Akins High School

Akins High School
W. Charles Akins High School
Address
10701 S. First Street
Austin, Texas 78748
Information
School type High School
Motto Connecting Today's Challenges to Tomorrow's Successes
Founded 2000 [1]
Principal Daniel Girard [2]
Vice principal Manuel Garcia
Grades 9-12th [1]
Enrollment 2,650 [3]  (2010)
Language English (Spanish)
Area Southwest Austin, Texas
Color(s) Navy Blue and Old Gold [1]
Mascot Eagle [1]
Website

Akins High School is located in South Austin, Texas, United States. It was named after Dr. William Charles Akins, an Austin resident and founded in 2000. It is one of the newest high schools in the Austin Independent School District. Its current attendance exceeds 2,700 students, with the majority being Hispanic and Mexican-Americans. Akins High School competes on the 5A circuit in all of its UIL competitions.

Contents

Curriculum redesign

Beginning in late August 2006, the school opted for students to continue their education following courses modeled through 'academies'. Under the plan, students choose a path from 5 academies, each modeled after varying areas of academics, with the exception of its NTHS program which focuses on project-based learning. In addition to taking the basic required courses for graduation, students choose from electoral and advanced courses within their selected academy. The academies are:

  • ABLE (Academy of Business and Legal Enterprise)
  • AHA (Arts and Humanities Academy)
  • SS (Social Services)
  • ACES (Agriculture, Computer, and Environmental Sciences)
  • NTHS (New Tech High School)
  • T-STEM (Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)

Departments

  • Athletics (Physical Education)
  • Career and Technical Education
  • English/Language Arts
  • Fine Arts
  • Languages Other Than English (LOTE)
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education

Student organizations

Sports

Theatre

In March 2007, the Akins Journey Theatre competed in the UIL Zone contest, and advanced to District for the first time ever with 5A status. They did not continue from district competition but did take home several awards including Best Actress.

Debate

Akins has had one of the most successful Speech and Debate programs in the city, qualifying students to both the National Forensic League and the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National tournaments. Akins has also sent debate competitors to State and Regional Competition consistently for three years.

Journalism

Print Journalism is one of the largest majors in the Arts and Humanities Academy of Akins with over 200 students enrolled in the intro classes of Journalism 1 and Photojournalism, as well as the publications classes that produce the student newspaper and the yearbook. The newspaper, The Eagle's Eye, has been recognized in 2006 and 2007 as one of the best newspapers in the state by the UIL Interscholastic League press conference with the award of the gold star. Publications students have also received awards from state and national organizations for their 2007 literature magazine, WORD, featuring stories, poems, as well as photography prints and artwork of all mediums.[4] The school yearbook, The Aerie, has also won a few state awards.[4] The 2008 yearbook was the first all-color edition in Akins history.

Layout

Akins High School is formed from the main building divided into four halls (A,B,C, & D), the Fine Arts building, the gymnasium, and cafeteria, all set in a circular pattern to enclose the spacious courtyard. Changes are made from year to year, but typically the freshman classes will be grouped together, as well as classes in the same academy will be focused in a specific area. To the east behind the gym and cafeteria lay several portable classroom buildings, as well as practice fields including the football field, extra space for soccer fields, the running track, and an outdoor basketball court. More practice fields are located directly to the south of the school, roughly behind the library, including tennis courts, a softball and baseball field, and more soccer fields.

With the addition of the New Tech High branch of the academies, a new section of building was constructed at the southeast end of the main building, effectively extending what is referred to as the "Red Hall", due to the dark red color of paint used for the lockers. The other end of the main building carries the name of "Green Hall" for the same reason; dark green paint used for the lockers, and is where many of the Arts & Humanities classes are concentrated since the Fine Arts building is adjacent with that end and the lights are turned off at times where the sun can provide light inside the hallway through some of the skylights around the school.

In addition , a new building has been constructed, creating a wing for the new T-STEM academy, consisting of several classrooms, including science labs. It was opened shortly after the start of the 2010-2011 school year.[5]

School in film

This school was the setting for the fictional school of Rocky Creek High in the film The New Guy[6].

References

External links

Portal icon Austin portal
Portal icon Schools portal

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