Fairmont Senior High School | |
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Address | |
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1 Loop Park Drive , 26554 United States | |
Coordinates | 39°28′42″N80°9′27″W / 39.47833°N 80.15750°W |
Information | |
School type | Public secondary |
School board | Marion County |
Superintendent | Randall Farley [1] |
Principal | Jim Green |
Teaching staff | 48.00 (FTE) [2] |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 821 (2022–23) [2] |
Student to teacher ratio | 17.10 [2] |
Campus size | 15.0 acres (61,000 m2) [3] |
Color(s) | Royal blue and white [4] |
Athletics conference | Big Ten |
Nickname | Polar Bears |
Rivals | East Fairmont High School, North Marion High School |
Yearbook | Maple Leaves |
Fairmont Senior High School | |
Coordinates | 39°28′42″N80°9′27″W / 39.47833°N 80.15750°W |
Built | 1928 |
Architect | William B. Ittner |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 02000254 [5] |
Added to NRHP | March 22, 2002 |
Fairmont Senior High School, is a public high school in Fairmont, West Virginia. The current school building, built in 1928, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Serving grades nine through twelve, it is one of three high schools in Marion County, along with East Fairmont High School and North Marion High School. [6]
Fairmont High School (the school's original name) was established at the Second Ward Building in the late 1800s. [7] [8] The school relocated to 5th Street in 1905 and to Loop Park in 1929. [8] The high school was an all-white school until the 1950s. [9] [10] The school offers a number of different extracurricular activities, such as marching band, a choir program, a theatre program, and a wide range of athletic opportunities. Notable alumni include Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton, U.S. Air Force officer Frank Kendall Everest Jr., entrepreneur Jim Delligatti, business executive Heather Bresch, and several others.
Marion County did not have a public education system until the creation of the State of West Virginia in 1863 during the American Civil War. Due to a growing student population in Marion County, there was a need for more schools. Fairmont High School would become the first of these high schools to be established in Marion County. [11]
In 1876 [7] or 1897, [8] Fairmont High School was established in the Second Ward Building.
In 1905, Fairmont High School relocated to its second location at the 5th Street building, which is now a gym. [8]
In 1929, the high school opened at the Loop Park location, which is where Fairmont Senior High School currently resides. The school was built in 1928. Architect William B. Ittner designed the Loop Park building. [12]
Until the 1950s, Fairmont Senior High School was an all-white school. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that segregated schools had to integrate in the Brown v. the Board of Education decision. As a result, the all-black Dunbar School was closed and integrated with Fairmont Senior. On September 30, 1954, Fairmont Senior played a football game with Dunbar School, the only football game the two schools played together before Dunbar School closed. [9]
In 1979, a fire damaged a large section of the school's roof. Much of the Loop Park building was constructed with concrete, which helped to mitigate the fire's damage. [13]
On March 22, 2002, the United States government listed Fairmont Senior on the National Register of Historic Places. [5] [14]
The campus currently consists of several different components, such as a main building, the Freshman Building, and physical education facilities. The Loop Park building's architectural classification is Colonial Revival. [15]
Senior Court was a feature of the Loop Park building. The Senior Court did not have a ceiling, and there is a statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln standing in front of it. [16]
In 2010, a school bond was passed by the Marion County Board of Education to renovate Fairmont Senior's campus. [17] This $4.2 million project included replacing the Senior Court with a school media center. [18] The project took a few years to complete. [17] Unlike the Senior Court, the media center has a ceiling and is a two-story room with a balcony. [19]
Originally, Fairmont Senior only had one gymnasium, which was located on the second floor of the main building. In November 1989, a proposal was made for a new physical education facility beside Fairmont Senior's Freshman Building. Work for the facility began in 1992. Despite objections and a lawsuit from area residents, the facility was completed a few years later. [20]
Fairmont Senior has a one-story building located at the east end of its campus, which is known as the Freshman Building. [12] In the early 1990s, a chemistry lab was built adjacent to the Freshman Building. [21]
Fairmont Senior High School offers different academic opportunities for its students. The schools offers math, English, science, social studies, foreign language, special education, and elective classes. [22]
The school offers a number of different Advanced Placement classes. The AP classes offered in Fairmont Senior's 2020–21 school year include AP Art History, AP Calculus AB, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Government and Politics, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP Music Theory, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and AP United States History. [23]
Fairmont Senior High School offers different fine arts programs for its students.
Fairmont Senior has a marching band, which is known as the Fairmont Senior High School Polar Bear Band. [24] The school's marching band was first directed full time by Earl McConnell Sr. [25] The marching band has performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, [26] Walt Disney World, and Universal Studios. [27] The school holds a Band Spectacular annually at East-West Stadium where college and high school bands play their respective field shows. [28] [29]
Other than the school's marching band, the school's instrumental music curriculum has previously included symphonic band, concert band, jazz ensemble, and steel band. [30]
Fairmont Senior has three choral groups: the Madrigals, women's ensemble, and men's ensemble. [31] The full name of the school's Madrigals group is the Fairmont Senior Madrigal Chamber Choir, which is considered to be a renaissance style a cappella choir. [32] The group was started by Doug Bunner in 1985; [33] he taught at the school until his retirement in 2006. [34] The group hosts an annual elimination dinner at the Fairmont Knights of Columbus, [35] and the school presents the Madrigals's Yuletide Feast biennially (a tradition that started in 1985). [36] The group has performed at other places, such as the current Fairmont Senior building, [37] Meadowbrook Mall, [38] West Virginia University Mountainlair, [39] and the WorldStrides OnStage competition in Orlando, Florida. [31]
Fairmont Senior offers a thespian program. Fairmont Senior's thespians group is known as the Fairmont Senior High School Thespians Troupe. [40] Fairmont Senior's group has performed in different events, such as the West Virginia State Thespian Festival. [41]
Fairmont Senior offers a number athletic opportunities to its students, such as baseball, softball, basketball, cross country, golf, cheer, football, volleyball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, wrestling, and lacrosse. [42]
Boys' sports | State titles | Girls' sports | State titles |
---|---|---|---|
Baseball [43] [44] | Softball [45] [46] | ||
Boys basketball [47] | 1927, 1939, 1942, 1949, 1996, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023 | Girls basketball [48] [49] | 1997, 2017, 2019 |
Cross country [50] [51] [52] [53] | 1977, 1988, 1997, 1999, 2012, 2018, 2019 | Cross country [50] [51] [53] | 1989, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2019, 2020 |
Golf [52] [54] [55] | 2019 | Cheer [56] [57] [58] | 1991, 1992, 1999, 2020 |
Football [59] [60] [61] | 1903, 1907, 1924, 1929, 1946, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 | Volleyball [62] [63] | |
Soccer [64] [65] | 2015, 2019, 2020 | Soccer [64] | |
Swimming [66] [67] | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 | Swimming [66] [67] | 2006 |
Boys tennis [68] [69] | Girls tennis [70] [71] | ||
Boys track [72] | Girls track [73] | 1999 | |
Wrestling [74] [75] | 1960, 2023 | Lacrosse | 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
Lacrosse | 2009, 2018, 2019 |
The mascot of Fairmont Senior is the Polar Bear. The name is a reference to Fairmont Senior's athletic teams who were known as "Ice's men" due to Fairmont Senior coach Frank Ice. [76] Similarly, the mascot of West Fairmont Middle School, a Fairmont Senior feeder school, is the Polar Cubs [77] or Polar Bears Cubs. [78]
East Fairmont High School and Fairmont Senior have a football rivalry. Their football teams have met annually beginning on October 25, 1921, [79] making the series the oldest continuously played football rivalry in West Virginia. Fairmont Senior leads the series with a record of (67-28-7) over East Fairmont. Fairmont Senior has won the last 15 matchups against East Fairmont. [80] One main place they meet is East-West Stadium in Fairmont. [81]
Fairmont Senior is considered an "above average" school by Niche. [82] In 2020, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Fairmont Senior as 3380th in its national ranking, 10th in West Virginia, and 1st in Marion County. [83]
Fairmont Senior received the 2010 Blue Ribbon honor, [84] and in 2019, the school was recognized with the Champion of College Access and Success award for "efforts to make students aware of higher education opportunities after they graduate". [85]
Math teacher Sarah Snyder was honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2016. [86] The following year, Fairmont Senior English teacher Toni Poling was recognized as the 2017 West Virginia Teacher of the Year. [87] [88]
Marion County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,205. Its county seat is Fairmont. The county was named in honor of General Francis Marion, known to history as "The Swamp Fox".
Fairmont is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 18,313 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the state. It is the principal city of the Fairmont micropolitan area, which includes all of Marion County in North Central West Virginia and had a population of 56,205 in 2020. Fairmont is also a principal city of the larger Morgantown–Fairmont combined statistical area.
Farmington is a town in Marion County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 389 at the 2020 census. The small town is situated on Buffalo Creek and the Allegheny Mountains about 6 miles west of Fairmont, Marion County's county seat. It is best known for being the site of the 1968 Farmington Mine disaster.
Monongah is a town in Marion County, West Virginia, United States, situated where Booths Creek flows into the West Fork River. The population was 972 at the 2020 census. Monongah was chartered in 1891, based on Chapter 47 of West Virginia code. Its name is derived from the nearby Monongahela River.
North Central West Virginia Airport is a public/military airport a mile northeast of Bridgeport and six miles east of Clarksburg, in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by the Benedum Airport Authority, serving Harrison and Marion County, and was formerly Benedum Airport and Harrison-Marion Regional Airport. The airport sees two airlines, with some passenger service subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
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Bridgeport High School is the comprehensive four-year public high school located in the city of Bridgeport, West Virginia, in Harrison County that operates as part of the county of the Harrison County School District.
Frankfort High School (FHS) is a public high school in Ridgeley, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the Mineral County Schools district.
North Marion High School is a public high school in West Virginia, United States. It is one of three high schools in Marion County, alongside Fairmont Senior High School and East Fairmont High School.
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The Morgantown Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in North-Central West Virginia, anchored by the city of Morgantown. As of the 2020 census, the MSA had a population of 140,038.
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Timothy J. Manchin is an American politician and attorney. He has served in the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2003. He was appointed to the seat vacated by the death of his uncle, A. James Manchin, in November 2003.
The West Virginia High School Football State Championships have been held since the early 1900s. The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) began its formal recognition of WV State Football Championships in 1937 with the state's sports writers' vote. The WVSSAC began a class system, dividing larger and smaller schools in 1947. WVSSAC official playoff games began in 1948. Prior to the WVSSAC's involvement in an official playoff, there were other systems in play. From 1916 to 1955 the WVSSAC was called the West Virginia Athletic Association.
Belinda Biafore was as the chairwoman of the West Virginia Democratic Party for February 2015-June 2022.
The AAA West Virginia High School Boys' Soccer State Tournament is an annual postseason soccer tournament held in West Virginia, United States. The tournament is open to all high school boys' soccer teams that compete in the state's AAA classification, which is the largest division in West Virginia high school soccer. The tournament is organized by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC).
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(help)Garrison, a Marion County native, also is a long-time friend of the Manchin family who attended Fairmont Senior High School in Fairmont, W.Va., with Bresch(Subscription required.)