Flower Mound High School (FMHS) is part of Lewisville Independent School District and is located in Flower Mound, Texas, United States. The school rests on 52 acres (21 ha) of land that were purchased in 1993. FMHS was the second high school built in Flower Mound, after Edward S. Marcus High School. With the expansion of the town in the 1980s and 1990s (from 1980 to 2000, it grew from 4,402 to 50,702 residents), a second high school was built to accommodate the growth. Flower Mound High School has been called one of the top ten best public high schools in the Dallas area and consistently receives an "Exemplary" (highest) rating from the Texas Education Agency.
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History
On March 6, 1995, Lewisville ISD broke ground on the first of two $32 million high schools. Intended to relieve pressure from Marcus and Lewisville High Schools, plans were set for a 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) campus, including two gymnasiums, a cafetorium, an auditorium, a band hall, a football field, tennis courts, and three parking lots. To accommodate additional students, a previously unplanned wing containing 45 additional classrooms was completed in time for the 2000-2001 school year. Two of the original planned parking lots, as well as an unplanned second cafeteria, were not completed until after the school opened.
108 staff members, led by principal Norman Reuther, taught the first student body of 986 freshman and sophomores. The school was recognized as exemplary in the charter year. In the school's second year, varsity sports were introduced and the student body grew to include grades nine through eleven.
In 2000, Kansas State University threatened legal action against FMHS for an alleged copyright violation on the Jaguar logo. Rather than pay a licensing fee to KSU, as some schools in Texas were currently doing, principal Norman Reuther ordered a re-design of the logo, to avoid the 8% merchandise commission.
In August 2001, Reuther welcomed the school's first senior class; the student body grew to over 2,400 students. In 2013, the school began a project to build a new campus that would be for 9th graders only. The class of 2018 is the first class to use the new freshman center.
Principal Norman Reuther left FMHS at the end of the 2003 school year; assistant principal Jack Clark subsequently took over the position of principal. Under his leadership the school's enrollment continued to grow (see graph, right). In the spring of 2007, Clark and his wife and head counselor, Donna, announced their retirement. Paul Moon was selected to head the school.
In January 2008, Moon announced that FMHS would undergo an expansion adding a third gymnasium and a second band room, to be completed in May 2009.
In the spring of 2008, LISD began random drug testing of all high school students in extracurricular and co-curricular groups; 75 weekly random students from FMHS were tested that spring, and 48 students per week were tested for the 2008-09 school year.
In May 2011, it was publicly announced that Paul Moon would retire and pass the leadership to Sonya Lail.
2007 FMHS graduates earned over ten million dollars in scholarships, exceeding $14,000 per person. The 2008 graduating class accumulated approximately $15,500,000 in scholarship money, exceeding an average of $22,000 per graduate.
Athletics
Flower Mound High School is a 6A school, competing as part of the UIL in District 5-6A, the classification for schools with the largest enrollment. Its main rival is Marcus High School, the school FMHS plays against annually in the Mound Showdown. Other schools in the district are Lewisville High School; Hebron High School; Plano Senior, East, and West High Schools; and Allen High School. The main sports the Jaguars compete in are football, boys' and girls' soccer, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, hockey (although not school-sponsored), softball, tennis, swimming, track, volleyball, bowling, and wrestling. In the 2006-2007 school year, every athletic team at the school advanced to playoffs, with several winning the district title.
In 2004, the Flower Mound High School baseball program, under head Coach Derek Matlock, competed for the state championship but fell a bit short in the final game. Flower Mound's senior Dusten Adams scored the only run for the Flower Mound team in their 8-1 loss to Corpus Christi Moody. That same year, three members of the baseball squad were drafted by MLB: Craig Italiano (Athletics), Paul Kelly (Twins) and Jordan Meaker (Diamondbacks). The 2008 Jags baseball team advanced to the Class 5A Regional Finals in 2008, losing to Southlake Carroll. In the spring of 2014 the Jaguars baseball team won the state 5A title.
In 2016 the girls' soccer team won the state 6a title, winning the first state title for any girls' team.
In 2008 boys' basketball, the Jaguars advanced to the regional quarterfinals, the furthest they had ever advanced, before losing to Colleyville Heritage.
2006 was the first year for the Jaguar football program to reach the playoffs; unfortunately, they lost to Grapevine High School. In 2007, the Jags again advanced to the playoffs, but lost in the first round to defending Class 5A State Champions Carroll Senior High School. In 2009, they were in the playoffs, but lost to Southlake Caroll (formally known as Carroll Senior High School). The football team has not made the playoffs since.
The 2008 Lady Jags softball team advanced to the regional semi-finals, where they lost to Weatherford High School.
In 2008, the school's male swim team placed second at the UIL Class 5A State Swimming and Diving Championships held in Austin, the highest finish ever for any LISD school.
The Jaguar cross country team is arguably one of the most successful programs at the school. Both the boys' and girls' teams placed in the top 10 in the state in 2009, and had similar, if not better results in 2010. In 2011, the girls placed third at state, and in 2015, the boys placed third. The boys placed second in the state in 2005.
In track and field, in April 2010 Senior Connor Adams won the 1600m state title.
The Flower Mound wrestling team has been a district power for many years, and was the UIL state runner-up for two years in a row in 2010 and 2011. Dylan Akers and Drake Dudley were both individual state champions in 2011. Connor Ward was the 1600m state champion in 2011.
In February 2015, at a boys' basketball game against Plano East Senior High School, two students (one, a current Flower Mound High School student, the other a former student from an un-specified Lewisville Independent School District school) in the Flower Mound High School student section held up signs reading "White Power". The signs, provided to the students by cheerleaders, were meant to read "Navy, Silver, White" (the school's colors) and "Jaguar Power" (in reference to their mascot). The incident sparked controversy on social networks, and was covered by both local and national media outlets. An investigation into the issue was conducted by the Lewisville Independent School District. On February 20, 2015, the Lewisville Independent School District released a statement that confirmed the display of the signs had been intentional, and stated that, in conjunction with the local police department, disciplinary action had been taken.
Fine arts
Theatre
The FMHS Theatre Department produces plays for the community. FMHS Theatre has been recognized on the state level winning third place in the UIL One-Act Play contest in 2005 for their production of Into the Woods. In April 2008, the Dramatic Paws UIL One-Act Play, The Rimers of Eldritch, was selected to compete at the state level, becoming one of the top eight plays in the state of Texas in Conference 5A. At the state level, FMHS won Best Technician and Honorable Mention All-Star Cast. The theatre department has also advanced to state in the UIL design competition in 2007, while the Dramatic Paws, the varsity theater group, advanced their one-act play Dark of the Moon to the region competition, making it one of the top 24 shows in the state. Flower Mound went to state again in 2013 for their production of These Shining Lives, which ended up taking third place out of all the 5A schools. In the 2008-2009 school year the Theatre Department presented Forever Plaid in September, then had the opportunity to present the performance at the International Thespian Society (ITS) State Convention in Fort Worth. They then were invited to perform at the International Thespian Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Performing Arts Departments were also awarded an Honorable Mention award in the Showstopper Best High School Musical contest by USA WEEKEND magazine for their production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. They were the only entry recognized for the state of Texas.
Choir
The FMHS Choral program consists of four large ensembles (Varsity Jaguar Chorale, JV Chamber Singers, JV Gentlemen Jags, and JV Treble Choir) and two smaller jazz ensembles (Vocal/ease and C'est la Vie). Additionally, the Men's Chamber Choir (MCC) and the Women's Concert Choir (WCC) are two extracurricular ensembles that compete in UIL.
The Jaguar Chorale performed at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio on February 28, 2007, one of only three 5A choirs in the state so honored, in addition to performing Mozart's "Requiem" with Colleyville Heritage and Hebron earlier in the 2006-2007 school year. In 2008, the Jaguar Chorale performed at the Southwestern division of the American Choral Directors Association Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2014, the MCC performed at the Texas Music Educators' Association (TMEA) convention in San Antonio, Texas. In 2017, the MCC performed at the national ACDA Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Jaguar Chorale has received "Superior" ratings at UIL Contest, as have the other three choirs, and the choirs formerly known as Shades of Blue and Azure have received Superior ratings at Solo and Ensemble. The choir formerly known as Shades of Blue has been in the top 12 honorable mentions at the San Antonio Madrigal Festival for three years.
In the 2015-2016 band show "Surreal", members of the jazz ensemble formerly known as Shades of Blue performed in the band show as a choir, competing at BOA Arlington Regional competition and at BOA San Antonio Super regional competition. In both competitions, the band won first place and a number of captions.
Flower Mound High School is part of LSC Region 2, Area C. Previously it was part of Region 24, Area A.
C'est la Vie, the women's extracurricular pop a capella ensemble of Flower Mound High School, placed 2nd at the ICHSA Southwest Quarterfinals in early March 2017 in their first year of competition and will compete in the ICHSA Southwest Semifinals in late March 2017.
Orchestra
The FMHS Orchestra consists of two groups of musical ensembles. The Symphonic Orchestra is the lower of the two groups and consists primarily of freshman and sophomores with a few juniors and seniors. The Chamber Orchestra is composed primarily of seniors. Both ensembles are award-winning and have been received "Superior" ratings at the UIL Contest. The Superior ratings continue at many festivals and competitions around the Dallas Metroplex and across the country. Numerous musicians in the orchestra have made the LISD All-District and TMEA Region 24 All-Region orchestras, and some have joined the TMEA All-State orchestra. The FMHS Orchestra takes regular trips to perform in competitions. The Chamber Orchestra has been invited to the Midwest Clinic, an international band and orchestra Conference in Chicago, after their recording was chosen by the judges.
Awards
In March 2006, Flower Mound High School received its second consecutive GRAMMY Signature Schools Gold Award, which recognizes the top six secondary schools in the nation in the field of music education. The 2005 and 2006 Gold Awards came with a $7,000 and $5,000 scholarship, respectively, to further the musical instruction of FMHS's students.
Flower Mound High School is one of only a handful of schools across the country to receive the 2011 Grammy Signature School Gold distinction from the Grammy Foundation. This is the fourth time FMHS has been named a Grammy Signature School and the third time it has received the "Gold" accolade. FMHS was named a Grammy Signature School in recognition of making an outstanding commitment to music education.
The Flower Mound High School music program has eight directors: Brent Biskup, Michael King, Rob Myers, Matt Quinlan, Dr. Mark Rohwer, Lindsay Swartwood, Aaron Geomets, and Ann Smith.
Art
The school's Art Department and its students entered the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, a statewide competition, receiving 62 "Superior" ratings at Regionals, 14 gold medals at State, and seven gold seals, which allows those seven pieces to tour Texas on an art exhibition.
In addition, one of FMHS's art students, Janvi Shahi (class of 2017), has raised over $100,000 for the Make a Wish Foundation by auctioning her artwork.
The Jaguar Marching Band
The FMHS marching band and drumline compete in competitions. The drumline has many honors, including first place at the 2006 PASIC Marching Percussion Festival, Best Snare Line, Best Cymbal Line, and Best Front Ensemble. In 2007 the drumline won first with Best Drumline, Best Tenor Line, Best Snare Line, and Best Pit, and best overall.
Flower Mound High School band productions:
- 2007-2008: "Music of Queen" music: Queen's "Bicycle Race" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"
- 2008-2009: "Hero" music: Mahler's "Symphony 2", Camille Saint-Seans' "Aquariam", Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman", and music from The Incredibles
- 2009-2010: "Heavy metal" music: Bach's "Toccata in D minor", Michael Daugherty's "Heavy Metal", Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque", and Charles R. Young's "Tempered Steel"
- 2010-2011: "Diversion of Angels"/"Three Voices" music: Prokofiev's "Symphony no.5"
- 2011-2012: "Belle Epoque" music: Erik Satie - "Gymnopédie No.2", Francis Poulenc's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra", Darius Milhaud's "La Création du Monde", Edith Piaf's (Louie Guy) "La Vie en Rose", and Arthur Honegger's "Symphony No. 3 Liturgique", and "Dies Irae"
Marching shows:
- 2012: "The Greatest Show on Earth"
- 2013: "Flomodern"
- 2014: "Harmonic Tapestries"
- 2015: "Surreal"
- 2016: "Leonardo's Dream"
Previous shows that should be noted are "Exploration of the Mind", "The Commute", "Groove", and "Evolution".
Achievements
- 2011: Area B UIL marching contest: 7th place finalist
- 2012: Bands of America Arlington regional: Prelims - 3rd place in class 4A, 3rd overall (74.35)/ Finals 4th place (75.50)
- 2014: Bands of America Grand Nationals: Finals: 6th place
- 2015: Bands of America Arlington regional
- Bands of America San Antonio Super regional
- 2016: Bands of America Plano regional
- 2016: UIL 6A State Marching Contest Champions
From October 11, 2016 through October 3rd, 2017, the Flower Mound High School Band was consistently ranked the best high school band in America on HornRank.com. Two other LISD schools, Marcus High School and Hebron High School are also consistently ranked among the top 30 high school bands in America.
Academics
Flower Mound High School has been called one of the top ten "best public high schools" in the Dallas area and consistently receives an "Exemplary" (highest) rating from the Texas Education Agency.
FMHS uses block scheduling to separate the school day into four periods; one-half state credit per period is earned for every nine weeks of instruction. Grading for courses is based upon a discrete 100-point scale; students pass a course if they receive a 70 or higher. While credit by examination is available for students who have failed courses, resulting scores are not used in grade point average calculations. LISD uses a weighted scale for GPA calculation, giving greater weight to Advanced Placement (AP) and pre-AP courses; the resulting grade points are then averaged to produce a student's GPA on a 130-point scale to determine class rank.
In the past four available years, Flower Mound High School has received Gold Performance Acknowledgments from the TEA for its attendance (2002-06), AP/IB results (2002-06), college admissions (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006), and the Recommended High School Program (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006). In 2005, The Texas Educational Excellence Project ranked FMHS 23rd in the state for Latino Achievement, despite the fact that only 8.2% of the town is Latino or Hispanic (compared to a statewide average of 35.7%).
The FMHS 11th grade team placed first in the nation in WordMasters, an annual critical reading and analysis competition; six FMHS students received accolades for their perfect scores.
Advanced classes
Currently, the only advanced academic classes offered by Flower Mound High School are Advanced Placement and pre-Advanced Placement courses, though various auxiliary courses are offered to give students further research into disciplines of their choice as "elective" courses. Starting in the fall of 2015, Flower Mound offers Gifted and Talented (GT) courses to those who were previously in either GT or LEAP classes.
2,779 students attended FMHS in the 2006-2007 school year, with core subject classes averaging a student to teacher ratio of 25:1. Over half the students of FMHS are in Pre-AP or AP classes; 72% of 2007 graduates went on to a four-year college, and 19% to a two-year college.
In 2007, 36.4% of FMHS students took at least one AP or dual-enrollment course in the 2005-2006 school year; 32.2% of the school population took at least one AP or IB test; that number rose in 2007 to 39.2%. 75% of the 1,162 AP tests taken scored a "passing" 3, 4, or 5, beating the national average of 57.0%. The school currently recognizes 77 AP Scholars, 41 AP Scholars with Honor, 39 AP Scholars with Distinction, and 6 National Scholars.
Off-campus education
Flower Mound High School provides students with several off-campus instruction options. Among the most recent is the LISD eSchool, which provides online courses for high school students needing a more flexible, alternative education. Dale Jackson Career Center (DJCC) offers all high school students in the district a variety of technical and career-oriented courses such as Ad Design and Welding. The Lewisville Learning Center provides accelerated education for grade advancement, alternative education for disciplinary students, and parenting education courses. Lewisville ISD announced plans for the opening of a night school in January 2009 meant to supplement and accelerate existing high school education and provide an alternative path to a high school diploma. Flower Mound students also may enroll in courses at the fairly new Career Center East (CCE).
Standardized testing
Flower Mound has consistently performed well on the College Board's PSAT/NMSQT testing. For the 2016-2017 school year, FMHS had 26 National Merit Finalists in the first administration of the redesigned PSAT test, 64 National Merit Commended Scholars, and 12 National Hispanic Scholars. In the past, the class of 2007 contained 13 National Merit Semi-Finalists, 12 of whom attained Finalist status; the class of 2008 featured 19 Semi-finalists, 17 of whom attained Finalist status, 35 Commended Scholars, and 9 Hispanic Scholars; and the class of 2011 contained 34 National Merit Semi-Finalists.
Based upon 2006-07 scores, the average Flower Mound student scores a 1644 on the SAT with writing, compared to a national average of 1511. On the ACT, the average Flower Mound composite score is 22.7, compared to the national average of 21.2.
School Songs
The tune for Flower Mound's alma mater is Thaxted, the same tune as "I Vow to Thee, My Country" (a British patriotic hymn used at the funerals of Winston Churchill, Princess Diana, and Margaret Thatcher). This tune was composed by Gustav Holst as part of Jupiter in his suite The Planets. Lyrics were composed by Flower Mound's choir director Dr. Mark Rohwer.
Flower Mound's fight song uses the tune of University of Michigan's fight song, "The Victors" (composed by Louis Elbel).
Co-curricular and extracurricular activities
The school's co-curricular and extracurricular offerings include:
Academic Decathlon
Academic Decathlon is offered as a course at FMHS, though enrollment in the course is not a prerequisite for team selection. For the first time, the FMHS Academic Decathlon team advanced to the state competition in 2007. Ranked 26th based upon regional scores, the team improved to 10th at the state competition held in Katy, Texas. In January 2008 the team placed third at the Region IX competition and became ranked 12th statewide going into the Texas State finals, where they placed 11. Academic Decathlon also made state in the 2009-2010 competition, finishing 24th. In the 2011-2012 competition, they went to state and were ranked 13th in Texas.
Debate
The FMHS Debate Team competes at twenty tournaments annually and includes between 30 and 45 students per year. In 2008-2009, the team qualified seven students to the state tournament and five students to the national tournament. In the first semester of the 2009-2010 school year, the team was ranked as high as fifth in the state of Texas and 13th in the nation.
Math Club
The Flower Mound High School Math Club participates in several state and national competitions, including the AMC and AIME tests, the Trig-Star competition, UIL Mathematics, UIL Number Sense, UIL Calculator, the Best of Texas competition, TMSCA tests, and the UT Arlington Calculus Bowl.
The Math Club annually sponsors the AMC and AIME tests and invites many of the school's motivated and mathematically advanced students to participate. In 2006 and 2007, the school achieved the AMC 12 Merit Roll. The Trig-Star competition, a nationally held trigonometry competition sponsored by the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors and the National Society of Professional Surveyors, is also open to the student body and by invitation. In 2007, one student won the state competition and placed fifth nationally, the highest Texas finish in years. Attending the UT Arlington Calculus Bowl for the first time, a five-person team from FMHS captured first place from three-time champion the Oakridge School.
UIL academics
Flower Mound holds claim to two UIL Academic State Championship titles. The first was won in 2001-2002 by Austin Little in 5A Computer Science, and the second was won in 2006-2007 by Christine Barcellona in 5A Literary Criticism. The 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 FMHS Literary Criticism Teams won first place.
With the new district realignment for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, Flower Mound won team events at the district level for Calculator, Current Issues, Computer Science, Literary Criticism, Mathematics, Number Sense, Science, and Spelling, as well as qualifying in One-Act Play for the Area competition. At the Region I-5A competition in Lubbock, the Literary Criticism team placed second and qualified for the Wild Card spot, with several members qualifying for the state competition in Austin. There, the Literary Criticism team placed second, and Braeden Mayer placed seventh in Persuasive Speaking.
FMHS placed third overall at State in the Group event of Theater in 2008.
Feeder schools
Elementary schools that feed into Flower Mound include: (Great! Schools rating in parenthesis) Bluebonnet (10/10), Donald (9/10), Forest Vista (10/10), Garden Ridge (9/10), Liberty (10/10), Old Settlers (10/10), and Wellington (10/10).
Middle schools that feed into Flower Mound include: Forestwood Middle School (10/10), McKamy Middle School (10/10), and Shadow Ridge Middle School (10/10).
Flower Mound High School earns a Great! Schools rating of 9/10.
Notable alumni
- Chris Brown, center for the Phoenix Coyotes (did not graduate)
- Cody Gunter, pitcher in the Washington Nationals Organization
- James Hanna, tight end for the Dallas Cowboys
- Taylor Hoagland, member of the USA women's national softball team
- Craig Italiano, pitcher for the San Diego Padres
- Nick Stephens, free agent quarterback with the NFL
- Taylor Jacobs, class of 2007, assistant lighting director for the Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet, and the Dallas Children's Theatre
- Lauren Cox, Baylor girls' basketball, voted the nation's top senior recruit
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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