Shaker Heights High School

Shaker Heights High School is a public high school located in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The high school is the only public high school in the Shaker Heights City School District, which serves Shaker Heights and a small part of Cleveland.[6] Shaker Heights High School is an International Baccalaureate World School,[7] the only public high school in Cuyahoga County to hold this accreditation and offer rigorous IB classes.[8] It is consistently ranked among the top districts in the state for National Merit semifinalists.[5]

Shaker Heights High School
Address
Map
15911 Aldersyde Drive

, ,
44120

United States
Coordinates41°28′24″N 81°34′9″W / 41.47333°N 81.56917°W / 41.47333; -81.56917
Information
TypePublic high school
Motto"A community is known by the schools it keeps"
Established1918
School districtShaker Heights City School District
SuperintendentDavid Glasner[1]
School code361395
PrincipalEric Juli[2]
Faculty109.60 (FTE)[3]
Grades912
Enrollment1,498 (2022–23)[3]
Student to teacher ratio13.67[3]
Color(s)  Red
  White
SongTo Shaker We Belong
Athletics conferenceGreater Cleveland Conference
MascotThe Raider “Tuffy”
Team nameRaiders[4]
AccreditationNorth Central Association of Colleges and Schools[5]
NewspaperThe Shakerite
YearbookGristmill
Communities servedShaker Heights; parts of Cleveland
Websitewww.shaker.org

According to a 2004 survey by The Wall Street Journal, Shaker Heights High School is one of the top feeder schools in the nation for admission to the most selective colleges and universities.[9]

The high school has also been recognized by Money and Redbook magazines.[5] In 1998, the school was named a "Grammy Signature School" by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Foundation in recognition of its outstanding music programs.[10] The school colors are red and white and its mascot is Tuffy the Raider.

Demographics

edit

Although the population of Shaker Heights is 55% White, 37% African American and 8% Asian or other,[11][12] The Shaker Heights City School District's approximate enrollment is 48% African American, 40% White and 12% Asian, Hispanic, multiracial or other.[13] The school has received national attention for its efforts to close the gap between achievements of ethnic and racial minority students and non-ethnic and racial minority students. One of the most active organizations at the school is the Student Group on Race Relations (SGORR), which helps foster positive race relations and fight against racial injustice.[14] Founded in 1983, the group has high school students visit elementary schools to "promote good social relations among racially diverse children."[15] SGORR received recognition from the Human Relations Commission of Shaker Heights and the Ohio Governor's Youth Award for Peace, as well as being a finalist for the Isaiah Award of the American Jewish Committee.[16]

In addition, as a way to help narrow the achievement gap, the Minority Achievement Committee scholars/sisters program was established in 1990. The program has 11th and 12th grade high achieving African Americans mentor and serve as role models to underachieving minority students in lower grades using five core values: respect, pride, honesty, sensitivity, and confidence.[17]

Academic program

edit

Shaker Heights High School offers 23 Advanced Placement courses, the largest advanced Advanced Placement in Cuyahoga County.[18] In 2009, 153 students, 38% of students taking Advanced Placement exams, won Advanced Placement Awards because of high scoring on multiple exams, a record for the school.[19] The high school began offering International Baccalaureate courses in 2010 and is the only public high school in Cuyahoga County to hold this accreditation.[8] The first class of International Baccalaureate Diploma candidates graduated in 2012. The district estimates that roughly 90% of Shaker High graduates attend college. The high school ranks in the top 2% of high schools in the country by Newsweek Magazine, whose rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams taken.[20]

Shaker Heights High School sports a science wing with a roughly fifty-seat planetarium and several laboratory rooms. Sciences offered include astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, engineering applications, environmental science, oceanography, project physics and engineering, and physics.[21]

In addition to English, the school offers six world languages, more than any other public high school in Cuyahoga County, including Chinese, French, German, classical Greek, Latin, and Spanish.[21] In addition, Shaker Heights High School is the only public school in the state of Ohio that offers a four-year-long Greek program.[22] The high school has a Confucius Classroom supported by the Confucius Institute and the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban).[23] The high school also serves as a location for a Chinese language immersion camp affiliated with Ohio State University.[24] The high school has two-week-long student exchange programs with the Universidad del Valle de México in Mexico City, Mexico and a semester-long program with the Ratsgymnasium in Goslar, Germany.[21] Through other student exchange programs such as the American Field Service, United States Department of State and World Learning, Shaker Heights High School has hosted students for over five decades from dozens of nations, including Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greenland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.[25][26]

The Asian studies class is offered in cooperation with Beachwood High School and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The program focuses on the history, literature, art, politics, and contemporary society of China, Japan, and India. Students in the class are offered an opportunity to travel to those three countries in the year they are studied.[21]

Extracurricular activities

edit

Shaker Heights High School has a variety of extracurricular activities for languages, sports, the arts, and other areas.

Band Program

edit

As of 2023, the marching band has more than 300 musicians, and is one of the largest student organizations in the high school, as well as the largest marching band in Ohio.[27][28] This number also includes the Raiderettes, a dance team that performs with the band.

The marching band went on a trip to Beijing and Shanghai, China in late March and early April 2007, and performs internationally every three years. The bands, orchestra, and choruses also travel abroad periodically, both to perform and to see cultural landmarks. The band performed in Austria, Italy and Germany in March 2010,[29] performing in Venice, Brixen, Innsbruck and Salzburg.[30] In 2013, the band traveled to The Republic of Turkey, playing concerts at Robert College and Taksim Square in Istanbul; as well as in Bergama and at the historic ruins of Ephesus.[31] In 2016, the band traveled to Spain to play in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and other smaller towns. In 2023, the band traveled to France, playing concerts in Caen, Rouen, and Paris.

The band has band camp a week before school starts, preparing a halftime show for American football games during the fall football season.[32] After the marching band season, the school has five concert bands: one Class AA band, one Class A band, and three Class B bands. In 2013, the AA and A class bands, Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, respectively, performed at Severance Hall.[33]

Theater Program

edit

The Shaker Theatre Arts Department was founded in its present form by former Artistic Director James Thornton, and has prepared many students for successful careers on stage and screen. Shaker Theatre Department offers a variety of classes, allowing the students to have a full view and access to the "circle" of theatre. Classes include Playwriting, Acting, the Ensemble Program, as well as the theatre management classes Theatre Production Seminar and Ensemble Coordination Management Course. The season includes the fall main stage production, the Ninth Grade Theatre Experience (written and performed by the ninth graders), New Stages (the student generated playwriting festival), and the Spring Ensemble Show (a performance consisting of movement theatre and poetry prose performed by the Senior Acting Ensemble, the Advanced Acting Ensemble and the Junior Acting Ensemble). Other Shaker Theatre Showcases include the Theatre Social, Fall Ensemble Preview, Winter Solstice Sharings, and Theatre awards. Every new Broadway season since 1991 has included one or more Shaker Theatre alum in major New York productions. In addition, Shaker Theatre alums hold positions in every area of professional theatre and the entertainment industry.[34]

Latin

edit

Shaker Heights' Latin Club functions as a local chapter of both the Ohio Junior Classical League (OJCL)[35] and National Junior Classical League (NJCL).[36] In 2010 and 2013, the team placed first in the Academic Per Capita trophy, winning more than 180 individual awards, and in 2014, the team placed first in both the Academic Per Capita competition as well as the Overall Sweepstakes competition, a first in the club's history. The club went on to repeat this feat for the next two years. Shaker Heights High School is noted for its strong performance on the National Latin Examination, with nearly one hundred students receiving recognition for high scores in 2010.[37]

The Shakerite

edit

The school's student newspaper, The Shakerite, has won numerous awards, including the 2006 Golden Flash Award from the Northeast Ohio Scholastic Press Association and the National Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association in 2006.[38][39] This was the second time The Shakerite received the award. In addition, the paper has received a Gold Medal Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and a First Place Award from the Great Lakes International Press Association.[40]

Student Awards

edit

Students from Shaker Heights High School have won awards at regional, state and national levels at many academic competitions, including the Federal Reserve Challenge, Math League, Model United Nations competitions, National History Day, Poetry Out Loud, Science Olympiad, The Maltz Museum's Stop the Hate essay contest, TEAMS, United States National Physics Olympiad, and the Vex Robotics Competition.[41][42][43]

Facilities

edit

Originally designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Hubbell & Benes,[44] Shaker Heights High School has a capacity of about 2,000 students and covers 304,400 square feet (28,280 m2). There are 82 regular classrooms, ten combined science lab/classrooms, four art rooms, and two music rooms outfitted with instrument lockers. Athletics facilities include locker rooms, an outdoor track, an outdoor FieldTurf athletic field marked for soccer, American football, lacrosse and field hockey,[45] two baseball fields, a weight room, two indoor gymnasiums, a multipurpose room (with wrestling mats and an indoor batting cage), nine hard tennis courts, a dance studio, and a fencing room. In addition, there is a two-floor cafeteria, a senior lounge, a planetarium, six computer labs, a courtyard and a library. The school has three auditoriums: a large one capable of holding nearly 900 people, a small auditorium, and a black box theater under the large auditorium.[46] The auditoriums were renovated in 2008.[44]

Athletics

edit

Shaker Heights High School has teams in several sports, including baseball, basketball, crew, cross country, diving, fencing, field hockey, figure skating, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. Shaker's neighboring sporting rivals include Cleveland Heights High School, Garfield Heights High School, Solon High School, Mentor High School, University School, and Hathaway Brown. The football stadium is named after Russell H. Rupp, who served as principal of the high school for 26 years.

Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships

edit

Other State Championships

edit
  • Ice Hockey – 1971, 1972, 1974
  • Fencing – 2006
  • Men's tennis – 2000
  • Women's lacrosse – 2001, 2003
  • Chess – 1995

Notable alumni

edit

Names are listed chronologically by class year.

References

edit
  1. ^ Jewell, Thomas (15 March 2019). "Interim Shaker Heights High School Principal David Glasner selected as superintendent". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  2. ^ Jewell, Thomas (10 May 2019). "Shaker board of education selects resident, CMSD headmaster Eric R. Juli as next high school principal". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Shaker Hts High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  4. ^ OHSAA. "Ohio High School Athletic Association member directory". Archived from the original on 2 November 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  5. ^ a b c "Shaker Heights High School Profile" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  6. ^ "Shaker Heights City School District." The Plain Dealer. Sunday 25 April 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2011. "All of the city of Shaker Heights plus about 1 square mile of Cleveland around Shaker Square. H. The Cleveland portion has been part of the Shaker school district since the 1920s. Its residents pay the same school taxes as Shaker Heights residents and are entitled to use the schools and to vote in school elections."
  7. ^ "Shaker Heights High School". IBO. 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  8. ^ a b "International Baccalaureate". Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  9. ^ "Wall Street Journal Recognizes Shaker as a Top Feeder School for Elite Colleges" Archived 9 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Shaker Heights Schools, 2 April 2004.
  10. ^ "Shaker Heights High School Perform in Gibraltar". vox.gi. 25 March 2007. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
  11. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Shaker Heights city, Ohio". Census Bureau QuickFacts.
  12. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
  13. ^ "Diversity of Student Population and Staff" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  14. ^ Dawidziak, Mark (26 February 2009). "Four Shaker teens to appear on Nick News". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
  15. ^ Betz, Lindsay (9 November 2009). "Race relations still important for Shaker Heights High school alum". Sun News. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  16. ^ "SGORR To Participate in City Club Race Relations Forum". Shaker Heights City School District. 28 July 2004. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  17. ^ "The Minority Achievement Committee (MAC Scholars)". Shaker Heights High School. 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2010.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "State of the Schools Report" (PDF). Shaker Heights Board of Education. April 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ "153 AP Scholars Set Shaker Record". Shaker Heights City School District. 2 December 2009. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  20. ^ Hampton, Faith (16 June 2010). "Newsweek Magazine leaves out Shaker Heights High School in 2010 Best High Schools list". Sun News. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  21. ^ a b c d "Shaker Heights High School: Program Planning Guide" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ "Eureka! Greek Students Find Success". Shaker Heights City School District. April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  23. ^ "Board Notes" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2010.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ "Shaker Heights High School Chosen as Site for". Shaker Heights City School District. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2010.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ "Oval Online: AFS Intercultural Programs" (PDF). Shaker Heights PTO. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
  26. ^ "Oval Online: AFS Club and AFS Intercultural Programs". Shaker Heights PTO. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  27. ^ Pocaro, Adrian (2012). "The Pride of Shaker Heights" (PDF). Shaker Bands. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  28. ^ Zurick, Maura (26 August 2015). "Shaker Heights, the biggest darn band in the land: March On (photos, video)". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  29. ^ "Shaker Heights H.S. Band: International Concert Tour" (PDF). Shaker Bands. 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2009.[permanent dead link]
  30. ^ Friedman, Joanne (23 April 2010). "Shaker's band crosses the Alps ... / ... And finds a seder on the other side". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  31. ^ "Shaker Heights Band: Where Europe Meets Asia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  32. ^ Washington, Julie (20 August 2010). "A visit to Shaker Heights High School band camp (video)". Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  33. ^ Wittenberg, Ed (26 January 2013). "Shaker Heights High School bands to perform at Severance Hall in Cleveland". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  34. ^ "NewStages25". old.shaker.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  35. ^ "2009 Convention – Club Point Summary" (PDF). Ohio Junior Classical League. 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.[permanent dead link]
  36. ^ "Constitution of the Ohio Junior Classical League" (PDF). Ohio Junior Classical League. March 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2009. ...by paying both OJCL annual chapter dues and any annual chapter membership dues required by NJCL.[permanent dead link]
  37. ^ "Shaker Students Earn Top Honors on National Latin Exam". Shaker Heights City School District. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.[permanent dead link]
  38. ^ "Shakerite Papers Newsroom With Awards". Shaker Heights City School District. 11 May 2004. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  39. ^ "2006 NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker Winners". National Scholastic Press Association. 2006. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  40. ^ "The Shaker School Review" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. Fall 2002. Retrieved 5 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
  41. ^ McKay, Amy (13 March 2011). "Shaker Heights Student Wins 2011 Ohio Poetry Out Loud Contest, Advances to Nationals". Ohio Arts Council. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  42. ^ "Shaker High student wins top prize at National History Day". Sun News. 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  43. ^ "Shaker Wins Third Straight Fed Challenge Title". Shaker Heights City School District. 12 January 2004. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  44. ^ a b Litt, Steven (30 January 2008). "Hubbell & Benes auditorium renovation completed at Shaker Heights High School". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  45. ^ Baker, Brandon (2 July 2012). "Shaker Heights Stadium Renovation Ahead of Schedule". Shaker Heights Patch. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  46. ^ "School Building Facilities" (PDF). Shaker Heights City School District. 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
  47. ^ Yappi. "Yappi Sports Baseball". Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  48. ^ a b c d OHSAA. "Ohio High School Athletic Association Web site". Retrieved 31 December 2006.
  49. ^ Yappi. "Yappi Sports Wrestling". Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  50. ^ Segall, Grant (12 March 2012). "Sam Glazer was a leading Mr. behind Mr. Coffee: news obituary". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  51. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  52. ^ "1950 Shaker Heights High School Yearbook". classmates.com.
  53. ^ "Hall of Fame Inducts Eight Graduates".
  54. ^ "Shaker Heights Schools News Article". www.shaker.org. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  55. ^ "Nate Fish, '98". www.shaker.org.
  56. ^ "Shaker Rapper’s Road to the Top", The Shakerite, 30 May 2012.
  57. ^ Raspe, Becky (22 February 2021). "Miller, former White House aide, considering run for US House". Cleveland Jewish News. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
edit