Plano West Senior High School (commonly West, Plano West, or PWSH) is a

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 Plano,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

serving

high school junior Eleventh grade, 11th grade, junior year, or grade 11 (called Year 12 in Wales and England and fifth form in Jamaica) is the eleventh, and for some countries final, grade of secondary schools. Students are typically 16–17 years of age, depending ...

s and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

s. Plano West is named after its geographic location within West Plano. The school is part of the

Plano Independent School District Plano Independent School District (PISD or Plano ISD) is an independent school district in southwestern Collin County, Texas, based in Plano. Plano ISD serves about of land, with of it within the City of Plano. The district also takes student ...

, and enrolls students based on the locations of students' homes. Students at Plano West attended one of two high schools:

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

or Shepton. The combination of these two schools for 9th and 10th graders into the Plano West student body creates graduating classes of 1300-1500 students annually. Plano West was formed in the fall of 1999 as a newly renovated, former Shepton High School. Shepton High School then moved to 5505 W Plano Pkwy, Plano, TX 75093. Plano West is accredited by the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

, which designates the school as "Recognized." The school colors are royal blue, black, and white, and the mascot is the

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

, with the students recognizing the student body as "the wolf-pack." The school is ranked as 22nd in the nation, and as the #1 comprehensive high school in the State of Texas, according to Newsweek's 2016 list of best public high schools.

Athletics

The mascot is the wolf, a departure from the feline mascots of the two other senior high schools in Plano (the Plano Wildcats and the Plano East Panthers). The Plano West Wolves compete in the following sports: *

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 ...

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 ...

* 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 ...

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 & Diving *

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 & 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Championships

Music

The Plano West Chamber Orchestra is made up of approximately 40 musicians. It has won 1st place in the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Honor Orchestra competition (recognizing the top high school string orchestras in Texas) 5 consecutive times, in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 (TMEA rules prohibit a school from entering the competition the year after it has won), along with several top-5 finishes from 2011-2015. The orchestra received the TMEA "Honor Orchestra" designation again in 2016 and 2019. The orchestra has also been featured on the Disney Channel series "Totally in Tune" which aired in 2001. In 2005, the orchestra won a Cappie Award for Outstanding Pit Orchestra in a musical for the school production of Les Misérables. The Choir Program performs at the annual Texas Music Educators Association Convention. The Plano West Mighty Wolf Band has a marching and concert season and also has a

winter guard Winter guard (sometimes spelled "winterguard") is an indoor color guard sport and performance art derived from military ceremonies. Modern winter guard is a competitive, performance-based activity which incorporates choreographed staging, dance, a ...

program. In the 2009–2010 school year, the band had approximately 95 members; by 2015-2016, this had increased to about 195. The band was led by head director James Hannah from the school's founding until his retirement in 2017. Hannah was succeeded by long time Jasper High School band director Jackie Digby, who leads the band to this day. Plano West has taught a jazz band alongside its normal band program since the school's opening. In 2018, due to increased membership, the school added a second jazz band. The Plano West Jazz Orchestra, directed by Preston Pierce, was named a finalist for the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition in 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The Jazz Orchestra was the invited high school Jazz Ensemble at the 2016 Texas Music Educators Association Convention. In 2011, Plano West was named one of only seven Gold Grammy Signature Schools for its music program. The award recognizes top U.S. public high schools making an outstanding commitment to music education.

Alumni

* Ben Bass (Class of 2007) —

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, formerly at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. * Kyle Bosworth (Class of 2005) —

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

and

* Natalie Chou (Class of 2016) —

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

with the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

T. J. Cline Timothy Joseph Cline (born July 22, 1994) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player who last played for MoraBanc Andorra of the Liga ACB and is also a member of the Israeli national basketball team. He played college basketball for th ...

(Class of 2012), American-Israeli basketball player * Geoffrey Groselle (Class of 2011) — professional basketball player. *

Jackson Jeffcoat Jackson Jeffcoat (born December 26, 1990) is a Canadian football defensive end for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Jeffcoat won the 107th and 108th Grey Cup when the Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats ...

(Class of 2010) —

with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, formerly

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Currently with the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. *

David Lofton David Lofton (born January 28, 1984) is a former American football Safety (American football position), safety. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Stanford Cardinal football, Stanf ...

(Class of 2002) —

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, formerly at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. * Billy McKinney (Class of 2013) —

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

* Jordan Pugh (Class of 2006) —

with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. Drafted in the 6th round out of

. *

Leon Taylor Leon Taylor (born 2 November 1977) is a former British competitive diver. During his diving career he won medals at all major international events including a silver at the Athens Olympics. Following his retirement from competition, Taylor t ...

(Class of 2011) — forward with

Bodens BK Bodens BK is a Swedish football club located in Boden in Norrbotten. The club was formed on 2 November 1916 and began playing soccer in 1918. It is currently playing in the fourth tier of Swedish football, Division 2. Linguistics Note tha ...

and

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...

. *

Vickiel Vaughn Vickiel Vaughn (born October 24, 1983) is a former American football safety. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arkansas. Early years Vaughn attended Plano West Se ...

(Class of 2002) —

with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, formerly at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Debate

The Plano West Debate Team has had many successes over the tournament season, with bringing home many awards. The most recent of which include 1st place at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in 2020, for the events International Extemporaneous Speaking and Big Questions Debate. The team has had repeated success in cross-country and in-state tournaments, receiving many scholarships and creating opportunities for younger debate students to learn as well, through the Plano West Debate Camp.

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Plano, Texas Educational institutions established in 1999 1999 establishments in Texas Public high schools in Texas Plano Independent School District high schools

Athletics

Championships

Music

Alumni

Debate

See also

References

External links