School type Public, High School Superintendent Shelly Martin Principal Matt Rogers Color Gold District Parsons School District | School board Board Website CEEB code 172343 Grades 9 to 12 Phone +1 620-421-3660 Mascot Viking | |
Address 3030 Morton Ave, Parsons, KS 67357, USA Similar Parsons Middle School, Labette County High Sch, Parsons Sun, Chanute High School, St Paul Elementary School | ||
Parsons Senior High School is a public secondary school in Parsons, Kansas, USA operated by Unified School District 503, and serves students of grades 9 to 12. It is the sole high school in the school district.
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The school colors are blue and gold and the school mascot is "Victor the Viking". It is a member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association and offers a variety of sports programs. Activities teams compete in the 4A division. Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs.
History
In 1882, some of the first high school classes offered at Parsons were held at McKinley School. The first Parsons High School building was built in 1893 and cost $30,000. It was on southwest corner of Twenty-sixth and Main Streets. The building served the city in its original capacity for just over 30 years. When the new high school / junior college was built on Main Street in the late 1920s, the old high school become West Junior High School. By the 1950s, voters agree that a new secondary school should begin construction. In the late 50s, the current building Parsons High School building was completed. In 2009, a major renovation project was undertaken for Parsons High School and was completely finished before the start of the fall semester. It gave Parsons High School the modern look that can be observed today.
Academics
Parsons Senior High School has a 93% graduation rate. In addition to this, 77% of graduates continue to post-secondary education. PHS offers outstanding general education classes as well as exceptional CTE programs such as Automotive Technology, Graphic Design, Health Science, Welding and more.
Extracurricular activities
The Vikings compete in the Southeast Kansas League and are classified as a 4A school. Throughout its history, Parsons has won several state championships in various sports.
Tennis
Parsons Senior High School is well-noted for its excellence in a variety of sports, especially in boys' and girls' tennis. The boys' team has won four state championships in tennis, while the girls' teams has won five.
Parsons Senior High School offers the following sports:
Debate and Forensics
Parsons High School is also well-noted for its excellence in debate and forensics, having won several individual and team state championships in both debate and forensics. Parsons was the first school to win the 4-speaker and 2-speaker state debate championships in the same year, doing so in 1993, the first year that the 2-speaker championships existed. In 1990, PHS became the only school ever to have two students (Ajit Pai and Michael Monninger) in the top four National Forensic League (NFL) point leaders in the same year. For several years, PHS also led the nation in most NFL All-Americans produced, and had more students amongst the all-time NFL point leaders than any other school from Kansas. Between 1985 and 2016 Parsons has been represented at the National Speech and Debate Tournament 29 out of those 32 years. In 2012, Steven Wood, the former debate and forensics coach at Parsons High School was inducted into the National Forensic League Hall of Fame, which is the highest honor for a high school speech and debate coach.