Colleyville Heritage High School

Colleyville Heritage High School
File:Colleyville Heritage.jpg
Location
5401 Heritage Ave. Colleyville, TX 76034
Information
Type	Public, Secondary
Motto	"The Traditions Begin"
School district	Grapevine-Colleyville I.S.D.
Principal	Becky Prentice
Grades	9-12
Number of students	2,385
Color(s)	Red and Black
Mascot	Panthers
Website	http://www.gcisd-k12.org/chhs/site/default.asp

Colleyville Heritage High School is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas, United States, a city in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District.

CHHS is located several miles west and in sight of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The high school has been categorized as one of the top 100 high schools in the United States of America by the Newsweek magazine's Challenge Index. Colleyville Heritage High School celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006. The school became the focus of national attention during a 2005 steroid scandal involving multiple student-athletes. This episode and others like it in the Metroplex, would lead to publication of an award-winning feature in The Dallas Morning News on high school PED abuse and the introduction of random drug testing for students in UIL-sponsored school activities.

History and Traditions

On March 1, 1994 the Cadence Group General Contractor began clearing the 64 acres between Heritage Avenue and State Highway 121 that would be eventually become Colleyville Heritage High School. CHHS opened its doors on August, 15, 1996 with a student population of 1,369, making it the second high school in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. It is located across the street from Heritage Elementary and Middle School, which feed into the high school.

Though the school opened relatively recently, several traditions have already taken hold amongst the students and community. A homecoming parade is held on Heritage Avenue each year, which enjoys high levels of attendance from local residents. Pep rallies are held on Friday mornings during football season and feature performances by student groups and speeches by players or coaches. During the rally before the rivalry game with Grapevine High School, a student, teacher, or administrator(s) are given the opportunity to "stomp the grapes", an annual occurrence.

A major theme of school spirit promoted by the administration is "Panther Pride", which is reflected ad nauseum in many of the school's other traditions. The school's yearbook, The Pride, is published annually and due to the size of the school is often quite large and has won several awards in the past for its quality and content. "Pride" is also the name of the bronze panther statue in the school's lobby, and also a phrase shouted by the marching band as their call to attention. Panther Pride Night is a yearly pep rally to kick off the beginning of football season and showcase the team and other student organizations.

The mascots for athletic functions are a male and female panther duo, "Buster" and "Babs". They are often seen dressed as a football/basketball player and cheerleader, respectively.

A more somber tradition at CHHS is the "Hall of Heroes", a memorial wall dedicated to CHHS alumni who, as servicemen and women of the United States armed forces, have given their lives in defense of their country. The wall features a photograph of each of the fallen and a plaque in their memory.

Academics

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2008 Commencement

CHHS has the distinction of being recognized on a repeated basis by Newsweek magazine as one of the nation’s top 100 high schools based on students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses and success in those courses. The school offers over 17 AP courses for students beginning as early as their freshman year. In addition, CHHS offers dual enrollment courses in conjunction with Tarrant County College and work programs through Career and Technology Education classes.

The school operates on an A/B block scheduling system, in which each student attends four 90-minute classes each day. The schedule changes every other day, occasionally leading to confusion as to which classes the student must attend. Because of this, lockers, though available, are seldom used. Instead, school policy allows students to carry backpacks with them to each class and lunch throughout the day.

Athletics

Football

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Colleyville Football under its first coach.

Colleyville Heritage Panther Football currently competes in UIL Division 6-5A and has enjoyed several successful seasons in recent years, including a run to the Texas state quarterfinals in 2006. Colleyville enjoys a spirited rivalry with the crosstown Grapevine High School, a game played annually during the last week of the regular season. Other notable opponents often on the schedule include the Carroll Dragons and the Trinity Trojans, which often field nationally-acclaimed football teams. Though district realignment makes the creation of true rivalry games difficult, the close proximity of these three football powerhouses usually packs the home team's stadium when games are played between any of the three.

Varsity Football plays its home games at Mustang-Panther Stadium, a 9,100-seat multi-purpose venue which it shares with Grapevine High. The facility boasts an artificial turf field, running track, as well as a video scoreboard installed in 2007. The junior-varsity and freshman football teams play their games on the CHHS campus at a smaller facility.

Several CHHS Football alumni have gone on to become student-athletes at major Division I FBS colleges. Notable graduates include Christian Ponder '05 (Florida State), Jay Valai '06 (Wisconsin), and Eddie Foster '09 (Vanderbilt).

The Panther Football squad is currently led by coach Mike Fuller, who has held the position since 2008. He was preceded by Chris Cunningham, the program's inaugural head coach from 1996-2007. Both coaches utilize a spread offense.

Baseball

Panther Baseball has been yet another strong point in the school's athletics in recent years, finishing the 2010 season with a 27-5-1 record (12-2 in district play), ranked 14th in the state of Texas. The team makes its home at Panther Field, notable for the intimidating panther's eyes painted on the wall of the home dugout. The batting cages for CHHS baseball and softball are housed in a structure on campus affectionately named the Panther Cage.

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A student takes batting practice.

Wrestling

Former members include brothers Josh and Jeremy Sandoval, three-time state champion (2006-'08) and Ryan Heurman, 2001 state champion. Due to lack of adequate practice space behind the folding bleachers in the main gymnasium, a new gym was constructed in 2007 to better suit the team's needs.

The team is currently coached by former head of Texas Wrestling Juaoquin Bautista.

Basketball

CHHS Panthers and Lady Panthers play in the main gym during the winter. The boys' team has experienced yearly cycles of decline and resurgence recently, recording a 30-win campaign in 2007-2008 before winning 11 games the following year. The Panthers rebounded this past season and posted a 19-12 record.

The Lady Panthers have been consistently successful on and off the court, and currently have 7 alumna under scholarship at various colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The team won the district championship as recently as 2006-'07.

Colleyville Basketball is coached by Mike Gober (boys) and Diana Sager (girls).

Cheerleading

Colleyville Heritage cheerleading started as a strong program and has continued to be one through the years at many national competitions, including National Cheerleaders Association, American Cheerleaders Association, and Universal Cheerleaders Association.

Soccer

Colleyville girl's soccer has the distinction of winning the 1999 Texas State Championship playing in Division 4A. As a member of UIL Division 5A, the team returned to the playoffs in 2001 and reached the state semi-finals.

The Boys' team has always performed competitively and have several First Team All-District players.

Hockey

The hockey team has somewhat of a cult following at CHHS due to its existence as a non-UIL team. CHHS Hockey currently plays in the AT&T Metroplex Hockey League against regional competition. The varsity team took the 2008 City Championship over Frisco High School and won the Silver State Championship against Birdville High School in overtime, claiming the school's second State Championship in a team sport.

The team is currently coached by Sean Brady.

Lacrosse

The non-UIL lacrosse team was founded in the spring of 2001 and has won multiple district championships. In May 2010, Colleyville Lacrosse ended a successful campaign as Division III state runners-up.

The team is currently coached by Cecil Noble.

Steroid Controversy

Colleyville Heritage became the focus of a district investigation during the 2004-2005 school year after a Panther football/baseball player and his mother confronted school administrators and GCISD about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. The student came forward only after his mother, Lori Lewis, discovered a bag full of syringes and vials of liquids in his bedroom closet. The school and district officials dismissed Lewis' claims, and head football coach Chris Cunningham went as far calling Lewis a "liar" in a Dallas Morning News interview. Under mounting pressure from district officials, local and national media, and law enforcement, a total of nine other CHHS athletes confessed to use of steroids and other PEDs. In February 2005, The Dallas Morning News published an in-depth report entitled "The Secret Edge", a look at the uncomfortable topic of steroids in high school sports. One section on the report's website (seen here) was called "Colleyville Heritage's team secret".

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A Grapevine High student mocks the scandal during the annual game.

The Panther Football team had seen little success in its short existence by 2005, ironically missing the playoffs altogether after going 4-6 season during the scandal. Many speculate that the students in question felt pressured to perform better because of great successes seen at nearby Southlake Carroll High. Popular opinion in Colleyville at the time often doubted the integrity of Carroll's football program and its unprecedented winning streak.

The scandal at CHHS, as well as the well-publicized suicide of a student-athlete in Plano, Texas led to the implementation of random drug testing by the University Interscholastic League in 2007. Testing has been widely-criticized, as students in UIL-sponsored extracurricular activities including band, choir, and theatre became subject to random drug screenings. The effect of widespread testing is debatable, and in recent years the UIL has slowly begun to lessen the number tests due to costs.

Fine Arts

The Panther Band, Percussion, and Colorguard

The Colleyville Heritage Panther Band has enjoyed a colorful past dating back to the creation of CHHS in 1996. Each season, the band consistently places highly at local, regional, and national marching competitions, winning the Carrollton Tournament of Bands in October 2005. The band itself makes frequent performances around the country, performing in locales such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Antonio in the last decade alone. In 2008, members of the band performed in West Lothian, Scotland, an international sister city of Colleyville.

The Panther Band represented the state of Texas in the 2004 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and attended the Bands of America Grand Nationals competition in 2008 held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Additionally, many of its upperclassmen members audition and perform during the summer with Drum Corps International, as well as exclusive UIL Region, Area, and State groups.

Percussion students often perform with and against other ensembles at various levels of competition. CHHS Percussion has taken first place in at least one of its annual competitions in five of the last six years, dating back to the 2004 season. The Panther Drumline freqently wins caption awards at various contests as part of the larger marching band, a testament to its consistency.

Theatre

The Colleyville Heritage Theatre department has existed since the school's opening. Its curriculum features courses ranging from beginning to advanced acting, technical theatre, and also directing. Numerous productions are performed in the school's main auditorium and more intimate black box theater throughout the year; past productions include the Betty Buckley award-winning musicals; West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Bye Bye Birdie, and Anything Goes. In addition to its regular season, the department also works diligently each year to compete in the Texas UIL one-act play competition. The department has been actively involved in the International Thespian Society (Troupe 5610), even presenting the play Bang, Bang You're Dead at the Society's annual conference, which came to Texas in 2003.

The theatre department is currently run by Pam Koepf and Barton Faulks. More information can be found at CHHS Theatre's official website.

Speech and Debate

The Colleyville debate team has a long history of success at the local, regional and national levels, dating to the organization's inception in 1996. The team has won the Texas Forensics Association state tournament multiple times, in addition to being highly competitive at the national level. In 2008 the team of Evan DeFilippis and James Hamraie won the National Forensics League tournament and were finalists in the Tournament of Champions. That year, DeFilippis and Hamraie won the Baker Award for the top debate team in the country. Many Colleyville Heritage alumni go on to become successful college debaters. 2003 Colleyville alumna Aimi Hamraie won the National Debate Tournament for Emory University in 2007.

The school's speech team has also had numerous successes at the Texas Forensics Association state tournament, the National Forensics League tournament and UIL competitions. In 2007 Caitlin Taylor earned first place in poetry at the state tournament.

Notable Alumni

Class of 2002

Jaimie Alexander is best known for starring in the ABC Family television show Kyle XY as Jessi XX. She also starred in the movie Rest Stop and played bit parts in shows such as CSI: Miami, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Bones.