Northwest Guilford High School
Encyclopedia
Northwest Guilford High School is a public high school in Guilford County, North Carolina
. The school currently has an enrollment of 1,947 students in grades 9 through 12, making it the public school with the largest enrollment in Guilford County.
The school was ranked by Newsweek
's Best High Schools in America as 261st among American high schools. The school has also received an award from Siemens
for its strength in Science and Math AP education, and was listed by High Schools That Work as one of the top 36 high schools in the United States
, the only high school in North Carolina to receive an honorable mention.
, and more recently with Northern Guilford High School
.
Northwest has three dances throughout the year including the Homecoming dance following the Homecoming Football Game, the Twirp, an acronym for "The woman is required to pay," dance (based on the Sadie Hawkins dance
tradition), and the Junior and Senior Prom.
The original main building at the school, the "Old Building," serves primarily as the English, CTE, and Environmental Science building, and the Educational Building, or "New Building," serves primarily as the Mathematics, Foreign Language, Biology, and Physical Science building.
The Vocational Building houses classes such as Drafting, Technology, and Graphic Design, and trailers
serve mostly as the Social Studies classrooms. The Vocational Building used to be the home of the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) until the program was decommissioned in the Spring of 2004.
The school is also actively involved and successful in competitions such as We the People
in which the team has held the state title and participated in national competition for all but one of the past 14 years, placing in the Top Ten at nationals in the spring of 2007 and 2011. Their winning streak was cut short by the Raleigh Charter High School
team, which went on to place 13th in its first trip to nationals. Northwest also participates in Mock Trial
, the National Forensic League
, Science Olympiad
, and has sent numerous students to the International Beijing Science Competition. The Speech and Debate Club currently participates in the National Forensic League.
Northwest's school paper modified its name in 2007, from "The Northwest Express" to "Northwest Horizons". "Northwest Horizons" has received numerous awards. In 2008, it won First Place Features and Second Place Graphics from the North Carolina Press Association (NCSPA). In 2009 and 2010, it was named "All-North Carolina" by the NCSPA and won the Southern Interscholastic Press Association's "Shoquist Freedom of the Press" Award.
, football
, tennis
, swimming
, lacrosse
, baseball
, wrestling
, tennis
, track
, cross country
, field hockey
, volleyball
, and golf
, among others.
In addition, Northwest offers students in 11th or 12th grade to participate in the National Honor Society
, which promotes academic achievements and outstanding performance in the world. There are also National Art Honor Society
and Tri-M Music Honor Society
branches at Northwest.
Guilford County, North Carolina
Guilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2010, the Census Bureau estimated the county's population to be 491,230. Its seat is Greensboro. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina, making Guilford one of only a handful...
. The school currently has an enrollment of 1,947 students in grades 9 through 12, making it the public school with the largest enrollment in Guilford County.
The school was ranked by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
's Best High Schools in America as 261st among American high schools. The school has also received an award from Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
for its strength in Science and Math AP education, and was listed by High Schools That Work as one of the top 36 high schools in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the only high school in North Carolina to receive an honorable mention.
Rivalries and Traditions
The school has long had a sports-based rivalry with Western Guilford High SchoolWestern Guilford High School
Western Guilford High School is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is part of the Guilford County School system. The school has approximately 1,300 students and its sports teams are the Fighting Hornets....
, and more recently with Northern Guilford High School
Northern Guilford High School
Northern Guilford High School is a public high school located in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.It opened its doors to students on January 29, 2008...
.
Northwest has three dances throughout the year including the Homecoming dance following the Homecoming Football Game, the Twirp, an acronym for "The woman is required to pay," dance (based on the Sadie Hawkins dance
Sadie Hawkins dance
In the United States, the Sadie Hawkins Dance is usually a less formal dance sponsored by a high school, middle school or college, in which female students invite male students...
tradition), and the Junior and Senior Prom.
Facilities
Due to the recent increase in population in the area, several additions have occurred at Northwest, including the adaption of a two-story educational building completed in 2002, a second gym completed in 2003, and cultural arts wing at the school. Northwest now has two gyms: the "Old Gym" and the "New Gym;" as well as two main buildings, the "Old Building" and the "New Building."The original main building at the school, the "Old Building," serves primarily as the English, CTE, and Environmental Science building, and the Educational Building, or "New Building," serves primarily as the Mathematics, Foreign Language, Biology, and Physical Science building.
The Vocational Building houses classes such as Drafting, Technology, and Graphic Design, and trailers
Portable classroom
A portable classroom A portable classroom A portable classroom (in Australian English a demountable and often referred to as a demountable, a "Terrapin" or a "Portakabin" (after the two companies) in the UK and called a prefab in Ireland (not to be confused with a prefabricated building) is a...
serve mostly as the Social Studies classrooms. The Vocational Building used to be the home of the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) until the program was decommissioned in the Spring of 2004.
Academics
Northwest has the largest selection of Advanced Placement courses in Guilford County . The school also has Honors and College Prep courses. Due to lack of interest, it no longer has an ROTC program.The school is also actively involved and successful in competitions such as We the People
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, is a yearly competition for American high school students held in Washington D.C. The competition is styled as a congressional hearing. Each team is divided up into six units, each composed of three or...
in which the team has held the state title and participated in national competition for all but one of the past 14 years, placing in the Top Ten at nationals in the spring of 2007 and 2011. Their winning streak was cut short by the Raleigh Charter High School
Raleigh Charter High School
Raleigh Charter High School is a free, independent public school chartered by the North Carolina State Board of Education.-History:In the summer of 1998, some parents of 8th graders at The Magellan Charter School decided to establish a new charter high school so that their students could continue...
team, which went on to place 13th in its first trip to nationals. Northwest also participates in Mock Trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
, the National Forensic League
National Forensic League
The National Forensic League is a non-partisan, non-profit educational honor society established to encourage and motivate American high school students to participate in and become proficient in the forensic arts: debate, public speaking and interpretation. NFL is the America's oldest and largest...
, Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...
, and has sent numerous students to the International Beijing Science Competition. The Speech and Debate Club currently participates in the National Forensic League.
Northwest's school paper modified its name in 2007, from "The Northwest Express" to "Northwest Horizons". "Northwest Horizons" has received numerous awards. In 2008, it won First Place Features and Second Place Graphics from the North Carolina Press Association (NCSPA). In 2009 and 2010, it was named "All-North Carolina" by the NCSPA and won the Southern Interscholastic Press Association's "Shoquist Freedom of the Press" Award.
Athletics
Northwest is a 4A school with a large athletic program, with sports programs in soccer, basketballBasketball
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...
, 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...
, 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...
, 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...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, 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...
, wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
, 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...
, 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...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, 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...
, and 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....
, among others.
Arts
Northwest has a strong fine arts program, including award winning concert and marching bands, orchestral ensembles, arts classes, drama department, and vocal ensembles.Clubs
Northwest High School offers many extra-curricular clubs and teams including: The Popcorn Club FBLA, Science Olympiad, DECA, Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), Anime Club, Key Club, Philosophy Club, Math Club, Spanish Club, German Club, Drama Club, Book Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletics (FCA), Horsepower, SAVE/SADD, Speech and Debate, Breakfast Club, and Junior Classical League (JCL).In addition, Northwest offers students in 11th or 12th grade to participate in the 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...
, which promotes academic achievements and outstanding performance in the world. There are also National Art Honor Society
National Art Honor Society
The National Art Honor Society was established in 1978 in the United States by the National Art Education Association for high school students grades 10-12, for "the purpose of inspiring and recognizing those students who have shown an outstanding ability in art" from the National Art Honor Society...
and Tri-M Music Honor Society
Tri-M
Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is a high school and middle school music honor society. Each school has its own chapter, which is run by the students but supervised by an advisor or sponsor, usually a school teacher...
branches at Northwest.
See also
- Guilford County SchoolsGuilford County SchoolsGuilford County Schools is the third largest school district in the state of North Carolina. It serves Greensboro and High Point.-Schools:-Students:...
- North Carolina Department of Public InstructionNorth Carolina Department of Public InstructionThe North Carolina Department of Public Instruction oversees the public school system in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The DPI is headed by the State Superintendent and the North Carolina State Board of Education...
- North Carolina State Board of EducationNorth Carolina State Board of EducationThe North Carolina State Board of Education, established by Article 9 of the North Carolina Constitution, supervises and administers the public school systems of North Carolina...