Parkway High School (Louisiana)

Parkway High School

Parkway High School
Safe, Honest, Accountable, Respectful, Present (SHARP)[1]
Location
2010 Colleen Drive
Bossier City, Louisiana 71112
United States
Coordinates 32°26′03″N 93°38′41″W / 32.43417°N 93.64472°W / 32.43417; -93.64472Coordinates: 32°26′03″N 93°38′41″W / 32.43417°N 93.64472°W / 32.43417; -93.64472
Information
Type Public
School district Bossier Parish School Board
Faculty about 72[2]
Enrollment about 1200
Color(s) Black, White, and Red[3]             
Athletics conference LHSAA [3]
Mascot Panthers[3]
Principal Waylon Bates[4]
Vice Principals Becky Gray and Justin James[4]
Website PHS Website

Parkway High School is a class 5A public high school located in Bossier City, Louisiana, United States. The school is under the directory of the Bossier Parish School Board, and is currently under the administration of principal Waylon Bates and vice principals Becky Gray and Justin James.[4] Parkway has been ranked as a "Top Gains School" by the Louisiana Department of Education.[5]

Alongside the main campus, the school operates property at the Preston Crownover Stadium, which serves as the school's main athletics facility.[6] The school is partnered with Bossier Parish Community College and the Bossier Parish School for Technology and Innovative Learning to provide collegiate-level dual enrollment courses and vocational courses.[7][8]

History

Parkway High School began as a junior high school in 1963 and became a high school beginning with the freshman class of 1968. The location of the original school was on Panther Drive, north of where the current campus is. The school moved to their new campus on Colleen Drive during the 2009-2010 school year.[1] After the 2015-2016 school year, principal Nichole E. Bourgeois Ed.D. was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent, and vice principal Lorenza Baker was transferred to Rusheon Middle School, where he took on the role of principal. Waylon Bates, former principal of Haughton Middle School, took over as principal of Parkway in the 2016-2017 school year with Justin James taking the vice principal position left vacant by Baker.[4][9]

Activities and Student Life

Parkway High School has a wide range of extracurricular activities such as its nearly 200 member band, The Pride of Pantherland.[10] Other activities include the Black Cat Revue dance line team, the cheerleading squad, and their Cross Country Team.[1] The school is home to many clubs such as the National Beta Club, the Octagon Club, the National Honor Society, Destination Imagination, and FCA.[11] Being very close to Barksdale Air Force Base, the school has a prominent JROTC program, the LA-071st, which is the second largest JROTC program in the state of Louisiana with more than 300 students in the curriculum.[5] The AFJROTC program includes a widely successful Cyber Patriot team that finished in the top one percent of nationwide teams at the CyberPatriot VI National Finals in 2014.[12]

The school is the recipient of a $500,000 National Math and Science Initiative grant sponsored by the Department of Defense Education Activity for the improvement and promotion of Advanced Placement courses at the school.[13] The school also is a three-year recipient of the State Farm Celebrate My Drive grant, totaling up to $150,000 overall. The grant money from Celebrate My Drive is used to promote safe driving and improve student life overall.[14][15]

The school employs their "Safe, Honest, Accountable, Respectful, Present" or "SHARP" motto to many factors of student activities and life, most of which are outlined in their handbook. A uniform policy is also enforced in accordance with the Bossier Parish School Board policy. The school employs a Guided Alternative Suspension Program (GASP) in some cases of disciplinary infraction.[16]

Athletics

The school's athletics program gained wide notoriety during the 2013-2014 school year when their varsity football team, under the leadership of quarterback Brandon Harris, went to the Class 5A Non-Select State Championships at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.[17] The school is also known widely for its Cross Country team, which has many accolades including many state and district championship titles.[18] Alongside these teams, the school also has teams for archery, baseball, girls' and boys' basketball, bowling, golf, power lifting, girls' and boys' soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and wrestling.[16]

The athletics programs are supported at events by the Parkway High School Student Section, also known as Panther Nation.[19] The school also has a cheerleading team, a dance line, and a pep squad as spirit organizations. The dance line, also known as the Black Cat Revue, performs dances at all home football and basketball games during halftime.[20]

Marching and Concert Band

The school is home to a large instrumental music program under the direction of Mr. Mark Minton. This program is divided into two major classifications, marching band and concert band. The program also includes a jazz band and a basketball pep band.[10]

The school's marching band program, widely known as the Pride of Pantherland, is a nearly two-hundred member Corps Style competition band. The Pride of Pantherland performs at most home football games at halftime and participates in four to five marching competitions per season. Recent accolades of the Pride of Pantherland Marching Band include Grand Champions at the Northwestern State University Classic on the Cane Invitational in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, superior ratings at the LMEA District VIII Marching Assessment, and seventh place at the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands.[5][21][22] The marching band also hosts their own invitational in mid-October at which they perform in exhibition.[23]

The school's concert band program features two main performing ensembles, the symphonic band and the wind ensemble. The symphonic band is made up mostly of younger players and performs musical literature with a focus on expanding the skill of instrumentalists. The wind ensemble is made up mostly of members of the LMEA District VIII honor bands selected through audition. The wind ensemble performs collegiate-level musical literature and serves as the school's main concert ensemble. Recent accolades of the Parkway Concert Bands include superior ratings at district festival, superior ratings at the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in 2015, and a high number of students in the LMEA District VIII Honor Bands.[10][24]

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 3 Parkway High School. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  2. ↑ Faculty. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  3. 1 2 3 LHSAA Member Schools - Parkway. Louisiana High School Athletic Association. Retrieved on 2008-10-14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Administration. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  5. 1 2 3 Accolades of High Schools. Bossier Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  6. ↑ Preston Crownover Stadium. Stadium Connection. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  7. ↑ Bossier Parish School for Technology and Innovative Learning. Bossier Parish School Board. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  8. ↑ Course Listings. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  9. ↑ Bossier Schools veteran to take helm of Parkway High School. Shreveport Times. Retrieved on 2016-07-08.
  10. 1 2 3 Pride of Pantherland. Pride of Pantherland Marching Band. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  11. ↑ Clubs. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  12. ↑ The One Percent. Bossier Press-Tribune. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  13. ↑ Message From The Principal. Nichole E. Bourgeois. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  14. ↑ Parkway brings home $25k in national contest. Sonja Bailes. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  15. ↑ Parkway HS makes top 100 on 'Celebrate My Drive' contest. KTBS. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  16. 1 2 Parkway Student Handboook. Bossier Parish School Board. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  17. ↑ Parkway making first trip to Dome. Matt Vines. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  18. ↑ Parkway Cross Country. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  19. ↑ Panther Nation. Parkway High School Panther Nation. Retrieved on 2016-08-07.
  20. ↑ Student Life. Parkway High School. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  21. ↑ Classic on the Cane 2015. Northwestern State Bands. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  22. ↑ Parkway band wins NSU marching contest. The Shreveport Times. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  23. ↑ Parkway Marching Band Competition. The Shreveport Times. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  24. ↑ High School Honor Bands. Louisiana Music Educators Association, District VIII. Retrieved on 2015-11-22.
  25. ↑ Hedges, Russell. "Former Parkway pitcher Seth Lugo a step away from major leagues". Bossier Press. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
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