Wyoming Park High School

Infobox Secondary school

name = Wyoming Park High School
native_name =
motto = "Together, We Can Achieve More!"
established = 1942
type = Public High School
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principal = Stewart Schofield
asst principal = Gary Zakem
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enrollment = 824
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grades = 9-12
address = 2125 Wrenwood Avenue, S.W.
city = Wyoming
state = Michigan
province =
country = United States
district = Wyoming Public Schools
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colors = Royal Blue and White
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mascot =
The Vikings
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yearbook = "The Orbit"
newspaper = "The Express"
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website = [http://www.wyoming.k12.mi.us/014/home.htm Wyoming Park High School]
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"Wyoming Park High School" (commonly referred to as "The Park") is a comprehensive secondary public high school in the "Wyoming Public Schools" district in Wyoming, Michigan. It is one of two high schools in the Wyoming Public Schools district, with just over 824 students.

The school is most notably known for providing a comprehensive curriculum, creating a very strong student body and a heavily diverse community of volunteers and support staff.

Arts and Entertainment

Wyoming Park Theater Company

In addition to the diverse amount of courses to choose from, Wyoming Park also offers various extracurricular programs such as theater, which they teach as a "closed company" (known as the Wyoming Park Theater Company) led by director Jeremy Schnotala. The Wyoming Park Theater Company is often praised upon for delivering such professional performances in their plays, more so than other local high school drama clubs in the area. Unlike most other plays in the area, almost all performances done by the WPTC are typically sold out, drawing nearly 600 people per a 640 capacity limit in the district's own Dan Heitzleman Fine Arts Center.fact|date=August 2008 Previous productions include George Kaufman's "You Can't Take It With You", George Orwell's "Animal Farm", and Betty MacDonald's "The Egg and I". The company has also taken a noticeable role in the Theatre of the Absurd, staging several absurdist plays, such as Samuel Beckett's one-act, zero-dialogue show "Breath".

In September 2006, the company kicked off the new double-production season pairing a play and a musical back-to-back. The play Schnotala announced was Romulus Linney's adaption of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale "A Christmas Carol".

On December 12, 2006, Schnotala announced that the theater company will be staging Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical "CATS" in early spring of 2007, making Wyoming Park one of the few high schools in the nation (and the second in the state of Michigan) to stage such a high profile musical.fact|date=August 2008 Because Wyoming Park is a public high school, there are various financial issues that Schnotala had to deal with. The rights to the musical were well over $5,000, which also did not include the rental of special effects and other materials (costumes, makeup accessories, etc.) needed to successfully produce the show.

After gaining state-wide and national publicity, the production of "CATS" proved to be yet another huge success for the company.fact|date=August 2008 Three of the four performance nights were completely sold out.

In late September 2007, Schnotala announced the long-awaited new play that the company will be staging in November. "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" by Celeste Raspanti, tells the tale of a young girl telling the story of her account during the holocaust. The company staged the production the last two days of November and the first Saturday of December 2007.

In January 2008, the theater company held auditions for a tightly-knit group of actors and crew members under the moniker, "The Wyoming Park Theater Company Troupe." Only a dozen were chosen to be a part of this group. Afterwards, Schnotala announced that the new show for the spring season would be titled "Trunks", a collection of four comical shorts, and will be staged on March 27th and 28th of 2008, as well as mounted in competitions and festivals across the state of Michigan.

Wyoming Park Marching Band, Concert Ensemble, and Jazz Ensemble

The school is also known for its award-winning bands. On March 22, 2007, the jazz band received praise for their performances at the Central Michigan University Jazz Festival, as well as the MSBOA District 10 Jazz Festival and Clinic.fact|date=August 2008 The concert ensemble has earned high marks at MSBOA Band/Orchestra Festival, as well as the Portage Northern Festival and Clinic.

Beginning with the 2007-2008 season, four-year assistant band director, Shawn Gurk, was named the director of bands, while previous reigning director Bill Bier moved to East Grand Rapids High School in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Wyoming Public Schools has hired new co-director of bands, Laura Hyler. During the 2007-2008 marching band season, the band has won numerous competitions, including placing first at the East Kentwood High School Invitational in October 2007, along with awards of excellence in marching, music, drumline, and colorguard.fact|date=August 2008 The band also received rank number one in their division at the Michigan School Band And Orchestra Association marching festival, a title they have held for the 29th year in a row.

The school has also brought along with the new year a winter guard and a drumline, which are extensions of the two categories from the marching season.

Wyoming Park students represent the Park Band in many performance experiences outside of school, including the Calvin College Honor Band, the Michigan School Band And Orchestra Association (MSBOA) All-State band, St. Cecilia Youth Orchestra, St. Cecilia Youth Band, the Grand Valley State University Honors Band, the Blue Lake Europe International Tour, and the Solo/Ensemble Festival.

Academics

Wyoming Park High School participates in the Advanced Placement Program (AP), a College Board-approved program that offers college-level courses in the high school environment. During the 2006-2007 school year saw a significant increase in scores from exiting seniors who have taken the Advanced Placement exams.fact|date=August 2008 The class of 2007 participants in the Advanced Placement program had the second highest Advanced Placement exit exam scores in Kent County, Wyoming Park's residing county, which includes all of Greater Grand Rapids.

Students who have a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average (GPA) are invited to participate in the school's National Honor Society, or NHS. Members who are a part of the National Honor Society participate in volunteer activities, such as building homes for Habitat for Humanity and running the Michigan Community Blood Center's bi-annual school blood drive.

Athletics

Conference

Wyoming Park competes within the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue Division (the "O.K. Blue" conference), which include Sparta High School, Forest Hills Eastern High School, Rogers High School, Comstock Park High School, Coopersville High School, and Cedar Springs High School. The school has won numerous amount of championships, ranging from track, football, and basketball championships.fact|date=August 2008

In the 2005-2006 school year, the varsity basketball team shared the O.K. Blue title championship with Cedar Springs High School.

Most recently, the boys varsity basketball team won the outright title of champion in the O.K. Blue conference in the 2007-2008 school year.

Girls Basketball Program

The 2006-2007 school year saw a major advancement in Wyoming Park's girls basketball program (the "Lady Vikings"). With social studies teacher Kirk Kambestad taking the role as varsity head coach, he lead the team to an undefeated rein in the O.K. Blue conference [http://www.highschoolsports.net/defaultcal.cfm?ct=s&scm=on&ltc=0&ptc=0&otc=0&schoolid=MI495099404&year=2006&division=2&lvl=1&spt=2&prev=1] . Although they have remained undefeated in their conference, the girls basketball team lost in the first stage in the state district championships.fact|date=August 2008 Point guard Jasmine Padin has earned considerable attention statewide for her ability to play the game well. Many industry experts have stated Padin may be the girl equivalent of Drew Neitzel, who is also a top-ranked state basketball player, 2004's "Mr. Basketball," and a Wyoming Park alumni who currently attends Michigan State University.

=MHSAA State Championships=fact|date=August 2008
* 1947 Boys Tennis - Lower Peninsula Class C-D
* 1952 Boys Tennis - Lower Peninsula Class C-D
* 1961 Boys Cross Country - Lower Peninsula Class B
* 1976 Boys Baseball - Class B
* 1984 Boys Football - Class B
* 1996 Girls Softball - Class B

=MHSAA State Runners-up=fact|date=August 2008
* 1945 Boys Tennis - Lower Peninsula Class C-D
* 1951 Boys Tennis - Lower Peninsula Class C-D
* 1975 Boys Track and Field - Lower Peninsula Class B
* 1984 Boys Baseball - Class B
* 1985 Boys Football - Class B
* 1989 Girls Track and Field - Lower Peninsula Class B
* 1992 Boys Baseball - Class B
* 1995 Boys Golf - Lower Peninsula Class B
* 2001 Boys Baseball - Division 2

Notable Alumni

*Drew Neitzel, Michigan State University men's basketball player and 2004's "Mr. Basketball"

Notes

External links

* [http://www.wyoming.k12.mi.us/014/home.htm Wyoming Park High School Official Site]
* [http://www.wyoming.k12.mi.us Wyoming Public Schools District]
* [http://www.teenelement.net/theater Wyoming Park Theater Company Website]
* [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/mi/3765 Great Schools Listing on WPHS]
* [http://www.ladyvikingsbasketball.com/default.htm Lady Vikings Basketball Official Site]