School type Public secondary Superintendent George Tomyn Phone +1 352-671-4700 Founded 15 August 1969 | Status Open CEEB code 101258 Mascot Wildcat | |
Established 15 August 1969 (1969-08-15) Dean David Forbes, Jessica McCleery, Steven Powell Address 5000 SE Maricamp Rd, Ocala, FL 34480, USA District Marion County School District | ||
Forest High School is a school in Ocala, Florida, US. It has an EMIT (engineering) program. The school's colors are green and gold and the school mascot is the Wildcat. It is a rival to Vanguard in sports. As of 2014, it had an enrollment of some 2,058.
Contents
- Athletics
- Band program
- Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology EMIT
- Notable alumni
- References
Forest High School moved to its current location on Maricamp Road, southeast of the city limits of Ocala, in 2005. The school was originally on Fort King Street in Ocala, at the 1959 campus of Ocala High School. Ocala High was renamed Forest High in 1969 with the opening of Vanguard High School. According to tradition, the Marion County School Board wanted the city's second high school to start on equal footing with the first by putting to rest the name Ocala High School.
Forest High School belongs to the Marion County School District.
Athletics
Band program
The FHS band program has a rich and long tradition of excellence as Florida's oldest high school Band. Founded in 1922 by Mrs. Browne' Greaton Cole, she has the distinction of being both the first school band director in the state and the first female director, earning her the title "Mother of School Bands". In 1928, the Ocala High School Band participated in the first State Band Competition held in Lakeland, Florida, taking first place at the competition. The next year it was held in Ocala with 10 bands attending (doubling the number of bands from the previous year) taking second place at this competition. In 1933, the Band was invite to perform at the Gasparilla Parade (now a part of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival), the first time a band had ever been invited to participate. The Band returned home with the First Prize Trophy.In 1936, The Florida Bandmasters Association was formed with Cole as a charter member. The band participated with Cole at all FBA state events (except for two years during the war) through her retirement in 1944. Since then, the Forest High/Ocala High School Band has maintained a high standard of excellence laid out by our "First Director". The band recently celebrated its 90th season.
The Forest High School Band is under the direction of David Jones. The program offers Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Guitar Ensemble, and the Emerald WAVE (Wilcat Artistic and Visual Ensemble), and Percussion Ensemble. The Marching Wildcats have received many Superior Ratings over the years at FBA and recently received Superior and Distinguished Rating at FMBC regional and state events. The Concert and Jazz Bands also have consistently received Superior and Excellent Ratings since their inception. The emerald WAVE Colorguard has consistently received Superior ratings and began competing in FFCC in 2016.
Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology (EMIT)
EMIT is a four-year magnet engineering program at Forest High School. EMIT aims to teach its students engineering fundamentals to prepare them for postsecondary colleges or universities in engineering. The curriculum is heavily project-based that often includes problem-solving tasks which must be built and later presented to the teachers. These projects typically cover the basics of many engineering disciplines, including civil engineering, aerospace engineering, and more.
EMIT was created from a $1.2 million Florida Department of Education grant in 1994. An application is required to be considered for admission.