Hoover High School

Hoover High School is a public high school in Hoover, serving grades 9-12. It was built as a replacement for W. A. Berry High School. The current principal is Richard Bishop. It is currently the one of the two International Baccalaureate schools in the Greater Birmingham Area. Hoover High has an enrollment of some 2400 students.

Outside of Alabama, Hoover High School is best known as the school featured in the MTV show Two-A-Days.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni from Hoover and Berry include:

• Murry Bartow, basketball coach at East Tennessee State University and formerly at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Jeff Brantley, baseball pitcher, former ESPN baseball analyst, current Cincinnati Reds analyst
• Taylor Hicks, 2006 American Idol winner
• Heather Whitestone, 1995 Miss America
• Stan White, Auburn University quarterback
• Mike Kolen, Miami Dolphins linebacker
• Chad Jackson, New England Patriots wide receiver
• Will Pearson, founder of Mental Floss magazine
• John Parker Wilson, football player and quarterback at the University of Alabama
• Ross Wilson, Alex Binder, Dwarn "Repete" Smith, Kristin Boyle, Mark McCarty, Charlie Zorn, Brandon and Byron Clear, Michael DeJohn, Kristen Padalino, Brittany Benton and Max Lerner, featured on MTV's Two-A-Days.
• Sidney Spencer, Forward for the 2006-07 NCAA champion Lady Volunteers of the University of Tennessee, drafted in the 2007 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks

Academics

Hoover High was home to ten National Merit Semi-Finalists in 2006, one of which made a perfect score on the PSAT. In addition to its International Baccalaureate program and strong pre-college curriculum, Hoover High features three specialized academies in engineering, law and finance. The academies offer a specialized set of electives to complement the precollege curriculum and to prepare students for collegiate work in the selected fields.

Theatre

Hoover High School's drama program was started by Sandra L. Taylor, who retired in 2005. The school's on-campus theater is named in her honor. The program is now headed by Nancy Malone, Hoover competes annually at Alabama's Walter J. Trumbauer Drama Festival. In 2006 the one-act play "World Without Memory", directed by Chris Strickland, was named the runner-up in state competition and was given a special invitation to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Athletics

Hoover High School plays in the Class 6A of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), and are known as the Buccaneers or more commonly, the Bucs. In football, it has been nationally ranked by USA Today and has won the state championship in five of the last seven years, including four in a row from 2002-2005, under the direction of head coach Rush Propst. Before the start of the 2006 season, Hoover was ranked #1 in the nation by USA Today and Sports Illustrated, a ranking it maintained until being defeated 28-14 by #6 ranked John Curtis Christian High School of River Ridge, Louisiana on ESPNU High School Showcase September 29. The team had won four consecutive state championships before losing to Prattville High School in the 2006 championship game.

Hoover, the second-largest school in Alabama (by student population) and largest by square footage, has won over 41 state championships in 19 sports in the last 10 years. Overall, Hoover has made an appearance in 21 state championship playoffs.

The 2005 football team is featured on the MTV show Two-A-Days. Season two for the Two-A-Days show, showcasing the 2006 football team, was recently filmed at the school and began its run in late January 2007.

References

• Hoover High School (Alabama). (June 28, 2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:25, July 5, 2007 [1]

External links

• Hoover High School Homepage
• Hoover Bucs Football web site
• The Engineering Academy at Hoover High School