Woodham High School

History

Woodham High School was opened in 1965 response to the tremendous growth of Pensacola's northern suburbs. This move took pressure off of Pensacola High School, which at the time was suffering from severe overcrowding.

Woodham itself also experienced overcrowding in the early-mid 1970s as students from Gulf Breeze, Fl. were bused to Woodham before a separate high school was constructed in Gulf Breeze. Woodham students attended split class sessions, with half of the student body attending in the morning and the other half attending in the afternoon. *In the fall of 1975 Pine Forest High School opened and some Woodham students were reassigned. The first day of class at Pine Forest High was Monday, November 10, 1975 for the former Woodham students. Another reassignment occurred in 1982 when Booker T. Washington High School was rebuilt in its present location.

In the late 1970s, Woodham featured a marching band which wore the same style of uniforms as the USC Trojan marching band. The band boosters worked for over two years to purchase these uniforms under the direction of Band booster President Ronald Campbell with the assistance and overwhelming support of band families. The marching band, concert band and jazz rock ensemble (JRE) all posted "superior" ratings at state contests.

The football team won the district in 81, 82, 84, and 85. In 1982 and 1984, the "Fighting Titans" won the state AAAA championship and, for a period of time, were ranked number one in the nation by USA Today. The 1982-4 seasons featured a 35 and 1 record, losing only to Choctaw by a score of 9 to 7, in 1983 regular season. The game winning field goal by John Laycock was taken of scoreboard with no time remaining. In 1991 The boys' Soccer team won the AAA state title. The school's boys' basketball team won the Florida Class 4A state championship in 2003. Woodham's baseball team also won back to back district 1-4A championships in 2002 and 2003.

In March 2000, Woodham High School's Varsity Cheerleading squad won its first National Championship at the American Open Cheerleading Competition. The team of 15 members won the title in the small varsity division. The squad was featured in the August 2000 issue of American Cheerleader Magazine.

Hurricane Ivan, which struck the Pensacola area on 16 September 2004, damaged several parts of the school. The cafeteria sustained moderate roof damage but was repaired within a few weeks. The media center, however, sustained significant damage, but is currently fixed and operational.

In the fall of 2005, the Escambia County School District and the superintendent, Jim Paul, discussed plans of closing Woodham and converting it into a middle school for Brentwood and Wedgewood Middle schools. Current Woodham students would be re-districted to other area high schools. The plan, approved by the school board as of December 21, 2006, will be effective for the 2007-2008 school year. The textbooks and library books were distributed out to other district high schools based on the percentage of Woodham students attending the other high schools. Wendy Zirkin, Acting district Media Cooordinator for Escambia County was in charge of the textbook and library inventory and distribution.

On May 27, 2007 Woodham held its final classes. Its website now reads: "In memory of all Titans, 1965-2007."

Woodham was reopened as a middle school later in 2007. Woodham Middle School is now home of the Woodham Middle Sharks.

Notable alumni

Woodham Middle School

Woodham Middle School is a middle school in Pensacola. It opened on August 26, 2007, on the site of the former Woodham High School. In the 2010–11 school year, it had an enrollment of 575 students.

The school has a total of 26 teachers, teaching grades 6–8.

History

After the closing of Woodham High School the school would later to become a middle school now known as Woodham Middle School (Officially Known as W.J. Woodham Middle School) and was officially opened August 26, 2007 as a public middle school. The school enrollment has grown in the few past years, the school year of 2010–11 the school enrollment was about 572 students.

Sports

The school interest in sports has also grown. In the past few years the school basketball tryouts has had more tryouts than ever before. In 2010 the school made it to the finals, but lost because of a foul of shooting on a line. The school is also interested in track. In 2010 the school track team also made to the finals and won except the girls.