Hays High School is a coeducational

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 ...

secondary 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Hays, Kansas Hays is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The largest city in northwestern Kansas, it is the economic and cultural center of the region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 21,116. It is ...

operated by

Unified School District A unified school district (in the states of Arizona, California, Kansas and Oregon) or unit school district (in Illinois), in the United States of America, is a school district that generally includes and operates both primary schools (kindergarten ...

489 __NOTOC__ Year 489 (Roman numerals, CDLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probinus and Eusebius (or, less frequent ...

History

Early beginnings

Hays High School was founded as a school in 1872. A school library was built in 1886 and the school was officially instituted a year later. In 1893, the Alumni Association was formed. During the same year, the first literary society (Alpha) was established. Additional literary societies were established over the next several years. In the early 1890s, bookcases were purchased for use in each classroom. In 1921, many library books were gathered and cataloged according to the

Dewey Decimal System The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Section 4.1 ...

. By 1937, the school had over 3,700 volumes and the library held 34 people. The current library has approximately 15,000 books and provides seating for 80. The school newspaper, "The Guidon", began in 1902. The newspapers were available to students for 2 cents each and helped the student body stay informed about issues. The football program began in 1902. The first game was played against Lacrosse High School and resulted in a 5–2 victory. The first yearbook was published two years later in 1904. The baseball and tennis programs also began in 1904. At the time, the tennis program was known as the "Junior Tennis Club". During this time, football and baseball games could only be scheduled for Saturdays, which proved to be inconvenient for the programs and the competing schools. Manual training was required for all students during the early 20th Century. All students were required to devote at least two hours per week to manual training. This was done through the Hays High Manual Training Department which consisted of planning, fitting and squaring, making crosses and squares, dove-tailing, and wood carving. Twelve benches, a grindstone, and a tool chest were all provided to students.

12th Street era

In 1916, a new brick high school building was constructed at 323 W. 12th Street at a cost of $65,000. The building began being used as the new high school in the fall of 1917. In 1925, a new athletic field, known as Shively Field, was purchased for $4,000. The field was named after former superintendent C.A. Shively, who served as superintendent of schools from 1914 to 1928. The original building, located at the corner of 12th and Ash, was torn down in 1939 and an addition was made to the west building. The addition added a vocational agriculture shop, library, chemistry laboratory, home economics laboratory, and a wood shop. In addition, the 12th Street Auditorium was also constructed. Between 1939 and 1941, the school became the Hays Junior-Senior High School, as seventh and eighth grades joined the school. The seventh and eighth grades moved to the newly constructed Hays Junior High School in 1964.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Hays High School has a long and storied athletics history. The Indians have won a total of 19 state championships in various sports. Athletic programs compete in the 5A division according to the

Kansas State High School Activities Association The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high school, high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, ...

and the school is a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Currently, Hays High offers athletic programs including

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

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 ...

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 ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

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 and 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 ...

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 ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and

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 ...

State championships

Hays High School offers the following sports:

Fall

* Football * Volleyball * Boys' Cross-Country * Girls' Cross-Country * Girls' Golf * Boys' Soccer * Girls' Tennis * Cheerleading

Winter

* Boys' Basketball * Girls' Basketball * Wrestling * Boys' Bowling * Girls' Bowling * Winter Cheerleading

Spring

* Baseball * Boys' Golf * Boys' Tennis * Girls' Soccer * Girls' Swimming * Softball * Boys' Track and Field * Girls' Track and Field

Non-athletic activities

Forensics

Hays High School earned state championships in 4-Speaker Debate in 1989 and 2-Speaker Debate in 2009. State Speech Championships were obtained in 1987 under coach Henry Wolf and 1994 under coach Jeff Haney.

Music

Hays High School is known for its music programs such as

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and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. Hays High also has various vocal classes and programs available.

=Chamber Singers

= Since the 1960s, the school's premier choral ensemble, known as "Chamber Singers" have been performing at community events, as well as

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

. The ensemble, currently under the direction of Alex Underwood, perform an annual "Dinner Show" to raise funds for travel to different parts of the nation.

=Musicals

= Hays High has performed various musicals annually, including

AIDA ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

, Lil' Abner,

All Shook Up "All Shook Up" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley, published by Elvis Presley Music, and composed by Otis Blackwell. The single topped the U.S. ''Billboard'' Top 100 on April 13, 1957, staying there for eight weeks. It also topped the ''Bil ...

, and

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

Notable alumni

Alex Delton Alex Christian Delton (born October 23, 1996) is an American college football quarterback who played for the TCU Horned Frogs. Early years Delton was born October 23, 1996 in Hays, Kansas, where he grew up to become a football and track & field ...

, former college football player *

Marj Dusay Marjorie Ellen Mahoney Dusay (; née Mahoney; February 20, 1936 – January 28, 2020) was an American actress known for her roles on American soap operas. She was especially known for her role as Alexandra Spaulding on ''Guiding Light'', a role s ...

, actress

References

External links

Hays High School
official website {{authority control Schools in Ellis County, Kansas Public high schools in Kansas 1872 establishments in Kansas