Empire High School, also known as EHS, is a public high school in the Vail Unified School District

Vail Unified School District

The Vail Unified School District is the school district in the town of Vail, Arizona. It also serves portions of nearby Tucson, Arizona....

 in Vail, Arizona

Vail, Arizona

Vail is a census-designated place in Pima County, Arizona, United States. The population was 10,208 at the 2010 census. The area is known for the nearby Colossal Cave, a large cave system, and the Rincon Mountains District of Saguaro National Park, a top tourism spot within Arizona.Vail was...

. It is the first public high school in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to use all-wireless laptop

Laptop

A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

 technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and fully digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

 (no textbooks) curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 resources.

History

Empire opened to students in August 2005 and graduated its first class in 2007.

The current freshmen class (with about 250 students, the school's largest) received Apple MacBook

MacBook

The MacBook was a brand of Macintosh notebook computers built by Apple Inc. First introduced in May 2006, it replaced the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook series of notebooks as a part of the Apple–Intel transition. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, the Apple MacBook was aimed at the...

s. Empire used HP netbook computers for one year during the 2010-2011 school year for most of the freshman and sophomore classes. As of the 2011-2012 school year, there are no longer HP NetBooks being used, and all laptops are once again Apple MacBooks. EdgeWave (formerly St Bernard)'s iPrism filtering software has been installed for district liability purposes. The entire campus is furnished with wireless Internet, and a technology assistance office exists to aid students with their computers.

It was named an "Apple Distinguished School" for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years.

In 2011 it was distinguished as an A+ school.

Athletics

Empire hosts a wide variety of athletics

Athletic sports

Athletics is a term encompassing the human competitive sports and games requiring physical skill, and the systems of training that prepare athletes for competition performance. Athletic sports or contests, are competitions which are primarily based on human, physical competition, demanding the...

, including 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...

, track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, 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...

 and 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...

. In the 2009-2010 school year, its baseball team went on to the state finals. Empire'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 Raven

Raven

Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

. Starting in the 2012-2013 school year, students from the new Andrada Polytechnic High School

Andrada Polytechnic High School

Andrada Polytechnic High School or Andrada Poly is a school under construction in Vail, Arizona. It is expected to be completed and ready for students in the 2012-2013 school year. It is being built under job cuts and was on hold for quite some time before getting the go ahead to start...

will compete in athletics as members of Empire's teams.