Valley High School (West Des Moines, Iowa)

Valley High School (VHS) is a public high school located in West Des Moines, Iowa. VHS is a three-year comprehensive high school with approximately 2,000 students. The school hosts grades 10–12. It is run by the West Des Moines Community Schools. Freshmen attend a separate school, Valley Southwoods.

Valley High School
Address
3650 Woodland Avenue

West Des Moines, Iowa
50266
Coordinates41.5880°N 93.7540°W / 41.5880; -93.7540
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1895
School districtWest Des Moines Community Schools
SuperintendentMatt Adams
NCES School ID1930930[1]
PrincipalDavid Maxwell
Faculty112.93 (on an FTE basis)[1]
Enrollment2,048 (2021–22)[1]
Student to teacher ratio18.14[1]
Color(s)    Orange and black
Athletics conferenceCentral Iowa Metro League
NicknameTigers
RivalsDowling Catholic
Websitewww.wdmcs.org/valley

Demographics

As of the 2021–22 school year, there were 572 students (27.9% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 97 (4.7% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

History

In October 1895, the first established high school in Valley Junction at 415 Seventh Street was opened. Valley Junction's first graduation was held on May 31, 1901, with just nine graduates. By 1916, the study body population had grown and a local bond was passed for a new high school. Construction on $50,000 structure at Eighth and Hillside was completed in 1917.

In 1938, when Valley Junction changed its name, the school district changed, becoming the West Des Moines Independent School District. At this time, one high school, a junior high school and three elementary schools served the needs of the community. In the same year and thanks to a grant from the Public Works Administrations, a new concrete stadium was built just north of the high school on Eighth Street.

In 1962, 38 acres (150,000 m2) of farmland near 35th and Ashworth Road were purchased by the School Board for $116,000 as a site for a new high school. Construction of Valley High School was completed in four phases from 1963 to 1970. Valley became a four-year high school during the 1971–72 school year. Costing nearly $5.5 million, Valley High School stretched almost one-quarter of a mile from end to end. Also in 1971, Valley opened the Metropolitan Conference's newest and largest gymnasium. Additional classrooms, science labs, and other student spaces have been added over the years. The first year that the new school was open, it was used for classrooms for some sixth grade students and for the ninth grade year of the class of 1970. The next year, it became a three-year high school. The graduating class of 1975 was the first class to attend four years in the new building.

In 1995 the school district had 546 students as an average enrollment in grades 9-12, making Valley the largest high school in the state.[2]

In the fall of 1997, the construction of the Freshman High School Building, Valley Southwoods, was completed. Valley High School became a tenth through 12th grade building. Valley Southwoods school serves ninth-grade students and provides a similar style of curriculum as Valley High School.

Academics

Valley offers almost 190 academic courses, including 23 Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses. Valley also has recently started an Honors Program, which is meant to be comparable to the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program.

Athletics

Football

The Valley High School football team won the Iowa State 4A Championships in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2011.[3]

Boys' Cross Country

The Valley High School Boys' Cross Country team won the 1A State title in 1955.[4]

The Valley High School Boys' Cross Country team won the 2A State title in 1962.[5]

Boys' basketball

The Valley High School boys' basketball team won the 4A state title in 1993, 2016, and 2023. [6]

Girls' basketball

The Valley High School girls' basketball Team won the 5A state title in 2017 and 2019.[7]

Wrestling

The Valley High School wrestling team won the 3A dual tournament state title in 2016.[8]

Boys' swimming

The Valley High School Boys' Swim Team won the 4A State title in 1984 and 2010.[9]

Girls' swimming

The Valley High School girls' swimming and diving team won the state title in 1974, 1975, in addition to winning it four years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008).[10]

Girls' soccer

The Valley High School girls' soccer team won the 4A State title in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.[11]

Boys' soccer

The Valley High School boys' soccer club won the state title 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2016.[12]

Boys' Track and Field

The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in Outdoor Track and Field in 1942, 1955, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018 and 2019.[13]

The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in Indoor Track and Field in 1951 and 1952.[14]

The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in the Pentathlon in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2016.

Girls' track and field

The Valley High School girls' track and field won the 4A State Track and Field Meet in 1998, 2003 and 2006.[15]

Boys' tennis

The Valley High School Boys' Tennis Team won the State title in 1985, 1986, 1993 and 2010.[16]

Girls' tennis

The Valley High School girls' tennis team won the state title in 1993, 2A in 1994 and 2001.[17]

Girls' golf

The Valley High School Girls' Golf Team won the state title in 1968, 1970, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 3A in 1982, 1983, and 4A in 2006.[18]

Boys' golf

The Valley High School boys' golf team won the state title in 1976, 1989, 2008, 2012 and 2017.[19]

Baseball

The Valley High School baseball team won the state title in 1955, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.[20]

Softball

The Valley High School girls' softball team won state titles in 1990, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2019.[21]

Synchronized Swimming (No longer sanctioned by IGHSAU)

The Valley High School Girls' Synchronized Swim Team won the State title in 1979, 1980 and 1981. It is now held as a club sport during the winter and spring.

Music & arts

The Valley Music Department was honored with the first GRAMMY Signature School award in 1999.[22][23][24] The 240-member Valley Marchmasters were selected to perform in the 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade.[23] In March 2007, the band traveled to Dublin, Ireland to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade.

In addition to the strong band program, Valley's orchestra has completed concert tours in Austria and Italy. In June 2007, the orchestra traveled to New York City, New York to play at Carnegie Hall as part of NYBOF'07.[25]

The choral show, jazz, and core ensembles have performed in several national and international festivals from Carnegie Hall to Disney World, and received top honors at competitions throughout the country.[26]

The school also has a high school radio station, KWDM, which broadcasts from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. It is one of only two high school radio programs in Iowa and the only high school program in the state to have a fully digital production and on-air studio.[27]

Mimes Performing at Valley's 2005 Winter Assembly

Activities

Valley High School won the 2006 National High School Mock Trial Championship, held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and more recently won the state competition in 2011.[28] Valley has a large selection of clubs for students to participate in.

The Valley High School debate team has won the Lincoln-Douglas division of the Tournament of Champions (debate), the debate national championship,[29] more times than any other high school in the United States.[30] In the 2015–16 debate season, they were in the top five programs in the country by number of Tournament of Champions bids and hosted a tournament with an octafinals bid to the Tournament of Champions in Lincoln-Douglas, the highest level, one of only eight high schools in the country to do so.[31]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. School data for Valley High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed June 19, 2023.
  2. Siebert, Mark (1995-09-17). "Survival of the littlest". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. pp. 1B, 8B. - See clippings of first and of second pages at Newspapers.com.
  3. "42 YEARS OF FOOTBALL PLAY-OFF CHAMPIONS" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  4. "2021 Cross Country Record Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. August 26, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  5. "2021 Cross Country Record Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. August 26, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  6. "2021 Basketball State Tournament Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  7. Staff. "Saturday at the Iowa girls' state basketball tournament: All the scores, stories and highlights", The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), March 4, 2017. Accessed May 20, 2017. "Champions were crowned Saturday night in 3A, 4A and 5A. Get caught up: Class 5A: No. 2 West Des Moines Valley 71, vs. No. 5 Cedar Falls 59"
  8. Cuellar, Chris. "State wrestling dual fields set as Valley, Southeast Polk return in 3A", The Des Moines Register, February 8, 2017. Accessed May 20, 2017. "Top-ranked Southeast Polk and defending dual champion West Des Moines Valley led the eight-team charge back into next Wednesday's brackets."
  9. "2017 Swimming Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  10. "Swimming and Diving State Champions" (PDF). Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  11. "State Soccer Qualifiers" (PDF). Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  12. "2021 Soccer Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. December 22, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  13. "20221 Track & Field State Meet Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  14. "20221 Track & Field State Meet Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  15. "2019 IGHSAU Track & Field Record Book" (PDF). Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. 2019-05-13. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  16. "2017 State Tennis Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  17. "Tennis Record Book" (PDF). Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  18. "IGHSAU Golf Records" (PDF). Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  19. "2016-17 Golf Stat Book" (PDF). Iowa High School Athletic Association. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  20. Past Summer Tournament State Champions, Iowa High School Baseball Tournament. Accessed May 20, 2017.
  21. Softball State Champions, Iowa High School Sports. Accessed May 20, 2017.
  22. ""1999\732 Valley High School Music Department, West Des Moines – For being selected as the National GRAMMY Signature School."". Iowa House of Representatives. April 19, 1999. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
  23. Valley Arts Home
  24. "Valley Arts: Band".
  25. "Valley Arts: Orchestra".
  26. "Valley Arts: Vocal Music".
  27. "Valley Activities: KWDM".
  28. Participant History & Past National Winners, National High School Mock Trial Championship. Accessed July 1, 2007.
  29. UGC, Chicago Tribune. "Niles West Debate Wins Varsity Title at Recent Tournament". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  30. "Past Winners | Tournament of Champions". ci.uky.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-10-07.
  31. "LD Bid List". vbriefly.com. 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  32. "Three takeaways on Cindy Axne, third District Democrat running for Congress". Desmoinesregister.com. May 1, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  33. "Cyclone bio". Iowa State. May 1, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  34. Jared Clauss profile Archived 2008-08-19 at the Wayback Machine, Tennessee Titans. Accessed August 15, 2008. "Clauss and former Titans starting center Justin Hartwig are both products of Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa."
  35. "Behind the rise of former Valley star Broc Everett and what's next for the NCAA champion". The Des Moines Register.
  36. Morain, Michael (December 21, 2014). "Behind the Scenes: Katherine Heigl channels Iowan". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  37. "Player Spotlight: Justin Hartwig, Tennessee Titans" Archived 2008-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, NFLHS.com. Accessed August 15, 2008. "Following an all-conference and second-team all-state career at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, Hartwig was a three-year starter at right tackle for the Kansas Jayhawks."
  38. Burns, Douglas. "'Dan In Real Life' Directed By Iowa Native Peter Hedges", Iowa Independent, October 24, 2007. Accessed October 31, 2007. "After graduating from Valley High School in 1980 and then the North Carolina School for the Arts in Winston-Salem, Hedges moved to New York City, now his home."
  39. Birch, Tommy. "Sunday Stretch: Valley grad Dan Jennings helping Tampa Bay with playoff push", The Des Moines Register, August 19, 2017. Accessed October 10, 2017. "When Dan Jennings saw he had a missed call from Chicago White Sox senior vice president/general manager Rick Hahn a few weeks back, he got excited about the possibility that he may have just been traded. Jennings, a former star at West Des Moines Valley, had never been in the playoff hunt this late in the season and was hoping to get the chance this year."
  40. Dochterman, Scott. "WDM Valley basketball guard Peter Jok picks Iowa", The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), September 23, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2017. "As a freshman, Peter Jok once was the state's best-known basketball prospect in the 2013 class, and Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery was there to recruit him.A knee surgery after Jok's sophomore year kept him from reaching his potential at both West Des Moines Valley and with his AAU team, and Jok fell out of the recruiting spotlight."
  41. Stockdale, Nancy. "Silver lining: Shawn Johnson edged by teammate Liukin", Des Moines Register, August 14, 2008. Accessed August 15, 2008. "Johnson, 16, a junior at Valley High School in West Des Moines, has been the most consistent American gymnast since winning the junior national title in 2006 in St. Paul, Minn."
  42. "Olympian Karlos Kirby Visits Phenix", West Des Moines Community Schools, February 12, 2014. Accessed October 10, 2017. "Valley alum and two-time Olympic bobsledder Karlos Kirby visited Phenix Elementary during its Wellness Wednesday activities Feb. 12."
  43. "Twins owner, native Iowan, dies at age 93", The Des Moines Register, January 6, 2009. Accessed October 10, 2017. "Pohlad graduated from West Des Moines' Valley High School, moving in the 1940s to Minnesota, where he made his fortune."
  44. Hilkert, David E. Chiefs of the Army Reserve: Biographical Sketches of the United States Army Reserve's Senior Offices, p. 263. Office of Army Reserve History, U.S. Army Reserve Command, 2004. Accessed September 22, 2020. "Young Roger spent all but one year of the remainder of his formative years in West Des Moines, Iowa, attending Valley High School."
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