Arlington High School (Arlington, Texas)

Arlington High School (AHS), located in Arlington, Texas, is a secondary school serving grades 9-12; it is one of the six high schools comprising the Arlington Independent School District. Currently the principal is Jennifer Young; the mascot is the Colt and the schools’ colors are green and white. At present, AHS has approximately 2500 students; this population is composed of former middle school students, whom previously attended Gunn, Bailey, and Carter Junior High Schools; comprising residents of Arlington, Dalworthington Gardens, and Pantego. Arlington High School has been accepted to be an International Baccalaureate School

History

The original AHS campus now houses the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Athletics

Arlington High is the only high school in Arlington to ever win a state title in football (1951). The head coach is Scott Peach, whose father is head coach of Lamar High School. Arlington High has had the most successful football program in the school district over the last five years with three trips to the playoffs and a 6-4 playoff record. Arlington High's volleyball program usually goes to playoffs and has more Class AAAAA state titles (1970, 1976, and 1982) than any other high school in the North Texas area. [ [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/archives/volleyball/tournament_records.html UIL State Volleyball Records ] ] AHS also has exceptional gymnastics, softball, cheerleading, baseball, cross country, golf, swimming and soccer programs. Wrestling consistently sends its participants to compete at State level competition. Interscholastically, tennis and basketball are not as developed.

Fine arts

Arlington High School has an involved and adept fine arts programs. fine Arts programs are listed and explained below:

Theatre DepartmentThe Theatre Arts Department won the State Championship in UIL One-Act Play in 2005. Arlington High's play, "An Experiment with an Air Pump," was chosen 1st place among over 250 other high schools in their conference. It also earned high respect from many fellow students.

Orchestra DepartmentThe orchestra, currently directed by Linda Keefer, has won Sweepstakes at UIL for the 30th consecutive year on March 13, 2008. The orchestra program has been receiving Sweepstakes since 1979. Over 300 students are in Orchestra department.

Band DepartmentThe band program has also consistently taken the Sweepstakes at UIL for the last decade. It has been reported that the band has over 200 students.

Choir DepartmentThe Arlington High School Choir, Colt Chorale has also enjoyed much success within recent years, attending the prestigious Texas Music Educators Association Convention in 2005 and winning numerous Sweepstakes in UIL. Arlington High Colt Chorale was also recognize by WFAA's Why Guy, their choir was broadcast in the WFAA morning news because of their success in entering TMEA. Most recent accomplishment was when Colt Chorale was invited to perform on March 7, 2007 at the American Chorale Directors Association Convention in Miami, Florida, which is the highest national honor that a choir can receive. Thanks to Dinah Menger, the head director of all choirs, Colt Chorale was able to successfully perform best at their ACDA performance in Florida. The choir has over 300 students and 80 of them are in the highest choir, Colt Chorale. Many students have enjoyed great success in music careers.

Feeder patterns

Duff, Hill, Swift, South Davis, and a portion of Dunn elementaries feed into Bailey. Bailey sends all of its students into AHS. Key and Short are two of three elementaries from Gunn that flow into AHS. Gunn sends the majority of its students to AHS and the rest go to Bowie. Carter junior high sends a small portion of its population to AHS.

Notable alumni

*Joshua Stepp, '99, Yahoo! Operations engineer extraordinaire, and a ninja
*Ali Haji-Sheikh, Collegiate and professional football player
*Gretchen Polhemus, '83, Miss USA 1989, 2nd runner up Miss Universe 1990
*Bowie Hogg, '96, Television contestant on season #1 of The Apprentice and school board member for the Arlington Independent School District
*Dimebag Darrell Abbott, '84, Founding member and lead guitarist for heavy metal band Pantera
*Vincent Paul "Vinnie" Abbott , Founding member and drummer for heavy metal band Pantera
*David Castro III, Film & TV actor. Credits include "The Source", "Scarecrow Slayer", "May Day", "No Ordinary Hero", "Liar" and "America's Most Wanted".
*Brian Eppes, Television actor. Played Michael on the children's television show Barney & Friends.
*Jeannie (Panton) Deakyne, '93, Mrs. U.S. Beauties 2008, Mrs. Texas International 2005, Bronze Star Medal recipient.
*Jay Hosfelt, Animator on Gears of War.
*Hunter Pence, Houston Astros CF
*Tony Arbelaez, '85, Race car driver, Entrepreneur, Actor "Bells of Innocence" starring alongside Chuck Norris 2003,
*Vicente Fernandez, Famous Mexican Singer
*Joe Jon Finley, American Football player, TE for the San Francisco 49ers.
*Kevin Snodgrass, '02, Naval Combat Pilot, Graduate of the Naval Academy.
*Adam Scott, '01, Television Producer, Graduate of the University of Miami.

External links

* [http://www.ahscolts-alumni.org Arlington High Alumni]
* [http://aisd.net/schools/seniorhigh/ahs/index.htm Arlington High School Homepage]
* [http://aisd.net Arlington Independent School District Homepage]