Webster Groves High School is a 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,...

 secondary

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...

 school in Webster Groves, Missouri

Webster Groves, Missouri

Webster Groves is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 22,995 at the 2010 census. The city is named after New England politician Daniel Webster....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located at 100 Selma Ave, Webster Groves, MO. The school is part of the Webster Groves School District

Webster Groves School District

The Webster Groves School District is a school district in and around Webster Groves, Missouri, west of St. Louis.The current superintendent is Dr. Sarah Booth Riss, and the district's central office is located at 400 E...

 and its current principal is Dr. Jon Clark.

History

Webster Groves High School was first established in 1889 as a ninth grade course. The original high school building was located on Gray Avenue, which was later changed into Bristol Elementary School. In 1906, a new building for the school was built at its current location, 100 Selma Avenue. At first the high school was a two-story brick building with three classrooms and an auditorium. In 1913 two wings were added to the school, which contained an auditorium and a gymnasium. In 1917 an Armory was erected, but it was converted to the gymnasium/lunch room after World War I. In 1946 that building was replaced by Roberts Gym, named after Charles A. Roberts, who coached and taught at the school for 39 years.
In the 1920s a three-story section and public library were added. In 1935 an addition was completed that added the drama, home economics, and science department classrooms.
In 1966 a three-story wing was added onto the back of the building and the Herbert Schooling Library was donated. The original fireplace from this library still stands today.

Facilities

The Webster Groves High School building has 84 classrooms along with an auditorium, a media center, and a theater. It has a soccer field to the west and a baseball and softball field to the east. Moss Field, the football stadium, is located at Hixson Middle School at 630 South Elm Avenue, a short drive from the high school. The field was built in 1946 and has been renovated several times. It now has locker rooms, bleachers, lights and an all-weather track.

Curriculum

24 credits are required to graduate from Webster Groves High School. The class of 2010 and every class thereafter need four credits of Communication Skills; three credits each of Science, Math, and Social Studies; one Fine Art credit; one and a half credits each of Practical Arts and Physical Education; and six and a half Elective Credits. Students are also required to take a half credit of Personal Finance, which is considered either a practical art or a social studies credit.

Wall of Fame inductees

As part of Webster Groves High School's participation in the Renaissance Program, a "Wall of Fame" was established in 1989 to recognize the accomplishments of its graduates. To date, 61 alumni have been inducted into the WGHS Wall of Fame (Not to be confused by the sports "Hall of Fame").

To be considered for the Wall of Fame, candidates must:
- Have graduated from Webster Groves High School at least 15 years prior to nomination. Posthumous nominations will be considered as well.
- Be evaluated on the significant contributions they have made to their respective field(s) and/or their significant contributions in the area of volunteerism.
- Be contacted to grant consent for consideration and to verify submitted data.
- Graduates may self-nominate. Nominations will be accepted and will be reviewed by a committee of alumni and current faculty.

• Thomas Curtis, Class of 1928
• Marshall Magner, Class of 1932
• Eunice Farmer, Class of 1935
• Arno Heuduck, Class of 1935
• Marian Miller Hamburg, Class of 1936
• Walter Barker, Class of 1939
• Eugene Wehrli, Class of 1940
• Helen Hofsommer Glaser, Class of 1941
• William Webster, Class of 1941
• John Gable, Class of 1942
• Warren Gerlach, Class of 1942
• Clay Felker, Class of 1943
• Robert Nooter, Class of 1944
• Donald Conrad, Class of 1948
• William Conway, Class of 1948
• Paul Marti, Jr., Class of 1948
• Donald Breckenridge, Class of 1949
• James Gordon Forsyth, Class of 1949
• John S. Rosebrough, 1950
• George B. Schaller, Class of 1951
• Robert W. Koch, Class of 1952
• Ann Johanson, Class of 1952
• Robert Lindholm, Class of 1953
• Merritt R. Helfferich, Class of 1953
• Julie Forsyth Gustafson, Class of 1954
• Cid Keane, Class of 1954
• Donald Hoss, Class of 1954
• Robert Phemister, Class of 1954
• Richard Toft, Class of 1954
• Robert H. Wurtz, Class of 1954
• John Fox Arnold, Class of 1955
• Richard S. Page, Class of 1955
• Fritz Rehkopf, Class of 1956
• Harry “Skip” Caray Jr., Class of 1957
• Jack Lorenz, Class of 1957
• Gene McArtor, Class of 1958
• Eunice Nicholson Askov, Class of 1958
• T. Allan McArtor, Class of 1960
• Jane Evans, Class of 1961
• John L. Trotter, Class of 1961
• Peter C. Vesey, Class of 1963
• Carol Stern Soroos, Class of 1963
• Harriet Stein Smith, Class of 1963
• Robert Dotson, Class of 1964
• Patricia Corrigan, Class of 1966
• Corine Bickley, Class of 1967
• Greg Marecek, Class of 1967
• Rosalind Wilkins, Class of 1967
• Douglas H. Yaeger, Class of 1967
• David Allen Dunlop, Class of 1969
• Victor Farwell, Class of 1969
• Joey Ford, Class of 1972
• Ruth-Mirriam Garnett, Class of 1972
• Alice Boccia Paterakis, Class of 1973
• James G. Martin, Class of 1976
• Jonathan Franzen, Class of 1977
• Russ Mitchell, Class of 1978
• Scott Bradley, Class of 1979
• Kevin S. Walker, Class of 1979
• Kelvin N. Crenshaw, Class of 1982
• Keith Nolan, Class of 1982

Activities and clubs

• A-Men
• Acting to Build Character (ABC)
• Anime Club
• Art Club
• Athletic Training Club
• Band
• Chess
  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...
  
   Club
• Choir
• Circle of Friends
• Class Councils
• DECA
  DECA (organization)
  DECA, also known as Collegiate DECA on the college level) is an international association of students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service . DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing,...
  
  
• Drama Club
• Fall Musical
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)
• Fencing
  Fencing
  Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
  
   Club
• FIRE
• Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
• Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA)
• German Exchange Club
• Guard
• History Club
• International Club
• Jazz
  Jazz
  Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
  
   Band
• Key Club
• Latin Club
• Math Club
• National Honor Society
  National Honor Society
  The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
  
   (NHS)
• Pay It Forward Club
• Peer Helpers
• Physics Club
• Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS)
• Psychology Club
• Reel Film Project
• Reflections Archives
• Scrapbooking Club
• STAR / FCCLA
• Student Action For the Environment (SAFE)
• Student Council
• Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)
• Students for Awareness and Action (SAA)
• Swing Dance Club
• Thespians
• Yoga
  Yoga
  Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
  
   Club

Students may organize their own clubs as long as they are accompanied by a faculty sponsor and chartered by the student council

Sports

Webster Groves High School sponsors a number of different sports, including 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...

 (men's), field hockey, soccer (men's and women's), 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...

 (men's and women's), 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...

 (men's), 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...

 (women's), 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....

 (men's and women's), 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...

 (men's and women's), swimming

Swimming (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...

 (men's and women's), and 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...

 (women's). Ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 and men's lacrosse are club sports at the high school.

The Turkey Day football game is an annual game held on Thanksgiving Day between Webster Groves High School and its rival, Kirkwood High School

Kirkwood High School

Kirkwood High School is a secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri. It is located at 801 W Essex Ave, Kirkwood, MO. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. The current principal is Dr. Mike Havener who replaced Dr...

. The rivalry between the two schools is the oldest current Thanksgiving Day rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The location of the game alternates each year between Webster’s Moss Field and Kirkwood’s Lyon’s Memorial field. A number of festivities surround the game, including a shared dance and a separate bonfire and pep rally at each school. 2007 was the 100th year of this storied series between the two schools, and the game had attendance exceeding 12,000 fans.

State championship wins

• 1931: Boys Track  
• 1947: Boys Golf    
• 1951: Boys Golf    
• 1954: Boys Golf    
• 1967: Boys Swimming    
• 1968: Boys Swimming    
• 1970: Boys Swimming    
• 1979: Football  
• 1983: Girls Golf    
• 1984: Girls Golf    
• 1988: Football  
• 1996: Boys Basketball  
• 2002: Football  
• 2008: Boys Basketball; Ranked 18th in the Nation
• 2009: Football; Ranked 7th in the Midwest/Midlands Region

Media references

In 1966 CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 produced an award winning documentary called 16 In Webster Groves

16 In Webster Groves

16 In Webster Groves was a 1966 award-winning documentary one-hour TV special produced by CBS News focusing on the experiences of adolescents growing up and living in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States....

, which was about the lives of students in Webster Groves.
In 1996 then-President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 came to the school to recognize the Webster Groves School District’s work towards preventing drugs and violence among its students.
In 1999 Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine devoted a cover story to a week at Webster Groves High School.

Faculty

• Average professional experience: 15.3 years
• Percentage of teachers with advanced degrees: 79.4%

School information

• Grades: 9-12
• Enrollment: 1,378
• Senior class of 2008: 329
• Student/teacher Ratio: 19:1
• Rate of Attendance: 93.6%
• Graduation Rate: 97.9%
• 2008 Composite ACT Score: 23.4
• 2009 National Merit Semifinalist Students: 3
• 2009 National Merit Commended Students: 6
• Courses offering College Credit: 23

Webster Groves High School is a closed campus for grades 9-11. Seniors are given the privilege to leave campus during the school day.