Bemidji High School

Bemidji High School is a public high school in Bemidji, Minnesota. The school is situated on a 260-acre (1.1 km²) campus two miles (3 km) west of downtown Bemidji. The Mississippi River runs behind the high school. Constructed in 2000, Bemidji High School features, two gymnasiums, an outdoor track, state of the art auditorium, two wood shops, an auto shop, a machine shop, television studio, indoor swimming pool, over 50 classrooms, on campus Subway restaurant, miles of cross country running and skiing trails behind the building and two reverse projection screens in the commons of the school. On the campus, Bemidji High School also houses a hockey arena as well as a Bemidji Area Schools maintenance facility. Bemidji High School is the largest high school in the state in terms of square footage, and the largest in northern Minnesota in terms of student enrollment.

The high school received fame when it was featured on Larry the Cable Guy's new show, Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy. The show put much emphasis on the fact that BHS is the only high school in the world to offer a Curling class.

BHS was named a Silver Medal School by the US News this past year and ranked 29th out of 786 Minnesota high schools.

Construction

Prompted by aging facilities and an increasing student population, the district hired an architect to examine the district’s facility needs and develop solutions. The result is a new 392,000-square-foot (36,400 m²) high school on 260 heavily wooded acres bordered by the Mississippi River. The educational spaces are arranged in academic clusters, each featuring general-purpose classrooms, labs, spaces, a special project center and teacher planning centers. All student-service functions—attendance and assistant principal’s offices, Native American student center, counseling office, nurse’s office, student store and bank, food service, student council and media center—are accessible from the 12,500-square-foot (1,160 m²), technology-rich student commons, which is the hub of the facility. Other features include a large-group room, an 1,100-seat auditorium, a black-box theater, a three-station field house and one-station auxiliary gymnasium, and an eight–lane swimming pool. The project was officially completed in April 2001.

Athletics

Bemidji High School offers a wide array of sporting options for students including boys and girls soccer, swimming, basketball, Nordic skiing, hockey, golf, tennis, baseball, softball, dance line, cross country, curling, cheerleading, wrestling, football, gymnastics, track and field and more.

School Day

Bemidji High School operates on a block type schedule. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday students have only four classes that are 90 minutes long. On Wednesdays, there is a homeroom class (between 9:15 and 9:50) that provides students with an opportunity to build relationships with a specific teacher. With this type of schedule, students are able to take more classes throughout the year.

Academics

Bemidji High School offers over 200 different class options to its students. BHS encompasses several Advanced Placement courses as well as Project Lead the Way courses into the school.

Activities

Bemidji High School offers a variety of different activities;

• Environmental Club
• Interact Club
• Art Club
• GSA (Gay straight alliance)
• JROTC
• Knowledge Bowl
• Link Crew
• Math league
• Mock Trial
• Model UN
• National Honor Society
• Outdoor Adventure Club
• Science Olympiad
• Speech Team
• Student Congress
• Student Council
• Yearbook

Arts

Bemidji High School is home to two national renowned showchoir organizations, La Voce Ballo (All girls grades 9-12) and the top team, Vocalmotive (Boys and Girls grades 9-12). Showchoir is an integral part of the school's atmosphere.

Notable alumni

• Mike Falls, former NFL player^[1]
• Bronko Nagurski, former NFL player^[2]

References