Francis Howell High School
Encyclopedia
Francis Howell High School is a four year public high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Weldon Spring, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. Approximately 1800 students from Defiance
Defiance, Missouri
Defiance is an unincorporated community in Saint Charles County, Missouri, located on state highway 94.-Situation:The Katy Trail State Park runs through Defiance near the Missouri River. This was the final home of frontiersman Daniel Boone, who settled in the Femme Osage Valley in 1799 after...

, Foristell, New Melle, O'Fallon
O'Fallon, Missouri
O'Fallon is a suburban city along Interstate 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters in Saint Charles County, Missouri. It is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census population of 79,329, it is the seventh largest city in the state and the largest in St. Charles...

, Saint Peters, Saint Charles
Saint Charles, Missouri
St. Charles is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 65,794, making St. Charles the 2nd largest city in St. Charles County. It lies just to the northwest of St. Louis, Missouri on the Missouri River, and, for a time,...

, Weldon Spring, and Wentzville attend school at Howell.

History

Founded by Francis Howell in 1881, Francis Howell High School opened under the name of Howell Institute in Howell's Prairie. Originally, Francis Howell was a school where children could come to learn the basics of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 and move up into high school.

After building up the school district, the district finally became Francis Howell School Consolidated District Number 2. On September 28, 1915, the Consolidated District Number 2 school board voted to name the new high school building "Francis Howell High School." On February 15, 1916, the new Francis Howell High School was dedicated.

The current Francis Howell High School is located between Highway 94 South and Highway D. The property was originally purchased in 1949 from the United States America under the jurisdiction of the War Assets Administration. Army barracks buildings, which were located on the property, were used by the high school for several years following until they were later demolished in 1991. There are still army barracks buildings being used at the Francis Howell School District Administrative Annex, which adjoins Francis Howell High School to the west.

Today, Francis Howell High School is a large suburban high school due to large population growth in southern St. Charles County
Saint Charles County, Missouri
As of 2000, there were 283,883 people, 101,663 households, and 77,060 families residing in the county. The population density was 507 people per square mile . There were 105,514 housing units at an average density of 73 persons/km²...

. The original Francis Howell mascot was the "Dragoons" a horse riding soldier. Since at least the late 1960s, they have been known as the "Vikings".

Construction on a new academic building began in the summer of 2009. The new building features a new cafeteria, media center and classrooms. Portions of current buildings "A" and "C" will be the only buildings remaining after construction is completed in 2011.

Clubs and activities

  • Amateur Radio
    Amateur radio
    Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

     Club
  • Anime
    Anime
    is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

     Club
  • 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...

  • Boys and Girls 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...

  • Boys and Girls swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

  • 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...

  • Boys and Girls 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....

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • DECA
    DECA (organization)
    DECA, also known as Collegiate DECA on the college level) is an international association of students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service . DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing,...

  • FBLA
  • World Language Club
  • Film Club
  • Football http://www.fhhsvikings.com
  • Marching Band
    Marching band
    Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

  • Indoor Percussion
  • Color Guard
  • National Honor Society
    National Honor Society
    The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...

  • Boys and Girls soccer
  • Gifted Education
  • Scholar Bowl
  • Science Competition Club
  • Swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

  • Student Council
    Student council
    Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...

  • Students Against Destructive Decisions
  • Table Tennis
    Table tennis
    Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

  • 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...

  • Track
    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...

  • Boys and Girls Volleyball
    Volleyball
    Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

  • Wrestling
    Wrestling
    Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

  • Youth In Government
  • International Club
  • Gay/Straight Alliance

Choir

Francis Howell High currently has 7 choirs, under the instruction of Karey Fitzpatrick: The Mixed Choir, Treble Choir (Auditioned Women's Choir), Concert Choir (Auditioned Mixed Ensemble), Offbeatz (Auditioned Mixed A Capella Group), Guytunes (Auditioned Men's A Capella Group), Treblemakers (Auditioned Women's A Capella Group), and Chamber Choir(Auditioned Mixed Ensemble).

Football

The Football Team has a storied past in Saint Charles county and are enjoying a resurgence under head coach Bryan Koch. Their long record of success in Football includes:
  • Conference Championships in 1971, 1978, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2010
  • District Championships in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2010
  • Sectional Championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010

Limelight Theater

Francis Howell's drama club, currently known as Limelight Theater, has been producing plays since 1971, when it was founded by English and Drama teacher Ed Stockwell with the purpose "to establish a form of communication for any student and enable entertainment oriented individuals a chance to specialize." Since then, they have performed two or three plays a year.
Currently under the direction of Charles Mueller

Marching band

Francis Howell High School, founded in 1881, has the oldest high school band program west of the Mississippi. The current marching band has 95 participants. The Marching band performs at every varsity home football game, as well as at competitions around the midwest.

Indoor Percussion

The Winter Drumline is one of the top Indoor Percussion Ensembles in the State of Missouri. The award winning Drumline captured second place in the Midwest in 2010 (2010 MCCGA Percussion Finals http://www.mccga.org).

Wrestling

The Francis Howell Wrestling Team has been one of the more accomplished wrestling programs in Missouri in the past 25 years. The Vikings have been consistent contenders for the large school championships in that era. Their alumni include Freestyle World Champion Sam Henson. The wrestling team is the most award-winning extracurricular group at Francis Howell High School.

Fight song

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

Does your team look good wherever you go

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

We're the fighting team and so

We'd like to tell you about the way we're scoring

Right on time

Always trying never dying we're so fine

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

Are you from Howell? Yeah!

We're the fighting Viking team! Fight! Fight!

-based on "Are You From Dixie" a song made popular by Grand Ol Opry singer Grandpa Jones

Notable alumni

  • Dave Weckl
    Dave Weckl
    Dave Weckl is a highly acclaimed jazz fusion drummer. Weckl attended Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, MO and graduated in 1978. He majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut...

     1978 Jazz Drummer
  • Jeff Hartwig
    Jeff Hartwig
    Jeff Hartwig is an American pole vaulter.-Biography:In 1998, Hartwig set two North American records with 6.00 and 6.01 metres. The latter was an improvement of 16 centimetres from his personal best of 5.85 m from 1997...

     1985
  • Sammie Henson 1989 2x NCAA Wrestling Champion, 1998 World Champion, 2000 Olympic Freestyle Silver Medalist
  • Mark Parkinson
    Mark Parkinson (Missouri politician)
    Mark A. Parkinson is a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing the 16th district .-Background and Education:...

    , 1991; current Missouri 16th district state representative
  • Joe Smith 1991, current Missouri 14th district state representative

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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