Big Creek High School
Encyclopedia
Big Creek High School was a Grade 9 through 12 public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...

 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 War, West Virginia
War, West Virginia
War is a city in McDowell County, West Virginia, USA. The population was 788 at the 2000 census. War was incorporated in 1920 by the Circuit Court of McDowell County. Its name is derived from War Creek, whose confluence with Dry Fork is located within the city...

. It was operated by the McDowell County Schools
McDowell County Schools
McDowell County Schools is the operating school district within McDowell County, West Virginia. It is governed by the McDowell County Board of Education.-High schools:*Mount View High School *River View High School-Middle schools:...

 and governed by the McDowell County Board of Education. Big Creek High School closed after the 2009–2010 school term and was consolidated with nearby Iaeger High School
Iaeger High School
Iaeger High School in Iaeger, West Virginia was a Grade 9 through 12 High School, part of the McDowell County Schools District. It was located in the city of Iaeger and offered a wide range of academics and athletics to students including certain college and AP classes, along with football,...

 to form Riverview High School
Riverview High School (West Virginia)
River View High School is a public high school in Bradshaw, West Virginia. Located on the grounds of the old Bradshaw Elementary School, in the mountains of McDowell County, West Virginia. It is one of two high schools in the county, with the other being Mount View High School. Opening in 2010,...

.

History

Because of delays in construction, the school started the 1931–32 sharing premises at Caretta School. The school opened on January 4, 1932. Initially, there were 205 all-white students with the school becoming fully integrated in 1965. BCHS is constructed in the Collegiate Gothic style and is eligible to be published in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

The school is scheduled to close to make way for a consolidated school at Bradshaw, West Virginia
Bradshaw, West Virginia
Bradshaw is the name of several communities in the U.S. state of West Virginia:*Bradshaw, Logan County, West Virginia*Bradshaw, McDowell County, West Virginia...

. The ground breaking ceremony, for which, was held on September 21, 2005. Construction began in early 2008.

Also in 2005, a ground breaking ceremony was held on the BCHS football field. The field was to be converted into a consolidated school of War, Bartley, and Berwind Elementaries. Although Native American remains from the Late Woodland period were found on the site, the construction continued until April 9, 2007 when the new school, named "Southside" opened.

Athletics

Big Creek High was the first school in McDowell County and Southern West Virginia and the second in West Virginia to play football after dark after the installation of field lights.

Notable alumni

  • Roy Lee Cooke
    Roy Lee Cooke
    Roy Lee Cooke is an American who was a founding member of the Big Creek Missile Agency and one of the original Rocket Boys. His character in the Universal Pictures film October Sky was played by William Lee Scott...

    , businessman.
  • Homer Hickam
    Homer Hickam
    Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the popular film October Sky...

    , author of Rocket Boys
    Rocket Boys
    Rocket Boys is the first memoir in a series of three, by Homer Hickam, Jr. It is a story of growing up in a mining town, and a boy's pursuit of amateur rocketry in a coal mining town. It won the in 1998, the year of its release. Today, it is one of the most often picked community/library reads in...

    , a 1960 graduate of Big Creek High.
  • Freida J. Riley
    Freida J. Riley
    Freida Joy Riley was an American science and math teacher. She taught at Big Creek High School in War, West Virginia during the late 1950s and early 1960s while suffering from Hodgkin's disease.-Life:...

    , teacher.

External links



West Virginia°N date=June 2009°W
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK