Iowa City West High School
| Iowa City West High School | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Address | |
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2901 Melrose Ave, Iowa City, IA 52246 Iowa City, Iowa United States |
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| Coordinates | 41°39′16″N 91°34′52″W / 41.65444°N 91.58111°WCoordinates: 41°39′16″N 91°34′52″W / 41.65444°N 91.58111°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1968 |
| Principal | Dr. Gregg Shoultz |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | 1,975 |
| Color(s) | Forest Green and Gold |
| Mascot | Trojans/Women of Troy |
| Newspaper | The West Side Story |
| Yearbook | The Trojan Epic |
| Affiliation | Iowa City Community School District |
| Website | West website |
Iowa City West High School is a public high school in Iowa City, Iowa. It has about 2000 students in grades 9-12. The school employs nearly 200 teachers and staff. Boys' athletic teams are called "The Trojans" while girls' teams are called "The Women of Troy".
West High opened for the 1968-69 school year, constructed to relieve the stress on schools in a growing city. The principal, Edwin K. Barker, and vice principal, James Ferguson, allowed students to shape the schools identity and gave them a large role in student governance, including selection of school colors and mascots. They also introduced Domestic Affairs Week and International Week, where classes are suspended in favor of debate of current events. Guest speakers are often invited to these weeks as well.
In conjunction with City High, the "Boot" trophy was established. The trophy is awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the schools. A student, Bob Kodros, donated the first Boot. The Boot had a cleat torn out, which gave it character, and it was selected from several donated football shoes. Steve Holland chaired the committee to select and bronze the first boot. The summer before the first game the boot was dipped in bronze at Harry's Custom Trophy.
A student in the first graduating class of 1969 composed the new school's fight song, which is set to the tune of the University of Houston fight song. The school's newspaper was named the "West Side Story". The school's yearbook was named the "Epic". When the school opened, the high school handled grades 7 through 12, and the first two classes remained at West High through all six years of their secondary education. Eventually, when Northwest Junior High was completed, subsequent 7th and 8th grade students were all redirected to the local school district's junior high schools.
West High School's enrollment is about 1,975 students, as of November 2012. Of those students, 74.8% are white, 10.1% are black, 9.2% are Asian, 5.2% are Hispanic, and 0.5% are American Indian. The student-teacher ratio is about 17:1.
West High offers 15 AP courses and 51% of students participate in those classes. The school has an 89% pass rate for AP exams.
West High School provides many musical opportunities to its students. There are multiple classes for band, choir, and orchestra. Extracurricular musical activities include select choirs, show choir, jazz band, musicals, plays and others. It is ranked as the No. 1 High School in Iowa and No. 462 in the US by Newsweek magazine.
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