Ballou High School
Encyclopedia
Ballou Senior High School is a public school located in Washington, D.C.
, United States
. Ballou is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools
. The current principal is Rahman Branch. The marching band traveled to the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade
in Pasadena, California and the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
.
. The school was named for Dr. Frank Washington Ballou, superintendent of the DC public schools from 1920 to 1943. Ballou SHS is known for having one of the best choirs and bands in the District. The Ballou SHS band has traveled to California and Alabama and placed in the top three in both national competitions. The Ballou SHS band is directed by Mr. Darrell Watson. and his all volunteer Ballou alumni staff. The Ballou choir directed by Gary Stanley has been one of the more positive aspects of the school. They have traveled and performed in various states such as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida just to name a few. The choir and the band have also had an impact on the type of media the school has gotten in the last couple of years. They have brought a more positive outlook on the school and the students who attend.
In 1998, author Ron Suskind
published the book "A Hope in the Unseen
" about a Ballou High School student named Cedric Jennings. The book was based on a series of pulitzer-prize winning articles written in the Wall Street Journal by Suskind. The story follows Jennings efforts to attend an Ivy League
University in spite of his troubled upbringing.
In 2003 a major instance of mercury
being spread throughout the school caused for its closure for several weeks and the redirection of student
s and staff to nearby educational facilities.
On February 2, 2004, 19-year-old Thomas J. Boykin fatally shot 17-year-old James Richardson. Boykin was later acquitted on the charge of murder.
In 2008, director Michael Patrei, released a documentary "[Ballou,(*Ballou Documentary Official Website)," about the Ballou High School Marching Band that will air on BET
. Fall 2009.
NBC4 News reports another shooting on August 26, 2008 of a 16-year old just off the campus grounds results in a lockdown of the campus. This comes after a spree of violence in and around the school.
The following middle schools feed into Ballou: Charles Hart Middle School and P. R. Harris Education Center.
- 2010/2011
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ballou is a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools
District of Columbia Public Schools
District of Columbia Public Schools is the traditional public school system of Washington, D.C. in the United States.- Composition and enrollment :...
. The current principal is Rahman Branch. The marching band traveled to the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade
Tournament of Roses Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, better known as the Rose Parade, is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day , produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.The annual...
in Pasadena, California and the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
.
History
Ballou High School was founded in the early 1960s to serve residents in the southern part of Anacostia, including Congress Heights, Washington Highlands, and BellevueBellevue, Washington, D.C.
Bellevue is a residential neighborhood located in Southwest Washington, D.C, east of Bolling Air Force Base. It is bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SW to the west and northwest, Joliet Street SW to the south, and First Street and South Capitol Street on the east. There are many garden...
. The school was named for Dr. Frank Washington Ballou, superintendent of the DC public schools from 1920 to 1943. Ballou SHS is known for having one of the best choirs and bands in the District. The Ballou SHS band has traveled to California and Alabama and placed in the top three in both national competitions. The Ballou SHS band is directed by Mr. Darrell Watson. and his all volunteer Ballou alumni staff. The Ballou choir directed by Gary Stanley has been one of the more positive aspects of the school. They have traveled and performed in various states such as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida just to name a few. The choir and the band have also had an impact on the type of media the school has gotten in the last couple of years. They have brought a more positive outlook on the school and the students who attend.
In 1998, author Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and best-selling author. He was the senior national affairs writer for The Wall Street Journal from 1993 to 2000 and has published the books A Hope in the Unseen, The Price of Loyalty, The One Percent Doctrine, The Way of the World and...
published the book "A Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen
A Hope in the Unseen is the first book by author and journalist Ron Suskind, published in 1998. The book is a biographical novel about the life of Cedric Jennings through his last years in high school and first years in college...
" about a Ballou High School student named Cedric Jennings. The book was based on a series of pulitzer-prize winning articles written in the Wall Street Journal by Suskind. The story follows Jennings efforts to attend an Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
University in spite of his troubled upbringing.
In 2003 a major instance of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
being spread throughout the school caused for its closure for several weeks and the redirection of student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s and staff to nearby educational facilities.
On February 2, 2004, 19-year-old Thomas J. Boykin fatally shot 17-year-old James Richardson. Boykin was later acquitted on the charge of murder.
In 2008, director Michael Patrei, released a documentary "[Ballou,(*Ballou Documentary Official Website)," about the Ballou High School Marching Band that will air on BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
. Fall 2009.
NBC4 News reports another shooting on August 26, 2008 of a 16-year old just off the campus grounds results in a lockdown of the campus. This comes after a spree of violence in and around the school.
Alumni
- Marvin AustinMarvin AustinMarvin Austin is an American football defensive tackle for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina.-Early years:Austin attended Ballou High School in Washington, D.C.,...
(2007), college football defensive tackle at UNC Chapel Hill, taken by the New York Giants in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL Draft. - Noel Cyrus (1978), athlete and teacher, 3-time All-American soccer and track; continued to play at Frostburg University winning mulitiple All-American honors and eventually inducted in the schools Athletic Hall of fame. Now a Business and Finance teacher at the school.
- Rodney D. Edge (1979), Played Football and ran Track on Ballou City Champion Track Teams. College Track and Field Athlete at Northwest Missouri State University; Athletic Honors and enrolled in the Northwest Missouri State University Athletic Hall of Fame. Author of several books and publications. Colonel in the United States Military. Serves as a Diplomatic Advisor to the Saudi Arabian Government. Graduate of Northwest Missouri State University, Central Michigan University, the Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Served as a combat Battalion Commander in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division.
- Danny GattonDanny GattonDanny Gatton was an American guitarist who fused rockabilly, jazz, and country styles to create his own distinctive style of playing. A biography, Unfinished Business: The Life and Times of Danny Gatton by Ralph Heibutzki, was published in 2003. It has a voluminous discography...
, one of Rolling Stone magazine's top guitarists of all time, attended but did not graduate. Named album 88 Elmira Street after Congress Heights street where he grew up. - Cedric Jennings, profiled in the 1998 biography A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind. The book follows Cedric as he leaves Ballou and attends college at Brown University.
- Edward M. Lavin, Attorney (Colonel, US Air Force, Retired), Class of 1965.
- Mike LocksleyMike LocksleyMike Locksley is an American football coach. After serving as an assistant coach for several college football squads, he became the 29th head coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos football team in 2009...
(1988), head football coach at the University of New Mexico - Duane A. Moody (1988), theatre actor and singer. Moody has excelled to operatic, musical and theatre heights not before seen from Ballou Sr. High. He has performed roles such as 'Sportin Life' in Porgy and Bess and now performs with the acclaimed Broadway show Three Mo Tenors. The tenors of Three Mo’ Tenors are men who have developed a musical repertoire with astonishing breadth. Like Olympic decathlon athletes, these classically trained, multi-talented operatic tenors can do it all! They have mastered not only operatic music, but also jazz, gospel, soul, spirituals, New School, Broadway, and the blues as well.
- Michael Patreihttp://www.balloumovie.com, documentary film director, directed a 2008 documentary film ,(*Ballou Documentary Official Website), on the Ballou High School band to tell the story of Ballou from band camp to the national band competition.
- David Venable (1998) athlete and coach, 2-time All Conference football, team Most Valuable Player (football and baseball); Graduated from Bowie State University (English Education) Masters in Theology (Cornerstone Christian University) now serves as Senior Pastor of True Life Redemption Ministries Clinton, Md. www.trueliferedemption.org
Feeder patterns
The following elementary schools feed into Ballou: Birney, Draper, Ferebee-Hope, Garfield, Green, Hendley, M. L. King, Leckie, Malcolm X, McGogney, Patterson, Simon, M. C. Terrell, Turner, and Savoy.The following middle schools feed into Ballou: Charles Hart Middle School and P. R. Harris Education Center.
Statistics
Sources: National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- 2010/2011
- 98.0% African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican 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...
students - 2% White students
- 82 teachers
- 85.2% attendance
- 14/1 student teacher ratio
- 916 total students