White Station High School

Academics

White Station is an optional school that offers an Optional (Honors) Diploma.

Newsweek magazine ranked White Station #1027 in the United States and #8 in Tennessee in its 2009-2010 edition of America's Best High Schools. White Station High made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2007.

In the 2011-2012 school year, White Station had 22 National Merit Semifinalists, more than any other school (public, private, or charter) in the state of Tennessee. In the 2012-2013 school year, White Station announced 23 National Merit Semifinalists.

White Station High School has also had the most National Merit Scholarship semifinalists of any school in the state of Tennessee in many previous years .

White Station has 7 National Board Certified Teachers.

In January 2014, White Station High School announced that they would be offering the AP Capstone program in the 2014-2015 school year.

Class sizes averaged 20.7 students per teacher at the time of these achievements; however, class size averages have increased to 26 students per teacher.

Sports

White Station is home to one of the nation's best high school boys basketball programs. The Spartans are consistently ranked among the top twenty high school basketball teams by USA Today."2013 Boys Varsity Basketball". Retrieved 15 July 2014.  White Station also has a girls basketball team, soccer teams (M/F), track and field teams (M/F), a football team, a bowling team (M/F), lacrosse teams (M/F), a golf team (M/F), a volleyball team (F), rugby teams (M/F), cross-country teams (M/F), ultimate teams (M/F), a swim team (Co-ed), a wrestling team (M), a baseball team (M), a softball team (F), a cheerleading team (F), and a tennis team (M/F). The Lady Spartans tennis team has won the city championship for 3 consecutive years and finished as state runner-up in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The boys tennis team won the 2011 district championship and advanced one player to the state championships. White Station's Lady Spartans volleyball team won the Memphis city championships in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The boys and girls Cross Country teams have won the Memphis city championship for 5 consecutive years. The Bowling Team won the city championship in 2014 and advanced to state.

The Spartan football team is also consistently ranked among the top performers in Tennessee. In 2009, the Spartans won the Division 6A State Title, the highest football division in the state, under second-year coach Devin Rutherford. In 2013 the Spartan football team made it to 6A state semifinals, a game they lost 49-41 to Hendersonville High School, under first year coach Joe Rocconi.

Clubs and Activities

White Station has many active clubs in areas including foreign language, mathematics, science, business, government, music, art, film, community service, and more. Its Knowledge Bowl team has won 4 Knowledge Bowl championships in the past years, winning the first Knowledge Bowl ever in 1987-1988.(Most recent win is at 2014 - beating Houston in the final round. Team consisted of Zach Billett (Senior of 2014 - Captain), Mary Katherine DeWane (Sophomore 2014), Saaber Pourmotabbed (Junior of 2014), and John "Asa" Thomason (Sophomore 2014).{{Citat ion needed|date=August 2008}}, and its Mock Trial team won the Tennessee State Championship in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Its Mu Alpha Theta chapter is considered one of the best of Tennessee and has won 1st regional and 2nd state honors this past year. White Station's Science Olympiad team consistently places well in the state, earning 3rd in the 2010 competition and 2nd in 2014 competition. Other activities include an elected student council, jazz ensemble, Model United Nations team, and HOSA club.

The Quiz Bowl team in White Station is one of the major clubs. It is largely student-led. The two sponsors are Mr. Doug Insch and Mr. James Edelman. Its previous sponsor was Mr. James Alan Whitehead, a National Board Certified Teacher in Social Studies. Its current directors, as of 2014, is Zach Billett as Captain and Victor Gardner as Tournament Director. This club travels to surrounding areas and competes against other schools. The Quiz Bowl team has had a rich history in going to National Quiz Bowl Tournaments. The White Station Quiz Bowl Team is the best in the Memphis Area with Houston High Quiz Bowl team coming in 2nd. Two tournaments are hosted by the Quiz Bowl Team each school year.

Students produce both spoken and signed morning announcements. Students also staff the school newspaper (The Scroll), the yearbook (The Shield), and an art and literary magazine (The Scribbler).

In the performing arts, White Station has four bands and 2 orchestras, as well as 5 choirs and two a cappella pop groups. The four bands were led by Mr. Charles Wright, affectionately known as CW, from 2008-2014. The four bands are as follows - Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and Concert Band. The bands have gotten superior and excellent ratings in the past 6 years in concert festival. There is a marching band that starts in July and goes on until December, depending if the football team makes it to the playoffs for it plays on football games. The WSHS came second in a 2014 band competition. There are several talented musicians in the bands - a senior flutist of 2014 won a $200,000 scholarship. A sophomore of 2014 is one of Tennessee's most talented trumpet players and student composers. A junior of 2014 is a bassoonist who has repeatedly placed first chair in All-West Ensembles and All-State ensembles. The orchestras are led by Dr. Andrew Palmer and have gained superior ratings at concert festival and also hold many of the positions in the All-West Tennessee band, orchestra, and choir, as well as spots in the Memphis Youth Symphony and All-State ensembles. The choir program was run by Amon Eady and in 2013, Nikisha Williams was hired as assistant director. Today, the program is run by Nikisha Williams and Joseph Powell. White Station's choir program has also received superior ratings in the past 4 years in district choral festival. White Station's choir program has performed at events such as the Tennessee Holocaust Day of Remembrance, and the TMEA conference, which the Chorale has been invited to perform at again in 2015. In 2014, the White Station Men's Chorus was selected to perform at Southern division ACDA in Jacksonville, Florida. Each year, the choir program sends a substantial percentage of students to All-West and All-State. They also have an extensive theater program, including troupe 1581 of the International Thespian Society, mounting a major performance each fall and spring and an annual one-act play festival.

Demographics

Currently there are more than 2,300 students at White Station: 41% are Caucasian, 50% are black, 6.1% are Asian or Pacific islander, and 2.9% are Hispanic. The graduation rate hovers around 75%.

In addition to students from the surrounding neighborhood and who travel from all over the city for the school's college preparatory program, White Station serves the family housing units of the University of Memphis at the Park Avenue Campus.

History

White Station can trace its origins to a school organized just prior to the Civil War that initially shared a building with a Masonic Lodge. By 1897, the school, then known as Albert Pike High School, occupied the entire building and, with an enrollment of eighty students, was one of the largest schools in Shelby County. After World War I, the school was renamed White Station to honor Mr. Eppie White, who had donated three acres of land for the construction of a school building. The school served first through eighth grades during this time.

After the White Station area was annexed to Memphis, the school became part of the Memphis City Schools during the 1950-1951 academic year. At that time, the Memphis City Board of Education foresaw the need for a separate junior and senior high school in the area to accommodate the growing population. Rush W. Siler, a mathematics teacher at East High School, was appointed as principal in 1951, and White Station began to develop a junior high. In August 1954, a high school building was completed, and the school began to develop a senior high school program. As such, White Station Middle School and White Station Elementary School were formed.

At this point White Station High School needed a distinctive identity as a full-fledged Memphis high school. The original White Station mascot was a bulldog and the school newspaper was The Bulldog Leash, with school colors of blue and white. However, these colors were already in use by Memphis Catholic High School. The first senior class of 1956-1957 chose Spartans as their mascot and green and gray as school colors. In keeping with the ancient Greek theme, the White Station newspaper was dubbed The Scroll and the yearbook became The Shield.

The first high school class of seventy-eight seniors graduated on May 30, 1957.

Future development

The school began development on a new building in 2009, which is expected to be completed sometime in 2011, at which time an older building will be torn down. The Freshman Academy was completed in the summer of 2011 and the old South Annex was torn down in response. A new parking lot was created. As of 2014, a grant was received to update the cafeteria and the picnic tables in the courtyard.

In November 2009, the school system in which White Station is included won a grant of $90 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The gift of more than $90 million from Gates is supposed to fund plans to improve teacher effectiveness, including raising the bar for tenure and paying $6,000 incentives for high quality new teachers who stay at least four years. Due to political corruption and instability, however, very little of that grant has been seen by White Station.

Notable alumni