Grimsley High School
Grimsley High School is the oldest institution of public secondary education in Greensboro, North Carolina, part of the Guilford County Schools system (it was originally part of the Greensboro Public Schools System before the two merged), founded in 1899.
Grimsley has an enrollment of around 1800, grades 9-12. In 2005 it was rated as one of the top 100 high schools in the nation by Newsweek. It operates on a traditional bell schedule that has 6 periods (7 if a zero period is taken) in a day for the entire year as opposed to the block, college-styled schedules in place for many of the other local schools. Its current principal is Rob Gasparello. He succeeded Jane Teague in fall 2002.
History and Architecture
The school was originally founded as Greensboro Senior High School and presently is also known as Greensboro Grimsley Senior High School, renamed in the 1960s for the superintendent of the 1899 era, George A. Grimsley, because of the opening of a second Greensboro high school, Page High School. The school was moved from its original location on North Forbis Street to its current location on Westover Terrace in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, two large murals were painted in the school's auditorium by workers for the Works Progress Administration that compares the work of the academia with the work of construction and other areas of manual labor. A third one was to be painted also, but wasn't completed because of lack of funding. The original architectural design of the 1920s school building with two-story walkways was not completed when the school was built due to lack of funding and the effects of the Great Depression. It was only recently that the school attempted to revitalize its original plans, plus the long needed addition of elevators.
Colors and Mascot
The school's colors are blue and white, and its mascot is the "Whirlie," a tornado-like symbol. The school's original color was purple, but because it was hard to find the matching purple when football uniforms had to be changed and because they faded easily in the wash, it was changed to blue and white. The mascot was originally the Purple Whirlwinds, but local papers found that to be a mouthful and shortened it to Whirlies. Later, a costumed mascot in the form of a bird, known as the "Whirlie Bird," came into existence. The costume has since then fallen into disuse, making only very rare appearances and existing only in the memories and stories of old.
Traditions and Rivalries
The school has a traditional week-long local rivalry with Page High School, which in the past had led to serious acts of vandalism, though these have somewhat subsided in recent years. The rivalry is celebrated in a week-long celebration known as Grimsley/Page Week, which has individual theme days decided upon by the student council, and which culminates in a parade with decorated student cars and a bonfire. Traditionally Page was the football powerhouse. However, in recent years, Grimsley has become the dominant of the two.
Originally there was also a May Day celebration that included a play, a Queen, and a dance. This celebration has been discontinued for quite some time.
In the tradition of Sadie Hawkins Day, the school has an annual TWIRP dance (The Woman Is Required to Pay) in addition to its other dances such as Homecoming and Prom.
For its graduating Seniors, the school also sponsors a "Senior Tea," and a "Mr. Whirlie" contest, recently adding a "Project Graduation" onto the venue to provide a safe alternative to celebrate graduation. Project Graduation was held at the Bryan Family YMCA in 2004.
Before the addition of the elevators, it had been a running joke of upperclassmen to tell upcoming freshmen of the "elevator key."
Academically it also has a minor rivalry with Northwest Guilford High School.
Athletics and Facilities
Grimsley has one of the largest football stadiums (with a 400m track) in the state and services many local events that include fundraisers, special olympics, and an annual fireworks display for the city on Independence Day.
Grimsley is a 4A school with a strong athletic program, with sports programs in soccer, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, baseball, wrestling, track, cross-country, volleyball, amongst others. A "boosters program," alumni, and the annual Grimsley-Page rivalry football game generate much of the funding for both the sports programs and other needs of the school.
The school has 2 gyms, the larger for most indoor sports such as basketball and volleyball, while the smaller has now been pretty much converted to auxiliary classrooms and practice areas. The larger gymnasium has an attached pool building opened to the public. The basement of the building also serves as ROTC classrooms. The smaller auxiliary gym also has a weight room. The tennis courts are located next to the main gym building, behind which is a practice field for the football team. The baseball field is located behind the football stadium opposite the main campus of the school. A trail in the woods is also accessible via the practice soccer and lacrosse fields behind a nearby middle school (Kiser Middle School) for cross country training.
A recently renovated media resource center provides access to resources and technology for student use, including access to resources at the local University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The main campus consists of 5 main buildings of classrooms, plus the cafeteria, the media resource center and student health center, including a building dedicated to music, one that mainly services the arts, one that mainly services mathematics, another the sciences, with the humanities spread out the remaining areas.
A notable place of gathering is "the grove" where shades from trees and picnic tables make it a hotspot for lunch and breaks for students.
Academics
Grimsley provides a strong academic tradition for its students, having been rated #67 in the nation by Newsweek in 2005.
Grimsley has a large selection of Advanced Placement courses that range from Physics and Chemistry to Art and Latin. In 1995 it also initiated an International Baccalaureate program that now offers most of the courses also offered under the Advanced Placement program in place. Many IB students participate in both programs.
Aside from the AP and IB program, the school also has a College Preparatory program and a careers program that includes a Health Careers track and a Computer Science track, among others. It has an ROTC program as well.
The school is an avid contender in academic competitions such as Science Olympiad.
The school report card can be found here
Extracurriculars
The high school provides a wide selection of extracurricular activities and organizations for its students which has included:
- Service
- TAGS, Teens Active in Greensboro Service, initiated by Lisa Guttentag (Class of 1999) in 1996.
- Student Council
- Habitat for Humanity
- Academic
- Language Clubs, including Spanish, Latin, and French
- Women's Studies
- Academic Teams and competitions, including Science Olympiad
- Music, Dance, Theater
- Band
- Orchestra
- Marching Band
- Drumline, called Blue Steel
- Step Team
- Dance Team
- Drama club, called Playmasters, puts on many productions during the year, including an annual musical, that has included the Sound of Music, Li'l Abner, and Fiddler on the Roof.
- Art, Literature, Publications
- Art Club
- Literary Magazine, Blue (Quarterly)
- Yearbook, Whirligig
- Newspaper, High Life (Monthly)
Notable alumni
- Rick Dees: '68, radio disc jockey
- Dr. Josephine Bradley: '57, first African-American to graduate from an all white school in North Carolina