Shawnee Mission School District - Shawnee Mission West High School

Shawnee Mission West High School

Shawnee Mission West's mascot is the Viking and the official school colors are black and gold. West opened its doors in 1962; since then, it has been remodeled several times. Additions have also been made to the school, the most famous of which is "the bridge," an actual bridge between halves of the school that later had classrooms added beneath it. The current principal of Shawnee Mission West is Dr. Charles McLean. As of 2006, its population is 2,042.It's located in Overland Park at 85th Street and Antioch Road. The former principal, Dr. Karl Krawitz was the NEA III District Educator of the Year for 2004-2005. SM West is home to both an award-winning school newspaper, the EPIC, and yearbook, SAGA. The Epic was ranked the 5th best Newsmagazine in the country by the Scholastic Press Association in 2010. SM West has twice (1986 and 2007) placed second at the National Forensic League tournament for policy debate. SM West has a student body population that is 10% African American, which is the highest African American population of any Shawnee Mission high school. Statistically, SM West is the most ethnically diverse high school in the district. SM West draws its student population from both Overland Park, Lenexa, and from small parts of Shawnee.

Read more about this topic:  Shawnee Mission School District

Famous quotes containing the words mission, west, high and/or school:

    The mission of men there seems to be, like so many busy demons, to drive the forest all out of the country, from every solitary beaver swamp and mountain-side, as soon as possible.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    There is no human failure greater than to launch a profoundly important endeavour and then leave it half done. This is what the West has done with its colonial system. It shook all the societies in the world loose from their old moorings. But it seems indifferent whether or not they reach safe harbour in the end.
    Barbara Ward (1914–1981)

    And since our Daintie age,
    Cannot indure reproofe,
    Make not thy selfe a Page,
    To that strumpet the Stage,
    But sing high and aloofe,
    Safe from the wolves black jaw, and the dull Asses hoofe.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    A sure proportion of rogue and dunce finds its way into every school and requires a cruel share of time, and the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)