Perry High School (Gilbert, Arizona)

Perry High School
Location
1919 E. Queen Creek Road
Gilbert, AZ
Information
Type Public
Motto Pride, Progress, Purpose
Established 2007
School district Chandler Unified School District
Principal Dan Serrano
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 2,534 (October 1, 2012)[1]
Color(s) Cardinal Red and Navy Blue
Mascot Puma
Website http://www.mychandlerschools.org/site/default.aspx?domainid=3255

Perry High School is a public high school located in Gilbert, Arizona. Perry is a Wi-Fi enabled school removing the need for designated computer labs by allowing Wi-Fi enabled laptops to be brought into the classrooms. The school's design was based on the layout of Basha High School, another school in the Chandler Unified School District, but it lacks Basha's H building. In the fall of 2014, however, an additional building was built exclusively for CTE classes.[2]

County library

When Hamilton High School and Basha High School were built, the city of Chandler incorporated branch libraries into those sites. Perry is within Gilbert town limits, and so the Chandler Unified School District worked to incorporate a Maricopa County Library District branch into the site. The Perry Branch Library opened in June 2007.[3] It was the first public library located in a high school in Gilbert and the first public library in the nation to drop the Dewey Decimal System, opting instead for a bookstore-like system that places non-fiction books into categories based on subject.[4] This change brought national attention to the library and provoked debate about the effectiveness of the Dewey Decimal System.[5] The library also has arts and crafts projects on a regular basis.

The county library is the second to be integrated inside a high school: Boulder Creek High School in Anthem features a Maricopa County regional library.

Fine arts department

Perry has a fine arts department headed by department chair Sharon Biemond. Biemond is the teacher of all sculpture classes. In the 2008-2009 school year as well as the 2009-2010 school year Perry's sculpture students competed with those at Basha High School in a loose competition called "Pumas on Parade" ("Bear Brigade" at Basha)where students construct "life sized" paper-mâché representations of their mascots and decorate them to fit a chosen theme. The rules have been very rudimentary for both seasons in that the school who makes the "best looking" sculptures wins. At the end of the assignment the teachers from both schools exchange emails containing photos of all entries.

Other sculpture assignments have included packing tape sculptures inspired by the work of Mark Jenkins, Works inspired by Henry Moore, traditional ceramic sculptures, and many more. Perry has also drawn attention in two dimensional mediums with students winning district and even congressional awards for their work.

Puma Primavera, A sculpture from the 2008-2009 "Pumas on Parade" competition. (back view)

Also, the Perry High School Theater program, headed by Shauna Marquis, has made the top 10 drama departments in the state of Arizona. In the fall of 2014, the department was invited to perform their fall musical, The Addams Family, at the Arizona Thespians State Conference, where they were also awarded for other achievements. Additionally, they were named state champions at the Arizona Thespians State Conference in 2013. In 2012, the program was named the A.I.A. States Champions in Theatre from the Central Region. Mrs. Marquis directs the fall play and Jim Fountain directs the musicals. Perry High also has a choir who in 2011 sang in Carnegie Hall in New York City. Perry also represented the school by going to Disney World.

References

  1. ↑ AIA 2012 enrollment figures
  2. ↑ http://phsprecedent.com/news/2014/09/19/construction-on-f-building-nearing-completion/
  3. ↑ http://mcldaz.org/library/userdef/branches/ud_mcld_branch_GI.aspx
  4. ↑ http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2239
  5. ↑ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118340075827155554.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

External links

Coordinates: 33°15′42″N 111°44′55″W / 33.2617°N 111.7485°W / 33.2617; -111.7485

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