Big Lake High School

Big Lake High School

The sign and main entrance to Big Lake High School
Location
Big Lake, Minnesota
United States of America
Coordinates 45°20′24″N 93°44′19″W / 45.34000°N 93.73861°W / 45.34000; -93.73861Coordinates: 45°20′24″N 93°44′19″W / 45.34000°N 93.73861°W / 45.34000; -93.73861
Information
Type Public
Established District in 1900, High School in 1917 (Current building 1994)
Principal Robert Dockendorf
Grades 9-12
Number of students 1100
Color(s) Blue & Gold          
Athletics conference Mississippi 8
Mascot Hornets
Song You're a Grand Old Flag
Website Big Lake Public Schools Home Page

Big Lake High School is located in Big Lake, Minnesota in Sherburne County. It is part of the Big Lake Public School District, 727. The District was founded in 1900.[1] The current High School Building was built in 1994, and after the population growth and census in 2000, it was expanded in 2002, adding 22 classrooms (some of which are on a second floor), and another gymnasium.[2] The building replaced the old High School, now Big Lake Middle School. The school currently hosts its capacity of 1100 students. The school's current Principal is Robert Dockendorf, Angela Folch is assistant principal.

The school offers 117 courses in 14 different departments. "BLHS" hosts 30 different co-curricular activities throughout the year. Big Lake also offers three foreign language courses, Spanish (classroom), French (online), and German (online).[3]

Athletics

Big Lake's mascot is the "Hornet", its school song is a modified version of "You're a Grand Old Flag". Big Lake has a variety of athletic/co-curricular activities in all seasons of the year. Big Lake is a member of the Mississippi 8 Conference.

Fall Sports

Soccer

Cheerleading

Football

Tennis

Swimming & Diving

Volleyball

Cross Country

Winter Sports

Gymnastics

Cheerleading

Hockey

Wrestling

Basketball

Dance

Knowledge Bowl

Spring Sports

Track & Field

Golf

Tennis

Softball

Baseball

Sport/Activity Head Coach/Advisor (as of 2014) Season Notes State Competition Appearances (as of 2014)
Baseball Mike Morehead Spring
Boys Basketball Kurt Brethorst Winter
Boys Soccer Alexander Martinez Fall
Boys Swim & Dive Tom Guillou Winter Co-Op with STMA
Boys Tennis Brett Mattson Spring
Cheerleading Jo LePage Fall/Winter
Concessions Larry Tschritter Full Year
Cross Country John Bruns Fall "Pride and Tradition" 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 (11th), 2001, 2002, 2013 (7th), 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013
Dance Team VanHofwegen Winter 2002, 2003
Football Nick Keenan Fall
Girls Basketball Nate Chapman Winter
Girls Soccer Mike Turner Fall
Girls Swim & Dive Brittany Gronewold Fall 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Girls Tennis Brett Mattson Fall
Golf Dan Thiele(Boys), Rebecca Hartel (Girls) Spring 2008
Gymnastics Nicolette Dilbert Winter 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 (2nd), 1996 (2nd), 1997, 1999 (CHAMPIONS), 2000 (CHAMPIONS), 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 (3rd), 2013, 2014
Hockey Doug Friedrichs Winter Co-Op with Becker
Honor Band Heidi Olson Winter/Spring
Honor Choir Mary Ebanks Winter/Spring
Jazz Band Heidi Olson Full Year
Knowledge Bowl Angela McCormack Full Year
One Act Play Kimm Holz Full Year
Pep Band Heidi Olson Fall/Winter
Softball Kim Bowen Spring 2000 (2nd), 2001, 2002 (2nd), 2003, 2006, 2007 (4th), 2008, 2012
Track & Field Todd Trutna Spring 1981, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Trapshooting Ben Wannebo Spring
Visual Arts Claudia Forsberg Full Year
Volleyball Alisha Brust Fall
Wrestling Evan Warnert Winter 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (4th), 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Yearbook Briana Sutherland Full Year

Other Activities

Big Lake High School has a daily announcement TV program, "Live at the Hive", which operates under the student run "Hornet Broadcasting Network". Students also have the opportunity to webcast events (sports, concerts, etc.) during and after school, on High School Cube and Webcast America.

Big Lake also has a full band and a full choir program.

Band Groups

Wind Ensemble

Freshman Band

Concert Band

Honor Band (Mississippi 8)

Pep Band

Marching Band

Choir Groups

Chamber Singers (performed at a Minnesota Gophers Basketball game in Williams Arena in December 2013)

Treble Choir

Concert Choir

Varsity Choir

Honor Choir (Mississippi 8)

Big Lake High School Bands

The Big Lake High School music department has had band leadership under 13 different conductors since it began in 1957.

Band Directors Start Year End Year Notes
Mrs. Janice Wolinski 1957 1958 First known director
Mrs. Alf Holvik 1958 1959
Mr. Donley Hosna 1959 1960
Mr. Lerstad 1960 1962
Mr. Donald Crouch 1962 1964
Mr. Dennis Domenichetti 1964 1965
Mr. Donald Crouch 1965 1968 Returned after a year absence.
Mr. Larry Wachendorf 1968 1969
1969 1970 No director for 1969 to 1970 school year
Mr. Alan Carlson 1970 1973
1973 1975 No director for 1973, '74 or '75 school years
Mrs. Woodford 1975 1976
Mr. Dan Kerns 1976 1984
Mr. Richard Fillafer 1984 2012 Retired
Mrs. Heidi Olson 2012 PRESENT

School Spirit / Motto

Big Lake High School's motto is "The Hornet Way", a policy that stresses Respect, Honesty, Kindness, Responsibility, and Fairness. A select amount of students who set an example of this standard of conduct are awarded as a "Hornet Hero" or Student-of-the Month.

Two times a year, Big Lake High School has a week of "dress-up days" and activities to promote school spirit. The first of the two weeks is Homecoming Week (usually in October), and the second of the two is "Sno-Daze" (usually late January or early February). For both students hold a coronation ceremony for the Homecoming of Sno-Daze king and queen (senior class only). This is usually the Friday before the week of events. The Senior class nominates students in their own class, then the entire student body votes for the candidates for king and queen. Dress up days vary year-to-year and are decided by the high school's Student Council. Tradition has Friday as "Blue and Gold Day" (Big Lake's school colors). Awards are given to students that are voted to have the "best costume" and "most school spirit", usually one male and one female student from each day.

Other Dress-up days

Every Friday students and staff are encouraged to wear some blue-and-gold to support school spirit. Occasionally "Hat Days" are promoted if students donate to an organization being sponsored for that day of "Hat Day". During the last week in December, students and staff are encouraged to participate in "Ugly Sweater Day", where students and staff would wear an "ugly" holiday sweater.

Other Notable events

Big Lake's chapter of the National Honor Society hosts an annual "Dance-a-Thon" in the spring. This all-night event is hosted for the purpose of donating money to selected charities each year, students must raise money in order to attend, the money is then donated. Students participating can watch movies, have open-gym, play games, and of course, dance. During a regular NHS meeting in January 2014, it was voted to change the name of the "Dance-a-Thon" to its new name, the "Lock-IN", with various titles to support the charity it is being held for. In 2014, a large snow storm closed school on the selected day of the event, it was the first time the "Lock-in/Dance-A-Thon" had ever been rescheduled and reorganized. The 2014 event was rescheduled just over a month later (to avoid conflict with prom) and set for a late-night event, instead of an all-night event like originally planned.

In December 2013 and 2014, The Blenders music group made a stop in Big Lake for their annual holiday tour, the concert was hosted in the High School's auditorium.

Big Lake's Auditorium (capacity of about 500) also hosts Big Lake Middle School music groups, it also hosts plays and is the background for the school's yearbook group photos. Academic awards (both High School and Middle School) take place here. Plays and other performances take place here, such as "One Act Play" and "Poetry Out Loud".

Other Facts

The Big Lake School District (ISD #727), is addressed on "Minnesota Avenue", plans are to rename the street "Hornet Way" to promote School pride. This change, led by the 2013-2014 Student Council must get this changed by permission of Big Lake's city council. The street hosts apartment complexes as well as the public library and driving school. The street also hosts Spud Fest each June, with a parade during the Saturday of the 4 day event (Thursday - Sunday).

Every year Big Lake has at least 10 students (of various sports) participate in State events.

Big Lake is the smallest district of 10 in the Mississippi 8 Conference.

2017 will mark the 100th Graduating class of the Big Lake School District. Current graduating class (2014, June 6, 2014) was the 97th class.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, June 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.