Stephen Decatur High School (commonly Stephen Decatur, Stephen Decatur High, SDHS) is a four-year public high school in Berlin, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. With the grades of 912 the school is a part of Worcester County Public Schools. It is one of four public high schools in Worcester County along with Pocomoke High School, Worcester Technical High School, and Snow Hill High School. The school was opened in 1954.

About the school

Stephen Decatur High School was named after

Stephen Decatur Stephen Decatur Jr. (; January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was an American naval officer and commodore. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland in Worcester County. His father, Stephen Decatur Sr., was a commodore in the Unite ...

, the naval war hero during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

who was born in Worcester County. He was a Commodore and also fought in the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War (1815) or the U.S.–Algerian War was fought between the United States and the North African Barbary Coast states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. The war ended when the United States Senate ratified Commodore Stephen De ...

against pirates in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. The school is part of the Worcester County Public School system, which also includes three other high schools, Snow Hill High School, Pocomoke High School, and one vocational school, Worcester Technical High School. Construction on the school began in 1952 and Stephen Decatur High School was dedicated in 1954. It was a consolidation of two old high schools,

Ocean City High School Ocean City High School (OCHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Ocean City, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Ocean ...

Ocean City, MD Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States cens ...

and Buckingham High School in Berlin, MD. The school originally served grades 7 through 12. The current facility has .

Students

The graduation rate at Stephen Decatur High School is consistently above 90 percent. In 2015 the school had a graduation rate of 93.73%. The area of West Ocean City, Ocean Pines, and Berlin experienced significant growth in the 1990s and 2000s, and that was reflected in the student population at Stephen Decatur High School. From 895 students in 1993, the school had an enrollment of 1,436 in 2007. The growth of the area slowed around the time of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

, and as a result the student population at Stephen Decatur has remained relatively steady over the past decade.

Staff

The following people have been the principal at Stephen Decatur High School:

Sports

State champions

* 2023 - Wrestling (2A) * 2022 - Wrestling (2A) * 2020 - Wrestling (2A) * 2019 - Wrestling (3A) * 2008 - Wrestling (4A-3A) * 2002 - Boys Soccer (2A) * 1986 - Boys Track & Field (Class C) * 1970 - Boys Basketball (Class B)

State finalists

* 2016 - Boys Basketball (3A) * 2015 - Girls Lacrosse (3A-2A) * 2011 - Boys Swimming (3A-2A-1A) * 2006 - Girls Lacrosse (3A-2A) * 2005 - Golf (2A-1A) * 2001 - Boys Soccer (2A) * 2000 - Boys Track & Field (2A) * 1985 - Boys Track & Field (Class C) * 1984 - Boys Track & Field (Class C) * 1977 - Girls Basketball (Class B) * 1971 - Boys Basketball (Class B) * 1969 - Boys Basketball (Class B)

Robotics

* 2014 -

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

Team #4288 North Carolina Regional Champion * 2013 -

FIRST LEGO League The ''FIRST'' LEGO League Challenge (formerly known as ''FIRST'' LEGO League) is an international competition organized by ''FIRST'' for elementary and middle school students (ages 9–14 in the United States and Canada, 9–16 elsewhere). Each y ...

- Salisbury Qualifiers Champion * 2012 - FIRST LEGO League - Salisbury Qualifiers Champion * 2012 - FIRST Robotics Competition #4288 - Battle of Baltimore

Notable alumni

* Dale R. Cathell, judge,

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is compos ...

John Chester John Chester is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and television director. His recent short films for OWN's Super Soul Sunday (including ''Saving Emma'', ''Worry for Maggie'' and ''The Orphan'') have won five Emmy Awards, for outstanding directi ...

, co-creator of ''Random 1'', television program on A&E * Linda Harrison, actress *

Erica Messer Erica Messer is an American television writer, producer, and story editor. She has written episodes of television series such as '' Alias'', ''The O.C.'', ''Charmed'', and ''Criminal Minds''. She has also co-produced two television shows: ''Cha ...

, writer for ''The OC'', ''Alias'', and ''Criminal Minds'' *

Oliver Purnell Oliver Gordon Purnell Jr. (born May 19, 1953) is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Radford University from 1988 to 1991, Old Dominion University from 1991 to 1994, the University of Dayto ...

, head basketball coach at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Cat ...

References

External links

*
Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen Decatur High School Berlin, Maryland Educational institutions established in 1954 Public high schools in Maryland Schools in Worcester County, Maryland 1954 establishments in Maryland