Basic High School

Basic Academy of International Studies
Location
400 N. Palo Verde Drive
Henderson, NV, 89015
Coordinates 36°02′01″N 114°57′44″W / 36.0337°N 114.9621°W / 36.0337; -114.9621Coordinates: 36°02′01″N 114°57′44″W / 36.0337°N 114.9621°W / 36.0337; -114.9621
Information
School type Public high school
Established 1942
School district Clark County School District
Dean Mark Parantala
Principal David Bechtel
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 2,340
School colour(s) Blue and silver
         
Athletics conference Sunrise 4A Region
Team name Wolves
Publication The Lone Wolf
Website http://www.basicacademy.org

Basic Academy of International Studies is a nine-month public high school that is part of the Clark County School District and was the first High School in Henderson, Nevada.

School name

During the World War II era, numerous factories located themselves to the Las Vegas Valley (among these factories were Basic Management Industries (Basic Magnesium Inc.) and Timet). When the state of Nevada decided to create a city for the workers of these businesses, the name decided upon was "Basic." The newly founded Basic, Nevada needed a school for children to attend, hence Basic High School received the name of its city (the city of Basic is now the city of Henderson, Nevada). The original name of this school, however, was Railroad Pass High School. The name was changed to Basic High School in 1945.[1]

History and traditions

Basic High School opened in 1942. The school, then located across the street from where the city hall of Henderson now stands, graduated its first class of ten students in 1943. In 1954 it moved to a site near Van Wagenen Street and Pacific Avenue (the current site of Lyal Burkholder Middle School). Since 1973 Basic High School has been located at 400 N. Palo Verde Drive.[2]

The large "B" on the mountain in Henderson, NV.

Until the opening of Green Valley High School, Basic was the only high school in the city of Henderson. A long-standing rivalry existed between Basic and Green Valley. A large white "B" is painted on a local mountain during the week of Homecoming which stands for Basic; it's visible throughout the entire city of Henderson year-long. The original "B" was painted near the old Basic High School on Black Mountain, now known as Lyal Burkholder Middle School, which was also maintained for many years long after Basic relocated to its current campus.

The school's cheerleading squad was featured on a 2010 episode of Penn & Teller.

School features

A three-story building is very noticeable on the Basic High School campus; most classrooms here are classes for freshmen students, and it is referred to as the "800 Building" since all classes here are in the 800's.

An International Baccalaureate Program is also offered at Basic High School.

Basic High School is one of the few schools in Henderson which still has an annual Homecoming parade.

Clubs and organizations

The school features many clubs, including a chess club, Bible club, Super Smash Bros club, Polynesian club, Key Club, and Spanish Club. It is also one of the few high schools in the county to have a robotics club, which builds and designs high-tech robots and enters them at annual competitions at UNLV.

Basic's "El Lobo" yearbook is also set to high standards, for it has won national praise for many years. The 2005 El Lobo Volume LXIII (63rd) yearbook was awarded Silver Medalist by the CSPA and named All-American with four marks of distinction for the 16th consecutive year. The yearbook is published by Herff Jones publishing company.

The Lone Wolf Newspaper of Basic High School is the oldest newspaper in Henderson, Nevada. The 2008–2009 school year was its 66th year of publication. It has been published longer than the prominent Las Vegas Sun newspaper, owned by Greenspun Media founded in 1950. In 2009 the Lone Wolf won 2nd Place in the 33rd Annual Las Vegas Review-Journal High School Journalism awards in the "Reduced" format for best high school newspaper.[3]

Along with those, representatives from their thespian troop competed at the State Thespian Conference in 2010 and won first place in their category of "Group Musical," with the performance of "Your Fault/Last Midnight" from Sondheim's Into the Woods. The following year, representatives from their troop once again placed first at the conference in the "Duet Musical" category with "Serious" from "Legally Blonde the Musical".

Basic High School offers a Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC), which has competed nationally, in armed and unarmed drill, physical fitness, and markmanship. Basic's MCJROTC Armed Drill Team won the National Championships at the United States Air Force Academy Invitational in Colorado Springs, CO from 1997 to 2003. More currently, Basic's MCJROTC Unarmed and Armed Drill Teams competed in the 2012 National Championships held in Torrence, CA. They also went on to place in the Nationals 2013 held in Torrence, CA with the help of First Sergeant Samuel Rael USMC (ret).

Basic Academy also offers courses in performing arts such as Band, Orchestra, Choir, and Theatre.

Athletics

Basic Academy's athletics programs is known as the Wolves and competes in the Southeast Division of the Sunrise 4A Region. The school's Baseball and Basketball programs won state championships in 1955, 1956 and in 1959. In 1959 Paul Hornyak, Senior point guard was the first High School All American in basketball for the state of Nevada. The schools football program has won two state championships the first in 1953 in Class 3A and the second in 1960 in Class 2A and a 3A championship was won by the girls' volleyball squad in 1975. The Basic Academy Wrestling Team placed second in State in 1971,1972,1973 and 1974, finally winning their first 3A Championship in 1976.

Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association State Championships

Notable alumni

Feeder Schools

References

  1. ↑ Lyle, Michael (26 July 2011). "Railroad Pass stands the test of time". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  2. ↑ Koch, Ed (3 October 2005). "Getting back to Basic High School". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  3. ↑ Thevenot, Carri Geer (15 May 2009). "Green Valley High School's newspaper judged the best". Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  4. ↑ "Biography: About Harry Reid". www.senate.gov. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  5. ↑ "Mario Opipari: Throwing curveballs at the competition since 1983". Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 2010-07-23. Retrieved 2016-02-11.

External links

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