University High School (Carmel, Indiana)

University High School is a small, independent, coeducational college preparatory school in Carmel, Indiana

Carmel, Indiana

Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....

. At the start of the 2011-12 school year, the enrollment was 278. University High School (UHS) has consistently had a 100 percent college placement rate for its students. The mission at University High School is to expand the hearts and minds of students and to nurture excellence through academic, creative and physical achievement.

On August 28, 2010, University High School celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala that recognized the work that has been put into the school over the years. It also raised over $31,000 in funds to continue to support University's missions and programs. During the event, Core Value Awards were presented by students to people who have contributed a great deal in the community. They included Charles E. Lanham, Scott Jones, Angela Brown, Barry Collier, Len Betley, and Sue Anne Gilroy.

Core Values

University High School is very concerned about their core values, and daily activities at the school revolve around these core values. The core values are...

Commitment to diversity
Commitment to excellence in all community members
Cultivation of a sense of personal responsibility within each student for his or her own education, health, character and happiness
Development of an active sense of stewardship within the school community and the greater community surrounding it
Fostering creativity as a fundamental life skill
Mutual respect, support and trust

Athletics

University's athletic teams have won four IHSAA

Indiana High School Athletic Association

The Indiana High School Athletic Association is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the State of Indiana. It monitors a system that divides athletically-competing high schools in Indiana based on the school's enrollment. The divisions, known as...

Sectional Championships (2006 Boys Basketball, 2008-2010 Girls Basketball), two IHSAA Regionals (2008, 2009 Girls Basketball), and one IHSAA Semi-State (2008 Girls Basketball).
University's sport teams include: Girls 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...

, Girls and Boys Golf

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....

, Girls and Boys Soccer, Girls and Boys 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...

, Girls and Boys 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...

, Cheerleading, Coed 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...

, Coed Track, Girls 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...

, and Boys 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...

. Several other students also participate in sports outside of University High School. Many of these students play hockey or lacrosse for other schools. All students are encouraged to participate in any sport they are interested in. University High School's no-cut policy makes it possible for this to happen.
University High School has first class coaches, including Wes Priest, the head of soccer for the school.

January Term

University High School features a unique January Term program, where during the first three weeks of January, students take exclusively one class. Some J-Terms culminate with week-long trips abroad, and the unique schedule allows for UHS students to take many field trips. J-Term allows students to dive "a mile deep and an inch wide" instead of the "mile wide and an inch deep" during the usual school year. Some classes from 2010 include, Law & Justice

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, Fairy Tales, Culinary Arts, Actors Craft, and Japanese Culture. Past classes have included trips to Walt Disney World as part of the "The Making of an American Icon: Disney" class, the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, a visit to The New Yorker Magazine's chief editor David Remnick

David Remnick

David Remnick is an American journalist, writer, and magazine editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998. He was named "Editor of the Year" by Advertising Age in 2000...

, a World of Golf class where a group of students traveled to Florida and met with the all famous Pete Dye, and a class on "Hoosier Hysteria

Hoosier Hysteria

Hoosier Hysteria is the state of excitement surrounding basketball in Indiana, or more specifically the Indiana high school basketball tournament. In part, the excitement stemmed from the inclusion of all tournament entrants into the same tournament, where a small town's David might knock off a...

". There has also been a class on Oceanic Studies in which the kids learned about ocean life, and how to safely scuba dive, culminating with a one week trip to Florida where the class went scuba diving off the Florida Keys. This January Term program allows students to have opportunities that they would not ordinarily get the chance to have in any other institution. Students are able to engage in activities, learning skills that they will keep with them the rest of their lives. The 2011-2012 school year the January terms offered include; Mexico Ecoteacch, The New Yorker Magazine, The Actor's Craft, Architectual Design, Cajun Country, Children's Literature, Designing iPhone/iPad/IPod Touch Apps, Drumming, ESP, UFOs & the Paranormal, Forensic Science, Genealogy, National Parks: Beauty & History, Roman Art & Architecture, United Nations & Peace Studies, What Moves Us: Discovering Dance and Student Internships.

Clubs and Activities

Students at University can make any club they wish, as long as they get a sponsor teacher.
Current clubs include:

Academic Team
Animal Awareness http://www.indyhumane.org/
Anime Club
Arts Magazine http://universityartsmagazine.blogspot.com/
Cartoon Club
Chess Club
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Community Service Club
Gay-Straight Alliance
Gay-straight alliance
Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...
Games Club
Fishing Club
French Club
Hiking Club
Holiday Planning Club
Invisible Children
Invisible Children
Invisible Children: Rough Cut is a 2003 American documentary film. Its subject is the abduction and forced enlistment of children by the sectarian Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.-Synopsis:...
Lord's Pantry
Paintball Club
Stewardship
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
Quiddler Club
Riley Dance Marathon
LARP (Live Action Role-Play)
School on Wheels
Spanish Club
Spirit Club
Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

Club
Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic Club

Student Involvement

The students at University strive to do the best they can within school, their community, and internationally. All sports and theater activities have a no-cut policy, which allow students to be involved and try new things. A strong majority of students participate in at least one of those programs, many of them in multiple. Community Service is a huge part of the culture, with many opportunities to get involved in. Lord's Pantry, Special Olympics, Dance Marathon, and School on Wheels are just a few of the many programs the students participate in. There are also a number of students who have studied abroad in Spain, France, and Mexico with Indiana University in an extensive language program.

School Spirit

University has a large amount of school spirit. Mainly lead by Alex "Crash" Carson who has been at nearly every game cheering on the University Highschool Trailblazers. University High School has a number of cheers, including the school fight song.

Daily Schedule

University High School's class schedule is unique, in that it is a mix of normal and block class scheduling. In a standard week, Monday is an "A" day, Tuesday a "B" day, Wednesday a "C" day, Thursday a "D" day, and Friday an "E" day. "A" days are standard days, when all classes meet. "B" days feature a doubly long block 1st and 5th Period, while there is no 2nd or 7th Period class. On "C" days, only four classes meet, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Periods as doubles, plus 7th as a single period. "D" days feature double 4th and 7th Periods, without 3rd or 6th. "E" days are similar to "A" days, but "Morning Meetings" are extended from their usual 15 minutes to 55, thus cutting each class by 5 minutes. This 55 minute morning meeting is known as an "Assembly" and various speakers come to speak to the kids.

Morning Meeting

Every morning between second and third periods, the entire school convenes in the cafeteria/auditorium, Andrews Hall, for a meeting where any student or faculty member can make announcements, followed most days by a presentation by either a student or faculty member. About once every week, almost exclusively on Fridays, Morning Meeting becomes an hour-long presentation, where an outside speaker comes in to discuss a topic for the entire hour. Past speakers have included roadies from Invisible Children

Invisible Children

Invisible Children: Rough Cut is a 2003 American documentary film. Its subject is the abduction and forced enlistment of children by the sectarian Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.-Synopsis:...

, lawyers, and former television newscasters.

Lunch Program

The lunch program at University has varied from year-to-year, with this year featuring a catering service including local restaurants such as Noodles and Company, Chick-fil-a

Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A |"fillet"]]) is a quick service restaurant chain headquartered in College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées and is known for promoting the company founder's claims of Christian values. Long associated with the southern United States, where it has been a...

, Athens on 86th, Panda Express

Panda Express

Panda Express is a fast casual restaurant chain serving American Chinese cuisine. It operates mainly inside the United States, in casinos, shopping malls, supermarkets, airports, train stations, strip plazas, theme parks, stadiums, college campuses and The Pentagon...

, Subway

Subway (restaurant)

Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...

, Hotbox, and Fazoli's

Fazoli's

The Fazoli’s brand was created in 1988 by Jerrico, Inc, a multi-brand restaurant group based in Lexington, Kentucky, and then parent company of Long John Silver’s restaurants. Two years and five founding restaurants later, the Italian fast food concept was sold to Seed Restaurant Group, Inc. , also...

. Students are able to order their lunch online and decide which days they would like food.

Laptop Program

University High School features a one-to-one Macintosh laptop program where each student has their own laptop. This helps UHS students experience a unique educational opportunity while at school. Students use laptops as a way to create content for classes, as well as to communicate with faculty members and other students.

Mentoring

Each student at UHS is paired with a faculty member with whom they meet once every two weeks for around a half an hour. Most student's mentor meet on a regular basis just to talk to the student about day-to-day things as well. Many times the student forms a bond with his or her mentor that can last beyond graduation and into college as well as adulthood. Mentors are great resources to students with study tips, their social life, or just someone to hang out with and feel comfortable talking with.

College Counseling

As a college preparatory school, UHS has a college counseling program where each student gets four years of preparation. The small size of the school allows Jim Fadely, the college counseling director, to know and work with each student and his or her family to find the college that's best for him or her. Unlike other college preparatory schools, Dr. Fadely initiates the college counseling process at the beginning of freshman year, and encourages them to attend college fairs so as to immerse themselves into the decision process early. He is assisted by Ginny Leonard.

Community Service

University cares about the community surrounding the school, and the school encourages students to go out and volunteer in the community. Chris Morrison leads the Community Service Club, doings as much as he can to engage students to help others. Volunteer opportunities involve helping at IPS

Indianapolis Public Schools

Indianapolis Public Schools, abbreviated locally as IPS, is the largest school district in Indianapolis as well as in the state of Indiana with 33,372 students enrolled in 2009-2010...

School 67 on off days, volunteering at a food pantry on Saturday mornings, participating in the WRTV

WRTV

WRTV, channel 6, is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana; it is owned by McGraw-Hill. Its transmitter is located on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 8001 Township Line Road. Its studios are found at 1330 N...

Toy Drive, and on the last Saturday of February, participating in the Polar Plunge, an event in which fundraisers for Special Olympics Indiana

Special Olympics

Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....

jumping into the freezing cold Eagle Creek Reservoir. Students may also participate in tutoring with School on Wheels, and volunteering at local homeless shelters. The club received a grant of over $800 from Youth as Resources to purchase school uniforms for the children within local homeless shelters, since the IPS school system makes uniforms mandatory. University cares.

Size

University High School is proud to have a small number of students in the school to provide a sense of community. The small size allows the students to know everybody else who is in the school. The small class size also means lower teacher:student ratio. This allows the students to get the maximum education they can get out of all the teachers.
The graduating classes are capped at 80 students per graduating class, and the largest class currently in the school is the Class of 2014, with 75 students currently in the school.

Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

The members of the University High School Board of Trustees are:

Ann Andrews
Kate Appel
Mike Clayman, M.D.
Keith Faller
Sarah Faller
Jim Floyd
Karen Gentleman, emeritus
Sue Anne Gilroy, emeritus
Phil Himelstein, emeritus
Cathy Hurst
Robert Kaspar
Sandy Lange, chairman
Jeff Lewis, general counsel
Sandy Morris, secretary
Latrece Murdock
Scott Ray
Mike Rogers
Jane Smith
http://www.universityhighschool.org/aboutuniversity/boardoftrustees/#charlie_young

Accreditation

The following organizations accredit University High School:

University High School is a member of:

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.