Shawnee Mission South High School is a high school located in

Overland Park, Kansas Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As o ...

, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. The school is one of several public high schools located within Shawnee Mission and operated by Shawnee Mission USD 512 school district. The school colors are green and gold and the school mascot is the Raider. The average annual enrollment is approximately 1,600 students. The school newspaper is called ''The Patriot''.

History

Shawnee Mission South High School was established in 1966. The school's mascot was chosen by the first graduating class of 1967. The Raider was chosen as a mascot because of the popular band

Paul Revere & the Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revolu ...

. Throughout its history, Shawnee Mission South has hosted several prominent concerts.

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

played a concert with

The Buckinghams The Buckinghams are an American sunshine pop band from Chicago. They formed in 1966 and went on to become one of the top-selling acts of 1967, charting their only five top 40 hits in the U.S. that year. The band dissolved in 1970, but re-formed ...

at Shawnee Mission South on November 17, 1967. The concert was performed in the gymnasium that currently still stands.

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

appeared in concert in the school's gymnasium in March 1969. The

Amboy Dukes The Amboy Dukes were an American rock band formed in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, and later based in Detroit, Michigan. They are best known for their only hit single, "Journey to the Center of the Mind". The band's name comes from the title of a ...

performed in a "senior class only" concert, in the football stadium, May, 1971. Brewer & Shipley performed in the cafeteria in 1976. In 1983, Shawnee Mission South was named a

Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

, the highest honor an American school can achieve. In 1997, the school was named a Blue Ribbon School for the second time in the school's history.

Academics

Shawnee Mission South High School is a two-time

, occurring in 1983 and 1997. Beginning in the 2007–2008 school year, the Shawnee Mission School District adopted a new program, Project Lead the Way, as the district's signature engineering program, offered at Shawnee Mission South High School. The classes for Lead the Way include Introduction to Engineering Design, Principles of Engineering, Digital Electronics, Aerospace Engineering, and Engineering Design and Development. Another program unique to Shawnee Mission South is that of the Center for International Studies. The Center for International Studies (CIS) provides intensive instruction in four languages: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. The program also provides students the opportunity to attend geopolitics classes rather than regular social studies courses. In 2005, South's

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...

team made district news by winning the state of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

competition and advancing to the national level. As of January 22, 2012, the Shawnee Mission South

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

team has won the Kansas State Academic Decathlon Competition and advanced to nationals for fifteen years in a row.

Extracurricular activities

The Raiders compete in the Sunflower League and are classified as a 6A school (despite the drop in enrollment), the largest classification in Kansas according to the

Kansas State High School Activities Association The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high school, high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, ...

. Throughout its history, Shawnee Mission South has won several state championships in various sports. Many graduates have gone on to participate in collegiate athletics.

Athletics

State championships

Notable alumni

David Dastmalchian David Dastmalchian (; born July 21, 1975) is an American film and stage actor. He has had supporting roles in a number of superhero franchises; he portrayed Thomas Schiff in ''The Dark Knight'', Kurt in the first two Marvel Cinematic Univers ...

, actor * Stephen Dolginoff, writer, composer *

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, actor *

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, voice actor, radio and podcast personality * Neal Jeffrey, former Baylor and NFL quarterback *

Tom Kane Thomas Kane Roberts (born April 15, 1962) is a retired American voice actor. He is best known for his work in animation and video games, most notably in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Career Kane began his voice-over career in 1977, at fifteen yea ...

, voice actor * Steve Little, NFL football kicker and punter * Mike Morin, MLB baseball player *

Rodney Peete Rodney Peete (born March 16, 1966) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, and Carolina Panthers. He played ...

, former

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and NFL quarterback; sports television broadcaster *

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, actor, comedian * Vince Snowbarger, lawyer and politician *

Peter Spears Peter Spears (born November 29, 1965) is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. Spears is best known for winning an Oscar for producing ''Nomadland'' at the 93rd Academy Awards ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning filmmaker and actor *

Carla Sunberg Carla D. Sunberg (born July 1, 1961) is an American ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, administrator, academic, author, speaker and former missionary and registered nurse, who is the 2nd woman elected as a General Superintendent in th ...

, 10th President of

Nazarene Theological Seminary Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS) is a Nazarene seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. The seminary was established by the Eleventh General Assembly in June 1944 and started its first school year in 1945 with 61 students. It moved to its current ...

, 1979 *

Bobby Voelker Robert "Bobby" James Voelker (born April 26, 1979) is an American professional mixed martial artist competing in their Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, Voelker has formerly competed for the UFC, Bellator MMA, Strikef ...

, professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

, current

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Welterweight

References

External links

* {{Authority control Education in Overland Park, Kansas Schools in Johnson County, Kansas Public high schools in Kansas Educational institutions established in 1966 1966 establishments in Kansas