Chaska High School

Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 9–12 grade school that is attended by about 1,500 students.[2]

Chaska High School
Address
545 Pioneer Trail

Chaska
,
Minnesota,

United States
Information
TypePublic high school
MottoExcellence. Tradition. Community. (Academics) Soar Hawks. (Athletics)
Established1905
School districtEastern Carver Country Schools (ISD 112)
DeanSusana DeLeon, Chuck Nelson
PrincipalJames Bach
Faculty180
Teaching staff77.47 (FTE)[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,507 (2018-19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio19.45[1]
Color(s)Purple, white, gold      
MascotHawk
Websitechs.district112.org

The school mascot is the "Hawk," with the school colors being purple, white, and gold.

History

Chaska High School first opened in the early 1900s with its first graduating class in 1906. Since then, Chaska High School has moved to newer facilities three times. Currently, Chaska High School resides at 545 Pioneer Trail. The present facility opened in 1996.

Current facilities

Chaska's current facilities feature auditorium, several gymnasiums, a cafeteria, tech-ed labs, computer labs, a media center, a stadium, and several athletic fields. Originally designed for 1,600 students, the school received a substantial addition in 2004.

Houses

Chaska High School is organized into four main houses:

  • Purple House
  • Blue House
  • Red House
  • Green House

Each house has two stories and similar design. They are connected by one large hallway. This main hallway is a little less than one quarter mile long. There is also a South Wing of the high school, south of the main hallway, which holds the cafeteria and connects to the activities section of the school. Starting 2012, the Green House was converted into the Family Learning Center, a pre-school setting. As of 2017, the Green House returned to a normal high school setting, holding mostly freshmen.

The school's main hallway.

Media center

The Chaska High School media center is the school's library and technology center. It has four separate labs; two of which use Dell PCs and two which use Apple computers. The first floor consists of the library proper, as well as all PCs. Second floor houses the Apple computer labs, as well as Jumpstart studios, the semi-weekly school news program. The media center area also holds the copy room, tech support and all other IT services for the school. During the 2007-2008 school year, the Media Center and 2 engineering labs received brand new computers to help enhance the student experience.

The South Wing

This takes up about half the school's area. It consists of the band room, choir room, cafeteria, the auditorium, two gymnasiums, the weight room, locker rooms, workshops, additional classrooms, the activities office, athletic locker rooms, and other athletic-related areas. It is connected through the blue house and the media center. The cafeteria is one story with a high cone glass roof, but the athletic area is two stories.

Activities

Music

Chaska High School has four choirs, three bands, and many extracurricular groups that offer a wide range of music styles and levels. The choirs are called Cantare, Vivace, Bel Canto, and Concert Choir; the bands are Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Symphony.

Academic teams

Chaska High School actively participates in several academic competitions, including Knowledge Bowl, Quiz Bowl, Science Bowl, and Math League.

Chaska won the Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Meet in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2009, and 2012.[3] It also won the Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl League in 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2009.[4]

Sports

Chaska High School is part of the Metro West Conference in the Minnesota State High School League.

State Championships
SeasonSportNumber of ChampionshipsYear
FallFootball12019[5]
Winter Volleyball71991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006, 2014[6]
Dance51999 (high kick), 2012 (jazz), 2012 (high kick), 2013 (jazz), 2013 (high kick)[7]
Basketball, Boys12004[8]
SpringGolf, Girls11979[9]
Total15

Racial equity problems

Students in blackface

The high school was plagued with a series of racist incidents, starting with media coverage in September 2018 of students who attended a home football game in blackface and an African American-style wig.[10] The issue was echoed in 2019 with another blackface incident in February.[11]

Several black students responded by naming themselves Black History Uncensored and leading a peaceful protest on March 1, 2019 at Chaska High School. They created posters that were presented at a community center event later that month. The protest was against what they and others saw as inequitable censorship of their efforts to share what they viewed as important stories in American history.[12][13]

"Negro Hill" images

Responding to news media coverage of an image circulating on students' social media and posted to a lacrosse channel by Chaska students, Bach and superintendent of schools Clint Christopher admitted they'd known about the images for "about a week," and apologized for not at the meeting being transparent about it with parents. The image featured the faces of 25 black students photoshopped on a map with "Negro Hill" written on it.[14]

Notable alumni

References
  1. "CHASKA HIGH SCHOOL". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  2. MSHSL September 11, 2015
  5. "2019 State Football - Class AAAAA". 2019 State Football. Minnesota State High School League. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  6. "Yearbook & Record Book: Girls' Volleyball" (PDF). Minnesota State High School League. p. 9. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  7. "Yearbook & Record Book: Girls' Dance Team" (PDF). Minnesota State High School League. p. 6. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  8. "Yearbook & Record Book: Boys' Basketball" (PDF). Minnesota State High School League. p. 20. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  9. "Yearbook & Record Book: Girls' Golf" (PDF). Minnesota State High School League. p. 9. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  10. "District: Some Chaska HS Students Painted Faces Black at Football Game Friday". KSTP.com. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  11. "Chaska High Principal Calls Students' Racist Social Media Post 'Teachable Moment' – WCCO | CBS Minnesota". Minnesota.cbslocal.com. 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  12. "Students Protest After Minnesota High School Denies Approval for Some Black History Month Posters [Video]". Uk.finance.yahoo.com. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  13. "Chaska High students protest over censoring of Black History Month posters | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul". Fox9.com. 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  14. "Chaska High school students create racist Google Map". kare11.com. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  15. Olson, Mark W.; Mollee Francisco (January 5, 2012). "Presenting Carver County's A-List". Chaska Herald. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  16. "Chaska Hall of Fame 2011 class honored at Friday's Gala". Chaska Herald. April 14, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  17. Hutton, Todd (June 6, 2011). "Marlins call up Brad Hand to face Braves Tuesday". Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2016-09-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. https://www.swnewsmedia.com/chaska_herald/news/business/mypillow-hq-moves-to-chaska/article_591353bb-0134-5148-ba29-2555532d6310.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. Jensen, Sean (April 30, 2008). "Free-agent Stanford center Mattran of Chaska chooses to stay home and try out with Minnesota Vikings". St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  21. Francisco, Mollee (November 15, 2012). "On familiar turf". Chaska Herald. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  22. "Ross Travis profile". NFL. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  23. Francisco, Mollee (December 13, 2012). "Unearthing America's secret history". Chaska Herald. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  24. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Chaska High School

Sources
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