C. Leon King High School is a

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

public high school named in honor of C. Leon King, a member of the Hillsborough County Board of Public Instruction for 18 years. It opened in 1960 with 58 faculty members and 960 students. It is located at 6815 North 56th Street in Tampa, Florida 33610. King High School, a part of

Hillsborough County Public Schools Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) is a school district that runs the public school system of Hillsborough County in west central Florida and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It is frequently referred to as the School District of Hillsb ...

, is a traditional/hybrid

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...

. It has one of five

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 D ...

programs in Hillsborough County, Florida. The IB program of King began in July 1994. Ninety eight percent of IB seniors earned the IB Diploma in 2014—one of the highest rates in the United States. For the 2010–2011 school year, King High School received an A grade in education overall. , King High has been rated a "B". Its student population was 1,889 in 2014–15 and the attendance rate was 92% in 2005.

History

The school was built on the site of Ridgewood Cemetery, a municipal cemetery for poor African-Americans established in 1942. Hillsborough County Public Schools acquired of land for the school from a private company in 1959, and that company bought the site from the City of Tampa in 1957; the cemetery is in that plot and became used for agricultural classes. In 2019, officials discovered graves of 145 people.

Academics

King High School hosts an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, which began in 1994. King High also offers advanced placement courses (KAPS). The school has various academic clubs. The speech and debate team competes at various statewide and national

NSDA The National Speech and Debate Association is an American student debating society. It was established in 1925 as the National Forensic League; the name was changed in 2014. It is one of four major national organizations that direct high school ...

events. The math club

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 mai ...

has won the county math bowl 22 times and competes at regional and statewide events. The science bowl team competes at science bowl and

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...

. The math and science clubs administer the qualifying examinations for the various international science olympiads. Other academic clubs include HOSA and

FBLA The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...

. The IB Program offers various standard level (SL) and higher level (HL) IB courses in subjects such as English, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology.

Student Government

The Student Government Association has a structure similar to the federal government system.

Sports

Fall: * Football * Boys Golf * Girls Golf * Boys Cross Country * Girls Cross Country * Swimming * Volleyball Winter: * Boys Basketball * Girls Basketball * Wrestling * Boys Soccer * Girls Soccer Spring: * Baseball * Softball * Flag Football * Track * Tennis

Music programs

King High School has multiple musical programs such as Chorus and Show Choir (PRIDE), a Marching Band (Marching Lions), Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, and a Concert Orchestra. King High School's Marching Band received Superior ratings at the annual FBA competition for 45 consecutive years and is often invited to perform in the State's band events. The show choir, PRIDE, is one of the top show choirs in the state. The dance team (Lionettes) have one of the most talented and culturally diverse teams in the county.

Notable alumni

* Musa Abdul-Aleem, professional basketball player *

Mike Awesome Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the American professional wrestling promotions Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestl ...

, 1984, former WWF Champion * Derek Bell, former professional baseball player *

Pam Bondi Pamela Jo Bondi (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A Republican, she served as the 37th Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office. In 2020, Bondi was one of Presid ...

, 1984, Florida Attorney General *

Tim Crews Stanley Timothy Crews (April 3, 1961 – March 23, 1993) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers from to . Crews was part of the Dodgers team that won the 1988 World Series. At the end of the 1992 ...

, former professional baseball player *

Ty Griffin Tyrone Vontrace Griffin (born September 5, 1967) is an American retired professional baseball second baseman. He played in minor league baseball and in international competition for the United States national baseball team. Career Griffin atten ...

, former professional baseball player *

Eric Hayes Major General Eric Charles Hayes, CB (19 June 1896 – 25 August 1951) was a senior British Army officer who served in both of the world wars. Early life and First World War Born the son of Charles Frederick Hayes on 19 June 1896, Eric Hayes w ...

, former NFL football player *

Pam Iorio Pamela Dorothy Iorio (born April 27, 1959) is an American politician and author, who served as mayor of Tampa, Florida from 2003 to 2011. Early life, education, and family Iorio moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant and attended H ...

, 1977, former Mayor of Tampa *

Gary Koch Gary D. Koch (born November 21, 1952) is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer, who formerly played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Early years Koch was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in ...

, 1970, former professional golfer and ESPN sportscaster *

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...

, former professional baseball player * Edmund Nelson, 1978, former professional football player, graduated in 1978 * Audrey O'Brien Nelson, 1973, director of VISN 8 at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and prominent research scientist *

Henry Paul Henry Paul (born 10 February 1974), also known by the nickname of "HP", is a former dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. Paul represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union and rugby sevens. He ...

, musician formerly with the Outlaws * George Peoples, 1978, former professional football player * Calvin Pickering, 1995, former professional baseball player

References

External links

Official website

SDHC website

International Baccalaureate website

Great Schools
{{DEFAULTSORT:King High School Educational institutions established in 1960 High schools in Tampa, Florida Public high schools in Florida 1960 establishments in Florida