William B. Travis High School | |
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Location | |
1211 E. Oltorf St. Austin, Texas, 78704 | |
Coordinates | 30°14′01″N 97°44′38″W / 30.23368°N 97.744°WCoordinates: 30°14′01″N 97°44′38″W / 30.23368°N 97.744°W |
Information | |
Motto | "Committed to Excellence" |
Established | 1953 |
School district | Austin Independent School District |
School number | 512-414-2527 |
Principal | Ty Davidson |
Grades | 9-12 |
Number of students | 1,450 |
Color(s) | Red & Grey |
Mascot | Rebel |
Team name | The Rebels, Runnin' Rebs, Lady Rebs |
Not to be confused with the similarly named William B Travis High School in Fort Bend county, TX.
William B. Travis High School is a high school located in south Austin, Texas, which is part of the Austin Independent School District. It was opened in 1953 and is named after William B. Travis, who was one of the commanding officers at the Battle of the Alamo. It is the oldest high school in Austin, south of the Colorado River.
As of November 2009, there were over 1,400 students enrolled. Travis' athletic teams are known as the Rebels, and their school colors are red and grey. The Navy JROTC program at THS is the largest ROTC program in Austin and currently has the best shooting team out of all the JROTC units in the state of Texas. As of February 2015, the JROTC program, for the first time, has qualified for state competition under the command of C/LCDR Martinez, the commanding officer. The school has also been selected as a mentor school by the Texas Education Agency.
In 2002, an Institute of Hospitality & Culinary Arts was opened at Travis.
In 1956 the first five African-American students began attending Travis as part of desegregation; a total of 13 black students attended white high schools in AISD at that time.
Travis' biggest rivalry is with fellow AISD school McCallum. The two schools meet annually in many different sports, the largest being an annual football game known as the "Battle of the Bell", in which the winning school is given possession of a 50-pound locomotive bell that has been fought over for decades. During the game, "The Bell" will spend the first half on the defending school's side; at half time it will travel to the opponent's side (usually carried by the cheerleaders, student council, or journalism departments of both schools) where it will sit until the outcome of the game. "The Bell" is usually rung by the winning team in the middle of the field after victory, and at the winning team's school until midnight, at which time it will be stored until the next year's game. The winning school also engraves the date and score of the year's game on the bell, keeping track of the history of the rivalry. Most years, the outcome of this game highly affects which team is named District 26-4A Champions.