Ketchikan High School
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| Type | Public secondary |
|---|---|
| Principal | Sam Nelson |
| Students | about 600 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | Ketchikan, Alaska, USA |
| Campus | Open |
| Mascot | King Salmon |
| Website | [1] |
Ketchikan High School, often referred to as Kayhi, is the primary high school for the Southeast Alaskan community of Ketchikan and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District.
Contents |
[edit] Extracurriculars
Ketchikan High School's primary rivals in sports are Juneau-Douglas High School and Sitka High School. Ketchikan's mascot is the Kings (in reference to a king salmon) and the Kayhi girls' teams are known as the Lady Kings. The mascot is portrayed as a jumping salmon wearing a crown.
[edit] Student Government
Kayhi has a Student Body Association[1], headed by the current reigning S.B.A. President Patrick Troll, along with his underlings in the Vice President, Secretary, and Parliamentarian positions. They meet twice a month and discuss current events at the school, plan for future activities such as dances, sport tournaments, and the annual talent show. The other committees involved are the Recycling committee which works to decrease the amount of paper thrown away, the dance committee which helps decorate for dances, among others such as student life which aims to welcome in and make comfortable new students to Kayhi.
[edit] Fundraisers
Kayhi often does fundraisers, whether it be to fund a formal dance like Homecoming, Winter Ball, or Senior Prom, or to help support a school activity like basketball, volleyball, Academic Decathlon, etc. Raffle tickets are a big seller. Prizes for the raffle include anything from a truck full of firewood to vacation tickets. The annual event called "Woodhogs" is when a group of seniors are gathered to chop firewood as a raffle prize. Seniors will go out of their way to ask for donations that can be used for prizes. A major contributor to the school's funds is the annual event, Senior Carnival. The Senior Carnival is a held in the high school for anyone to enjoy. Seniors run specialty booths like bingo, a bungee run, a game room and a cake walk as well as booths like the a chicken toss, face painting, darting balloons, and roulette.
[edit] Sports and Activities
Kayhi is known for its focus on basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring, but swimming is also very important to this island fishing community and soccer is growing as a sport. Currently, Ketchikan High School is the only school in Southeast Alaska that tests their activities' participants for illegal substances.
Other activities include:
- Cheerleading
- Cross-Country
- Academic Decathlon
- Drama, Debate and Forensics
- Volleyball
- Softball
- Track and Field
- Football
- Wrestling
- Drill Team
- Swimming
[edit] Academics
Kayhi offers a variety of vocational and Advanced Placement classes. It has an automotive program, a welding class, a large maritime program and offers AP opportunities in English, science, mathematics, and history.
[edit] Graduation requirements
To graduate from Ketchikan High School, one must acquire the following credits:
- 22 credits total (.5=1 semester)
- 4 English
- 3 Mathematics
- 3 Science
- 3 History (American government required senior year)
- 7 Electives (art, photography, foreign languages, etc.)
- .5 Health (usually taken freshmen year)
- .5 Alaska Studies (as of 2006 — usually taken freshmen year)
- .5 Careers (usually taken sophomore year)
- .5 P.E. (usually taken sophomore year)
Other requirements:
- Finish and pass a completed Alaska job application
- Complete 100 hours of community service or a paid job (you cannot work for your family unless discussed with guidance counselor)
- Pass the High School Qualifying Exams (HSGQE)
[edit] Student life
Kayhi has roughly 600 students, many of which know one another at least by appearance if not by name given the small size of the school. There is a low student-teacher ratio and many teachers enthusiastically organize events to boost student morale. Every Friday (or at the end of a school week) there is a "Friday Special" which entertains students during lunch time. Music is played during the beginning of lunch, a teacher or student introduces the activities of the day's special, and then there is the actual special activity. Some of the specials are knock offs of game shows such as Fear Factor. There have also been other ideas such as a "dance off" where students, and teachers performed dances for the student body, juggling exhibitions, "most outrageous dress" competitions and a contest to see who could fold a paper airplane and fly it the farthest. And, like many high schools, a "Pep Assembly" is normally held in order to raise school spirit in preparation for an upcoming sporting event, such as the Clark Cochrane Christmas Classic, which is a basketball tournament held every year at Kayhi in honor of Clark Cochrane. The tournament brings in students and basketball teams from around the U.S., Canada, and even Australia.
