Western High School (Russiaville, Indiana)


Western High School is a high school located in Russiaville, Indiana. The school is a part of Western School Corporation.

About

Western High School is one of 5 public high schools in Howard County: Kokomo High School, Northwestern High School, Eastern High School, and Taylor High School.
Western was founded in 1949 by combining three smaller school systems into one corporation, Western School Corporation. The New London Quakers, West Middleton Broncos, and Russiaville Cossacks came together and formed the Western Panthers.

Athletics

Western High School is one of the 11 schools associated with the Hoosier Athletic Conference.
Currently, the teams are as follows:
Boys- Football, Soccer, Cross Country, Basketball, Wrestling, Swimming, Track and Field, Golf, and Baseball.
Girls- Volleyball, Cross Country, Basketball, Swimming, Track and Field, Softball, Golf, and Soccer.
In addition, there was a club bowling team added in 2010, however its events do not count towards conference standings since not all of the other schools have a team.

Team state championships

The following teams have taken IHSAA state championships:
The Western High School Marching Panthers have been ISSMA Class C State Champions in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019 and Class B State Champions in 1988 for a total of 17 State Championships.

Extracurricular activities

Western High School is host to FIRST Robotics Competition Team 292.

Ryan White incident

Western School Corporation gained notoriety for expelling Ryan White in 1984 because of his diagnosis of HIV, a disease that, at the time, was just coming into the national spotlight.

Notable alumni