Stephen Hempstead High School (commonly Hempstead or HHS) is a four-year

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 ''Öffentlichk ...

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

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

. It is one of two high schools in the Dubuque Community School District and enrolls around 1,800 students in grades 9–12. The school is named in honor of Stephen Hempstead, the second governor of Iowa, and it competes in class 4A of the Iowa High School Athletic Association as part of the Mississippi Valley Conference. The school's mascot is the

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once- domesticated animals, the ...

History

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the population of Dubuque moved further out to the west. The children born during the post-war baby boom also were in their late teens at the time. The community found that Senior High School would no longer be enough to serve the needs of the community. In 1966, district employees were encouraged to offer their thoughts on the design of the new building. In the spring of 1967, a $6.7mio bond issue was approved to cover the costs of the building. The school opened in 1969. - Part
1
an
2
- CITED: p. 6B (part 2) Classes for students were initially held at Senior High School. In the spring of 1970, students began receiving education at Hempstead for the first time. In 1970, there was no graduating class because there was no senior class that first year. In the 1990s and mid 2005, structural improvements and expansions were made to the buildings. Over the next several years the school district has formulated plans to completely remodel the school.

Campus

The building is a three-level structure with an open courtyard in the center of the school. The second level contains classrooms, an indoor pool, gyms, art, music, driver education, and FHACS (Family Health & Consumer Sciences) classrooms. The third level holds the administrative offices, library/media center, math, science, business classrooms, a physical fitness room, cafeteria/commons area, industrial technology, wood working, and automobile shops. The third level also features an auditorium complex. Hempstead features a 25-yard indoor swimming pool. The city recreation department also allows the general public to use the pool when school is not in session. There is also an

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 ...

were musicals, plays, and concerts are performed throughout the school year.

Students

In the 2007–2008 school year, HHS enrolled 1,824 students. Of those, 1,754 (96.2%) were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 30 (1.6%) were

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

, 21 (1.2%) were

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 3 (.2%) were American Indian. 16 (.9%) students were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

, and may be of any race. Additionally, 943 (51.7%) were

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

, and 881 (48.3%) were

female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

Extracurricular activities

Theatre

Hempstead had the distinction of being one of the first schools to perform a stage version of

High School Musical ''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, ...

, which was presented in January 2007.

Athletics

Hempstead competes in Class 4A, the largest classification in Iowa, and in the Mississippi Valley Conference in the following sports:

Girls

*Cross Country ** 2021 Class 4A State Champions *Volleyball ** 2-time State Champions (1975, 2003) *Basketball *Track *Golf ** 1990 Class 3A State Champions *Soccer *Softball *Tennis *Bowling *Swimming

Boys

*Cross Country *Football ** 1979 Class 4A State Champions *Basketball *Wrestling *Track *Golf *Soccer *Baseball ** 4-time State Champions (1974, 1978, 1983, 1984) *Tennis ** 1984 Class 2A State Champions *Bowling ** 2012 Class 2A State Champions *Swimming

Renovation

In 2004, a renovation program began using proceeds from a one-cent sales tax approved by Dubuque County voters in December 2002. The seven-phase program is projected to eventually cost $30 million, roughly five times the original cost of constructing the school in the 1960s.

Notable alumni

LeRoy Cain LeRoy Edward Cain (born February 4, 1964) is an American aerospace engineer who worked for NASA as a flight director, launch integration manager and deputy manager of the Space Shuttle Program. Cain may be best known to the public from footage ...

, manager of Launch Integration at NASA's Kennedy Space Center *

Tom Churchill Thomas John Churchill (March 4, 1961 – July 5, 2020) was a native of Dubuque, Iowa, where he started in radio as on-air weatherman at WDBQ-AM Radio at the age of 13 in August 1974. Churchill gained notoriety for reportedly being more accurate ...

, radio & TV meteorologist, inventor of digital weatherman * Kevin Rhomberg, former Major League Baseball player * Rita Harvey, Broadway actress *

Mark Steines Mark Anthony Steines (born June 7, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist and actor who was host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program '' Entertainment Tonight'' from 2004 to 2012, joining the program on August 24, 1995. ...

, host of Entertainment Tonight 2004-2012 * Josh Lenz, NFL wide receiver *

Abby Finkenauer Abby Lea Finkenauer (born December 27, 1988) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district from 2019 to 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before being elected to Congress, Fi ...

, US Representative from

Iowa's 1st congressional district Iowa's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its northeastern part, bordering the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, and the Mississippi River. The district includes the cities o ...

* Brooks Wheelan, Comedian, Actor, & Saturday Night Live Alum

References

External links

Hempstead High School Website
{{authority control Education in Dubuque, Iowa Educational institutions established in 1970 Public high schools in Iowa Schools in Dubuque County, Iowa 1970 establishments in Iowa