Spring Woods High School

Spring Woods High School
Location
Map
2045 Gessner Rd.

Houston, Texas
77080

United States
Coordinates29°48′39″N 95°32′52″W / 29.81086°N 95.54764°W / 29.81086; -95.54764
Information
School typePublic school (U.S.)
MottoSuccess With Honor and Spirit
Established1964
School districtSpring Branch Independent School District
PrincipalStephanie Meshell
Staff133.94 (FTE)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment2,165 (2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio16.05[1]
Color(s)   
MascotTuffy the Tiger
NicknameTigers
RivalNorthbrook Senior High School
NewspaperThe Regit
YearbookSafari
Websitehttps://swh.springbranchisd.com/
Map

Spring Woods High School is a public secondary school in Spring Branch, Houston, Texas, United States.[2] The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is operated by Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD).

Spring Woods serves several neighborhoods, including Campbell Woods, Royal Oaks, Spring Meadows, Shadow Oaks, and a portion of Spring Shadows. A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.[3]

Founded in 1964, Spring Woods was built to accommodate the rapid population growth in Houston’s western suburbs and has grown into one of the oldest high schools in the district. The campus occupies the former grounds of the Spring Branch Country Club.

History

Spring Woods High School opened in 1964 during the population boom in the western suburbs of Houston on the former grounds of the Spring Branch Country Club. It opened within a year of the openings of Spring Oaks Junior High (now Spring Oaks Middle School) and Westwood Elementary School, all immediately adjacent on the same former golf course. Currently the second-oldest functioning high school in the Spring Branch ISD, Spring Woods serves the northwest part of the district, roughly an area north of Interstate 10 and west of Gessner Road. Expanded and renovated several times, the Spring Woods campus has wide courtyards in which classrooms face inwards, yet with passages that are open to the outside air, a different approach than Northbrook High School and Stratford High School, the two newer schools in the district, which are mostly enclosed but are still kept dry and warm when weather becomes an issue. Spring Woods opened about the same time and with a similar design as Westchester High School, which closed in the 1980s and is currently home to a district-run charter school called Westchester Academy for International Studies.

In 1992 the school's student body was 25% Hispanic, 13% Black, and 13% Asian. In May 1992, 25 12th grade students vandalized the school by spray painting racial slurs, placing the Confederate flag on the flagpole, placing a dead raccoon and a dead opossum in two empty lockers, and drew an image of a black person being impaled on a cross. The principal of Spring Woods, Perry Pope, said that the students took their prank "too far."[4]

Spring Woods was named a 1997–98 National Blue Ribbon School.[5]

Spring Woods has been represented by a costumed tiger mascot since the 1960s. The first female to wear the costume was in the early '80s. The tiger goes by the name of Tuffy and has a sister (if there are 2 people costumed) named Tilly the Tiger. Sometimes Tuffy and Tilly have been accompanied by a third mascot Baby Tiger.

Student Mason Kalkofen felt compelled to wear a hazmat suit in December 2020 after he was obliged to take his final exams in person, because his mother had a high risk of contagion with COVID-19. The school, which has had 17 student and eight employee infections, said it was taking an abundance of caution.[6]

In 2003, two students were awarded the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is awarded each year to only 1,000 graduating seniors across the United States. In 2007, Spring Woods had two students qualify for National Leadership Conference at New York City. Students advanced through Area and State competitions to earn a spot at the National Leadership Conference.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Spring Woods include:[7]

  • Shadow Oaks
  • Spring Branch
  • Westwood
  • Woodview
  • Pine Shadows (partial)
  • Sherwood (partial)
  • Terrace (partial)

Middle schools that feed into Spring Woods include:[7]

  • Spring Branch Middle School (partial)
  • Spring Oaks Middle School (partial)
  • Spring Woods Middle School (partial)

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c "SPRING WOODS H S". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ "Spring Branch Schools" (Archive). Spring Branch Management District. Retrieved on May 18, 2014.
  3. ^ Memorial City Management District Boundary Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine." Memorial City District. Retrieved on January 25, 2009.
  4. ^ "Teens draw fire for prank involving race slurs." The Associated Press at The Dallas Morning News. Thursday May 28, 1992. State News 32A. Retrieved on November 28, 2011.
  5. ^ "Blue ribbon schools program" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-09-22.
  6. ^ Polus, Sarah (18 December 2020). "Student with mom who's high risk for COVID-19 takes exams in hazmat suit". The Hill. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Feeder schools at SBISD.com". Archived from the original on 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  8. ^ "Distinguished Engineer Citations". TTU.edu. Texas Tech University. Retrieved 5 December 2014.