Palm Harbor University High School, also known as PHUHS, is a

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg– Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical ...

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 ...

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 Palm Harbor,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for grades 9-12. The school's

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

is the Hurricane and the school's colors are navy and maroon. The campus was built in 1996 and was originally to be known as the University High School at Palm Harbor. The word ''University'' emphasized the intended cooperation with the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, but this did not materialize. In the 2014-2015 school year, the school added a biomedical focus to the existing CWMP program. Students at PHUHS belong to either the traditional program, which is called the University Program, or one of two magnet programs: *

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

(IB) *Center for Wellness and Medical Professions (CWMP)
*Career Academy of Business Administration and Management (C.A.B.A.M.)

Academics and Stats

In the past several years, PHUHS has ranked highly, with over 80% of the graduating class qualifying for Florida Bright Futures Scholarships and students consistently performing in the top 1% of scores for the statewide FCAT

standardized test A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...

. The school has the highest graduation rate of all high schools in Pinellas County. Palm Harbor University High also received a 10 out of 10 and an A grade from greatschools.net] was named in the USA TODAY Academic All-Star Honorable Mention 2004, and won 35 athletic championships at the local, regional and state level. The high school was mentioned in the

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

listing of the best High Schools in the U.S. and was awarded a Silver Medal ranking in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools. Its

program has led over 700 students to the IB diploma, and has maintained the second highest percentage of diplomas in North America within the ''60 (or more) students per graduating class'' category. PHUHS is a recipient of Florida's Five Star Award for outstanding community involvement, and boasts a total of 47 National Merit finalists. In 2005 and 2006, Palm Harbor University was ranked the 83rd best high school in America.

Athletics

Palm Harbor competes in

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

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 ...

(boys),

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 ...

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, flag football (girls),

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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 ...

(girls), swimming,

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 Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

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 ...

(girls) and

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 ...

State championships

* 1999 Girls Soccer * 1999 Girls Softball * 2000 Girls Soccer * 2002 Boys Soccer * 2004 Girls Softball * 2005 Girls Softball * 2006 Girls Soccer * 2006 Boys Soccer * 2008 Boys Swimming and Diving * 2009 Boys Soccer * 2009 Girls Soccer * 2010 Girls Soccer * 2011 Boys Swimming and Diving * 2013 Boys Swimming and Diving * 2019 Girls Soccer

Rivalries

In recent years, the school's football matchup with rival

East Lake High School East Lake High School is a public high school serving students from grades 9–12 located in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and is part of the Pinellas County Schools. It has a 99% graduation rate which ranks it among the most graduating schools in the ...

has been described by the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

'' as "perhaps the biggest high school football game in

Clubs and Programs

The medical program allows students to get an overview of the medical field and learn about the human body and diseases along the way. By junior year, each student is enrolled into Allied Health where students study and shadow three different medical professions throughout the year. By senior year, each student chooses to enroll into a certification class of either: a Nursing Assistant Class, an Electrocardiogram (EKG)/Telemetry Aide Class, an Emergency Medical Responders Class, or an Entry Level Biotechnology certification. Students also become CPR certified their sophomore year and get re-certified their senior years. See PHUHS's website for a complete list of clubs. The school has over 60 different clubs to partake in. Phuhs

The International Baccalaureate program has graduated thousands of students, many who have gone on to prestigious universities. The program gives students an advanced course load with a schedule similar to that of a 4-year university. Students take Advanced Placement classes their junior year instead of senior year to allow time to prepare for exams for the IB diploma. The Career Academy of Business Administration and Management (or C.A.B.A.M.) is a career/college preparatory program which provides students with the opportunity to learn practical business skills and earn industry certifications. The program offers a sequence of courses that provides rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further education and careers Business. The program provides technical skill proficiency, and includes competency-based applied learning that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employment skills, technical skills, occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of the Business, Management, and Administration career cluster. In Short: CABAM will give you a head start on college & careers in high skill, high wage, and high demand areas. PHUHS has five robotics teams which compete in the

FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST Vex Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other te ...

, all of whom have earned several awards since their respective establishments in 2008, 2009, and 2019, including the title of "Winning Alliance Captain" at the 2019 Houston World Championship. PHUHS Robotics has consistently had one or more teams qualify for the FTC Florida State Championship and the Houston World Championship for the past 4 years. For the past 14 years, the club has taught the students the basics of engineering,

Java programming Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywh ...

, and

Computer Aided Design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

(CAD). The school's Mathematics Honor Society,

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is the United States mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. In June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and in 20 foreign countries. Its main ...

, focuses on developing interest in mathematics and encourages students to pursue paths in engineering, computer science, math education, and other mathematical careers. The club attracted more than 200 members each year. Bolstered by Palm Harbor's math

Program, Mu Alpha Theta members compete both at the national and state level in divisions ranging from Geometry to Calculus, and winning many awards and recognition throughout. One of the school's many clubs is H.O.S.A. (Health Occupation Students of America).HOSA Website
/ref> PHUHS has a very active chapter of FBLA and has had dozens of students place in district and state competitions, and routinely sends students to the FBLA National Convention. Palm Harbor University High School's yearbook is the ''Aftermath'', earning awards from the

National Scholastic Press Association The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1921 for high school and secondary school publications in the United States. The association is membership-based and annually hosts high school journalism conv ...

, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and the

Florida Scholastic Press Association The Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1946. It is the scholastic press association for the state of Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. ...

. Palm Harbor's newspaper, ''The EYE'', has received the Florida Scholastic Press Association's All-American Award, and the National Scholastic Press Association's Gold Medal, placing the publication in the top 10% of all high school newspapers in the country. Other activities include a debate team, started in the 2007-2008 school year and a chapter of the Science National Honor Society, founded in 2012. Also National Technical Honor Society (2018) and Girls Who Code (2020)

External links

Palm Harbor University High School Website

Palm Harbor University High School IB Program
*Palm Harbor University High School Robotics Website
Palm Harbor University High School Mu Alpha Theta

Palm Harbor University High School Athletics

References

{{authority control High schools in Pinellas County, Florida Public high schools in Florida 1996 establishments in Florida Educational institutions established in 1996