Cherry Creek High School (commonly Cherry Creek, Creek, or CCHS) is the oldest of seven high schools in the

Cherry Creek School District The Cherry Creek School District 5, also known as Cherry Creek Public Schools, is a school district based in western Arapahoe County, Colorado. The current superintendent is Christopher Smith. Former superintendent Scott Siegfried, Ph.D. announce ...

in the

Denver metropolitan area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver r ...

. It is located in

Greenwood Village, Colorado The City of Greenwood Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15,691 at the 2020 United States Census. Greenwood Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Met ...

, and is one of the largest high schools in the Denver metro area, with an campus and more than 3,800 students.

Campus

Location

The Cherry Creek High School campus is located in the city of Greenwood Village on East Union Avenue between Yosemite Street and Dayton Street. It is directly across the street from

Cherry Creek State Park Cherry Creek State Park is a state park in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The park consists of a natural prairie and wetland environment with an reservoir at its center which is shared by powerboats, sailboats, and paddle craft. Th ...

. Also located on the property are the

's West Admissions building, West Maintenance building, and Education Service Center. It is adjacent to the buildings and campus of Campus Middle School and Belleview Elementary School, both of which feed into the high school.

Facilities

The campus contains four buildings (West, Information Center, Fine Arts, and East) with 170 classrooms; eight tennis courts; a baseball diamond; two practice football fields; Stutler Bowl, Creek's stadium; and a challenge course. The West Building, by far the largest of the four, houses two gyms; a swimming pool; a weight room; Shillinglaw Lecture Center; and the West Cafeteria. The Information Center Building has a library and technology center, the Registrar's Office, the Counseling and Post-Grad Center, and another (former) cafeteria. Connected to the IC by the "IC Tunnel", the Fine Arts Building features a large theater, music labs, the debate room, and art labs. The East Building contains a gym and the Attendance and Security offices. The sprawling campus is meant to evoke a large "college-like" feel in order to prepare students for college life.

Demographics

The demographic breakdown of the 3,720 students enrolled in 2018–2019 was: *Male - 50.3% *Female - 49.7% *Native American/Alaska Native - 0.5% *Asian - 12.6% *Black - 3.1% *Hispanic - 12.7% *Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander - 0.1% *White - 66.5% *Two or more races - 4.6% 17.0% of the students were eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Academics

Cherry Creek High School offers

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) exams in 31 subject areas. In 2007, 906 students took 2,374 AP exams, and 87% of the students scored 3 or higher (considered passing). The next year 986 students took 2,240 AP exams, 88% scoring 3 or higher. Creek has been recognized as one of the nation's top high schools for AP participation in math, science, and technology, receiving the 2008 Advanced Placement Siemens Award. Creek is also the only school in Colorado to have offered AP French Literature every year, until the test was discontinued.

Activities

Cherry Creek High School offers more than 100 activity organizations, the majority of which are open to all students. Many are nationally recognized, including the ''Union Street Journal'', Fine Print, the Speech and Debate Team,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

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 Future Business Leaders of America. The school's DECA chapter took 75 students to the national competition in May 2009, the most students any high school has ever brought to the competition in the history of DECA. The Speech and Debate Team is one of the top twenty in the nation and part of “The 400" society, the top one-half of one percent of the

National Speech and Debate Association 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 schoo ...

school speech programs. Cherry Creek hosts an annual Model U.N. competition. Cherry Creek's Wind Ensemble was selected as a featured ensemble at the 2014 Music For All National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2014 Cherry Creek was selected as a Grammy Signature School for commitment to music education. The ''Union Street Journal'' has received several awards from the Colorado High School Press Association, including four first-place awards in 2007 for ad design, front-page layout, and editorial writing. The magazine received All-Columbian Honors and a Gold Medalist rating from the

Columbia Scholastic Press Association The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) is an international student press association, founded in 1925, whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisers at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchang ...

for its work during the 2019-20 school year.

Notable alumni

Academics

* Steven Gubser, professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, first American to win the

International Physics Olympiad The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is an annual physics competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IPhO was held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967. Each national delegation is made up of at ...

, received

Sloan Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

Media/film

Neal Baer Neal Baer (born 1955) is an American pediatrician and television writer and producer. He is best known for his work on the television shows ''Designated Survivor'', '' ER'' and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''. Biography Education Baer w ...

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

for the television show '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' *

Tracey Needham Tracey Renee Needham (born March 28, 1967) is an American actress who has acted primarily in television roles such as Paige Thatcher on '' Life Goes On'' (2nd-4th seasons; 1990–1993), Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Meg Austin on the first seas ...

, actress, best known for the television shows '' Life Goes On'' and '' JAG'' *

Aron Ralston Aron Lee Ralston (born October 27, 1975) is an American mountaineer, mechanical engineer, and motivational speaker, known for surviving a canyoneering accident by cutting off part of his right arm. On April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Bl ...

, mountain climber,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, outdoorsman, engineer, and motivational speaker who inspired the movie '' 127 Hours'' starring

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Ma ...

Jessica Rothe Jessica Ann Rothenberg (born May 28, 1987), better known as Jessica Rothe (), is an American actress. She is known for her role in the MTV comedy series '' Mary + Jane'' (2016) and her lead role as Tree Gelbman in the comedy slasher film ''Happy D ...

, actress, notably in ''

Happy Death Day ''Happy Death Day'' is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions ...

'', ''

Forever My Girl ''Forever My Girl'' is a 2018 American romantic drama film written and directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf based on the novel by Heidi McLaughlin. It follows a country musician ( Alex Roe) who sets out to win over the girl he left at the altar eight ...

'', ''

Valley Girl A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...

'', and ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

'' * John Wells, producer for television shows including '' ER'' and ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

'' *

Alexis Martin Woodall Alexis Martin Woodall (born June 30, 1980) is an American producer, executive producer and the president of Ryan Murphy Productions. Woodall has won three Primetime Emmy Awards for her producing work on ''The Normal Heart'', '' American Crime St ...

, executive producer for the television show

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

Music

Kate & Kacey Kate & Kacey is an American country music duo consisting of identical twin sisters Kate Coppola and Kacey Coppola. In early 2008 they competed as a duo on the Country Music Television, CMT series ''Can You Duet'', where they took fourth place. In A ...

Coppola, country singer-songwriters * Ben Levy,

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

ist for the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

and the

Boston Pops The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symp ...

Mieka Pauley Mary Dominica Pauley (born October 22, 1980) more commonly known as Mieka Pauley, is an American singer-songwriter. Personal and career Pauley was born in Boston and raised in Ohio, Kentucky, South Florida, and Colorado, where she attended Che ...

, singer-songwriter *

Gregory Stapp Gregory Stapp is an American bass who has performed actively in concerts and operas internationally for more than 35 years. He has had a particularly fruitful partnership with the San Francisco Opera, portraying more than 30 roles with the compan ...

, opera singer * Austin Wintory, film and video game composer of Grammy-nominated soundtrack for ''Journey''

Politics

* Michael Huttner, liberal activist, political consultant, and founder of ProgressNow * Brad Schneider, congressman from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Sports

David Aardsma David Allan Aardsma (; born December 27, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, currently serving in the Toronto Blue Jays front office as a coordinator of player development. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the S ...

, Major League Baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

* Tom Ashworth,

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Josh Bard Joshua David Bard (born March 30, 1978) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He is the bullpen coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB as a catcher for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red ...

, 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), ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

* J.D. Brookhart, former head football coach at

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started h ...

, freestyle skier, X Games gold medalist * John Burke, Major League Baseball pitcher, first-ever draft pick of

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

* Cynda Chew, former youth figure skater *

Amy Van Dyken Amy Deloris Van Dyken-Rouen (born February 15, 1973) is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and national radio sports talk show co-host. She won six Olympic gold medals in her career, four of wh ...

, Olympic swimmer, six-time gold medalist *

Jon Embree Jon William Embree (born October 15, 1965) is an American football coach and former player who is the Assistant Head coach & tight ends coach for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He is a former head coach at Colorado. Pr ...

, former

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

head football coach *

Matt Iseman Matt Iseman (born January 22, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, and television host, who began his career as a physician. He is best known for his role as play-by-play announcer and host of ''American Ninja Warrior''. He was the winner of ''T ...

, host of '' Sports Soup'' *

Brad Lidge Bradley Thomas Lidge (born December 23, 1976) nicknamed "Lights Out" is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lidge played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 2002–2012. He played for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phi ...

, former MLB closer, 2008 World Series champion
*

Darnell McDonald Darnell is a unisex given name and surname. The surname refers to a group of people in medieval ages who grew a plant called Darnel, which had intoxicatory properties. The last name originated in France, the plant can only grow in Mediterranean clim ...

, former MLB

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Donzell McDonald Donzell McDonald (born February 20, 1975) is a former outfielder who played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball from 2001 to 2002. Early life Born in Long Beach, California, McDonald grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado. He attended Ch ...

, former MLB player for

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 ...

* Jill McGill, professional LPGA golfer *

Ben Pinkelman Benjamin Joseph Pinkelman (born June 13, 1994) is an American professional rugby union player who plays as a forward for the United States national sevens team. Early life Pinkelman began playing rugby while he attended Cherry Creek High Sch ...

, USA Eagles 7's Rugby *

Tyler Polumbus Tyler Polumbus (born April 10, 1985) is a former American football offensive tackle. He was signed by the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition to t ...

, NFL offensive tackle *

Sam Raben Sam Raben (born May 11, 1997) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender. He won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel. Before turning pro, he played two seasons in the Premier Development League wit ...

(born 1997), soccer player * Mark Randall, former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

basketball player, led

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

to 1991 national championship game * Mike Reid, PGA golfer, winner of 2005

Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...

Jim Rooker James Phillip Rooker (born September 23, 1942) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and broadcaster. A left-hander, Rooker pitched for the Detroit Tigers (1968), Kansas City Royals (1969–1973) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1974–1980). Early ...

, former MLB player (

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

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 ...

) *

Michael Ruffin Michael David Ruffin (born January 21, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 6'8" and 248 lbs, he played as a ...

, forward for NBA's

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

Jeff Salzenstein Jeff "Salzy" Salzenstein (born October 14, 1973) is an American left-handed former professional tennis player. In 1986 he won the US Boys' 12 National Hard Court Tennis Singles Championship and Doubles Championship. His highest singles ranking wa ...

(born 1973), tennis player *

Kyle Shanahan Kyle Michael Shanahan (born December 14, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, wh ...

, NFL head coach for

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Eve Torres Eve Torres Gracie (born Eve Marie Torres on August 21, 1984) is an American actress, dancer, model, martial arts instructor, and former professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with WWE, where she was the first ever three-time WWE ...

WWE Diva Throughout its history, women have served in various onscreen roles in the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. In the 1990s, WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) introduced the term Diva to refer to its female performe ...

for ''Monday Night RAW'' *

Sean Tufts Sean Tufts (born March 26, 1982) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Carolina Panthers. University of Colorado Football 2000–2003 At the University of Colorado, Tufts was the starting middle l ...

, former

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for

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 ...

Jonathan Vaughters Jonathan James Vaughters (born June 10, 1973) is an American former professional racing cyclist and current manager of UCI WorldTeam . Racing career Vaughters started competitive cycling in the 1980s, racing in the Red Zinger Mini Classics you ...

, former professional cyclist * Bill Wilkinson, former MLB player (

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

)

References

External links

* {{authority control Public high schools in Colorado Educational institutions established in 1955 Cherry Creek School District Greenwood Village, Colorado Schools in Arapahoe County, Colorado 1955 establishments in Colorado