Burges High School in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, United States, is a comprehensive high school in the

El Paso Independent School District The El Paso Independent School District (or EPISD) is the largest school district serving El Paso, Texas (USA). Originally organized in 1883, it is currently the largest district in the Texas Education Agency's Educational Service Center (ESC) ...

. It is located in the Cielo Vista neighborhood on the near east side of El Paso, north of the large shopping center

Cielo Vista Mall Cielo Vista Mall is a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, United States, owned and operated by Simon Property Group. It is located on El Paso's east side, at Interstate 10 and Hawkins Blvd., and features five anchor stores operating under four brand ...

and south of El Paso International Airport, and is the only El Paso Independent School District high school in

East El Paso East El Paso is an area of El Paso, Texas, United States, that is located north of Interstate 10, east of Airway Blvd., and south of Montana Ave. East El Paso is the fastest growing area of town. With a population of over 150,000, east El Paso is ...

History

The school cost $2 million in 1955 to build. The school's original plan included only 70 classrooms, a cafeteria that could hold up to 500 people, an indoor rifle range, a field house, and a combined

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

nasium and

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

. The first graduating class was in January 1956. The school, which was named for William H. Burges, a prominent local attorney of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, serves portions of near East, East-Central and South-Central El Paso. Its feeder schools are Ross Middle School and MacArthur Elementary-Intermediate School. MacArthur is the only K-8 primary school remaining from a long trend in the district of separating pre-kindergarteners to fifth graders into elementary schools, sixth-to-eighth-graders into middle schools, and ninth-to-twelfth-graders into high schools, which began circa 1970. The elementary schools in the Burges feeder pattern include Bonham, Cielo Vista (which graduate into MacArthur), Hawkins, Hillside and Hughey (which graduate into Ross). Most of the Burges attendance zone lies between Interstate 10 on the south, the Fort Bliss main post and El Paso International Airport on the north, the Patriot Freeway (

US 54 U.S. Route 54 (US 54) is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific and Rock Island Lines "Golden ...

) on the west and the boundary of the

Ysleta Independent School District Ysleta Independent School District is a school district based in El Paso, Texas ( USA). Ysleta ISD is the third largest school district in the city of El Paso. All of the district area covers sections of El Paso. The Ysleta Independent School ...

on the east. However, a portion of South-Central El Paso is zoned for Burges which is bordered roughly by Interstate 10 on the north, railroad tracks running north of El Paso Drive on the south, Raynolds Street on the west, and on the east, an industrial area just north of the three-way intersection of Delta Drive, Trowbridge Drive and North Loop Road which extends into the

. The portion of the Burges attendance zone lying south of Interstate 10 is zoned for Hawkins Elementary west of Trowbridge and Hughey Elementary east of it, and Ross Middle overall. The eastern half of the Fort Bliss main post, which is zoned for Ross Middle and Hughey Elementary, which lie at the southeastern edge of the main post, is zoned for Austin High for grades nine to twelve. Burges hosts a teaching and child development magnet program and mainstream classes for deaf high school students. Burges is the only high school to offer American Sign Language classes in El Paso.

Extracurricular

*Theater *Band *JROTC *BTEP *Chess club *Math club *Choir *Dance Company *Speech and Debate Team *Orchestra *Volleyball *Football *Guitar *Swimming *Boys' basketball *Girls' basketball *Girls' soccer *Boys' soccer *Cheerleading *Track and field *Wrestling team **Texas State Champions 1977 1979 1980 1982 **Texas State Runner Up 1975 1976 1978 1981 1991 1993 *Yearbook staff (Hoofbeats) *Newspaper (Stampede) *Baseball *Tennis By 1995 there was a Japanese language summer academy held at Burges High. In 2021, the Burges Band received sweepstakes for U.I.L Marching and Sight Reading Contests, marking the first time the school has ever gotten sweepstakes at U.I.L in its entire history under the direction of then Band Director Miguel Porras and Drum Major Jesus Castillo.

Notable alumni

Sin Cara In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, ...

, professional wrestler, WWE employee, 1996 graduate *

Veronica Escobar Veronica Escobar (born September 15, 1969) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , based in El Paso, since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as an El Paso County commissioner from 2007 to 2011 and t ...

, politician * Randy Fuller, American rock singer, songwriter, and bass player best known for his work in the popular 60s rock group the

Bobby Fuller Four The Bobby Fuller Four (sometimes stylized as Bobby Fuller 4) was a popular mid-1960s American rock & roll band started by Bobby Fuller. First formed in 1962 in Fuller's hometown of El Paso, Texas, the group went on to produce some of its most m ...

* General James T. Hill, United States Army, 1964 graduate * Aaron Jones, running back for the Green Bay Packers and an ambassador of FTX *

John D. Olivas John Daniel "Danny" Olivas (born May 25, 1966 in North Hollywood, California) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. Olivas has flown on two space shuttle missions, STS-117 and STS-128. He performed EVAs on both missions, totaling 3 ...

, NASA astronaut, 1984 graduate *

John Skelton John Skelton may refer to: *John Skelton (poet) (c.1460–1529), English poet. * John de Skelton, MP for Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency) *John Skelton (died 1439), MP for Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency) *John Skelton (American footb ...

, NFL Quarterback (Free Agent). 2006 graduate

References

External links

*
EPISD Burges High School page
{{authority control El Paso Independent School District high schools Educational institutions established in 1955 High schools in El Paso, Texas Magnet schools in Texas 1955 establishments in Texas