Manatee High School

Manatee High School
Manatee High School
Location
Bradenton, Florida,  United States
Information
Type Public Secondary,
Coeducational
Established 1897
School district Manatee County School District
Principal Robert Gagnon
Grades 9–12
Number of students 2,300
Color(s) Red, and Blue

         
Mascot The Hurricanes
Accreditation(s) Southern Association
Newspaper The Macohi
Yearbook 'Cane Echo
Website www.themanateehighschool.org
Bradenton, Florida operated by the Manatee County School District.[1]

Contents

History

What is now Manatee High School has had at least four names over the years and has had several different grade configurations during that time. [2]

1897–1930

1912 high school building on Manatee Ave., W

What is now MHS began in 1897 as Braidentown High School in a building located on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue and 14th Street, West, where the city shuffleboard courts were later located. (The "i" had been put into Bradentown's name earlier because visitors could not seem to pronounce the name correctly. The "i" and "w" were later dropped to produce the present name Bradenton.) It is not known had many grades there were originally since the 12th grade was not required for high school graduation in many Southern states until the 1940s. Most certainly, though, the original high school did have grades 9 through 11, with grades 7 and 8 being transferred later from grade school.

In 1912, a new high school building was built on the south side of Manatee Avenue west of 1st Street, just east of where the school district offices are now located. Sometime before 1915, students from Palmetto were added and the school became Manatee County High School for the first time. The 1915 MCHS football team gained fame for never losing a game as well as never being scored upon. Sometime in the 1920s MCHS became Bradenton High School (BHS) when Palmetto students once again had their own high school to attend.[2]

1930–1947

In 1930, the Manatee Avenue building was closed and BHS was moved to the red brick building at 1000 32nd Street, West, which had been built in 1926 as the Biltmore Grade School, but had been closed after less than a year's use because of the collapse of the Florida Land Boom. This building is now called the Davis Building in memory of longtime principal, Paul F. Davis. In 1938 the old building on Manatee Avenue was opened as Bradenton Junior High School with grades 7 through 9.[2]

1947–1958

In 1947, Florida adopted the present system of having a single school district for each county and as a result Palmetto High School was merged back into Bradenton High School and the school's name again became Manatee County High School, which required changes in many school traditions. The school colors became red, white and blue by taking red from Palmetto's "red and black" and blue from Bradenton's "blue and gold" and adding white. BHS's teams had been the Golden Wave, but that was replaced by the Hurricanes. Palmetto's year book had been the Palmetto Leaves, so the new one got the incongruous name of Manatee Leaves. The school newspaper became the MaCoHi or Macohi.

1955 was another year of change for MCHS. The three junior high schools south of the Manatee River, Bradenton, Manatee and Oneco were consolidated into a brand new school, Walker Junior High School, which was built across 11th Avenue, West from the high school. Walker had state of the art music facilities which were used by MCHS's orchestra, chorus and band.

The MCHS graduating class of 1958 was the last one to have students from both sides of the river, since Palmetto High School had been phased back in beginning in 1956. During the summer of 1958. the school's name was shortened to the present Manatee High School to reflect the fact that it no longer drew students from the entire county. Student and public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the name Manatee instead of reverting it to Bradenton High School.[2]

1958–present

Since 1958 many other changes have happened at Manatee High School, including:[2]

  • Integration when the school district ended racial segregation in all schools.
  • The addition of the 9th grade when the school district converted its junior high schools (grades 7-9) into middle schools (grades 6-8}.
  • The Manatee Leaves became the Cane Echo.
  • The annexation of the Walker school campus;
  • The demolition of the old Walker Building and the old Science building on 9th Avenue.
  • The completion of new buildings, such as the Science and Technology Building (1996).
  • The demolition of the Davis Building due to age and condition (2009-2010)

Academics

Manatee High School currently offers an academic curriculum known as the AP+ Program. In essence, this is simply an official title given to students who take a certain number of Advanced Placement courses. Manatee also offers a Dual-Enrollment program which arranges for its students to take courses at the local State College of Florida (formerly Manatee Community College). In 2006 and 2007, Manatee received a grade of D (on an A-F scale) in the Florida Department of Education rating of school quality. In 2008, Manatee was able to demonstrate statistical improvement, and was given a grade of A instead. In 2009, Manatee was demoted to B.[3]

The Medical Academy

The goal of the Academy of Medical Arts and Sciences is to provide an overall education for students who select health-care as their career choice.

The purpose of this academy is to provide students with core health courses and to relate the area of health to the necessary academic skills within the curriculum, thereby making learning relevant to their chose careers.

Current enrollment of 285 students, grades 9-12.

Nationally Certified Academy for the past two years.

Students in this program are eligible to participate in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), a national student organization. HOSA’s two-fold mission is to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of quality health care to all people. HOSA provides a unique program of leadership development, motivation, and recognition for students enrolled in health occupations educating programs.

Shadowing program for all Medical Academy junior students is once a quarter in their area of interest in the health care field.

Internships include: - Athletic training - Dental assisting - Veterinary assisting - Vision Care assisting - Radiology assisting - Pharmacy technicians - Long-term care facilities - PT/OT assisting - Manatee County EMS - School health services - Local physician offices

Clubs/Extracurriculars

Manatee High school offers an array of clubs for many types a person. Manatee offers: Academic Team, African American Cultural Arts Club, American Sign Language, Anchor Club, Anime Anonymous, Art Club, AV Club, Ballroom Dancing, BETA Club, CROP (College Reach-out Program), FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), Footlighters, Foreign Language Club, Freshman Class Board, FBA (Future Builders of America), FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), Generations, HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America), JROTC, Junior Class Board, Key Club, Model UN, Mock Trial, Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, Oceans Awareness Club, Rhetorics, Science National Honors Society, Senior Class Board, Sophomore Class Board, STAND (Students Taking Action Now : Darfur), Students Athletic Trainers, Student Council, Teen Trendsetters, TSA (Technology Students Association), Z Club.


The Technology Students Association in Manatee High School is very active in its community and around the nation. MHS TSA has attended many national conferences over the past years and attends TSA-U, CTSO (Manatee County), and Florida TSA competitions, taking 1st places.

The Macohi

In 1990, the paper was awarded a Silver Crown Newspaper (for high schools) by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.[4][5]

Hazing

On Oct. 18, 2001, Manatee High Students James Brier and John Acosta confronted each other in a parking lot. James Brier was killed in the ensuing fight by multiple blows to the head. John Acosta was convicted of charges of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years in state prison. [6] In the following investigation, it was uncovered that Interact Club, one of Manatee High's extracurricular public service groups, had carried through extensive hazing rituals on its initiates, including Brier. The source of the tension between Brier and Acosta was attributed to teasing which took place during the hazing. In face of a public outcry, Interact Club was shut down by the Manatee High administration.

Alumni

In 1996, MHS had alumni in all 50 states, Washington, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and 22 foreign countries. Florida had the largest number of alumni followed by Georgia. Of the foreign countries, Canada with 18 alumni had the most followed by Australia with 9.[7] Among notable alumni: Best-selling author Kathleen Flinn. Members of the indie/powerpop band We the Kings Travis Clark, Hunter Thomsen, Drew Thomsen and Danny Duncan are also alumni. Pro Baseball Brian McRae, Lance Carter, Brian Tollberg, Former Nebraska Football players Tommie Frazier, Tyronne Williams. National radio personality Rick Dees. Marita Lane, model/actress, Class of 1974. Most notably for the famous Nair commercial, "Who wears short shorts?"

Athletics

Manatee High School athletic teams have won 14 official state championships, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association (fhsaa.org). This total ranks second only to Lakeland High School among “old line” major high schools in the Tampa Bay area.

Official State championships: 1925 Baseball 1931 Baseball 1932 Baseball 1942 Baseball 1955 Boys Track (Class 2A, largest class) 1956 Boys Track (Class 2A, largest class) 1957 Boys Track (Class 2A, largest class) 1963 Baseball (Class 2A, largest class) 1983 Football (Class 4A, largest class) 1985 Football (Class 5A, largest class) 1985 Boys Tennis (Class 4A, largest class) 1989 Football (Class 5A, largest class) 1990 Boys Weightlifting (Class 4A, largest class) 1992 Football (Class 5A, largest class)

Hurricane Football teams were state powers in the 1950’s and state and national powers in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Teams in the 1950’s were coached by Wheeler Leeth, who was elected to the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1992. One of his players, Roger Pettee, center-linebacker, was selected All-American by Parade Magazine in 1960.

Current Hurricane coach Joe Kinnan, MHS class of 1963, coached his teams to the four football state football championships. The Hurricanes also were state runner-up in 1993 and 2009, and reached the state semi-finals in 1987, 1990, 1994, 2005 and 2006. His teams were ranked in the final USA Today Football polls in 1983 (number 16), 1989 (number 10) and 1992 (number 22). State championships in Boys Tennis and Boys Weightlifting have also been won during his tenure as MHS athletic director. Kinnan was elected to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA) Hall of Fame in 1999. The FHSAA also designated him as one of the top 12 Florida High School Football Coaches of the century in 2007. Two of his players were selected to the USA Today HS Football team, First Team: Tommie Frazier, quarterback (1990) and Rob Stevenson, punter (1994). Frazier was also selected All-American by Parade Magazine. Two Hurricanes were also selected among the top 100 High School Football players of the Century by the FHSAA: Tommie Frazier, quarterback, and Henry Lawrence, lineman.

Hurricanes with Super Bowl Rings
Hurricanes who were starters on College National Championship teams.

According to the Green Bay Packers official website, Tyrone Williams is the only NFL player ever to start on two collegiate national championship teams and a Super Bowl Champion in three consecutive years (Nebraska, 1994, 1995 and Green Bay 1996).

Other Hurricane All-Americans
  • Soccer: Hunter West, 2001, National Soccer Coaches Association of America First Team
Other Hurricane Ranked Teams

While Hurricane football teams have grabbed most of the highlights over the past 27 years, other teams have also done the school proud in state tournaments:

Boys Weightlifting: In addition to its 1990 class 4A state championship, the 1989 team was state runner-up.

Wrestling: The 1973, 2007 and 2009 teams were state runners-up.

As it goes for wrestling, although it does not bring in as many fans as the football team, but its still one of if not the best athletic team Manatee High has. Manatee won the County title from 1996 to 2009 Lost the streak in 2010 to Palmetto. In the 2006/2007 Manatee was the 2A District 10 champs, 2A Region 3 Champs, and were runner up in the Class 2A state Finals to the powerhouse Brandon High Eagles(Longest Winning streak over 500 wins). The team is headed by coach Andrew "Gug" Gugliemini, with help from coach Fair (JV Coach), Coach David Mason, and Coach Dan Gysel.

In the 2008/2009 season Manatee finished second in the state tournament as well as being County Champs and District champs and coming in second to Palmetto Ridge(Naples) High School in the Reginal finals but then avenged that loss by beating them at states (Jacob Gregory becoming a state champ after going to the state Finals for the 3rd time, Alex Doran becoming a runner up after finishing his freshman year with a state title becoming the first freshman to do that in the history of the school in 2007/2008 School year. Marshall Stewart placed third in the State after starting the year off on the JV Squad, he also pinned his opponent in 19 seconds which was the fastest pin in the State Consolation finals(verified by the FHSAA state website). Daniel Dykes, Isaac Riley, and Ronnie Daniels all Placed 5th in the State. Jonathan Espinoza also had a great season, winning many match's and nearly making a trip to states. Asked what he was going to do after the season ended Espinoza stated, "I'm gonna go eat sushi." Coach Gug and Mason had the team peaking at the right time.

References

  1. ^ School District of Manatee County Florida
  2. ^ a b c d e Manatee High School Alumni Directory, 1912-1996, 1996, Norfolk: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company, Inc., pp. iv-v
  3. ^ School Accountability Report
  4. ^ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cspa/docs/contests-and-critiques/crown-awards/recipients/1990-scholastic-crown.html
  5. ^ http://cspa.columbia.edu/
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Manatee High School Alumni Directory, 1912-1996, 1996, Norfolk: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company, Inc., pp. 330-339.

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 27°29′30″N 82°35′39″W / 27.4917057°N 82.5942642°W / 27.4917057; -82.5942642


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