Mountain Pointe High School
Encyclopedia
Mountain Pointe High School is a secondary school
located in the community of Ahwatukee
, which is in the southern part of Phoenix, Arizona
. Mountain Pointe is a part of the Tempe Union High School District
.
On April 16, 2010, the school was awarded the A+ School of Excellence Award, the first school in the district to ever do so.
, the elementary school district in the area, opened a string of new schools here at this time, and the Tempe Union High School District followed suit by opening its last two high schools west of Interstate 10. Mountain Pointe was completed by the fall of 1990, but the Tempe Union district could not open it right away due to funding shortfalls. At last, the new, USD$27 million facility ($ in dollars) opened to students the next year. The 1,100 students in grades 9 and 10 that attended the school at its start were asked to pick a mascot: an eagle, thunder, rough riders or a pride of lions, which won out. Its rival Desert Vista High School
was opened to serve the growing southwestern part of Ahwatukee in 1996. Prior to Mountain Pointe's opening, Ahwatukee was part of the service areas of Corona del Sol High School
(five miles away from Mountain Pointe and east of the Interstate 10 freeway) and Tempe High School
. In the spring of 1994, Mountain Pointe graduated its first graduating class.
Mountain Pointe is the largest high school in Ahwatukee with open boundaries. Many people who live in the 85044 zip code attend Mountain Pointe along with commuters from the South Mountain area as well as from Maricopa. The Tempe Union High School District, which had to redraw boundaries significantly in the early 2000s as Corona del Sol grew over its capacity, also includes significant portions of west Chandler
in Mountain Pointe's boundaries. While Corona has since shrunk in size, the boundary oddities remain.
As of the 2009–2010 school year, Mountain Pointe High School now operates on a traditional schedule. This change comes after a ruling in which all six of the Tempe Union district schools did not meet the Arizona standards for required classroom time. The day now consists of five 57 minute classes, one 63 minute homeroom (five extra minutes for announcements), and a 35 minute lunch. A major criticism of traditional schedule is the loss of an academic lab, a 45–minute study hall, which allowed each student to travel to one teacher for extra help. A 40-minute academic lab returned to Mountain Pointe in the fall of 2011.
In 2006, one of their female soccer players, Alexandra Elston, earned the Gatorade Player of the Year award. She won the award attending as a senior.
Mountain Pointe competes in the annual Ahwatukee Bowl, a Friday-night football game against Desert Vista. Previous Ahwatukee Bowls have been nationally televised on ESPNU
. Beginning with the 2011 edition, the game will be titled the Ahwatukee Memorial Bowl.
There are many sports offered at Mountain Pointe that includes Freshman, junior varsity, and varsity
level for both boys and girls. The offered varsity sports are:
Varsity Boys' Teams
Varsity Girls' Teams
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
located in the community of Ahwatukee
Ahwatukee
Ahwatukee is an affluent L-shaped neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona bordered on the north by South Mountain Park and Baseline Road, on the east by Interstate 10 and the cities of Chandler, Guadalupe, and Tempe, and on the south and west by the Gila River Indian Community. It is the southernmost of...
, which is in the southern part of Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. Mountain Pointe is a part of the Tempe Union High School District
Tempe Union High School District
The Tempe Union High School District is a school district of high schools in Tempe, Arizona, USA. Its service area includes all of Tempe, the city of Chandler, Arizona west of the Loop 101, Guadalupe, the Gila River Indian Community in Maricopa County, and the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix.The district...
.
On April 16, 2010, the school was awarded the A+ School of Excellence Award, the first school in the district to ever do so.
History
The Ahwatukee area of Phoenix experienced explosive growth in the 1990s. The Kyrene School DistrictKyrene School District
Kyrene School District is a K-8 school district that serves parts of Tempe, Chandler, Guadalupe, and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as portions of the Gila River Indian Community within Maricopa County. It has nineteen elementary schools and six middle schools. The district office, the Ben Furlong...
, the elementary school district in the area, opened a string of new schools here at this time, and the Tempe Union High School District followed suit by opening its last two high schools west of Interstate 10. Mountain Pointe was completed by the fall of 1990, but the Tempe Union district could not open it right away due to funding shortfalls. At last, the new, USD$27 million facility ($ in dollars) opened to students the next year. The 1,100 students in grades 9 and 10 that attended the school at its start were asked to pick a mascot: an eagle, thunder, rough riders or a pride of lions, which won out. Its rival Desert Vista High School
Desert Vista High School
Desert Vista High School is located in the Ahwatukee neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona, was established in 1996, and is a part of the Tempe Union High School District.-Academics:...
was opened to serve the growing southwestern part of Ahwatukee in 1996. Prior to Mountain Pointe's opening, Ahwatukee was part of the service areas of Corona del Sol High School
Corona Del Sol High School
Corona del Sol High School located in Tempe, Arizona, United States, was established in 1977 and is a part of the Tempe Union High School District. It was expanded in 1986. It was expanded again in 2001.-Campus:...
(five miles away from Mountain Pointe and east of the Interstate 10 freeway) and Tempe High School
Tempe High School (Tempe, Arizona)
Tempe High School is located in Tempe, Arizona, approximately one mile south of Arizona State University.-History:Tempe Union High School was established by a vote of the people of Tempe in 1907. It was required, as the Normal School in Tempe no longer would enroll students with 8th-grade diplomas...
. In the spring of 1994, Mountain Pointe graduated its first graduating class.
Mountain Pointe is the largest high school in Ahwatukee with open boundaries. Many people who live in the 85044 zip code attend Mountain Pointe along with commuters from the South Mountain area as well as from Maricopa. The Tempe Union High School District, which had to redraw boundaries significantly in the early 2000s as Corona del Sol grew over its capacity, also includes significant portions of west Chandler
Chandler, Arizona
-Demographics:As of the Census of 2010, there were 236,123 people, 86,924 households, and 60,212 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 73.3% White, 4.8% Black or African American, 1.5% Native American, 8.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 21.9% Hispanic or Latino, and 8.3%...
in Mountain Pointe's boundaries. While Corona has since shrunk in size, the boundary oddities remain.
Campus
Mountain Pointe is an open boundary school that permits any student to attend. Mountain Pointe enforces a closed-campus policy and has since its inception, in which ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders may not leave campus without an adult checking them out for the day. Seniors are only permitted to leave campus with a special ID which can only be obtained with a signed and notarized parent permission form.As of the 2009–2010 school year, Mountain Pointe High School now operates on a traditional schedule. This change comes after a ruling in which all six of the Tempe Union district schools did not meet the Arizona standards for required classroom time. The day now consists of five 57 minute classes, one 63 minute homeroom (five extra minutes for announcements), and a 35 minute lunch. A major criticism of traditional schedule is the loss of an academic lab, a 45–minute study hall, which allowed each student to travel to one teacher for extra help. A 40-minute academic lab returned to Mountain Pointe in the fall of 2011.
Notable alumni
- Adam Juwig, guitarist for the band AnarborAnarborAnarbor is an American alternative rock band from Phoenix, Arizona that was formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist and bassist Slade Echeverria, guitarists Adam Juwig and Mike Kitlas, and drummer Greg Garrity. Initially known as "Troop 101", the band later changed their name to...
- Brad EvansBrad EvansBrad Evans is an American soccer player who currently plays for Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer.-College and Amateur:...
, MLS Player (Columbus Crew 2007–08)(Seattle Sounders 2009) - Reid Priddy (1996), volleyball player in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
- Nicole PowellNicole PowellNicole Kristen Powell is a basketball player who was a standout at Stanford University and now plays for the New York Liberty in the WNBA...
, WNBA Player - Joe MatherJoe MatherJoseph Paul Mather is an American professional baseball outfielder and third baseman who is a free agent.-Early life:Mather was born on July 23, 1982, in Sandpoint, Idaho. At Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee, Arizona he played basketball and was also an All-State performer in baseball...
, MLB Player - John O'Callaghan, lead singer in the band The MaineThe Maine (band)The Maine is an American rock band from Tempe, Arizona. They were formed in January 21st, 2007, they released EP Stay Up, Get Down in the same year. On December 11 2007, The Maine made their debut with a five song EP called The Way We Talk produced by Matt Grabe...
- Danny BaugherDanny BaugherErle Daniel Baugher, IV [] is an American football punter for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2006...
, punter for the Las Vegas LocomotivesLas Vegas LocomotivesThe Las Vegas Locomotives are a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada who play in the United Football League. The team plays its home games in Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Jim Fassel is the franchise's head coach, president, and... - Rachel MelvinRachel MelvinRachel Melvin is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Chelsea Brady on Days of our Lives .- Personal life :...
, actress on Days of our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around... - DC PiersonDC PiersonDC Pierson is an American comedian, author, rapper and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy....
, Comedian, Derrick ComedyDerrick ComedyDerrick Comedy is an Internet sketch comedy group from New York University. The group has a large YouTube following and was mentioned in Rolling Stone in July 2007. Their video "Bro Rape" has garnered over 8 million views...
Athletics
Mountain Pointe's athletic teams' accomplishments include 118 region championships, over the course of 20 years with its sports. Their teams are considered some of the best in the nation. The athletics program has won the H.A. Hendrickson Award for Arizona's outstanding 5A athletic program, as well as Tempe's outstanding athletic program numerous times.In 2006, one of their female soccer players, Alexandra Elston, earned the Gatorade Player of the Year award. She won the award attending as a senior.
Mountain Pointe competes in the annual Ahwatukee Bowl, a Friday-night football game against Desert Vista. Previous Ahwatukee Bowls have been nationally televised on ESPNU
ESPNU
ESPNU is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced by, affiliated with and owned by parent network ESPN. ESPNU originates out of ESPN Regional Television's ESPNU (often referred to as The U) is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced...
. Beginning with the 2011 edition, the game will be titled the Ahwatukee Memorial Bowl.
There are many sports offered at Mountain Pointe that includes Freshman, junior varsity, and varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
level for both boys and girls. The offered varsity sports are:
Varsity Boys' Teams
- Fall Sports
- FootballAmerican footballAmerican 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...
- GolfGolfGolf 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....
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross 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...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross 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...
- SwimmingSwimming (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...
/Diving
- Football
- Winter Sports
- Soccer
- BasketballBasketballBasketball 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...
- WrestlingWrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
- Spring Sports
- Track and FieldTrack and fieldTrack 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...
- BaseballBaseballBaseball 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...
- VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball 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...
- TennisTennisTennis 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...
- Club LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse 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...
- Track and Field
Varsity Girls' Teams
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross 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...
- Track and FieldTrack and fieldTrack 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...
- SoftballSoftballSoftball 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...
- TennisTennisTennis 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...
- Soccer
- BadmintonBadmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
- SwimmingSwimming (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...
/Diving - VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball 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...
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross 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...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball 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...
- Club LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse 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...