Harding Senior High School (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Infobox secondary school
name=Harding Senior High School

motto =
established = 1926
type = Public school
endowment =
staff =
faculty =
principal = Doug Revsbeck
student =
enrollment = 2,150
grades = 9-12
city = Saint Paul
state = Minnesota
country = USA
campus = urban
colors = Maroon and Gold
mascot = Knights
yearbook = SAGA
newspaper = The Beacon
affiliations =
free_label_1 = phone number
free_1 = 651-793-4700
website = http://harding.spps.org
footnotes =

Harding Senior High School is located on the east side of Saint Paul, Minnesota and is currently one of seven high schools in the Saint Paul Public School District. It is the second largest high school in the city of Saint Paul with enrollment at 2150.

Education

Harding Senior High School is one of several schools participating in smaller learning communities. In a somewhat similar fashion to specific colleges within the University of Minnesota, smaller learning communities were implemented in the 2002-2003 school year to group students that had similar interests together for a career. Freshmen are automatically placed in the 9th Grade Academy, and the following year, select to be in the Academy of Fine Arts, the Medical and Environmental Sciences Academy (MESA), the Human Services Academy, or the Science, Engineering, & Information Technology Academy (SEIT). However, the Academies have been facing difficulties with the large student body and change has been slow. While academic performance has improved over the past few years, there is not enough data to associate the increase with smaller learning communities.There is a limit of 500 students per academy, which has presented a dilemma with the Academy of Fine Arts who have had to reject a number of students. A possible cause is the large base of students involved in some form of fine arts. Another challenge is scheduling students to just their academy teachers. Consequentially, most classes have students from all academies.In addition to academies; there is a thirty minute period at the beginning of class known as Foundations. Foundations is the only class that is Academy specific.

One student from the class of 2006 was the recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship. This pays for 10 years of education.

In its history, three Harding alumni were named KARE-11 Academic All-Stars and one received a WCCO-TV outstanding graduate award.

(Skinny) IB

Motivated students who seek to be challenged academically can enroll in International Baccalaureate courses. 9th and 10th grade students who enroll in IB courses are placed in what is called "skinny IB", taking three courses within two class periods with the same students throughout the year. Skinnies allow students in the IB program the option of participating in more electives and other courses required for graduation without having to take summer courses. One of the problems that existed prior to the implementation of skinny IB classes was students not having enough slots because of the trimester schedule and only five classes per tri for a total of 15 slots per year, as opposed to quarters and semesters at other Saint Paul schools, allowing for 16 slots per year. With most IB classes lasting all year, full-IB students would not have enough room to take other required courses not in the IB program, including health and physical education, forcing students to take them during the summer months.

IB students can also register for the international IB exams, offering students the opportunity to earn college credit.

Electives

Harding High School's selection of elective courses allow students to experiment with their possible career interests while fulfilling the number of elective credits students need in order to graduate. Harding is the only school that has their own graphic arts center, which often produces clothing and programs for numerous schools in the district.

The television production program allows students to develop and make their own videos. In 2005, Harding started a cable show that is aired on channel 16, one of the five channels the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network operates. The show, entitled "Whatz up Harding," showcases student-produced videos. A senior montage is broadcast annually, displaying highlights captured on tape during their four years at Harding with a "narrative" musical selection in the background that reflects the mood of students for a given year. For example, the class of 2005 senior montage played "Hang On" by Smash Mouth for 2001-02 (freshman year), "Dig In" by Lenny Kravitz for 2002-03, "Our Lives" by The Calling for 2003-04, and it was the first to play two songs for their senior year. Specifically, "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day.

The journalism program offers students the opportunity to publish articles in the National Spokesman-Recorder. The student newspaper, The Beacon, is written and published in the journalism class. In 2005, Mike Peden was named the Minnesota High School Journalist of the Year and would also go on to win several awards in various newspaper contests, including the Star Tribune's Metro Newspaper Writing Contest.

Fine Arts are very active at Harding. In addition to fulfilling elective requirements, the theater department performs three shows a year; a musical in the fall, the one-act play in the winter, and a non-musical play in the spring. Choir offers additional activities including Madrigals, an acapella group, music theory IB, concert choir, women's choir, men's choir, and music listening. Other electives include Rebellion, Creative Writing, Photography, Jewelry, Auto Tech, NJROTC etc.

There is a large after-school program with many clubs, tutoring and physical fitness outside of organized school sports. Volunteering is very strong at Harding led by such organizations as Fresh Force and Earth Club. Harding participates in the Department of Natural Resources Adopt-A-River program and actively involves students in recycling.

Athletics

Harding's athletic program offers many sports for all athletic abilities. Everyone is encouraged to participate, although enrollment has dropped considerably in recent years. In spite of this, the girls badminton team have won the state title seven of the last nine years with championships in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008 while placing in at least the top three in 2001 and 2005.

In the spring of 2005, freshman Sade Pollard won state titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. In 2006, she swept all of the sprinting events, taking home state titles in the 100m, 200m and 400m runs. Interestingly, she was the only competitor from Harding to participate in the state meet that year, but scored enough points to give Harding a third place finish in the state tournament. Pollard won the 200m and 400m dashes again in the 2007 state meet.

In the spring of 2002, Senior Sheila Emms broke the Minnesota single season record for strikeouts as a high school fastpitch softball pitcher. During her final season as a Harding Knight she struck out a staggering 353 batters and pitched seven perfect games. Following her high school career she was offered a full tuition scholarship to pitch for Illinois State University.

All sports are offered for both boys and girls, with exceptions for football, gymnastics, volleyball, wrestling and badminton. Other sports include soccer, tennis, swimming, cross-country, baseball/softball, Nordic skiing, basketball, hockey and golf.

Its chief rival is Johnson Senior High School, also located on the east side of Saint Paul. Both football teams have an annual regular-season game where they play for the Hatchet trophy.

A number of student athletes have, after graduating, found success in collegiate sports (See notable alumni section).

Extracurricular activities

In addition to sports, Harding offers several, non-athletic related activities for students. They include, but are not limited to, S.E.A. Club, Speech Team, Upward Bound, Comic Club, Music Listening, Harry Potter Club, BOOK CLUB, Madrigals Chamber Choir, Jazz Band, Fresh Force, Math Team, Chess Club, Japanese Club, Earth Club, ASAP, etc.

Miscellaneous

The majority of the student body is made up of youth of Southeast-Asian descent.

Upon the death of comedian Mitch Hedberg, students ran several pictures of him in student of the month columns for various academies along with the inscription "Mitch Hedberg, R.I.P. 1968-2005," to honor him. Hedberg graduated from Harding in 1986.

Reunion Announcements: See the following St. Paul Schools site for upcoming class reunions for Harding and other St. Paul High Schools - [http://www.spps.org/class_reunions]

Valedictorians

*2001 - Kristine Grill
*2002 - Abby Thell
*2003 - Jessica Thompson
*2004 - Andrew Wickert
*2005 - Amy Thompson
*2006 - Nicholas Hawkins and Alison Stanley
*2007 - Michelle Hubbling
*2008 - Brock Schwanke

Notable alumni

*Ken Dahlberg, class of 1935, WWII fighter ace, businessman
*Mitch Hedberg, popular stand-up comedian.
*Paul Holmgren, former NHL player who spent his career with the Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota North Stars.
*Randy Kelly, Mayor of Saint Paul from 2002-2006.
*Ken Mauer, NBA referee convicted of tax evasion.
*Bill Nygren, Owner of a multi-million dollar mutual fund, richest man to ever graduate from Harding
*Jo Savino, world renowned Classical Ballet artist.
*Jason Litzau, Professional Boxer
*Allen Litzau, Professional Boxer, Car Salesman

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y7Z0u1Q2IY 2003 Senior Video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EbPTr8Btaw 2004 Senior Video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ug-9YRgHU 2005 Senior Video]

References