Dreher High School
| Dreher High School | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
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3319 Millwood Avenue Columbia, South Carolina USA |
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| Coordinates | 33°59′56″N 80°59′37″W / 33.99889°N 80.99361°WCoordinates: 33°59′56″N 80°59′37″W / 33.99889°N 80.99361°W |
| Information | |
| Type | High school |
| Established | 1938 |
| Principal | Jeanne Stiglbauer |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 1,302 |
| Color(s) | Blue and white |
| Mascot | Blue Devil |
| Newspaper | The Blueprint |
| Affiliation | Public |
| Website | http://dreher.richlandone.org/ |
Dreher High School is a co-educational four-year public high school in Richland County School District One located in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. Dreher, established in 1938, is one of the oldest public high schools in the state. In 2009, Dreher was listed as the 702nd best school in the country by Newsweek in their annual best-high school rankings. In 2015, Dreher was ranked the 7th best high school in South Carolina by US News and World Report.
In 1938, the third high school in Columbia was completed. It was built at 701 Adger Road on a ten-acre lot, which at one time was part of Governor Wade Hampton's estate, purchased for $25,000 from Burrell D. Manning. Construction of the new building was completed by the Mechanics Contracting Company at a cost of $239,306. The new school was named for Ernest S. Dreher, who served as the second superintendent of Columbia City Schools from 1895 to 1918. Mr. Dreher was also responsible for the building initiative that led to the construction of Columbia and Booker T. Washington High Schools.
The first principal, D. Leon McCormac, and five faculty members formulated the organization of the new school. Doors to the first facility opened in 1938, with a faculty of 30 and 651 students in grades 9–12. The first 123 students graduated in 1939. A new auditorium, the south wing, was completed in 1954. With the completion of this wing, Dreher was an enclosed facility with a central courtyard. Through the efforts of several classes, the courtyard became a focal point of the school, complete with statuary and a fountain. From the air, the Dreher complex had a block “D” appearance.
In 1962, Dreher became the first school in Columbia to offer Russian as a foreign-language class. Two years later the first black students to enroll at Dreher were Oliver Washington and Brenda Fruster, as part of the Freedom of Choice plan in 1964. Both went on to graduate from Dreher in 1968.
In 1958 South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) began recording and airing productions in a studio at Dreher, through the efforts of R. Lynn Kalmbach. Kalmbach's student assistants were Henry J. Cauthen and Thomas Stepp, with Cauthen becoming SCETV's first president. The SCETV call letters WRLK were named for Kalmbach, as well as Dreher's original gymnasium until renaming in 2002. In one of the first broadcasts, Dreher teacher, Lucille Turney-High taught French over the radiowaves.
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