Western International High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
1500 Scotten Street , 48209 United States | |
Coordinates | 42°19′8″N83°5′31″W / 42.31889°N 83.09194°W |
Information | |
Type | Public high school |
Established | 1898 |
Status | Active/open |
School district | Detroit Public Schools |
Superintendent | Nikolai Vitti |
CEEB code | 231235 |
NCES School ID | 261200004857 [1] |
Principal | Angel Garcia |
Teaching staff | 72 [1] |
Grades | 9-12 |
Gender | Co-ed |
Enrollment | 1,398 [1] |
Language | English, Spanish and French |
Area | Urban |
Color(s) | Red and white |
Athletics conference | DPSL |
Nickname | Cowboys |
Website | Western International |
Western International High School is a public high school, located across from Clark Park, within southwest Detroit's Mexicantown. Western is operated by the Detroit Public Schools system.
As of 2012, it was the final remaining public high school in southwestern Detroit. [2] Western serves Mexicantown, Boynton–Oakwood Heights, Delray, and Springwells Village. [3]
The school opened in 1898 as "Western High School." [4] The Webster School held high school classes on a temporary basis until Western was built. [5]
On February 26, 1935, [6] Western High School's campus was destroyed by a fire. [7] No classes occurred during the incident. [8] Western received a new campus as part of the Public Works Administration projects. [9] $216,381 (around $4498474.03 when adjusted for inflation) in federal aid was used to rebuild the school. [10]
Western International previously had a rivalry with Southwestern High School. [2] In 2012 Southwestern closed, and part of its boundary was reassigned to Western International. [11] Students from both schools protested the closure of Southwestern, [12] the perceived quality of education, and DPS policies. As a result, over 100 students from Western received suspensions, with several also receiving tickets from police officers. In response several students started a "freedom school" so they could receive education during their suspensions. [13]
In 2015 DPS designated Western as part of the "Clark Park K-12 Educational Comunidad" ("Comunidad" means community in Spanish) along with Earhart and Maybury elementary schools. [14]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2015) |
As of 2000 the school offered training programs in technical skills, including work and school cooperative programs, with business education, computer-assisted drafting, desktop publishing, office management, and office technology available. In 1999 there were six teachers that were a part of this program, and the number doubled by 2000. In 2000 the school did not offer skilled manufacturing and trade courses. [15] These courses were offered at five different technical centers in Detroit, and interested students would arrive to their regular school early and board buses bound for a technical center. That year the technical schools had limited numbers of recruitment information available in Spanish, the primary language of many students at Western. [16]
Student assessments | |
---|---|
2021–22 school year [17] Change vs. prior year [17] | |
M-STEP 11th grade proficiency rates (Science / Social Studies) | |
Advanced % | 1.0 / 1.3 |
Proficient % | – / 6.8 |
PR. Proficient % | 7.2 / 46.1 |
Not Proficient % | 83.8 / 45.8 |
Average test scores | |
SAT Total | 782.8 ( −70.4) |
WIHS holds no admission test; enrollment is open to all Detroiters of high school age. Western is the most culturally diverse public high school in Detroit; the student body is (approximate figures) 72.2% Hispanic/Latino, 20.6% African American, 5.3% Caucasian, and 1.9% listed as "other".
Author and athlete Ken Doherty was a 1923 graduate of Western High School, and went on to athletic fame as an All-American track and field performer at Detroit City College. During much of the 1920s, he was the nation's best decathlon performer; he won a bronze medal in the decathlon at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Doherty's Track and Field Omnibook (1971) is the world's most widely read publication on the sport of track and field. [18]
Screenwriter John Briley (class of 1943) is a writer best known for screenplays of biopics. He won the 1982Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay for Gandhi. He has also written for television and theatre, and published several novels. [19]
Swimmer John Dudeck (class of 1952) was a nationally renowned athlete; as a WHS senior, he competed at the 1952 US Olympic Trials. [20] On the collegiate scene, he swam for Michigan State University. A former Big Ten Conference record holder and two-time Big Ten titlist in the 100-yard breaststroke (1953, 54), Dudeck was a nine-time All-American for the Spartans (1953–55). [21] [22] [23]
King Cole is a former MLB player for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the New York Yankees.
George Lerchen is a former MLB player for the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds.
George Saldana was named to the 1963 National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) All-America team, in the 400-yard freestyle event. [24]
Todd Cruz (1955–2008) was a 1973 Western graduate who played six seasons of Major League Baseball. In 1982, he hit 16 home runs and drove in 57 runs for the Seattle Mariners. One year later, as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, he took part in the 1983 World Series. [25]
Ron Simpkins was a 1976 graduate of Western High School. He then enrolled at the University of Michigan to play football for coach Bo Schembechler. While attending Michigan, Simpkins earned NCAA All-America recognition; he also won the school's John Maulbetsch Award in 1977, and team MVP honors in 1979. He would eventually become the university's all-time leading tackler. Upon graduation, Simpkins entered the National Football League draft; he was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 7th round (167th overall). He played in Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome, losing to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. Simpkins would play in six NFL seasons before taking 1988 off. He returned for one more year in 1989, with the Green Bay Packers. In the spring of 1990, Simpkins came home to coach football. During a career that spanned eighteen seasons, he was at the helm for the Cowboys of Western High School; he retired in 2007.
Ann Arbor is a city in and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-largest city in Michigan. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor is also included in the Greater Detroit Combined Statistical Area and the Great Lakes megalopolis, the most populated and largest megalopolis in North America.
Mexicantown is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan.
Warrendale is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan, bordered by Greenfield Road, Joy Road, and the Detroit city limits. Warrendale neighbors Dearborn on two sides and Dearborn Heights on another side.
Delray is a neighborhood in southwest Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan. Its area extends south to the River Rouge, east to the Detroit River, west to Fort Street, and north to Clark Street. The two census tracts that cover the neighborhood had a population of 2,783 at the 2010 census.
Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that serves Detroit, Michigan and high school students in Highland Park, Michigan. The district, which replaced the original Detroit Public Schools (DPS) in 2016, provides services to approximately 50,000 students, making it the largest school district in the state. The district has its headquarters in the Fisher Building of the New Center area of Detroit.
As the world's traditional automotive center, Detroit, Michigan, is an important source for business news. The Detroit media are active in the community through such efforts as the Detroit Free Press high school journalism program and the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit. Wayne State University offers a widely respected journalism program.
Southwestern High School was a high school in Southwest Detroit, Michigan. It was part of the Detroit Public Schools district. The school's area, Southwest Detroit, has the majority of Detroit's Latino population. The school was located in a three-story building. It closed in 2012.
Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy at Northwestern is a public high school in Detroit, part of Detroit Public Schools, the re-named successor to Northwestern High School. The most recent enrollment figures for Northwestern indicate a student population of approximately 2,000.
The University of Michigan basketball scandal, or the Ed Martin scandal, concerned National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules violations resulting from the relationship between the University of Michigan, its men's basketball program, and booster Eddie L. "Ed" Martin. The violations principally involved payments booster Martin made to several players to launder money from an illegal gambling operation. It is one of the largest incidents involving payments to athletes in American collegiate history. An initial investigation by the school was joined by the NCAA, Big Ten Conference, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As a result of this investigation, Michigan's basketball program was punished with sanctions.
Kettering High School was a four-year high school within the Detroit Public Schools system. The school, located in the low-income Gratiot Town/Kettering neighborhood, was around 1,200 students under capacity at its closure in 2012.
Springwells is a neighborhood located in Detroit, Michigan, near the Ford Motor Company River Rouge Plant.
Joseph Brazil was an American jazz saxophonist and educator. Local musicians and touring acts performed in his basement. He taught jazz at Garfield High School, co-founded the Black Music curriculum at the University of Washington, and founded the Black Academy of Music in Seattle. He appeared on the albums Om by John Coltrane and Mystic Voyage by Roy Ayers.
Detroit Day School for the Deaf (DDSD) was a public school for deaf students in Detroit, Michigan for grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8. It was a part of Detroit Public Schools.
Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men is a Detroit, Michigan grade 9-12 school exclusively for boys. It is a part of Detroit Public Schools (DPS), and it is the only all-male public school in the State of Michigan. It is named after Frederick Douglass and it is located in Woodbridge, in the former Murray–Wright High School.
Southwest Detroit is a neighborhood within Detroit. Clark Park is a popular park within the Hubbard Farms area of southwest Detroit. It is also well known for Mexicantown, Detroit's vibrant Mexican community.
The University of Michigan Detroit Center is a community outreach center, meeting/events facility, and academic home base for University of Michigan units, located in Midtown Detroit.
Detroit International Academy for Young Women (DIA) is a PK-12 school in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's sole public girls' school, located in the former Northern High School.
The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1907-1981 is a 1993 nonfiction book by Jeffrey Mirel, published by the University of Michigan Press. It discusses the rise and decline of Detroit Public Schools (DPS) in the 20th century, with the book's discussion focusing on the 1920s, the zenith of DPS, through the 1980s. Mirel argued that the Great Depression, various trends related to racial tensions stemming from the Civil Rights Movement, the development of new suburbia, and other factors were primarily responsible for the decline of DPS; the conflicts between blacks and whites and between labor and management eroded the consensus reached during the Progressive Era that schools should receive ample financing. They were forces that a school superintendent or a school board would not be able to overcome.
University Prep Schools is a K-12 charter school system headquartered in the New Center area of Detroit. It has two districts within its system: University Preparatory Academy (UPA) and University Prep Science & Math (UPSM).
Hubert Massey is an artist of a variety of mediums, and well known for his large-scale installations in the Buon Fresco style. Massey has 15 works of public art throughout the state of Michigan, and has been commissioned by various local organizations including universities, museums, hotels, and the Michigan Department of Transportation. He now resides in Detroit, Michigan with his wife Marquita.