Type Public Grades 9 - 12 Nickname Memorial, Big Red Phone +1 713-251-2500 Color Red and white | Principal Lisa Weir Enrollment 2,265 Newspaper The Anvil Number of students 2,265 Mascot Mustang | |
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Address 935 Echo Ln, Houston, TX 77024, USA District Spring Branch Independent School District Profiles | ||
Memorial High School (MHS) is a secondary school located at 935 Echo Lane in Hedwig Village, Texas, United States, in Greater Houston.
Contents
- History
- Campus
- Neighborhoods served
- Athletics
- Ethnic distribution
- Awards and honors
- Feeding from public schools
- Feeding from private schools
- Notable alumni
- References
Memorial serves students in portions of the Memorial and Spring Branch regions of Houston and several enclaves within the portions. Memorial is part of the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) and serves grades 9 through 12. As of 2005, the district was granted a $500 million education grant, $150 million of which belongs to Memorial High School.
History
Memorial Senior High School opened in 1962 to relieve overcrowding at Spring Branch High School. Memorial was the second high school to open in SBISD. At the time, students living north of Old Katy Road attended Spring Branch and students living south of Old Katy Road attended Memorial. This arrangement lasted until Spring Woods High School opened in 1964.
The design of the school was classic early 1960s in the South, with a large, open campus. Each classroom building opened into an outside breezeway, to maximize air flow as the school did not have air conditioning.
When Memorial first opened, the area surrounding the school was largely forest and rice fields, but it rapidly grew as new subdivisions were built, and by the mid-1960s, Memorial's enrollment exceeded 3,000 students, a number much larger than the school was meant to hold. This problem was resolved with the opening of Westchester Senior High School in 1967, and later Stratford Senior High School in 1974.
At the time, Memorial's main rivals were the Spring Branch Bears and Westchester Wildcats. However, by the mid-1980s, the enrollment of nearly every school across the district had dropped precariously, and it was decided that Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools would be closed. Memorial remained open, and took in students from both Westchester and Spring Branch High Schools.
Today, Memorial is the oldest high school still operating in Spring Branch ISD. The school has received extensive renovations, which began during the 1996–1997 school year. Every building in the school was gutted and refurbished, outdated facilities were replaced and the campus was made more secure.
In 2011, Memorial High School was named the #10 most posh public school in the country, as it pulls from a very wealthy area of Houston.
In January 2017 a vandal sprayed graffiti of a racist character on the school property.
Campus
The campus is two blocks south of Interstate 10. Memorial City Mall is to the west.
Neighborhoods served
Memorial serves students in all of the Memorial Villages (including Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Hilshire Village, Spring Valley Village, and most of Hunters Creek Village and Piney Point Village). While the school has a Houston address, it is located in the city of Hedwig Village and it draws from a small portion of Houston in the Memorial and Spring Branch regions (including Stablewood, Afton Village, Brykerwoods, Monarch Oaks, Spring Oaks, Sandalwood, Whispering Oaks, and portions of Westview Terrace). A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.
Athletics
Memorial has a rivalry with Stratford High School. Memorial also has a successful football team, which went to the state semifinals in December 2010, in the Division II bracket (in which a .500 season will get into the playoffs). Back when a team had to win its district championship to enter the playoffs, the 1979 Mustangs went all the way to the state finals, a school record as yet unbeaten.
As of 2012, the Memorial tennis team had a district record of 73-0 and has finished in the state finals for 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Memorial also has tennis, soccer, track & field, cross country, swimming//diving, basketball, golf, baseball, softball, and volleyball teams. The school also has a club field hockey team for girls, and club lacrosse and rugby for both boys and girls.
Ethnic distribution
As of 2017
Awards and honors
Memorial was named a 1988-89 National Blue Ribbon School.
The school was ranked 258th, 133rd, 103rd, 126th, 225th, 307th, and 254th in Newsweek's 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States since the list's inception in 2003. It was also ranked 239th and 233rd in U.S. News' 2012 and 2013 lists, respectively, of top high schools in the United States.
Memorial was given the College Readiness Award by the Texas ACT Council in 2008 and 2010. The school was awarded the Just 4 The Kids (NCEA) High Performing School award in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, it was named an Honor Roll School by the Texas Business & Education Coalition. Memorial was named one of the Top 10 Best High Schools in the Area by Children at Risk in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. It was also given the TAKS Gold Performance Award in 2012.
The school achieved "recognized" status in the accountability ratings system by the Texas Education Agency in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
It was awarded five stars and ranked in the top ten high schools in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in 2002.
Feeding from public schools
Elementary schools that feed into Memorial High School include:
Middle schools that feed into Memorial High School include:
Feeding from private schools
Some private schools, such as First Baptist Academy, Grace School, Presbyterian School, River Oaks Baptist School, St. Francis Episcopal Day School, and The Regis School of the Sacred Heart, have students that matriculate into Memorial.