Clearwater High School Explained

Clearwater High School
Streetaddress:1951 Gulf to Bay Boulevard
City:Clearwater
State:Florida
Country:United States
Zipcode:33765
Type:Public secondary
Motto:Tradition, Honor and Pride
Established:1906
Grades:9-12
Teaching Staff:102
Enrollment:1,664 (2022-23)[1]
Faculty:76.00 (FTE)
Ratio:21.89
Principal:Robert Florio[2]
Nickname:Tornadoes
District:Pinellas County Schools

Clearwater High School (CHS) is a four-year public high school located in Clearwater, Florida, United States. It is part of the Pinellas County School System. The school mascot is a tornado, therefore students and faculty are known as the Tornadoes. Their colors are crimson and gray, which is also the name of their fight song.

History

Clearwater High School traces its lineage to 1906, when three 9th-graders were enrolled at a small schoolhouse built that year on Ft. Harrison Avenue. In 1924, Clearwater High School was built on Greenwood Avenue, where it remained until the current campus on Hercules Avenue was completed in 1954.[3] In 1999, a $12-million renovation of the facilities was completed.[4]

Academics

Clearwater High has various academic programs, also known as Academies, centering on different aspects of life beyond high school, as well as an optional University of Cambridge AICE Diploma program alongside them. In 2017, The Washington Post ranked it as the "most challenging high school" in Pinellas County, based on the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate students as a percentage of graduating seniors. The school offered 18 AP courses that year, while attaining an 88% graduation rate, with 73% of graduates going on to attend a four-year college.[5]

Athletics

The school's 4,200-seat football stadium was built in 1950 and dedicated in 1951 as Central Pinellas Stadium. It 1963, it was renamed to honor Jack White, a judge on the Florida Second District Court of Appeal, who was a leading figure in the effort beginning in 1949 to build the stadium.[6]

In addition to football, other boys' sports include baseball, swimming, and wrestling. The Clearwater Tornadoes compete in a variety of sports for both boys and girls, including basketball, soccer, golf, track and field, lacrosse, and tennis.[7] Under head coach Jack Wilson, the Tornadoes won the boys' basketball state championship in 1981.[8] The school's Jack L. Wilson Gymnasium is named in his memory.

The school has also won state championships in the following sports:

Notable alumni

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Clearwater High School. National Center for Education Statistics. March 19, 2024.
  2. https://www.pcsb.org/domain/2736 Clearwater High School Administration
  3. News: White, D'Ann Lawrence. Patch. Old South Ward School To Reopen As Clearwater History Museum. June 14, 2019. February 18, 2020.
  4. Web site: Clearwater High School Information. Pinellas County Public Schools. February 18, 2020.
  5. News: Mathews, Jay. America's Most Challenging High Schools. The Washington Post. May 5, 2017. January 23, 2020.
  6. News: Stadium named for Jack White. St. Petersburg Times. October 31, 1963. January 23, 2020.
  7. Web site: Clearwater Tornadoes. MaxPreps. January 23, 2020.
  8. News: Day to Remember - The Tornadoes Made History They'll Never Forget. . March 16, 1981 . Mike Flanagan. 40.
  9. Web site: Boys Golf Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  10. Web site: Girls Cross Country Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  11. Web site: Girls Track & Field Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  12. Web site: Boys Swimming & Diving Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  13. Web site: Girls Volleyball Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  14. Web site: Boys Soccer Records. Florida High School Athletic Association. August 10, 2024.
  15. Web site: Sara Blakely. Forbes. live. April 30, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240428214607/https://www.forbes.com/profile/sara-blakely. April 28, 2024.
  16. https://archive.org/details/AquaClara1968/page/n97/mode/2up
  17. News: John. Romano. Auburn Tigers coach Gene Chizik achieves thanks to the gifts of his father. June 10, 2014. Tampa Bay Times. January 9, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714225820/http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/auburn-tigers-coach-gene-chizik-achieves-thanks-to-the-gifts-of-his-father/1144568. July 14, 2014. dead.
  18. Web site: Robert Margalis . https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213846/https://www.usaswimming.org/meet-the-team/national-team/bio/robert-margalis . June 2, 2021 . USA Swimming.
  19. Web site: Director of the Foreign Service Institute: Who Is Nancy McEldowney?. 2019-05-08. AllGov.
  20. Web site: Clearwater High grad is headed for space -- and she's not the first. Grayson. Kamm. 10 Tampa Bay. TEGNA Inc.. August 14, 2009. June 23, 2024. That's because Clearwater High has produced not one -- but two astronauts. Bruce Melnick flew on two shuttles in the early '90's..
  21. Web site: Clearwater High grad to join space station. https://web.archive.org/web/20221205021426/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32462494. dead. December 5, 2022. Jeff. Houck. August 18, 2009. June 23, 2024. NBC News. NBC Universal. After graduating from Clearwater High School, Stott studied aviation administration at the Clearwater and Tarpon Springs campuses of what later became St. Petersburg College..
  22. Web site: Former Clearwater teammates on opposing sidelines for NBA Finals. Bob. Putnam. Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. May 31, 2018. June 20, 2024.

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