Established 1955 Mascot Baron Color Navy and White | Principal Rob Durecka Founded 1955 Lowest grade Seventh grade | |
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Headquarters Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States | ||
Andover High School was a public high school in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan, near Bloomfield Hills and in Greater Detroit. It was a part of the Bloomfield Hills School District. The school's final principal was Rob Durecka. The school was founded in 1955. The school boasted programs in academics, the arts and sports. The school teams were known as the Andover Barons.
Contents
- History
- Academics
- Sports
- Notable alumni
- WBFH Radio Station
- The Andover Shield
- Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement
- References
In 2010, the decision was made to merge Andover and Lahser High schools and build a single high school on the current Andover property. Lahser's athletic facilities will be kept for use by the new high school.
In the November 2, 2010 election, a bond proposal to fund the plan to consolidate Andover and Lahser High schools was defeated. This defeat was primarily due to the efforts of a grassroots organization Bloomfield 20/20, which fought the bond proposal. The district was sent back to the drawing board led by the school architectural firm Fielding Nair International (FNI). The final FNI discovery report proposed four building options. A community committee chose to pursue "Option C", a partial renovation/partial new consolidated high school building on the Andover site. The school board voted to do so in June 2010. The board and administration are working with FNI and the architectural firm SHW based in Berkley, Michigan to design the new consolidated school where Andover currently stands to save on operating costs due to declining enrollment. The new combined high school opened in the fall of 2015.
In 2013 it was merged into Bloomfield Hills High School, which is located on the Andover campus, thus returning Andover High School to its original name.
History
Andover High School, originally named Bloomfield Hills High School, opened in the fall of 1931. It presided on Vaughan Road, built on land donated to the district by George Gough Booth. In 1936, Bloomfield Hills High School had its first graduating class of only eight students. Due to the expanding population growth in the area, a larger school was necessary. This came into fruition in 1955 when Bloomfield Hills High School moved to its new location on Andover Road. However, sizing again became a problem, only this time a new school was built. In 1967, Lahser High School opened, and the era of Andover finally commenced. In 2015 it was rebuilt as the new BHHS building.
Academics
Over 98% of Andover's graduates attended college after graduation, and the actual graduation rate was about 97%. Average SAT scores for Andover were (1233/1600), above the national average. Two Andover alumni won the Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, in the UK. Wen Shi (Johns Hopkins University) won the award in 2003, and Abdul El-Sayed (University of Michigan) won it in 2008. One Andover alumnus won the Goldwater Scholarship, Andrew Zureick (Dartmouth College), in 2012 for excellence in the sciences.
Sports
State Championships
Men's Soccer
Men's Track
Men's Golf
Men's Tennis
Men's Swimming and Diving
Women's Swimming and Diving
Notable alumni
WBFH Radio Station
Andover High School and Lahser High School shared its own nationally recognized high school radio station, WBFH, or commonly called "The Biff". WBFH was named 2007 Best High School Radio Station in the Country for the 2nd year in a row. Students at the 5th annual John Drury High School Radio Awards won a total of 17 awards in eight categories.
The radio station was initially proposed in 1971 by Lahser teacher Rick Spriska. After several years of studies and planning, the radio station finally broadcast October 1, 1976; it broadcast at 88.1 MHz with 10 watts of power. Throughout the years the station has undergone many renovations including an entire digital studio.
The Andover Shield
The Andover Shield was Andover High School's award-winning newspaper. In recent years, the newspaper and its staff have won many MIPA awards and was first honored with a Spartan award in 2007.
They recently launched an official website: http://www.AndoverShield.com
Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement
Dennis Kwasny, the AP Chemistry and AP Biology teacher, was named as a Teacher State Winner for the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement by the Siemens Foundation in 2009.