Smoky Hill High School

Smoky Hill High School
Smoky Hill High School
Address
	16100 East Smoky Hill Road; Aurora, Colorado 80015; United States
Coordinates	39°37′40″N 104°47′59″W / 39.62787°N 104.79960°WCoordinates: 39°37′40″N 104°47′59″W / 39.62787°N 104.79960°W
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Home of the Buffs
Established	1974
School district	Cherry Creek School District
Principal	Chuck Puga
Teaching staff	108.15 (FTE)
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2,160 (2019-20)
Student to teacher ratio	19.97
Color(s)	Forest green and scarlet
Athletics	5A
Athletics conference	Centennial League
Mascot	Buffalo
Nickname	Buffs
Website	smokyhill.cherrycreekschools.org

Smoky Hill High School is located in Aurora, Colorado, United States. It enrolls around 2,600 students. Smoky Hill is part of the Cherry Creek School District and was the second high school built by the district in 1974.

It goes by the short name 'Smoky'. The name comes from the fact that the school is located not far from the Smoky Hill Trail, an old pioneer trail stretching from Kansas to Denver.

Curriculum[]

In 1991, Smoky Hill became the second high school in Colorado to offer the International Baccalaureate Program. Since that time Smoky has been recognized in Newsweek's nationwide list of excellent high schools. In 2006, Smoky Hill's AVID program was the only school in the AVID Western Division to be recognized as a National Demonstration School with Distinction.^[3] Smoky Hill also supports the Advanced Placement program and offers nineteen AP classes.

Renovations[]

In the summer of 2010, the Cherry Creek School District began renovations to improve the overall functionality of the building. The windows were enlarged, the pool area was completely reconstructed, new carpet was installed, and the general aesthetics of the school were modernized to comply with more current styles in design. All renovations were completed before the 2010–2011 year, except for the pool area, which was completed during the first quarter of the school year.

Athletics[]

Smoky Hill High School is part of the eight-team Centennial League that also includes Cherry Creek, Grandview, Arapahoe, Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Mullen, and Overland high schools.

Track and field[]

In 1992, Smoky Hill won its first state championship in track. Their first State Championship was in football in the 1970's. They also had a three-time state championship run during 2003–2005.^[4]

International Baccalaureate[]

In 1991, Smoky Hill became the second International Baccalaureate Diploma School established in the state of Colorado.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is an educational programme examined in one of three languages (English, French or Spanish) and is a leading university entrance course.

The programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, is a recognized pre-university educational programme. Students take six subjects, and must also pass three extra requirements, for example Theory of Knowledge (ToK), a 4000-word Extended Essay (EE), and a requirement of at least a total of 150 hours in CAS (Creative, Action, Service).

Smoky Hill boasts its ability to offer one of the newer tests in the International Baccalaureate Programme, Digital Media Studies. 2009 was the first year that students tested in both the Higher Level and Standard Level of the test.

Notable alumni[]

Alison Dunlap, Olympic mountain biker^[5]
Bowen Yang, comedian and cast member of Saturday Night Live (class of 2008)
Chase Vaughn, football linebacker
Lesley Chilcott, documentarian^[6]
Kelly Hansen, lead singer in Foreigner (class of 1979)
Dan Soder, stand-up comedian (class of 2001)
Jenny Cavnar, AT&T Sports. Host of pre and post game shows for the Colorado Rockies
Fear Before, rock band
Cory Sandhagen, mixed martial artist^[7]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Smoky Hill High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
^ "Search for Public Schools – School Detail for Smoky Hill High School". ed.gov. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
^ "AVID :: Welcome!". avidonline.org. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
^ "http://www.chsaa.org/about/pdf/champions.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-30. External link in |title= (help)
^ Alison Dunlap Archived 2006-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. Colorado College Success Stories. Accessed December 3, 2006.
^ ""Superman" maker lauds Colorado's school progress". 13 October 2010.
^ "Welcome to the UFC, Coach Cory!". 29 January 2018.

External links[]

Smoky Hill High School official web site

[NCES-1] "Smoky Hill High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved August 30, 2021.

[2] "Search for Public Schools – School Detail for Smoky Hill High School". ed.gov. Retrieved 7 December 2015.

[3] "AVID :: Welcome!". avidonline.org. Retrieved 7 December 2015.

[CHSAA_Champions_list-4] "http://www.chsaa.org/about/pdf/champions.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-30. External link in |title= (help)

[5] Alison Dunlap Archived 2006-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. Colorado College Success Stories. Accessed December 3, 2006.

[6] ""Superman" maker lauds Colorado's school progress". 13 October 2010.

[7] "Welcome to the UFC, Coach Cory!". 29 January 2018.

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