HUMBOLDT HIGH SCHOOL (IOWA)

'Humboldt High School'

'Name'	Humboldt High School
'Address'	1500 Wildcat Road
'Established'	1967
'Community'	Rural
'Type'	Public
'Principal'	Lori Westhoff
'Activities Director'	Greg Thomas
'Grades'	9 to 12
'School Uniforms'	No
'Mascot'	Wildcats
'Colors'	Blue and Gold
'Newspaper'	The Cat Chronicles
'Yearbook'	Nokomis
'Distinction'	Class 3A State Football Champions (2006)
'Website'	www.humboldt.k12.ia.us

'Humboldt High School' is a public, co-educational high school of Humboldt Community School District, and serves grades nine through twelve. Humboldt High School is in Humboldt, Iowa. Humboldt High's mascot is the Wildcat, and the school uses the colors blue and gold. The back of the mascot's jersey says 'wekinwin', representing Humboldt's dedication to success.

Contents

Academics

Auditorium

In School Programs

Activities

Athletic

Co-curricular

Fight song

Lyrics

Famous alumni

Notes

Academics

Humboldt High School has about a 17:1 student / teacher ratio. There are about 471 students enrolled in Humboldt High, where there are 28 full-time teachers. ^[1]
Humboldt High's students took the Iowa Tests for Educational Development (ITED). The 11th graders had 84% at or above proficient in reading, and 88% proficient in math, with a state average of 78% for both subjects.^[2] Students that score above 40% are considered proficient on this standardized test, which is used to compare Humboldt students to their national classmates.
Humboldt Media Center receives approximately $4,000 annually to improve and update the reading material. There are 48 computers available for student access. The media specialist is Shirley Kekstadt.^[3]

Auditorium

R. Wesley Carlson auditorium is in the west portion of the school, and is used for school events such as musicals, plays, and band and chorus concerts. The annual 5th grade operetta is also performed at the auditorium. Carlson, for whom the auditorium was named, was a superintendent at Humboldt from 1970-1989 and the auditorium was dedicated in his honor June 19, 1989. Carlson was a president of the IASA from 1976-1977 also.^[4] There is seating for 450 attendees.

In School Programs

PRIDE (Promoting Responsibility, Integrity, Determination, and Excellence) was established to give students a time for reading, as some students may not read outside of school. Students read for 20 minutes on Monday through Thursdays, and Fridays are left for bonding activities with PRIDE instructors.
In order to receive funding from the state, Humboldt High School has adopted a wellness policy, which impacts the students' health everyday at lunch. Students are encouraged to bring healthy snacks as an alternative, and the school's lunch program no longer offers unhealthy snacks.
Humboldt High School has adopted a cell phone policy as of 2006-2007. The policy was set in place to stop cell phones from disrupting classes.

Activities

Humboldt High School offers many opportunities through athletic and co-curricular activities.

Athletic

Humboldt High offers many athletics a student can be involved in. Some include volleyball, American football, girls and boys cross country, girls and boys basketball, wrestling, girls and boys track & field, soccer, girls and boys golf, baseball, and softball .^[5]
Humboldt Football was 12-1 in 2006, and won a Class 3A State Championship. In the Championship, played in the UNI-Dome, the Wildcats defeated Clear Lake High School 27-9. Jordan Smith, the Cats leading rusher, had 223 rushing yards in the win, a championship game record. Smith received $1,000 for college for his efforts. Senior linebacker and future University of Iowa football player Tyler Nielsen had 6.5 tackles as well.
The 2007 Boys basketball team Wildcats lost to Carroll in overtime, in the substate round of the playoffs. Carroll led by as much as 11, but the game drew to a tie, and Humboldt actually took the lead on a three-point play by University of Iowa football recruit Tyler Nielsen. The overtime belonged to Carroll, despite desperation threes from Spencer Ross, Alex Tatman, and Jarrod Beebe, all seniors.
During the 2006 softball campaign, the team held an undefeated 18-0 record in their conference, led by junior pitcher Katie Tecklenburg.

Head Coach(s) name	Activity
Greg Thomas	Football
Connie Rasmussen	Volleyball
Dean Clasen	Cross Country, Girl's Track
Rodd Money, Dave Orr, Dan Savory	Girl's Basketball
Craig Orness	Boy's Basketball
Chad Beaman	Wrestling
Greg Wickett	Boy's Track
Jess Harklau	Girl's Golf
Bruce Gunderson	Boy's Golf
Joe Hadar	Soccer
Jason Thurm	Baseball
Doug Van Pelt	Softball

Co-curricular

Humboldt High also offers many co-curricular activities to their students.^[5] Some of these are vocal and instrumental music, musicals, KMO, Quiz Bowl, JETS, Science Bowl, and FFA. The instrumental music program at Humboldt High School is lead by Ben Harper, and the vocal music program is lead by Michael Blair. Musicals are directed by Judy Konecne. Mr. Rossbach coaches KMO and Quiz Bowl, where JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) is coached by Dan Holste. Tom Johnson, also an assistant football coach, is the FFA Advisor.
Humboldt High School annually presents a musical each fall. Recent productions have been ''The Wizard of Oz'', ''Copacabana'', ''State Fair'', and ''Oklahoma!'', all under the direction of Judy Konecne. There are also spring plays annually, most recently being ''The Games People Play'', ''Get Smart'', and ''Hercules''. These are also under the direction of Judy Konecne.

Fight song

Humboldt High's fight song is the same as the University of Illinois fight song, Illinois Loyalty, with some minor changes.

Lyrics

:We're loyal to you Humboldt High
:For your gold and your blue Humboldt High
:We'll back you to stand
:You're the best in the land
:For we know you are grand, Humboldt High
:Rah, Rah!
:So smash out that ball, Humboldt High
:We're backing you all Humboldt High
:Our team is the fame protector,
:On boys, for we expect a victory from you Humboldt High.

Famous alumni

★ Bruce Reimers[1], an offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1984–1993.^[7]

★ Frank Gotch, a wrestler who went 154-6 in his wrestling career, winning the world heavyweight championship in 1908. ^[8]

Notes

1. http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/ia/other/771#teachers
2. http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/achievement/ia/771
3. http://directory.silo.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/dir_query.CGI
4. http://www.sai-iowa.org/1000Report.html
5. http://www.humboldt.k12.ia.us/en//activities/
6. http://www.humboldt.k12.ia.us/en//activities/
7. http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=REIMEBRU01
8. http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/other/titles.htm