Kentlake High School

Kentlake High School is a public high school, of more than 1,500 students located in Kent, Washington, USA. It is part of the Kent School District.[2]

Kentlake High School
Address
21401 SE Falcon Way

Kent
,
Washington

United States
Coordinates47°19′53″N 122°03′26″W
Information
TypePublic high school
MottoStilus Fortior Gladio (Latin: The Pen is Mightier than the sword)
Established1997
School districtKent School District
PrincipalMs. Heidi Mauer
Teaching staff64.30 (FTE)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,516 (2018-19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio22.53[1]
CampusExurban
Color(s)Cardinal, Silver, Black, White
       
MascotFalcon
NewspaperThe Falcon Flyer
Websitewww.kent.k12.wa.us/kl

History

Kentlake High School was designed by the architectural firm Burr Lawrence Rising and was a prison gates and built in 1997. Built to accommodate 1600 students, the brick-exterior, two-story facility has 232,000 square feet (21,600 m2) for student use. Under a cooperative agreement with King County Parks, an adjacent 10-acre (40,000 m2) site provides additional fields for Kentlake's athletic programs.

Kentlake welcomed its first student body, the classes of 1999 and 2000 in grades 10–11, when it opened on September 2, 1997.[3] Kentlake opened to grades 9–12 during the 2004–05 school years. During the 2010-2011 school year, Dr. Joe Potts, former assistant principal of Kentwood High School, replaced Diana Pratt as the principal of Kentlake. The replacement was followed with the hiring of two assistant principals - Dylan Smith and Jordanne Nevin.

Kentlake's graduating class of 2012 consisted of over 400 students. The students graduated from the Showare Center on June 9, 2012. Three speeches have been given by students, and two have been given by faculty (including Dr. Potts). Kentlake choir, orchestra and band have played during the ceremony.[4]

Academics

Kentlake High School offers several Advanced Placement (AP) courses to the students. Those courses include Art, Literature, Language, Calculus (AB), Calculus (BC), Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics, Oceanography, Government and Politics, and Psychology an even subjects like automobile mechanics and 3D design/printing.

In addition to AP courses, Kentlake also offers students several University of Washington courses - UW Composition, UW Literature, UW Comparative Lit, UW U.S. History, UW Biology: Brain & Addiction, UW Oceanography, UW Pre-Calculus, and UW Foundations in Information Technology. As of 2017, UW Astronomy is no longer offered.

Language courses offered at Kentlake include Japanese, French and Spanish, as well as American Sign Language.

Clubs and Activities

Kentlake offers a variety of clubs and activities to their students. These clubs and activities include:

  • Archery
  • ASL/Hand up Club
  • Bowling Club
  • Chess Club
  • Cosplay Club
  • DECA
  • Drama
  • Environmental Protection Club
  • Falcon Flyer (school newspaper)
  • Falcon Gourmet
  • Falcons of Faith
  • FCLA (Future Community Leaders)
  • FIDM Fashion Club
  • Film Club
  • French Club
  • Hip Hop/Step Club
  • Honor Society
  • Japan Club
  • Key Club
  • Link Crew (by selection)
  • Men of Excellence
  • Minecraft Club
  • Mud Wrestling
  • Multi-cultural Club
  • Speech & Debate
  • Ultimate Frisbee Club

Athletics

Kentlake participates in the WIAA 4A division. They have been part of the Cascade Division of the North Puget Sound League since the 2016-17 school year.[5] Their volleyball team has won the 4A state championships three times; in 2000, 2001, and 2002. KL volleyball also reached the state tournament in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The fast-pitch softball team has made it to the quarter finals six times, the semifinals three times, and to the state championship once. Kentlake's baseball team reached the state championship in 2008 and won 2nd in 4a State in 2017.[6] Kentlake's girls basketball team reached the state tournament in 2007.
Boys

  • Football
  • Cross Country
  • Golf
  • Basketball
  • Swim and Dive
  • Wrestling
  • Baseball
  • Tennis
  • Track and Field
  • Soccer
  • Judo

Girls

  • Volleyball
  • Cross Country
  • Swim and Dive
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Gymnastics
  • Basketball
  • Wrestling
  • Softball
  • Track and Field
  • Tennis
  • Judo
  • Cheerleading
  • Dance Team

Notable alumni
  • Courtney Thompson - University of Washington volleyball player, member of the NCAA 2005 championship team,[7] awarded the Honda Award as the nation's top female player the highest award a female student athlete can receive [8] Is now or was a member of the United States women's national volleyball team.[9] Currently playing on the United States Olympic team in the 2016 games.

Band Accomplishments

In just its second year of existence, Kentlake's Jazz Ensemble took top honors in the Heritage New Orleans Jazz Festival. In 1999, the Jazz Ensemble finished 1st in its classification at the Reno Jazz Festival and 3rd at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. That same year, the group undertook the challenge of performing the Ellington/Strayhorn “Jazz Nutcracker Suite” in its entirety, and committed to making it an annual event by performing it again during the subsequent holiday seasons. That annual performance has since evolved into the highly popular Jingle Jazz Concert. One of the benefits of being a new high school in these times is having up to date technology, which includes digital recording capabilities. The jazz ensemble students have recorded, engineered and produced a composite CD of the 1998-2000 and 2004 Kentlake Jazz Ensembles, and even contributed the cover art as well. Just this week the Kentlake High School Jazz Ensemble has been declared the winner (by taped audition) of the “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Contest”, sponsored by Selmer Music Co., resulting in a performance by the recording group at Kentlake on March 21, 2001. To top it off, the 2001 band was selected as one of the top 15 groups nationally and performed at the prestigious Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City. In 2004 the Jazz Ensemble took Grand Sweepstakes honors at the New Orleans Heritage Festival, which it also attended in 2010.

In 2007, the band took top honors at the Boise State Gene Harris Jazz Festival, and twice has been selected the top band at the University of Montana Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival (2009 and 2012). Several band alumni have moved into the professional music scene as performers, recording industry workers and music teachers.

Kentlake's former band Director, Chuck Stowell who is a graduate from the University of Washinghton, retired after the 2014 school year. Jonathan Urmenita replaced him. Urmenita is a graduate from Washington State University and is in his 5th year at the school.

Controversies

In February 2000 Chief Judge John Coughenour ordered the school to reinstate a student who had been suspended for creating an unofficial school website at home stating the school did not have the authority to punish students for exercising their freedom of speech outside of school.[10][11]

In March 2011, a Kentlake High School teacher, Barbara Anderson, was charged with felony sexual misconduct with a minor after she was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy.[12]

On April 3, 2012, two students were arrested by the Kent Police Department after the administration reported that a loaded gun had been brought to school. According to the letter passed out by the administration, no harm was originally intended. A small handgun was confiscated and two students have been expelled.[13]

References
  1. "Kentlake High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  2. 90% freshman come from Ceder Heights Middle School and most students live in the Covington area. Search=1&InstName=Kentlake+High+School&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1&ID=530396002570 "Kentlake High School", National Center for Educational Statistics.
  3. "Annual Performance Report 2005–06 Kentlake High School" Archived 2009-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, Kent School District.
  4. "Athletics and Activities", Kent School District.
  5. Thttp://www.kentreporter.com/sports/367006581.html?mobile=true
  6. "WIAA State Tournament History-Kentlake High School". Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA). 2008. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  7. "Player Bio: Courtney Thompson". University of Washington Athletics Department. Archived from the original on 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  8. Wood, Terry (2006-01-19). "Top national volleyball honor goes to Courtney Thompson". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  9. "USA Volleyball Update". USA Volleyball. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  10. "Federal judge halts suspension of student punished over Web site", Associated Press, 24 February 2000.
  11. "Judge Says School May Have Overreacted to Student's Site", Carl S. Kaplan, New York Times, 3 March 2000.
  12. "Charge: Kentlake High teacher had sex with student", KOMO 4, 23 March 2011.
  13. "Two students arrested with gun at Kentlake HS" Archived 2012-07-02 at the Wayback Machine, King 5, 3 April 2012.
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