Wells High School
| Wells High School | |
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| Address | |
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200 Sanford Road (ME-109) Wells, Maine 04090 United States |
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| Coordinates | 43°19′11″N 70°35′23″W / 43.3196°N 70.5898°WCoordinates: 43°19′11″N 70°35′23″W / 43.3196°N 70.5898°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public high school |
| Motto | School Motto: Striving For Excellence |
| Established | 1901 |
| School district | Wells-Ogunquit Community School District |
| Principal | Eileen M. Sheehy |
| Assistant Principal | Josh Gould |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 450 (2014) |
| Hours in school day | 6.5 |
| Color(s) | red, white, and black |
| Fight song | Down the Field |
| Athletics | baseball, basketball, cheerleading, field hockey, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, wrestling |
| Athletics conference | Western Maine, Class B |
| Mascot | Warrior |
| Accreditation | New England Association of Schools and Colleges |
| Newspaper | Wells Street Journal |
| Yearbook | Abenaki |
| Performing Arts | chorus, color guard, concert band, jazz band, marching band, percussion ensemble, theatre, winter guard |
| Website | whs.k12wocsd.net |
Wells High School is a public school located in Wells, Maine. It has an enrollment of 450 students in grades 9 through 12. The school primarily serves students from Wells, as well as a small number of students from Ogunquit, which was part of the town of Wells until 1980 and has never had its own high school. From 1968 until 2006, Wells High School also served students from the town of Acton, which has also never had a high school of its own.
For the 2013–2014 school year, Wells High School had a graduation rate of 100% — the highest graduation rate of any public high school in Maine. It is among the top 10 best high schools in Maine, according to U.S. News & World Report. The Maine Department of Education also ranks Wells High School in the top 10 statewide, and #1 in York County.
Wells High School is the sole high school in the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District, and is also home to the district's adult education and distance education programs.
Wells High School traces its origins back to 1873, when the state of Maine enacted the Free High School Act. The law gave towns the ability to establish public high schools which would receive 50% of their funding from the state. Classes were held at the existing one-room schools located throughout the town.
By the mid-1890s, it became clear that holding high school classes in several locations was not an optimal arrangement. In 1901, voters at the annual town meeting were asked whether they wanted to build a standalone high school. The vote passed. Later that same year, constructed at a cost of $3,650, Wells High School opened its doors. The first class graduated in 1903, with all nine students — seven girls and two boys — receiving diplomas. The graduation ceremony was held at the Second Congregational Church (today known as the Wells Congregational Church, UCC), in what was considered an extraordinarily special and historic event. The class motto was Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum — Latin for "no footsteps backward."
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