in Edina, later known as Edina East, is now the site of the Edina Community Center and Normandale Elementary School. It was built as a combination high school/junior high. A $1.25 million school bond issue was passed in 1946 by the residents of Edina and ground was broken in October 1947. A year later the school was dedicated. It was not until the fall of 1949 that classes began and it was at that time that the student body chose the school colors (green and white) and the school mascot, the Hornet. The school had 28 classrooms, 11 special rooms and laboratories, a library and a special radio room. In 1952, one year after the first class graduated, a gymnasium and auditorium were added to the building.

In the 1960s, the high school was becoming overcrowded. As a result, on October 20, 1970, a $9.255 million bond issue was approved by voters to construct a new high school attached to Valley View Junior High School. Construction of the new high school began on May 24, 1971 and the school was opened in the fall of 1972. The Edina East High School retained the "Hornets" and Edina West High School became the "Cougars."

In 1981 Edina East was closed and Edina West was renamed Edina High School. The newly unified school decided on the "Hornets" nickname. Part of the old high school building was converted to the Edina kindergarten center in 1987 and the Edina Senior Center. As of 2015, the building is used as a community center, housing the French Immersion K-5 elementary school, the school district's main offices and the school district's Welcome Center.

In November 2003, city of Edina residents passed an $85.8 million bond referendum[5] to renovate all school facilities in the district, with the high school undergoing major renovations. Construction began on the high school in May 2004 and was completed in 2007.

Extracurricular

  • Under the 'Youth Serving Youth' program, there are countless clubs which students can participate in, such as STAND, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, United 4 UNICEF, and the Edina Recycling Team which is called Project Earth.
  • The school yearbook is titled Windigo
  • The school newspaper is Zephyrus, and is a member of the High School National Ad Network
  • The school has a student-published literary arts magazine entitled Images
  • Theater: In 2011, Edina was the first high school in Minnesota to perform on the Main Stage of the International Thespian Festival in over forty years, where they performed Anything Goes
  • Debate: Edina has a nationally recognized debate team, which has been nationally ranked in the recent past (16th in 2009-10 [2] and 19th in 2010-11 [3])
  • Edina has a robotics team, 'The Green Machine'
  • Edina's high school hockey team, City of Edina, is known as the Cake Eaters. The phrase was used in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks.

Athletics

Edina High School is a member of the Lake Conference of the Minnesota State High School League. Previously a member of the Lake Conference and the Classic Lake Conference, the school joined the new Lake Conference in 2010. Edina claims 150 high school state championships, a state record, with most of them earned in tennis, swimming, and boys hockey. In 2000, the school was recognized as the first school in the state of Minnesota to win more than 100 state championships. The boys' hockey team has won a state-record twelve [6] championships (including three titles by Edina East), eight under Willard Ikola alone. Edina held the record for most consecutive state championships in girls tennis with fifteen from 1978 to 1992.[7] In 2012, Edina broke their own record and have now been State Champions nineteen years in a row. Edina was seeded as the underdog in the 2015 state tournament, but proved their greatness as they defeated Prior Lake in the finals. Edina girls tennis is often referred to as "EGT".

In 2005, Sports Illustrated ranked Edina as the 8th best sports program in the United States.[citation needed]

Key: E = Edina East, W = Edina West

State Championships
Athletic
Season Sport Number of MSHSL Championships Year
Fall Football 1[1] 1978W
Gymnastics, Boys 3 1982, 1984, 1990
Tennis, Girls 34[2] 1978E, 1979E, 1980E, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Swimming, Girls 13 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1999[3], 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012
Soccer, Boys 3 1999, 2000, 2001
Soccer, Girls 1 1986
Winter Basketball, Boys 3 1966, 1967, 1968
Basketball, Girls 1 1988
Hockey, Boys 12[2] 1969, 1971, 1974E, 1978E, 1979E, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1997, 2010, 2013, 2014
Gymnastics, Girls 4 1979W, 1980E, 1981W, 1985
Swimming, Boys 10 1965, 1967, 1968, 1984, 1986, 1987, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010
Cheerleading 2 2009, 2010
Skiing, Nordic Boys 2 1981W, 1988
Skiing, Alpine Boys 5 1979W, 1980W, 1982, 1999, 2002, 2015
Skiing, Alpine Girls 9 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009
Spring Baseball 2 1968, 1983
Golf, Boys 7 1954, 1970, 1973W, 1977W, 1978W, 1987, 2014
Tennis, Boys 24[2] 1959, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973E, 1975E, 1978E, 1979E, 1980W, 1981E, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009
Track and field, Boys 3 1969, 1970, 1975W
Golf, Girls 9 1983, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2013, 2015
Total Athletic 148[2]
Non-Athletic
Winter Policy Debate 4 1971, 1979W, 2002, 2005, 2012
Lincoln-Douglas Debate 2 2002, 2003, 2015
FIRST Robotics 5 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Total Non-Athletic 11[1]
Total 159[1]
  1. ^ Prior to the inception of the Minnesota State High School League football tournament, the Edina Hornets were ranked #1 in the state for the following years: 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971
  2. ^ Denotes state record
  3. ^ The 1999 state championship was a tie between Eden Prairie High School and Edina High School; this was the first tie at a state championship in Minnesota

Demographics

The class of 2014 was 82% White, 6% American Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% Black/African-American, 4% Hispanic/Latino, 2% Other, and 1% Native American. [8] The class was also 51% Male, 48.9% Female, and 0.2% Transgender. [8]

Awards

History teacher Lonni Skrentner was selected Minnesota History Teacher of the Year in 2004 by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She is currently serving on the Edina School Board. 72% of Edina High School teachers hold advanced, specialist, or doctoral degrees.

In 2012, English Teacher Jacqueline Roehl was selected Minnesota Teacher of the Year.[9]

In 2015, The School Yearbook Program, WIndigo, received the National Program of Excellence Award from Jostens.[citation needed]

Notable alumni

Business

Politics

  • Ron Johnson (Class of 1973) Attended), Current Republican Senator of Wisconsin [10]
  • Mary Anderson Pawlenty (Class of 1979), Wife of Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty[11]
  • Erin Matson (Class of 1998), Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women
  • Major-General Kent Savre (Class of 1979), Commanding General, Fort Leonard Wood, MO

Sports

Entertainment

References

  1. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/minnesota/districts/edina-public-school-district/edina-high-school-10781
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Graduation Percents, Edina High School website
  4. Sullivan, Joe. (Spring 2003) "144-year-old Edina Public School System has a Proud Heritage". About Town. (Official Magazine of the City of Edina) PDF. p. 8-16
  5. $85.8 million bond referendum, Edina High School website
  6. http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/249155131.html
  7. Girls Tennis Consecutive State Championship Victories, Minnesota State High School League website
  8. 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. http://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/
  11. The First Lady of Minnesota - Mary Pawlenty :: Biography
  12. Toronto Globe and Mail, April 29, 2003: It's the true Hockeytown USA and has the history to prove it
  13. [1]
  14. Legends of Hockey - NHL Player Search - Player - Gord Hampson
  15. Minnesota Vikings, Vikings player profile of Adam Goldberg
  16. 16.0 16.1 Edina Education Fund, Alumni Hall of Fame
  17. Paris Bennett reference

External links