Everett High School (Washington)


Everett High School is a secondary school located in Everett, Washington, United States, which educates grades 9 through 12. The school enrolls approximately 1,700 students annually, more than triple the state and district average.
The school colors are blue and gold. The school mascot is Sammy the Seagull. The school principal is Mr. Lance Balla.
The school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

Everett High School is located on the northern edge of downtown Everett. It is bounded on the south by 25th St., by 24th St. to the north, by Hoyt Ave. to the west, and by Rockefeller Ave. to the east. Colby Ave. and Wetmore Ave. run north to south through the campus.

Layout

Everett High is unusual in that it has a partially open campus. With parent permission, 11th and 12th grade students may leave campus during their lunch breaks. It is one of few high schools in the state that retains an open boundary. This is done out of necessity; it would be very difficult for staff to keep students on campus, with two streets running through the campus, student parking on neighboring streets, and dining attractions only yards away.
The school has seven buildings. On the western side of Colby are the main building, or the "A Building" to the South, the "Little Theater" to the Northwest, and the Science Building to the Northeast. Between the Colby Ave. and Wetmore Ave. are the "E Building," the "B Building," which is also called the Everett Civic Auditorium, and the "C Building," also known as the Commercial Building. The auditorium houses JROTC classes, band, choir, art, a cafeteria, and a large auditorium.
The "C Building" houses classes in foreign language, math, and some health classes. On the eastern side of Wetmore Ave. are the gymnasium and parking for staff and students. Students would have to pay a non-refundable minimum fee of $40.00 to use the student parking lot. The student parking lot, more commonly called the Senior Lot, received renovation and expansion prior to the 2005–06 school year. The Norm Lowry Gymnasium houses Richer Court, where basketball games are held.
During the 2008–2009 school year, the "Little Theater" in the northwest corner of campus received extensive renovation, briefly displacing drama class and club and other classes held in the building. Changes were made to comply with district regulations, pertaining to accessibility, earthquake safety, and a large-scale remodel of the stage, backstage, and other performance-related areas. Classes resumed in the Little Theater in fall 2009.

Academics

Everett High School offers Advanced Placement classes in English, math, history and science, including Advanced Placement biology and chemistry classes, which are offered every year if enrollment permits. You need at least 22 credits to graduate. Student class of 2021 and beyond will require 24 credits to graduate due to the need of knowledge and increased abilities to work alongside complex information and technology.

Running Start

Everett feeds students to the Running Start program. The program allows upperclassmen to take classes at Everett Community College for dual credit, free of charge. This is a convenient arrangement for many students, because Everett Community College is only one mile to the north.

Student activities

Band

Everett High School has one of the largest band programs in the area, with over 60 students. Members of the band participate in the pep band during the football and basketball seasons, and play concert music the rest of the year. Many students participate in the jazz band that practices before school. It is required that students enroll in band classes during the regular school day to participate in the jazz band.
Most of the school year is spent on concert music, which consists of arrangements for high school bands as well as arrangements for professional military and symphonic bands. The high school music department has a large catalog of music, from classical transcriptions printed in the 19th century to high school arrangements of modern movie soundtracks.
The pep band plays at all home varsity football games, and many varsity home basketball games. It unusual in that it does not focus on marching for athletic events, but rather spirited pep performances. Until the cancellation of the Salty Sea Days parade through Everett, the pep band marched in the parade and also at the homecoming football game every year. Now it only marches at the homecoming game. The pep band is led by drum majors, who orchestrate logistics, conduct the band, choose music, and oversee behavior. There are usually between two and three drum majors every year. As of the 2009–2010 school year, there are five drum majors. Drum majors are upperclassmen who are trusted by the director, capable musicians, and familiar with the band's workings.
The jazz band is a before school class that meets every school day at 6:30 AM and perform several times throughout the year. It is the classic setup of around 5 trumpets, trombones, and saxophones, and a rhythm section consisting of bass, drum set, vibes, and piano. The jazz band often travels around the country, most recently to San Francisco.

Choir

The Everett High School choir, directed by Sarena Wiltse as of the 2016–2017 school year, consists of three separate classes: the Concert Choir, the Symphonic Choir, and the Jazz Choir. There are approximately 150 students in all three choirs combined, with Jazz Choir being the smallest. All choirs are open to all students, although the Jazz Choir has mandatory auditions at the beginning of the year, as it requires more commitment and training than do the others.
The "Concert" and "Symphonic" take place during the school day, while Jazz practices in the zero period, beginning at 6:30 am every school morning.
The EHS Jazz Choir, known as "Avenue C", travels often to perform at various local venues and choral competitions. They have been performing at the Leavenworth, Washington Christmas Tree Lighting each year for several years now, and have been called favorite performers. Although they do study jazz music, "jazz" choir may be a misnomer, since they spend much of their time learning other styles of music, from classical to pop.

Sports

Everett has teams in golf, tennis, softball, baseball, cheer, swimming, wrestling, basketball, bowling, track and field, soccer, cross country, volleyball, and football. Everett is a member of the Northern Division in the Western Conference.They compete as a 3A school.
In 2012, the Everett girls softball team won 2nd in the State Championship.
Everett boys tennis won the WESCO League Title in 1974, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. In the 1999 and 2000 seasons, this team also captured a pair of district 1 championships.
For the first time in decades, the football team competed in the State Tournament in 2005.
Everett High Cross Country has won back to back district titles in 2006 and 2007 and placed 8th in the WIAA 3A State championships in 2010 after capturing both the WESCO and district titles.
The Everett High Track Team has won championships such as Wesco champs, Districts Champs, Freshman Champs, City Champs, Eason Champs, and 3A State Champs since 2003.
Everett High Girls Soccer team won the District 1 championship and the WIAA 2008–2009 State Championship

Notable alumni