Benjamin Banneker Academic High School is a

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

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

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, that was originally built to serve as a neighborhood Junior High School. The school's name commemorates Benjamin Banneker, an

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 ...

scientist, surveyor, almanac author and farmer. In 1980, the school was converted to a magnet high school for academics. The school is colloquially referred to by students and faculty as "Banneker". Banneker was formerly located across the street from Howard University, but in 2021 a new campus opened at former Shaw Middle School site in

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...

. The former Banneker building will then become the site of Shaw Middle School following renovations. The school draws students from all parts of the city. Any student interested in applying must follow an entrance procedure, involving a multiple choice test, a written essay, an interview, recommendation(s), and a report of the applicant's

standardized test A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...

scores and grades from previous years. The school's current enrollment is approximately 450 students spanning from grades 9 through 12, up from 393 in 2009–10. Benjamin Banneker Academic High School is an IB Diploma Programme world school. Banneker AHS is consistently ranked among the best high schools in the United States in U.S. News & World Report's national rankings, coming in 575th in 2015, 602nd in 2017, and 136th in 2021. In the District, Banneker is among the top high schools, awarded 2nd in 2015, 3rd in 2017, and 2nd in 2021.

Community

The school had the honor of hosting President Barack Obama for the yearly "Back To School" speech in September 2011 and October 2016.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

The school offers birls

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, cross country,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and boys

and

Robotics

The robotics club has participated in the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams competition, twice winning a grant for their inventions: "Cell-Mate" (a

cell-phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

locker, 2006) and "DeadStop" (a door-hinge locker to prevent classroom access to terrorists, 2013). These successful inventions have showcased at other events, and the students applied for patents for their work.

NASA OPSPARC competition

In the 2018 OPSPARC competition for students to invent a new use for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

technology, Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell, three black Banneker juniors, won second place with equipment to remove lead from school water fountains. The public voting component of the final was cut short after members of

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

disrupted voting by both discouraging voting for the girls on racial grounds and hacking.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Public high schools in Washington, D.C. Magnet schools in Washington, D.C. Benjamin Banneker