Brookwood High School (Snellville, Georgia)


Brookwood High School is an American public secondary school in Snellville, Georgia, in suburban Atlanta, with a student body of 3,503. Brookwood serves several areas of southern Gwinnett County, including Snellville, Lawrenceville, and Lilburn.

Administration

William Bo Ford, Jr. is the principal of Brookwood High School.

History

Planning for Brookwood High School was started in 1977 to lessen the overcrowding of nearby South Gwinnett High School and Parkview High School. A committee of educators from Gwinnett County met to create and discuss specifications for the facility. The school officially opened in 1981 under principal Emmett Lawson.
The school derived its name from its location on the intersection of Holly Brook Road and Dogwood Road. The school colors, maroon and gold, were based on the colors of Florida State University. The original school mascot had a horseshoe around the bronco, which was later removed. The administration had suggested that Brookwood be the Brookwood Bears. The original mascot was a drawing of an entire bronco, but the current logo uses only a bronco's head. The runner-up mascot choice was the Bruins, and the second place color scheme was baby blue and gold.
All but one of the Brookwood Cluster Schools were recognized by the Governor Sonny Perdue for outstanding academic achievement in 2010.
Brookwood hosted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on March 4, 2012, before the Georgia primary.
Since its opening in 1981, Brookwood has been recognized on several occasions by Newsweek and other publications for academic excellence and excellence in college preparedness.

Athletics

Brookwood boys have won state championships in football in 1996 and 2010, and in club level ice hockey in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013. The cross country team won state championships in 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001-2003, 2009-2011, and 2013. Swim and dive were state champions in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, and again in 2017. Soccer won the state championship in 2001, 2004, and 2014; while tennis won in 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2011, 2013, and 2014. The baseball team has also won two championships, in 1986 and 2008. Track and field won the state championship in 2010 and 2012.
Brookwood girls have also won championships in cross country, as has the soccer team in 1998 and 2003. The tennis team won the state championship in 2000, as did the softball team in 1991. The girls' swim and dive team has won five state championships and twenty county championships. The girls' track team has won five state championships, in 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994.

Rivalries

Brookwood has two significant rivalries within its GHSA region. The first is Parkview High School. The annual Brookwood v. Parkview football game is played as the Battle of Five Forks, named for Five Forks Trickum Road, which the length between the two schools.
Brookwood's second rival is South Gwinnett High School. Brookwood and South Gwinnett's football teams play annually for the Mayor's Cup in the Battle of Snellville, named because the two schools' attendance zones divide the city in two.

Club sports

Brookwood hosts club sports including the Inferno Ultimate Frisbee Team and ice hockey. These teams compete against other high schools and in tournaments.

Extracurriculars

Literary and debate

Brookwood was the 1999 AAAA State Literary Champion and the 2006 AAAAA State Debate Champion.

School publications

The Brookwood High student paper, The Sentinel, features school, political, and entertainment articles.
The yearbook, also student-run, is called Cayuse. A literature club produces a yearly magazine, Pegasus, which is released alongside the yearbook. The magazine features short stories, essays, songs, and poetry written and submitted by students.

Science Olympiad

Brookwood High School's Science Olympiad team has won the Georgia State Tournament eleven times, from 2008-2009 and 2011-2019.

Math Team

For several years in a row, the Brookwood High School Math Team has been invited to attend the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics State Tournament.

Feeder schools

Brookwood is the high school of the Brookwood cluster, a group of schools which feed into one primary high school for an area in Gwinnett County. The middle schools that feed into Brookwood are Alton C. Crews Middle School and Five Forks Middle School. Crews Middle has two elementary school feeders, Brookwood Elementary and Craig Elementary. Five Forks Middle has students from RD Head Elementary and Gwin Oaks Elementary, along with some students from Brookwood and Craig Elementary.

Notable alumni