Durant High School is a public secondary school in Durant

Durant, Oklahoma

Durant is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 15,877 at the 2010 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 42,416 in 2010...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, serving grades 9

Ninth grade

Ninth grade is the ninth post-kindergarten year of school education in some school systems. The students are 13 to 15 years of age, depending on when their birthday occurs. Depending on the school district, ninth grade is usually the first year of high school....

, 10

Tenth grade

In majority of the world,Tenth grade is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten. The variants of "10th grade" in various nations is described below.-Australia:...

, 11

Eleventh grade

Eleventh Grade is the eleventh, and for some countries final, grade of secondary schools. Students are typically 16 or 17 years of age, depending on the country and the students' birthdays.-Brazil:...

, and 12

Twelfth grade

Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...

. The school is part of the Durant Independent School District

Durant Independent School District

Durant Independent School District is a public school district based in Durant, Oklahoma. Durant ISD takes some students in from places such as Calera, Armstrong, Mead, Silo, Caddo, and Atoka...

. Durant's mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 is the Lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

. The high school has approximately 850 students, making it one of the largest high schools in Southeastern Oklahoma.

National recognition

Durant High School was one of six schools nation-wide to earn the recognition as a "Great American High School" in 2002.

During the summers, the campus has been a testing site for teachers achieving National Certification.

Academics

The school offers numerous elective classes such as art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

, athletics

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

, theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

, debate, agricultural education

Agricultural education

Agricultural education is instruction about crop production, livestock management, soil and water conservation, and various other aspects of agriculture. Agricultural education includes instruction in food education, such as nutrition...

, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 and Choctaw

Choctaw language

The Choctaw language, traditionally spoken by the Native American Choctaw people of the southeastern United States, is a member of the Muskogean family...

 languages, forensics

Forensics

Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...

, psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, various health and medical classes, keyboarding and computer applications, business technology, information technology, choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, business, Family & Consumer Sciences, career orientation, Journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

, and also Advanced placement for Chemistry, Biology, English, Math, and Physics.

Organizations

There are several organizations such as Academic Commitment To Education, Academic Team, BPA, Calculus Club, Chemistry Club, DECA, Drug Free Youth, Forensics Club, FEA, FCCLA, FFA, FCA, HOSA, Key Club, Literary Club, Physics Club, RCY, Show Choir, SkillsUSA, VICA, Young Republicans, and Youth & Government.

Band

The high school band is known as "The Pride of Durant". The Durant High School Band is known throughout the state as one of the best bands in Oklahoma. They strive for excellence every year. For four years in a row the band has received the OSSAA Sweepstakes Award. They have also accomplished a goal that has never been accomplished in the history of high school bands. The Pride of Durant has received straight one's at the OSSAA West Regional Marching Competition every year for the past 15 years. No other high school band has been awarded with this wonderful recognition. They must go through many long practices to get the marching and concert shows perfected. There are over 300 members for the entire district. Practice begins as early as Durant Intermediate School. "Great bands don't have great practices, great practices make great bands."



The band program consists of several bands:



Marching Band: The marching band is made up of all high school band members. They compete in various competitions and festivals, perform at football games, and periodically get invited to national band events.



Jazz Band: The jazz band is made up of any DHS band members who want to experience playing jazz music. They compete in the State Jazz competition each April.



Basketball Band: The basketball band is made up of volunteer DHS band members who want to perform during home basketball games.

Athletics

There is Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, Basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, Cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

, Cross Country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, Track & Field, Soccer, Softball, Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, and Wrestling. Approximately 700 are enrolled in at least one course with 980 for the entire district.

Demographics

The racial makeup of high school students is 33% Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

, 1% Asian

Asian people

Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...

, 3% Hispanic

Hispanic and Latino Americans

Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...

, 1% African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, and 61% Caucasian

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

. There is over 88 personnel with approximately 30 on coaching staff. The student to teacher ratio

Ratio

In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...

 is 1:17 and a full class is considered 1:24. The school has a contract with Dell

Dell

Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...

.

New high school

On April 1, 2008, the vote to increase the city's sales tax 5/8 cent for 25 years in order to provide funding for Durant's new high school passed. Construction of Durant's new high school is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009. It will be built in north Durant along U.S. 69

U.S. Route 69

U.S. Route 69 is a north–south United States highway. When it was first created, it was only long, but it has since been expanded into a Minnesota to Texas cross-country route. The highway's southern terminus is in Port Arthur, Texas at an intersection with State Highway 87...

\75

U.S. Route 75

U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Kittson County, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other side of a closed border crossing. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 30 and Interstate 45 in Dallas,...

, and, with scheduled completion in 2011, will have a capacity of 1,200 students. The estimated cost of the new school is $40 million. Grades 7 and 8 will then move to the current high school building, because of the aging and cramped middle school facility.

The sales tax increase went into effect on July 1, 2008 and will end on, or before, June 30, 2033.