East High School is a public high school located in the City Park

City Park, Denver

City Park is an urban park and neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. The park is and is located in east-central Denver. The park contains the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Ferril and Duck Lakes, and a boathouse. City Park is also the name of the neighborhood that contains the...

 neighborhood on the east side of Denver, Colorado. It is part of the Denver Public Schools

Denver Public Schools

The Denver County School District No. 1, more commonly known as the Denver Public Schools , is the public school system in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States.-History:...

 System.

History

East High School opened in 1875 at 1731 Arapahoe Street with a total enrollment of 108 students, and was the first high school in Denver. The first graduating class was in 1877. In 1889, it moved to 19th and Stout Street because of the need for more room. This location is now referred to as "Old East," and could accommodate 700 students. The school featured a gracious flight of stairs leading to the entrance, which was notable for its sculpture of the face of a young girl, depicted as an Angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

. School architect Robert S. Roeschlaub and the school board decided to use a local childhood beauty instead of a Greek face to symbolize the school's "dedication to youth." The sculptor was Preston Powers

Preston Powers

Preston Powers American sculptor, painter and teacher, born in Florence, Italy.Powers studied with his father, Hiram Powers, a well known Neo-classical sculptor and expatriate who lived in Italy. After returning to the United States, the younger Powers worked as an artist in Boston...

, famous for his statue of the Indian on the grounds of the Colorado state capitol. Five thousand girls across the city were visited as part of a campaign to find the model for the face, and six-year-old Ella Catherine Matty was selected. The statue was so lovely that East High school's mascot has since been the East Angels.

When "Old East" was demolished in 1925, this keystone was removed and placed in a rock garden at the current location of East, 1600 City Park Esplanade. The architect for the current facility was Denver native George Hebard Williamson, himself a 1893 graduate of "Old East" High. Williamson won national recognition for his design of the "new" East, which has a 162 feet (49.4 m) high clock tower

Clock tower

A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...

 modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

In early 1991, the East High building was declared an official Denver Historic Landmark by the Denver Landmark Commission and the Denver City Council. In July 2005, a music video for the song Over My Head (Cable Car)

Over My Head (Cable Car)

"Over My Head " is a song by American rock band The Fray. It is included on their on their debut album How to Save a Life and was the debut single from the album and hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...

, by The Fray

The Fray (band)

The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King, they achieved success with the release of their debut album, How to Save a Life in 2005, which was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand...

 was filmed in East High.

Activities

East High School has a diverse offering of extra-curricular and competitive academic offerings, including nationally recognized Speech and Debate, Constitutional Scholars, and Choir.

East High School has fielded the Colorado representative for the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution

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...

 High School National Competition in 21 of the 23 year it has been contested, and is the only 5-time National winner, including victories in 3 consecutive years from 2007-2009. The team is coached by Mark Thalhofer.

The school's top choir, the Angelaires, regularly travels and competes at competitions around the nation. In 2007, the group won 2nd place at the National Acappella Singing Conference. In 2007, 2008, and 2009 the Angelaires won the CHSAA State Choir Competition, as the best choir in the state of Colorado, directed by William Taylor.

The instrumental music program is directed by local jazz saxophonist Keith Oxman. The school has three jazz bands, two concert bands, and an orchestra, as well as AP Music Theory and numerous additional student groups. Musicians connected to the school include Javon Jackson

Javon Jackson

Javon Jackson is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He played in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1987 until Blakey's death in 1990, and has also played with the Harper Brothers, Benny Green, Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones...

 and Curtis Fuller

Curtis Fuller

Curtis DuBois Fuller is an American jazz trombonist, known as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributor to many classic jazz recordings.-Biography:...

.

East also has an exceptional drama program, run by Melody Duggan and Daniel Morr, who in 2010 became the first High School in the United States to legally perform Mel Brooks' musical, The Producers

The Producers

The Producers commonly refers to Mel Brooks' series of comedic works about two con-men who attempt to cheat theater investors out of their money, only to have the scheme improbably backfire:...

. Each year, the East Theater Company performs two theatrical productions: a fall play, and a spring musical, the latter enlisting the help of east choir and instrumental music department.

East is also known for a dominant speech and debate program. The team is coached by Matthew Murphy, and Grant Wylie, and is ranked as the 59th best program in the United States, out of over 3000 member high schools. East regularly send competitors to both State and National Competitions. In 2010, the school fielded two state champions, as well as a Finalist at the NFL National Tournament. At the 2011 NFL National Tournament East fielded a national champion in congressional debate. As well as placing second in duo interpretation.

The school has an active student government, as well as over 66 clubs and student organizations. Some of the most popular clubs include Harry Potter Club, Angels Against Abuse, Genocide Action and Awareness Club and National Honor Society. East also has five ethnic studies clubs (Latino Students United, Black Student Alliance, Jewish Students United, Asian Club, and Native American Club).

Athletics

East has also enjoyed notable success in several Colorado 5A sports, including the most recent State Championship for a Denver Prep League School in 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...

 (State Champions in 1994), 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...

 (State Champions in 1964, 1965, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008, and girls' in 2010), soccer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 (1994, 2008and 2011), 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...

 (State Champions in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000), 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...

, rugby

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 (state champions in 1997, 2002, 2004 and 2009) and 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...

. In 2006 the East High Angels Football team made it to the 5A playoffs for the first time in 12 years, returning again in 2007 to win their first playoff game since 1992.

The school's boys and girls basketball teams are consistently ranked with the best teams in the state. In 2007, the boys basketball team was named the top ranked team in the state according to RISE Magazine and Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

, and finished the season with another 5A state championship win topping a season with a 22-3 record. The boys repeated their 2007 success by winning the 5A state title again in 2008, making it their 5th title since 1996. The girls won their first 5A title in 2010.

Beside fielding teams sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association

Colorado High School Activities Association

The Colorado High School Activities Association is the governing body for all high school activities throughout the state of Colorado. It was founded in 1921, and currently has a membership of 328 full-time high schools, plus more than 50 middle and junior high schools, for a total of almost 400...

, East’s club teams include rugby, ultimate frisbee, bowling, table tennis, and boys' volleyball.

Notable alumni

Among the many notable individuals who have attended East High School are:

• Jerome Biffle
  Jerome Biffle
  Jerome Cousins Biffle was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump.Biffle attended Denver East High School, where he won all-state honors in the 100 and 220-yard sprints, high jump and broad jump before landing at the University of Denver. Biffle was known as "the one-man track...
  
  , track and field
  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...
  
   gold medalist in 1952 Olympics
• Ward Bond
  Ward Bond
  Wardell Edwin "Ward" Bond was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm were featured in over 200 movies and the television series Wagon Train.-Early life:...
  
  , American film actor
• Herrick Chapman
  Herrick Chapman
  Herrick Chapman is a prominent historian of France. Since 1992, he has been employed at New York University as an Associate Professor of History and French Studies in the Department of History and Institute of French Studies...
  
  , associate professor of History and French Studies, New York University
  New York University
  New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
  
   (1992–present)
• Joe Barry Carroll
  Joe Barry Carroll
  Joe Barry Carroll is a retired American professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the NBA.-1974–1976:...
  
  , NBA
  National Basketball Association
  The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
  
   All-star
• Beat icon Neal Cassady
  Neal Cassady
  Neal Leon Cassady was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s. He served as the model for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road....
  
   attended East High School for a short time
• Don Cheadle
  Don Cheadle
  Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
  
  , actor
• Judy Collins
  Judy Collins
  Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
  
  , folk and standards singer and songwriter
• Harlan L. Dalton
  Harlan L. Dalton
  Harlon Dalton is Professor of Law at Yale Law School and an ordained minister in the Episcopal church.Professor Dalton, a progressive liberal, received his A.B. from Harvard and his J.D. from Yale. The main focus of Dalton's career has been on the interplays between law, theology, and psychology. ...
  
  , professor of law, Yale Law School
  Yale Law School
  Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
  
  
• Three members of Earth, Wind & Fire
  Earth, Wind & Fire
  Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
  
   who were East Alumni were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• Philip Bailey
  Philip Bailey
  Philip Irvin Bailey is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter, percussionist and actor, best known as one of the longtime members of Earth, Wind & Fire. Together with Verdine White, B. David Whitworth, and Ralph Johnson he forms the heart of the current EWF line-up on...
  
  
• Andrew Woolfolk
• Larry Dunn
  Larry Dunn
  Larry Dunn is a keyboardist, musical director and one of the founding members of the music group Earth, Wind, & Fire. Dunn, along with other members of Earth, Wind & Fire were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.-Career:...
  
  
• Mamie Eisenhower
  Mamie Eisenhower
  Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...
  
  , wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
  Dwight D. Eisenhower
  Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
  
   and First Lady of the United States
  First Lady of the United States
  First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
  
   from 1953 to 1961.
• Douglas Fairbanks
  Douglas Fairbanks
  Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
  
  , was expelled from East High School, went on to become one of the most famous silent movie stars of all time.
• Bryan Fogel
  Bryan Fogel
  Bryan Fogel is an American playwright and author.He was born in Denver, Colorado, one of three children of David and Linda Fogel. He attended both private and public schools, graduating from East High School and attending the University of Colorado at Boulder.Along with Sam Wolfson, Fogel...
  
  , playwright and author
• Bill Frisell
  Bill Frisell
  William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
  
  , jazz guitarist
• Pam Grier
  Pam Grier
  Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
  
  , actress
• General Robert T. Herres
  Robert T. Herres
  Robert Tralles Herres was the first Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.-Early life and education:Herres was born in 1932, in Denver, where he attended East High School. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1954...
  
  , first Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  Joint Chiefs of Staff
  The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
  
  
• Daniel Walker Howe
  Daniel Walker Howe
  Daniel Walker Howe is a historian of the early national period of American history and specializes in the intellectual and religious history of the United States. He is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University in England and Professor of History Emeritus at the University...
  
  , Pulitzer Prize for History
  Pulitzer Prize for History
  The Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography...
  
  ; Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University in England
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
   and Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles
  University of California, Los Angeles
  The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
  
  
• Jamie Laurie
  Jamie Laurie
  James Laurie better known by his stage name Jonny 5, is the singer and founder of the American musical group, Flobots. He is the only member who has been with the band since its inception in 2000...
  
   (aka Jonny 5), Singer/Song writer for The Flobots
• Harold Lloyd
  Harold Lloyd
  Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
  
  , silent film actor
• Hattie McDaniel
  Hattie McDaniel
  Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
  
  , actress (the first African American to win an Academy Award for her performance in Gone with the Wind
  Gone with the Wind (film)
  Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
  
  )
• Stephen L.R. McNichols
  Stephen L.R. McNichols
  Stephen Lucid Robert McNichols was Colorado's 35th Governor from 1957 to 1963. McNichols' father William H. McNichols, Denver's well-respected auditor for over thirty years, was influential in steering his two sons Bill and Stephen toward their success in state politics...
  
  , Colorado governor
  Governor
  A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
  
   (1957–1963)
• Ron Miles
  Ron Miles
  Ron Miles is an American trumpeter, cornetist and composer.-Career:Miles moved to Denver, Colorado at the age of 11 and attended Denver East High School. Ron went on to study music at the University of Denver and the Manhattan School of Music . He is among Denver's most prominent jazz musicians...
  
  , Jazz trumpeter, cornetist and composer.
• T. J. Miller
  T. J. Miller
  Todd Joseph Miller , better known as T. J. Miller, is an American actor and stand-up comedian.-Life and career:Miller was born in Denver, Colorado. He attended East High School. Miller then attended the George Washington University in Washington, D.C...
  
  , co-star of the 2008 movie Cloverfield
  Cloverfield
  Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...
  
  
• David Oliver, a professional track athlete
• Antoinette Perry
  Antoinette Perry
  Antoinette Perry was an actress, director and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing. The Tony Awards are her namesake....
  
  , stage actress (the namesake of the Tony Awards)
• Dianne Reeves
  Dianne Reeves
  Dianne Reeves is an American jazz singer. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.-Early life:Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a...
  
  , jazz vocalist (graduated from George Washington HS in Denver)
• Reese Roper
  Reese Roper
  Michael Reese Roper is an independent filmmaker and the former lead singer and chief song writer of the third-wave ska band Five Iron Frenzy. After Five Iron Frenzy disbanded in 2003, Reese released a single album using the moniker Roper. He is also part of the band Brave Saint Saturn, who released...
  
  , singer/song writer for Five Iron Frenzy
  Five Iron Frenzy
  Five Iron Frenzy is a Christian ska band formed in Denver, Colorado in 1995 and disbanded in 2003. The band announced they were recording new material on November 22, 2011....
  
  
• Brandon Shaffer
  Brandon Shaffer
  Brandon Shaffer is the current President of the Colorado State Senate representing Senate District 17, which encompasses the cities of Longmont, Lafeyette, Erie, and Louisville. Shaffer, a lifelong Democrat, was first elected as a State Senator in November 2004, and was reelected in 2008...
  
  , President, Colorado Senate
• Sidney Sheldon
  Sidney Sheldon
  Sidney Sheldon was an Academy Award-winning American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show , I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart , but he became most famous after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game ,...
  
  , writer
• Jack Swigert
  Jack Swigert
  He later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
  
  , NASA
  NASA
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
  
   astronaut
  Astronaut
  An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
  
   and member of the Apollo 13
  Apollo 13
  Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
  
   Mission
• Donnette Thayer
  Donnette Thayer
  Donnette Thayer is a vocalist and guitarist most active in the 1980s and early 1990s underground rock scenes. Thayer has been described as "the enchantress" , "a suave successor to California flower-pop" , and "Gaea personified"...
  
  , songwriter, singer
• Paul Whiteman
  Paul Whiteman
  Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
  
  , a jazz composer and bandleader
  Bandleader
  A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....