Edina High School is a three-year public high school located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The current student population is 1,940.
Edina High School was ranked as 197th best public high school in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report. Minnesota Department of Education certified Edina as a "Five Star School" and the U. S. Department of Education recognized it as a "National School of Excellence". Newsweek ranked the school #89 in their "List of the 1,200 Top High Schools in America", and the Grammy Foundation selected it as one of forty-two "Signature Schools" recognizing Edina's contributions to music education. Ninety-five percent of seniors go on to college and eighty-six percent finish in five years. 30% of Edina graduates responded in a recent survey that they conducted 10 years after graduation they had completed graduate school degrees or were pursuing graduate degrees.
A second high school, Edina West High School, opened in fall 1973, next to Valley View Junior High School, and Edina High School was renamed Edina East High School. Due to declining student enrollment, the two school combined eight years later. Edina East closed in spring 1981, and the building eventually became the Edina Community Center, the district administrative offices and Welcome Center, and the home of Normandale Elementary school, while Edina West became Edina High School.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
Before a high school opened in Edina, students looking to extend their education past eighth grade had to find their way down to the old Central High School at 4th Avenue and South 11th Street in Minneapolis. By the 1940s some Edina students in grades 10 through 12 attended private high schools. Of those who could not afford to attend a private high school, some were enrolled at St. Louis Park High School while many others were being "farmed out" to West and Southwest High Schools in Minneapolis. In 1941, Minneapolis schools raised their tuition for out-of-city students, and despite the increase, Edina residents voted to pay the increased tuition rather than build their own high school.
During the mid-1940s, support for an Edina-Morningside junior and senior high school was increasing. However, World War II and the resulting shortage of building materials delayed construction of the Edina-Morningside Junior and Edina-Morningside Senior High School. But after the war, support for the new school began to resurface. Two sites for the new school had the most support. One was on the property that is currently occupied by the Edina Country Club near 50th Street and Wooddale Avenue and the other was at West 56th Street and Normandale Road. Although the 50th and Wooddale site was the center of the village's population at the time, the 56th and Normandale site was nearer to the school district's geographic center and was the eventual site chosen to build the new school.
The first high school to open in Edina, later known as Edina East, is now the site of the Edina Community Center and Normandale Elementary School. It was built as a combination high school/junior high. A $1.25 million school bond issue was passed in 1946 by the residents of Edina and ground was broken in October 1947. A year later the school was dedicated. It was not until the fall of 1949 that classes began and it was at that time that the student body chose the school colors (green and white) and the school mascot, the Hornet. The school had 28 classrooms, 11 special rooms and laboratories, a library and a special radio room. In 1952, one year after the first class graduated, a gymnasium and auditorium were added to the building.
In the 1960s, the high school was becoming overcrowded. As a result, on October 20, 1970, a $9.255 million bond issue was approved by voters to construct a new high school attached to Valley View Junior High School. Construction of the new high school began on May 24, 1971 and the school was opened in the fall of 1972. The Edina East High School retained the "Hornets" and Edina West High School became the "Cougars".
In 1981 Edina East was closed and Edina West was renamed Edina High School. The newly unified school decided on the "Hornets" nickname. Part of the old high school building was converted to the Edina kindergarten center in 1987 and the Edina Senior Center. As of 2015, the building is used as a community center, housing the French Immersion K-5 elementary school, the school district's main offices and the school district's Welcome Center.
In November 2003, city of Edina residents passed an $85.8 million bond referendum to renovate all school facilities in the district, with the high school undergoing major renovations. Construction began on the high school in May 2004 and was completed in 2007.
In 2017, the school will have completed their $60 million renovations to the high school. During that school year, Edina High School will host grades 9-12 instead of grades 10-12.
Extracurricular
- Under the 'Youth Serving Youth' program, there are countless clubs which students can participate in, such as STAND, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, United 4 UNICEF, and the Edina Recycling Team which is called Project Earth.
- The school yearbook is titled Windigo
- The school newspaper is Zephyrus, and is a member of the High School National Ad Network
- The school has a student-published literary arts magazine entitled Images
- Theater: In 2011, Edina was the first high school in Minnesota to perform on the Main Stage of the International Thespian Festival in over forty years, where they performed Anything Goes. In 2013, they brought "Fiddler on the Roof" to the Main Stage at the International Thespian Festival. In 2016, they were one of the first high schools in the nation to perform a Disney-sponsored show called "Peter and the Starcatcher", which they once again brought to the Main Stage.
- Debate: Edina has a nationally recognized debate team, which has been nationally ranked in the recent past (16th in 2009-10 and 19th in 2010-11)
- Edina has a robotics team, 'The Green Machine'
- Edina High School has had an Ultimate Frisbee program since 2003 that competes both locally in the Minnesota Ultimate High School League, and nationally through USA Ultimate sanctioned tournaments. Both the Boys & Girls teams have won State Championships. Girls Varsity in 2014 & Boys Varsity in 2014 and 2016. Edina Ultimate
- Edina's high school hockey team, City of Edina, is known as the Cake Eaters. The phrase was used in the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks.
Athletics
Edina High School is a member of the Lake Conference of the Minnesota State High School League. Previously a member of the Lake Conference and the Classic Lake Conference, the school joined the new Lake Conference in 2010. Edina claims 159 high school state championships, a state record, with most of them earned in tennis, swimming, and boys hockey. In 2000, the school was recognized as the first school in the state of Minnesota to win more than 100 state championships. The boys' hockey team has won a state-record twelve championships (including three titles by Edina East), eight under Willard Ikola alone. Edina held the record for most consecutive state championships in girls tennis with fifteen from 1978 to 1992. In 2012, Edina broke their own record and have now been State Champions nineteen years in a row. Edina was seeded as the underdog in the 2015 state tournament, but proved their greatness as they defeated Prior Lake in the finals. Edina girls tennis is often referred to as "EGT".
In 2005, Sports Illustrated ranked Edina as the 8th best sports program in the United States.
Key: E = Edina East, W = Edina West
- ^ Prior to the inception of the Minnesota State High School League football tournament, the Edina Hornets were ranked #1 in the state for the following years: 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971
- ^ Denotes state record
- ^ The 1999 state championship was a tie between Eden Prairie High School and Edina High School; this was the first tie at a state championship in Minnesota
Demographics
The class of 2014 was 82% White, 6% American Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% Black/African-American, 4% Hispanic/Latino, 2% Other, and 1% Native American. The class was also 51% Male, 48.9% Female, and 0.2% Transgender.
Awards
History teacher Lonni Skrentner was selected Minnesota History Teacher of the Year in 2004 by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She is currently serving on the Edina School Board. 72% of Edina High School teachers hold advanced, specialist, or doctoral degrees.
In 2012, English Teacher Jacqueline Roehl was selected Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
In 2015, The School Yearbook Program, WIndigo, received the National Program of Excellence Award from Jostens.
Notable alumni
Business
- Roy J. Bostock (Class of 1958), business executive
- Robert Bruss (Class of 1958), lawyer, real estate broker, author, and newspaper columnist
- Dave MacLennan (Class of 1977) Current CEO of Cargill Edina-East
- Brian J. Dunn (Class of c. 1978), Former CEO of Best Buy
- Ron Johnson (Class of 1977), former CEO of J.C. Penney, former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple Inc.
- William Zollars (Class of 1969), former CEO Yellow Corporation (Yellow Freight, Roadway, Regional Carriers) Overland Park, KS
Politics
- Ron Johnson (Class of 1973) Attended), Current Republican Senator of Wisconsin
- Mary Anderson Pawlenty (Class of 1979), Wife of Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
- Erin Matson (Class of 1998), Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women
Sports
- Ric Flair (Class of 1967), Former pro wrestler of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and American Wrestling Association (AWA)
- Jeff Wright (Class of 1967), former safety with the Minnesota Vikings
- Bill Nyrop (Class of 1970), a professional hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens and was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams (1976, 1977, and 1978)
- Brian Burke (Class of 1973), General Manager and executive VP, Toronto Maple Leafs and 2010 United States Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Silver Medalist Team
- Gord Hampson (Class of 1977), retired National Hockey League player.
- Karl Mecklenburg (Class of 1978 West), NFL Pro-Bowl linebacker with the Denver Broncos
- Greg Olson (Class of 1979), former catcher for the Atlanta Braves
- Chris Perry (Class of 1980), professional golfer with one PGA Tour victory
- Paul Ranheim (Class of 1984), professional hockey player who played for Calgary, Hartford, Carolina, Philadelphia, and Phoenix from 1988 to 2003
- Jenny Schmidgall-Potter (Class of 1997), American ice hockey player and gold medalist at the 1998 Nagano Games
- Hilary Lunke (Class of 1997), American professional golfer
- Adam Goldberg (Class of 1998), NFL player
- David Ostlund (Class of 1999), Semi-Professional World's Strongest Man competitor
- Kaylin Richardson (Class of 2003), 2006 and 2010 Olympic skier
- Anders Lee (Class of 2009), Professional Hockey Player who currently plays for the New York Islanders
- Corinne Buie (Class of 2010), Professional Hockey Player who currently plays for the Buffalo Beauts and who played for the Boston Pride in the inaugural season of the National Women's Hockey League (2015-). Buie is an Isobel Cup Champion and Clarkson Cup Champion.
- Kieffer Bellows (Class of 2016), Professional Hockey Player who currently plays for the New York Islanders and also attends Boston University (Class of 2020).
Entertainment
- Stan Freese (Class of 1962), tuba player, band director, and talent booking & casting director with The Walt Disney Company
- Julia Duffy (Class of 1969), actress
- Barbara Peterson Burwell (Class of 1972), Miss USA 1976
- David Bloom (Class of 1981), Movie news reporter - NBC
- Christopher Straub (Class of 1997) Contestant on the television show, Project Runway. He finished 5th in the 6th season
- Paris Bennett (Class of 2004) (through 11th grade), contestant on the television show American Idol. She finished 5th in the 5th season
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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