Hamilton Southeastern High School

History

Until 1964, Fishers High School served southeastern Hamilton County. In 1963, the office of Superintendent of County Schools was eliminated due to Indiana's school district consolidation initiative. The Hamilton Southeastern School District was then created along with the new Hamilton Southeastern High School. In 1969, the original Fishers High School was demolished.

During the 2003–2004 school year, the Hamilton Southeastern school district opened up the Hamilton Southeastern High School Freshman Campus, which would house the district's high school freshmen until the 2006–2007 school year. In the fall of 2006, the HSE Freshmen Campus became the second high school in the HSE school district, Fishers High School. In summer 2009, the cafeteria was expanded to accommodate more students.

A new cafeteria and hallway replaced much of the original HSE High School courtyard in summer 2010. The addition was part of a 1.5 million dollar project to combat overcrowding and help ease foot traffic.

In 2012 freshman were put into a Freshman Campus at the location of the old Junior High until the Senior wing addition, which opened for the 2015-2016 school year, was complete. The Freshman Campus then became Fall Creek Junior High School.

Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the newly built College and Career Academy was opened for students.

Honors

Hamilton Southeastern High School became an ED National Blue Ribbon School for 2004–2005, being in the top 4% of schools nationwide.

HSEHS has earned a silver medal from U.S. News & World Report magazine for both 2008 and 2009. With five stars, it is also ranked 9th out of 392 public high schools in Indiana, according to School Digger.

HSE has been an Indiana Chamber of Commerce Best Buy School every year from 1999 to 2008, and it was named the Head of the Class in 2008, only one in ten of Indiana's 350 public schools given this distinction.

Academics and curriculum

Hamilton Southeastern runs on a traditional schedule with seven classes per day beginning at 7:35 am and ending at 2:55 pm. There are three lunch periods during 5th period. In addition, there is a Student Mentor and Resource Time (SMaRT) period every Monday after third period, which is a special information period for freshmen and study hall for upperclassmen.

In the 2015-2016 school year, the College and Career Academy or CCA was opened. The CCA was created in order for students to experience a college-like environment. The additions include new classrooms, café, commons area, art room and expanded science labs. Renovations were also made to the fine arts department.

Along with the College and Career Academy, a new program called "Senior Flex" allows students meeting certain requirements to leave the campus during school hours for class periods called flex periods.

HSE offers most standard classes, as well as many classes with national programs. These include Project Lead the Way in both engineering and biomedical sciences and the Academy of Finance. Thirty-two different Advanced Placement classes are offered. 67 percent of students have passed at least one AP exam.

HSE students create three different media throughout the year. The Royal print media are The Orb and The Sceptre. The Orb is a biweekly newspaper which highlights school, district, world, sports, and opinion topics, and The Sceptre is the school yearbook. In visual media, there is a daily video shown to all students in 6th period with announcements and school sports news. All school media is created by students in respective in-school classes, rather than in clubs.

Performing arts

Hamilton Southeastern's performing arts department consists of bands, orchestras, and choirs. There are four bands, three orchestras, and five choirs. The Wind Ensemble band has played at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2001 and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in 2007. They were also the Indiana State School Music Association state champions in 2000.

Hamilton Southeastern also has extracurricular band activities such as winter percussion, winter guard, jazz band, and pep band.

The Royal Command and Guard marching band was the 2007 Mid-States Band Association Class AA grand champion in Beavercreek, Ohio. And marched in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012

The Royal Edition and Royal Sensation choirs earned first place at the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Activities and clubs

Many clubs are offered to students at Hamilton Southeastern High School. Student organizations include Student council, National Honor Society, Academic Teams, Math Team, Mock Trial Team, Speech and Debate Team, Destination Imagination, Film Club, Drama Club, Philosophy Club, Ping-Pong Club, French Club, Spanish Club, German Club, Key Club, World Connections Club, FFA, DECA, Interact Club, Military History Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Robotics Club, Cru, SWAG, the Ski-Snowboard Club, and the Principal's Advisory Council.

Club team awards

Athletics

HSE participates in sports under IHSAA regulations and in IHSAA state rankings and tournaments. It is a member of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

There are also the club sports (non-IHSAA) of cheerleading, boys and girls rugby, boys volleyball, boys hockey, and boys and girls bowling.

State Championships

Notable people