Atlantic Community High School (also known as Atlantic and ATL and formerly called Seacrest High School) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

Delray Beach Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles (83 kilometers) north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States. It is part of the

School District of Palm Beach County The School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) is the tenth-largest public school district in the United States, and the fifth largest school district in Florida. The district encompasses all of Palm Beach County. For the beginning of the 201 ...

. Known for its academics, many students attend due to the school's

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

program and its ranking as a top-rated school for many years. In the 2010 ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' ranking of America's best high schools, Atlantic High ranked 89th. In 2005, the school moved to its current location and added a freshman academy and a

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

-oriented magnet program.

History

Atlantic Community High School, originally named Seacrest High School, was built in 1949 as a racially segregated school for white students in

and Boynton Beach,

. African-American students living in the area attended Carver High School, which later became Carver Middle School and is now the Delray Beach Full Service Center. The school began the process of

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

in 1961 when Yvonne Lee entered the school, one of only four African-American students attending otherwise all white schools in Palm Beach County that year. Seacrest remained almost all white, and Carver remained all African-American, until 1970, when Carver High School was closed and its student body merged with that of Seacrest, which was renamed Atlantic High School. The school adopted the colors of Seacrest High School (Green and White) and the mascot of Carver High School (the eagle). It kept Seacrest High's old location along Seacrest Boulevard. In 1989, the school became an

World School. In 2005, the school moved to its current location on Atlantic Avenue. In 2011, Kathleen Weigel was promoted from principal of the school to the new district position of Assistant Superintendent of Professional Growth. Weigel, who was principal for more than 10 years was replaced by Bear Lakes Middle School principal Anthony Lockhart.

Student demographics

There were 2324 students enrolled in Atlantic Community High School in the 2015–2016 school year. Fifty-three percent of the students were female. The student body was 56%

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, 21%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 13%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

, 6%

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

, 3%

multiracial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

, and less than 1% each Native American and

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

Academics and magnet programs

School ratings

The school is rated annually by the

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or the FCAT/FCAT 2.0, was the standardized test used in the primary and secondary public schools of Florida. First administered statewide in 1998, it replaced the State Student Assessment Test (SSAT) a ...

International Baccalaureate

Atlantic is home to one of the five

(also known as IB) high school programs of

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

(the others being

Forest Hill Community High School Forest Hill Community High School (FHCHS) also known as Forest Hill or ''The Hill'', is a coeducational public high school in West Palm Beach, Florida with an enrollment of 2,457 students. The school is a part of the School District of Palm Beach ...

Pahokee High School Pahokee High School (also known as Pahokee Junior Senior High School) is a historic school in Pahokee, Florida. It is currently located at 900 Larrimore Road. On November 15, 1996, The old Pahokee High School building on E. Main St. was added t ...

, Suncoast High School, and

William T. Dwyer High School William T. Dwyer High School is a Public school (government funded), public high school for grades 9–12 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States. The school was named for William T. Dwyer, former vice president of Pratt & Whitney's Governm ...

) and caters to students living in the southern parts of the district.

Construction Academy

Atlantic's construction academy was added to the school beginning in fall 2005. The students of the academy designed and built a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

called the "Eagle's Nest" (after the school mascot) for charity in collaboration with the city of Delray Beach. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project kick-off was held in December 2005. It is a three bedroom, two bath house, . On October 25, 2010, the Construction Academy broke ground on a new house called "Eagle's Nest 2". The house is to be a "green" house and the design incorporates aspects of a

green building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...

, using green construction material design principles. It too is being done in collaboration with the city of

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Atlantic participates in the 8A athletic division of the

FHSAA The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

. The school fields teams in 43 sports including football, basketball, baseball, swimming, soccer, softball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, volleyball, cross country, track and field, weightlifting, and flag football among others. The Atlantic Boys' Baseball Team won the 13-7A District Championship against Dwyer on April 24, 2014. The Atlantic Boys' soccer team made it into the 4A state final four in the 2013–14 season. In 2015, Atlantic added a lacrosse team, both Boys and Girls. They ended up playing their inaugural season that year. In the 2015–16 season, the undefeated Eagles football team won the 10-8A District Championship against the undefeated Boca Raton Bobcats on October 30, 2015, in a rivalry matchup, and in 2017 they competed in the state championships.

JROTC

Atlantic is home to the Eagle Battalion of the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...

Clubs

Atlantic supports a wide variety of clubs, including

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is the United States mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. In June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and in 20 foreign countries. Its main ...

, Academic Games, ACE, French National Honors Society, Black Student Union, Literary Club, Art Club, International Culture Club, Science Club / Science Olympiad, Blood Drive, People for Animal Welfare (PAW), Jewish Forum, Muslim Student Association,

Model UN Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...

, We the People, Robotics Club, Drama Club,

Key Club Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. As a student-led organization, Key Club's goal is to encourage leadership through serving others. Key Club International is the hig ...

, and chapters of the

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

Spanish National Honor Society Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society.

Notable alumni

* Bobby Butler after playing at Florida State went on to play for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

throughout the eighties and early nineties. *

David Clowney David Cortez Clowney IV (born July 8, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia Tech. Clowney spent the bulk of ...

, wide receiver played one year for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

and four years for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

. *

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, best known as the lead singer, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers. In addition to his w ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

played for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

currently a free agent. *

Orlando Franklin Orlando D. Franklin (born December 16, 1987) is a Jamaican-born former American football offensive lineman who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Miami, and was drafted by the Denver Br ...

, right tackle for the

started career with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. *

Mandy Freeman Miranda Alexis Freeman (born March 23, 1995) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender for NJ/NY Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League. Career Freeman played for USC from 2013 to 2016, she was part of team that won the 2016 ...

, professional soccer player for NY/NJ Gotfham FC and 10th pick overall at the

2017 NWSL College Draft The 2017 NWSL College Draft was the fifth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 12, 2017 at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention in ...

Jayron Hosley Jayron Todd Hosley (born September 18, 1990) is a former American football cornerback who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech. High school career He attended Atlantic ...

, a cornerback played four years with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

currently a free agent. *

Omar Jacobs Omar T. Jacobs (born March 3, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Bowling Green and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Jacobs was also a member of the Phil ...

, fifth-round draft pick of the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

in the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

, and former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. *

Ricardo Jordan Ricardo Jordan (born June 27, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divide ...

, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player (

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

) *

Preston Parker Preston Parker (born February 13, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver and return specialist. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He played college football at Florida State University and T ...

, wide receiver played for

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and the

currently a free agent. *

Rick Rhoden Richard Alan Rhoden (born May 16, 1953) is a professional golfer and former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. During his 16-year baseball career, he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1974–1978), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1979–1986), the Ne ...

, former

player (

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

) *

Mike Rumph Michael Jamaine Rumph (born November 8, 1979) is an American retired American football Safety (American football position), free safety and cornerback. He is currently the assistant director of recruiting for the University of Miami Hurricanes foo ...

, former cornerback for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. Currently the cornerbacks coach for the

Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Coastal Division of the Atlanti ...

team

References

External links

Atlantic Community High School
{{authority control International Baccalaureate schools in Florida Educational institutions established in 1949 Delray Beach, Florida High schools in Palm Beach County, Florida Public high schools in Florida 1949 establishments in Florida