History
South first opened its doors in 1959. South's floor plan was modeled exactly after Southeast's floor plan and the similarities between the schools' designs can still be seen to this day. When South opened, their sports teams were known as the Colonels, though their colors were still red and blue. In the 1970s, the Wichita School board requested that South change their mascot name. The name Titans was chosen by students and the original Titan logo, that is still used by the school to this day, was drawn by a student. In the late 1970s, a $2 million football stadium was built. In 1985, South High athletic director C. Elmer Carpenter died and the football stadium was named in his honor. Also, in the 1980s, Sims Elementary, which was situated just a few hundred feet from the eastern end of the school, closed. South began using the old elementary school for the language arts department.
The school went up to 2004 without any major changes. In 2003, the school board approved a construction project to connect the main building of South to the "Sim Building" (as students and faculty called it), the project also added two new hallways and 20 new classrooms. The project began in early and was finally completed a year later in 2005. Also added to the school, from the same bond issue, was a baseball field that opened for play in 2007.
In 2005, South high alum and former South soccer player Tim Millsapp was killed in action in the Iraq War and the soccer field was named in his honor.
In 2008, another bond issue was passed by the Wichita School Board to create "equal athletic facility opportunities" for all Wichita High Schools. South's share of the bond issue was $10 million, which was used to put a new floor on the gym, buy new equipment for the schools weight room, improvements to the school's tennis court, and renovations to Carpenter Stadium including putting in Fieldturf on the field and new goal posts, as well as resurfacing the track.
On October 24, 2011, the Wichita School Board approved a $14.2 million bond issue to build a new 2,400-seat gym, a new practice room for the wrestling team, a walking track, and new locker rooms, as well as a new swimming pool, music suite, new pottery studio, art space, digital photography classrooms, a culinary arts room and a room devoted to its new fire science program that started in the 2011–2012 school year.
Read more about this topic: Wichita South High School
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