Archer High School

Archer High School is a public high school near Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States. It is operated by Gwinnett County Public Schools. It is named after Gwinnett County teacher and coach Benjamin Vernon Archer.^[1]

The school officially opened on Monday, August 10, 2009, with enrollment topping 1,200 students. It was opened as a relief for surplus students from Grayson High School, Central Gwinnett High School, and Dacula High School. The Archer cluster consists of Harbins Elementary, Cooper Elementary, Lovin Elementary, McConnell Middle, and Archer High School. As of the 2015–2016 school year the school has an enrollment of 2,568 students.^[2]

Athletics

In its first year, 2009–2010, Archer High School offered a varsity team for all sports except football, due to GHSA rules. However, football is also currently offered as a varsity team.

Although the Tigers were beat twice by their rival Mountain View High School in their first season, the Tigers made a comeback to beat the Bears 17-13 at Mountain View's Stadium during their second season. ^[3]

The Tigers' rivals are the Bears of Mountain View High School, the Black Knights of Central Gwinnett High School, and the Falcons of Dacula High School.

In their inaugural year, the school competed in Region 8-AAA of GHSA. In the 2010–2011 school year, Archer High School entered Region 8-AAAAA to join their rivals Central Gwinnett, Dacula, and Grayson High Schools. Other schools they compete against in the region include Berkmar, South Gwinnett, Shiloh, Parkview, and Brookwood High Schools.^[4][5]

Archer has also had many teams compete in state tournaments: girls' track and cross-country, varsity competition cheerleading, wrestling, swimming, girls' softball, girls' basketball, men's basketball, men's tennis, men's track and cross country, volleyball, and football.

Archer's first individual state champion was swimmer Lydia Jones, who won the 50 freestyle swim in February 2011. Archer's second state champion was Ernest Alexander, who won the 195 lb state wrestling championship with a 67-4 record in February 2012. Alexander went on to win his second state title in February 2013 with a 51-0 record. He was Archer's first multiple state champ and first back-to-back state champion. Since then, the Archer swim program has added another state champion, Alexi Smith, a two-time state champion in the 50 free (2013, 2014).

Since 2012, the wrestling program has added eight more individual state titles: (2) MJ Couzan-HWY, (2) Thomas Bullard-145 & 152, (2) Daniel Bullard - 138 & 160, (1) Grant Aycox - 132, and (1) Elliot Lee - 195.

The first program at Archer to win a state title as a team was the 2012 softball team. Since then, the wrestling program has won back to back dual and traditional state championships (2013, 2014). The program was ranked #5 in the nation by USA Magazine in 2014.

State Championships

• Softball State Champs 2011–2012, 2012–2013
• Team Wrestling State Champs 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015
• Dual Wrestling State Champs 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015
• Football State Runners-up 2014–2015

Clubs

Clubs at Archer include Academic Decathlon, Astronomy, Band, BEST club, Chorus, Beta Club, DECA, Diamonds in the Rough, FBLA, FCCLA, Environmental Club, French Club, German Club, FEA, Improv Club, German National Honor Society, Intercultural Club, Orchestra, Red Diamonds, Mu Alpha Theta, Robotics, Latin Club, Latin National Honor Society, Relay for Life, SADD, Spanish Club, Thespian Society, Yearbook, TSA, Science National Honors Society and Student Council.^[6]

References

Coordinates: 33°54′58″N 83°53′37″W / 33.91611°N 83.89361°W / 33.91611; -83.89361