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Staples High School

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Staples High School
Staples High School Seal
Magnet School No
School District Westport Public Schools
School Colors Blue and White
Coeducational Yes
Year Opened 1884 (by Horace Staples)
Charter School No
Grade Levels 9-12
School type Public
Principal John M. Dodig
Location 70 North Avenue Westport, Connecticut, 06880, USA
Year-round schedule No
Phone Number 203-341-1201
Enrollment 1615
Sports Teams The Wreckers
Mascot Construction Worker named "the Wrecker" (discontinued as of 2004, until volunteer can be found).
Homepage shs.westport.k12.ct.us/

Staples High School is a public secondary school, located in the town of Westport, Connecticut, USA. Staples High School is named after Horace Staples who founded the school in 1884. The school was moved to its current location on North Avenue in 1958, and was recently expanded and renovated into an all-new facility.

History

Staples High School was originally built in 1884 by Horace Staples, a high-wealth savvy trader, who built a three-story brick building on Riverside Avenue, just south of downtown Westport, Connecticut. The building contained several classrooms, a science laboratory, and a library.

In 1937, a new wing opened up just north of the original building, containing many new classrooms but still no cafeteria or gymnasium (those were included in a 1947 expansion).

In 1958, to follow the expansion of the community, the school moved to a new site on North Avenue. This new facility contained a gymnasium, cafeteria and an auditorium, which was an impressive structure at the time. Its design was unique for the area, utilizing separate buildings and requiring people to walk outside to get around. The idea was intended to save on energy costs and to improve evacuation times in case of fire.

However, the idea of separate buildings did not bode well, and several more facilities were needed, such as a Fieldhouse, Pool, and Library, all which were built during a Modernization project which took place at the school between 1978 and 1981.

In 2003, several years of planning for yet another construction project at the school were completed and construction began on July 1 of that year on an $80 million project to renovate and expand the school into a brand-new facility. During this project, many of the original buildings were demolished as the new school was built on their original footings. The project was completed in September 2006.

Facilities

Notability

Governor Wilbur Cross was principal of Staples for the 1885-1886 schoolyear.

"Back to the Future" actor Christopher Lloyd is a 1957 graduate of Staples.

In 2004 the Wall Street Journal listed Staples among the best public and private schools in the United States of America.

Staples' school newspaper, "Inklings", has won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association gold medal every year since 2000 (with the exception of a silver medal in 1999). The paper has also received the rank of First Place with "Special Honors" from the American Scholastic Press Association since 2001 and has been dubbed "the best school paper in the state" by the Hartford Courant.

Staples' drama department, Staples Players, has received many awards for its mainstage productions, including numerous Moss Hart awards.

Staples kicker during the 2006 Football season, Alex Lebow, ruined the Staples 29 game home winning streak by kicking a game tieing PAT off the post......can you say doink?

Renovations and expansions

The first expansion project came in 1937, which included a two-story building with classrooms. It is what is now the front of Saugatuck Elementary School.

Ten years after that, another expansion was built, including a Cafeteria and Gymnasium.

When the school moved to North Avenue in 1958, it consisted of seven separate buildings labeled 1 through 8 (buildings 2 and 3 (Gym/Cafeteria) were together). In 1964, a two-story ninth building was constructed at the south end of the campus.

In 1974, heating pipe problems prompted a project to fix the system.

Modernisation

From 1978 to 1981, the school was under a modernization project. It included the following construction:

  • Redoing of Building 1 to include the Senior Center and Health classes
  • Extra music rehearsal room
  • New guidance wing (Guidance was before within the main office)
  • New Deans office
  • New Student Center
  • Re-doing of the North Courtyard
  • Fieldhouse
  • Pool
  • Redesign of building exteriors with sheetrock and bricks
  • Connector hallways between all buildings

2003 Renovation

Beginning on July 1, 2003 and officially ending on September 12, 2006 the campus was reconstructed. For the cost of $76 million, an entirely new 32,000 square meter (330,000 square foot) facility was built.

Staples High Wiki

The idea for the Staples High Wiki originally came from student Adam Krellenstein and other members of the Staples High School Computer Club at a meeting in May of 2005. The Staples High Wiki was officially released to the public on October 31, 2005 and has since been run by Adam, Justin Sherman and Mike Schneider. The wiki may be accessed at http://wiki.stapleshigh.net, though it may only be edited by staff, students, and alumni of Staples.

2005-2006

In the 2005-2006 year at Staples, the school had five semi-finalists and one regional finalist from the renowned national high school science competition, the Siemens Westinghouse Competition. Along with the Siemens Westinghouse Competition, another student from Staples was recognized as a Finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search (STS). Also, four students at Staples won the 2006 Moody's Mega Math Challenge amongst 160 high schools in the Tri-State Area; the team received a $20,000 scholarship for first place in the competition. In addition, Staples had five National Merit Scholarship finalists for 2006, an honor bestowed to those students with considerably high scores on the PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). Staples is noted for its excellent accomplishments in the sciences, humanities, and performing arts.

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