Oxford High School (OHS) is a public
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 ...
in
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...
. It educates 1,210 students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the
Oxford School District.
Its boundary includes almost all of Oxford, the
University
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...
, and some
unincorporated areas
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
.
History
High-school students first attended public school in Oxford in 1886 when a building was erected to accommodate twelve grades of students. The University High School was the primary school in Oxford until 1963 when the town was integrated and the Oxford School District was formed.
As the city of Oxford grew, so did the student population. A transition to class 5A in 2008 was followed up by a move to 6A, Mississippi's highest classification. In 2014, Oxford High School relocated and moved into a new $30 million building at 101 Charger Loop, due to the increasing number of students. The former building, which stood as the high school for nearly half a century, became the middle school for grades 7 and 8 in the district.
Arts
Between 2007 and 2017, the OHS Theatre program was invited five times to the American High School Theater Festival at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Athletics
The Oxford Chargers have won the Mississippi High School Athletic Association's All Sports Award 4A or 5A several years, fulfilling a commitment to being a first-class athletic program.
Sports programs at Oxford High School include
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 t ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...
,
cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
,
cross country,
dance,
fastpitch softball
Fastpitch softball, also known as fastpitch or fastball, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist.
Fast pitch is considered the most competitive for ...
,
football,
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 ...
,
powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effo ...
,
slowpitch softball,
soccer,
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 eve ...
, 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 Sum ...
.
On December 7, 2019, the Oxford High School Varsity Football Team won its first state title against Oak Grove. The score was 31 - 21.
Notable alumni
*
Edward Aschoff, sports reporter
*
Larry Brown, writer
*
Sam Kendricks
Sam Kendricks (born September 7, 1992) is an American pole vaulter. He is a three-time indoor and six-time outdoor national champion (2014–2019), the 2016 Olympics bronze medalist, and the 2017 World Champion. In 2019, Kendricks set the Ameri ...
, pole vaulter, 2016 Olympics bronze medalist
*
Grae Kessinger
Graeber Crawley Kessinger (born August 25, 1997) is an American professional baseball shortstop in the Houston Astros organization.
Amateur career
Kessinger attended Oxford High School in Oxford, Mississippi. He was drafted out of high school i ...
,
shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...
for
Ole Miss Rebels baseball
The Ole Miss Rebels baseball team represents the University of Mississippi in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They are currently coached by Mike Bianco and play at ...
and the
Houston Astros organization.
*
DK Metcalf
DeKaylin Zecharius "DK" Metcalf (born December 14, 1997) is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ole Miss. He is the son of former NFL guard Terrence ...
,
wide receiver for
Ole Miss Rebels football
The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents the University of Mississippi, also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of ...
and the
Seattle Seahawks
*
Karlous Miller
Karlous Bernard Miller (born April 2, 1983) is an American comedian, actor and rapper. He began his comedy career in Atlanta, Georgia and is widely known for his successful podcast/comedy tour The 85 South Show, along with being a cast member on ...
, comedian
*
Alex Mullen, world memory champion
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Public high schools in Mississippi
Schools in Lafayette County, Mississippi
Buildings and structures in Oxford, Mississippi
Educational institutions established in 1886
1886 establishments in Mississippi
{{Mississippi-school-stub