Shawnee Mission Northwest High School

Shawnee Mission Northwest High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Shawnee Mission, Kansas

Shawnee Mission, Kansas

Shawnee Mission, Kansas is a name created by the United States Postal Service to describe an area of Johnson County, Kansas that contains numerous towns. Parts of southern Overland Park are not part of Shawnee Mission as they were annexed from unincorporated Stanley and use zip code 66085...

, USA, serving students in grades 9-12. The current principal is Dr. Bill Harrington. Shawnee Mission Northwest is one of many schools located within Shawnee, Kansas and surrounding areas. The school colors are orange, black, and white. The school population is approximately 1,850 students.

Shawnee Mission Northwest was founded in 1969 in order to help educate the increasing number of students due to the emerging population of Shawnee Mission. The school launched the International Baccalaureate program at the start of the 2008-2009 school year. Shawnee Mission Northwest is a member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association

Kansas State High School Activities Association

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.The KSHSAA was...

and offers a variety of sports programs. Athletic teams compete in the 6A division and are known as the "Cougars". Extracurricular activities are also offered in the form of performing arts, school publications, and clubs.

History

Shawnee Mission Northwest High School was established in 1969 to help educate the increasing populations of Shawnee and Overland Park, Kansas. In 1998, a mural of evolution was painted near the science rooms in the school which created controversy throughout the school and the city. The mural depicted many things including DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

, cells

Cell (biology)

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....

, photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...

, and a four chambered heart. In addition to this, the mural also depicted in a series of walking figures, the evolution of man, from a hunched-over, hairy, apelike creature to the modern man. The mural offended many students and their parents and a large debate was held concerning whether to paint over the mural. In the end, the mural was left alone and remains today.

Academics

In 2008, Shawnee Mission Northwest launched the International Baccalaureate program for the 2008-2009 school year.

Faculty

In 2004, history teacher Dan Fullerton was named the 2004 Kansas Outstanding Teacher of American History by the Kansas Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

Athletics

The Cougars compete in the Sunflower League and are classified as a 6A school, the largest classification in Kansas according to the KSHSAA

Kansas State High School Activities Association

. Throughout its history, Shawnee Mission Northwest has won many state championships in various sports. Many graduates have gone on to participate in Division I, Division II, and Division III athletics. Spanning from 1994–2007, the Northwest boys varsity 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...

team won the state title for fourteen consecutive years and nineteen years overall.

State Championships

State Championships
Season	Sport	Number of Championships	Year
Fall	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...	1	1981
	Gymnastics, Girls Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...	8	1985, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2010
	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...	1	1988
	Soccer, Boys	4	1990, 1993, 1998, 1999
	Cross Country, Boys 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...	20	1977, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010
	Cross Country, Girls 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...	13	1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011
Spring	Golf, Boys 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....	2	1985, 1989
	Golf, Girls 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....	2	1998, 1999
	Track & Field, Boys	2	2002, 2011
	Tennis, Boys 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...	1	1997
	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...	3	1990, 1991, 1993
	Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...	6	1976, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003
Total		65

Music programs

The Shawnee Mission Northwest drumline

Drumline

A drumline is a section of percussion instruments usually played as part of a musical marching ensemble. High school and college marching bands, drill and drum corps, drum and bugle corps, indoor percussion ensembles, and pipe bands usually incorporate drumlines; however, drumlines can exist...

is consistently a top placer in drumline competitions throughout the marching season. It is under the direction of Britt Haney (also the bowling coach) and Matt Ronan. Shawnee Mission Northwest is known in the Kansas City

Kansas City Metropolitan Area

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...

Area for their exceptional music programs, especially their jazz band and orchestra, which hold many talented musicians. The band is under the direction of Penny Snead and Doug Talley. The orchestra is under the direction of Jeffrey Bishop. The choir is under the direction of Scot Schwartz.

School newspaper and yearbook

The school newspaper is The Northwest Passage and the yearbook is The Lair. The print journalism program is now joined by web journalism at http://www.smnw.com/. The journalism program is run by Susan Massy. The Passage, Lair, and website have all received national scholastic journalism awards.

School song

Stand up we are the Northwest Cougars

Kings of mountain, plain, and shore

We are the Shawnee Mission Cougars

May our minds and hearts triumphant soar

United stand we arm in arm

We raise our banners to the fore!

Remember we are Northwest Cougars

Cougars now and evermore

Notable alumni

Ryan Lilja
Ryan Lilja
Ryan Matthew Lilja is an American football guard for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was signed by the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2004...

, NFL player
Mike Rivera, former linebacker for the Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas Jayhawks
The sports teams at the University of Kansas are known as the Jayhawks. They are one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a member of the Big 12 Conference...
Ryan Torain
Ryan Torain
Ryan Devon Torain is an American football running back for the Washington Redskins. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arizona State.-Early years:...

, NFL player
Kaitlin Mesh, Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

actress
Samantha Ryan, pornographic actress

External links

Maps

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