John Glenn High School is a public high school in

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It serves portions of Westland, Canton Township, Inkster, and

Dearborn Heights Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 63,292 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census., Dearborn Heights is part of the Detroit metropolitan area, and is consid ...

. It is a part of the Wayne-Westland Community Schools district.

History

One of two traditional high schools serving the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, John Glenn High School is located in the city of Westland, Michigan. The school, which opened in 1964, was named for

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...

, who just two years prior had become the first American to orbit the earth. The "space" theme dominates at JGHS, including the nickname (Rockets), yearbook (the Satellite), newspaper (the ''

Explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

'', formerly the ''

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

''), and school store (the Gantry). When John Glenn High School opened its doors in 1964, it did not have its own football field, having to play home games on the field of rival

Wayne Memorial High School Wayne Memorial High School is a high school in Wayne, Michigan in Metro Detroit, on the corner of Glenwood Road and Fourth Street, sitting near the border of Wayne and its district partner Westland. It is a part of Wayne-Westland Community Scho ...

for the better part of its first decade. The building was only a fraction of its current size. To keep up with expanding enrollment in the 1970s and 1980s, new wings were added for Fine Arts and Special Education, as well as a new gymnasium and its own football and baseball fields. Fitting for a school named for an astronaut, JGHS is one of the few high schools in the state to feature a

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

. When John Glenn High School opened under principal Frank Higgins, it served students in grades 7-11, expanding to grades 8-12 from 1965-67. After a brief stint as a four-year high school (9-12), it stabilized as a 10-12th grade school in 1970, finally returning to its 9-12 status in 1995 when the Wayne-Westland district adopted a middle school format.

Demographics

The demographic breakdown of the 1,634 students enrolled in 2021-2022 was: *Native American/Alaskan - 0.5% *Asian/Pacific islanders - 2.1% *African American - 37.6% *Hispanic/Latino - 7% *White - 49.2% *Multiracial - 3.4% 49% of students were economically disadvantaged during the 2021-2022 school year

Athletics

The John Glenn Rockets are members of the

Kensington Lakes Activities Association The Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) is an athletic conference for high schools in Michigan. It was formed in the 2008-2009 school year as a result of the merger of the Kensington Valley Conference and the Western Lakes Activities ...

. The school colors are red, white and blue. The following MHSAA sanctioned sports are offered: *Baseball (boys) *Basketball (boys and girls) *Bowling (boys and girls) *Competitive cheer (girls) *Cross country (boys and girls) *Football (boys) *Golf (boys and girls) *Soccer (boys and girls) *Softball (girls) *Swim and dive (boys and girls) *Tennis (boys and girls) *Track and field (boys and girls) *Volleyball (girls) *Wrestling (boys) Prior to his tenure at the

Michigan Wolverines football team The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for it ...

, head coach

Lloyd Carr Lloyd Henry Carr Jr. (born July 30, 1945) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Michigan from 1995 through the 2007 season. Under Carr, the Michigan Wolverines compiled a record ...

coached the Rockets.

Notable alumni

Keshawn Martin Keshawn Charles Martin (born March 15, 1990) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fourth round with the 121st overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan State. ...

, New England Patriots wide receiver *

Tony Boles Tony Boles (born December 11, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a running back and kick returner who was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). After starring in college football for ...

, University of Michigan running back *

Josh Gracin Joshua Mario Gracin (born October 18, 1980) is an American country music singer. A former member of the United States Marine Corps, he first gained public attention as the fourth-place finalist on the second season of ''American Idol''. After h ...

, country music singer *

Jeremy Langford Jeremy Langford (born December 6, 1991) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Michigan State, and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Early years Langfor ...

, Chicago Bears running back *

Jewell Jones Jewell Jones (born April 11, 1995) is an American politician from the state of Michigan. He served on the city council of Inkster, Michigan, and was elected to represent the 11th district of the Michigan House of Representatives as the younges ...

, state representative * Danielle Hartsell and Steve Hartsell, pairs figure skating US national champions 1999 * Guy Rucker, NBA player for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

* Christina Fuoco, music journalist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Glenn, John High School Public high schools in Michigan Schools in Wayne County, Michigan Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in Michigan Westland, Michigan