Central High School (Springfield, Missouri)
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Central High School is a high school located in downtown Springfield, Missouri. The school was built in 1893 as Senior High School. At the time of its construction was the largest high school west of the Mississippi River.[citation needed] The first graduating class was one of 41 students in 1894. The school was renamed Central High School after the construction of Springfield's second oldest high school, Parkview, in 1957.
The school's yearbook is known as The Résumé, and the school newspaper is called The High Times. Central's mascot is the Bulldog, named Pug by the students at the time of his creation. Central is also the home to the Kiltie Drum and Bugle Corps. This corps was created by R. Ritchie Robinson in 1926, and has the notoriety of being the first all-female Scottish pipe and drum corps in the country.
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[edit] Notable Programs
Central High School is home to the only IB Diploma Programme in Springfield. Other notable academic programs at Central High School include the Middle Years Scholars Program, a program for gifted middle schoolers featuring advanced middle school classes and some high school courses; and the A+ Program, an opportunity for advancement, scholarships, and other benefits for high school students.
Central High School houses several nationally honored departmental programs. The Central High School Media department recently won the Pacemaker Finalist award for their news show Central Intelligence, making the department one of the the top ten Broadcast Journalism programs in the nation. The Debate team is successful as well, placing 4th in Policy Debate at the national tournament last year, and 3rd the year before. Also notable is the Theater department, who competed at State level last year with the one-act play "Black Elk Speaks," and the year before with "Servant of Two Masters." The Theater department is currently raising money to travel to Edinburgh for an international drama festival.
[edit] Campus
Being an old school, Central has a rich and varied structure. The original building is almost fully intact, albeit with many additions:
- 1907 - the central wing
- 1910 - the eastern wing
- 1940 - the auditorium
- 2001 - the "new building," a massive construction project drastically improving the nature of the school
An indoor gymnasium - nicknamed "The Pit" for its sunken floor - houses basketball and volleyball games. Other sports take place at nearby Harrison Stadium. (Until the gym and auditorium were constructed, other space had to be used for them, which has since been converted into classrooms. Structural marks, though, still remain.)
Some features of the campus are no longer present. The hallways to Central's auditorium once were home to a lot of ivy plants, the seed used to grow them taken from George Washington's home. The plants were removed in the 70's for fear of possible damage to the building, but ivy murals were painted on the walls to replace them. There was once a bell tower on the front of the building, but it had to be taken down circa 1916 due to the stain it placed on the façade.
A system of tunnels exists under the building, but most are filled in, and only on special occasions are students allowed into the ones remaining.
