Kirkwood High School


Kirkwood High School is a public secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. Dr. Mike Havener started as principal in July of 2011.

History

Kirkwood High School as an academic institution dates back to 1865, when the Kirkwood School District was founded. A temporary building opened in the fall of 1866; high school and elementary students attended school together. Jefferson Avenue School was the district's first formal school and was built in 1869. The Booker T. Washington School, which opened in 1869 at 430 West Adams Avenue near Geyer Road was built for African-American students to attend. In 1888, the district built the Adams Avenue School next to the Jefferson School, which offered a two-year high school program for students completing elementary grades. In 1896, Kirkwood offered the first four-year high school program in St. Louis County; 10 students were members of the first graduating class in the spring of 1897. In 1922, a new, four-year high school was built on Kirkwood Road, where Nipher Middle School is currently located.
A new Kirkwood High School opened in 1955 on a campus and was designed with seven buildings set on a college-like campus. Both Caucasian and African-American students were permitted to attend. Facilities funded by a 1993 tax/bond issue included the Thomas N. Keating Performance Center, and band, art and vocal music classrooms. The privately funded Walker Commons enclosed the theater lobby area connecting the Center to the main campus.
Due to the passage of Proposition I in 2005, a new science building opened in August 2007. The two-story structure measures and features 15 combined science classrooms/laboratories. Each classroom/laboratory averages about and was designed to facilitate the movement of students from discussion to hands-on activities. The facility was designed to reflect current research and best practices in science education. The private Kirkwood School District Foundation raised funds to ensure students had the equipment and technology needed to mirror the recommendations in the National Science Foundation report to Congress.
Prop I funded the construction of a new regulation-size gymnasium. Renovation of the existing physical education facility was completed in March of 2008. Prop I also funded a variety of infrastructure improvements, including the installation of a new fire alarm, sprinkler system, and a decentralized heating and cooling system. A new football field was finished in 2010, and a new track was finished in 2011.

Recognition

The 2016 Niche report placed the school as the 2nd best public high school in the state and in the ninety-ninth percentile of the 18,841 public high schools in the country.
Kirkwood High school was featured in CNN's “Heroin: The poisoning of America” and was covered nationally by CNN's Deborah Feyerick. The area of Kirkwood, MO was found to have to have four times the national average of heroin overdoses.

Activities

Boys basketball

The program was started by Denver Miller, who coached for 43 years at Kirkwood, earning 790 victories and induction into the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. During its history the team has earned 21 district championships and has advanced to the Show-Me Showdown eight times.

Football

Kirkwood High School has a long-running football tradition that dates back over a hundred years. The rivalry between Kirkwood and the nearby high school, Webster Groves High School, culminates every year on Thanksgiving, at their "Turkey Day" game. In early 2010 construction began to make a new field. After the project was delayed because of the removal of water pipes that were deep in the ground, the first home game on the new Fieldturf was played on October 1. The current head coach of the Kirkwood varsity team is Farrell Shelton. The Kirkwood football team has made it to the State Final Championship game twice, in 2006 and in 2011, and placed second both times.
The Kirkwood Pioneers became state champions for the first time in 2012, defeating Fort Osage High School 32-7 to conclude a perfect 13-0 record, a number one ranking in the state of Missouri, and a number seventeen ranking nationally by the USA Today. The Kirkwood Pioneers won their second State Championship in 2016 by defeating Blue Springs High School 31-14.

Volleyball

Class 4A State Volleyball Champions 1986. High school champions

Symphonic Orchestra

In 2010, the Kirkwood High School Symphonic Orchestra played at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2013, the group competed in the National Orchestra Cup at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and earned third place.

School profile