Northrop High School

Coordinates: 41°8′47.77″N 85°8′22.56″W / 41.1466028°N 85.1396°W / 41.1466028; -85.1396

Northrop High School
Location
7001 Coldwater Road Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
Information
Type	Public, Secondary
Established	1972
Locale	Suburban
Oversight	Fort Wayne Community Schools
Principal	Barbara Ahlersmeyer
Grades	9-12
Number of students	2147
Color(s)	Brown, Orange
Athletics	Summit Athletic Conference
Mascot	Bruin
Website	Northrop High School

Northrop High School is a Fort Wayne Community Schools high school situated in the northern suburbs of Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana.

Curriculum

Northrop has, along with all Indiana public high schools, adopted a credit system called "Core 40", requiring 40 credits (four years of English, three years of Math, Social Studies, and Science, and ten to twelve elective credits, plus two semesters of Physical Education, and a credit in Health Education). Northrop also offers a slightly more rigorous Academic Honors Diploma, which requires 47 credits. The Core 40 diploma no longer exists for incoming freshmen.

Northrop once operated on the Block 4 school schedule, which divided the academic year into two terms and each term into two semesters. A semester was nine weeks, and four classes were scheduled per semester that met every day. Academic achievement declined nationwide in schools following this schedule, so beginning in fall of 2010, Northrop returned to a traditional 7 period day, starting at 7:30am.

Sister school

Northrop High School has had a sister school, the Goethe Gymnasium, in Fort Wayne's sister city, Gera, Germany, since 1994. Northrop's German teacher, Kris Kallmeyer, was recognized in 2009 by the Fort Wayne Sister Cities Committee as a "Friend of Gera" because of his work initiating an exchange program with the Goethe Gymnasium. Since its inception, nine groups of Northrop students have visited Gera with reciprocal visits from Germany occurring on the alternate years.

Charisma

Northrop's Mixed show choir, Charisma competes in competitions and festivals throughout the Midwest. They sing and dance using costumes and props. In May 2008, they competed in the Smokey Mountain Music Festival and were honored with first place in their division.^{[citation needed]} During the 2008 season, their back up band was awarded "Best Instrumentals" at every competition.^{[citation needed]} Recently Charisma 2010 competed in the Bluffton Street Fair and earned Grand Champions for the first time in 11 years. During 2010 season, Charisma won numerous awards and was 6th in the State. During the 2011 year they won Grand Champion at Northride High School's invitational. They won best vocals and visuals. Charisma placed 5th in state for the 2011 season.

Allure

Allure is Northrop's all female show choir. They are under the direction of Tom Maupin. Allure competes similar to Charisma all around the Midwest. They sing and dance in many different styles and where colorful costumes. In the 2010 Allure competed at state for the first time and placed 8th. Their goal for the 2010 season was to start fresh and be better than ever.

Big Orange Pride (BOP)

The Big Orange Pride or BOP is Northrop High Schools Marching Band. They currently compete as an ISSMA Class A school. They are a 27 time ISSMA Class A State Finalist, a Bands of America finalist 6 times and a 1983 ISSMA Class A State Champion. Marching Band meets daily and competes on Saturdays and performs during home football games. The group is open to all students.

Boys and Girls Basketball

Northrop won the Indiana State Boys Basketball Championship in 1974 behind the play of Walter Jordan.^[1] In the summer of 2007, Northrop hired long-time Indiana High School Basketball coach Al Rhodes to coach the boys basketball squad. Rhodes would resign a year later.^[2]

Northrop Lady Bruins won the Indiana State Basketball Championship in 1986. The Lady Bruins ended the season with a 29-0 record. The 29 victories with zero losses was a State record at the time. The win streak continued through the following season where the Lady Bruins eventually lost during the final four at the State Championships. Their 57 victories in a row were another Indiana record. Lori Meinerding was named 1987 Miss Basketball. The Lady Bruins were coached by Dave Riley, who has been inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame for his accomplishments at Northrop.

Notable alumni

• Dan Butler, American television, film, and stage actor
• Heather Headley, Broadway and R&B singer
• Mark Robertson, American violinist and record producer
• Jon Schaffer, guitarist in the power/thrash metal band Iced Earth
• Eric Wedge, MLB manager for Seattle Mariners
• Corey Shank, National Freshman National Record Holder in Pole Vault, 3 Time State Champion in Pole Vault and Indiana State Record Holder, Went to Virginia Tech
• Shane Chambers, Starred on Judge Mathis, and Fort Wayne News Station. He is also the President of the Ski and Snowboard Club at IPFW
• Steve Goodin, gold medalist in the cannabis olympics
• Josh Gaines, profesional football player

References

1. ^ http://ihsaa.org/b-basketball_frame.htm
2. ^ http://jgwebblogs.typepad.com/high_school_sports/2008/06/rhodes-resigns.html

External links

• Northrop High School website
• Fort Wayne Community Schools website
• Indiana Department of Education statistics