Valley High School (VHS) is a

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

located in

West Des Moines, Iowa West Des Moines is a city in Polk County, Iowa, Polk, Dallas County, Iowa, Dallas, Warren County, Iowa, Warren, and Madison County, Iowa, Madison counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. A majority of the city is located in Polk County, a minority of ...

. VHS is a three-year comprehensive high school with approximately 1,900 students. The school hosts grades 10–12. It is run by the

West Des Moines Community Schools West Des Moines Community School District, or West Des Moines Community Schools (WDMCS), is a school district headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa. The district is mostly in Polk County, with a section in Dallas County. In addition to West ...

. Freshmen attend a separate school, Valley Southwoods.

Demographics

As of the 2019–20 school year, there were 433 students (21.3% of enrollment) eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with th ...

and 140 (6.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Valley High School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed September 1, 2020.

History

In October 1895, the first established high school in Valley Junction at 415 Seventh Street was opened. Valley Junction's first graduation was held on May 31, 1901, with just nine graduates. By 1916, the study body population had grown and a local bond was passed for a new high school. Construction on $50,000 structure at Eighth and Hillside was completed in 1917. In 1938, when Valley Junction changed its name, the school district changed, becoming the West Des Moines Independent School District. At this time, one high school, a junior high school and three elementary schools served the needs of the community. In the same year and thanks to a grant from the Public Works Administrations, a new concrete stadium was built just north of the high school on Eighth Street. In 1962, of farmland near 35th and Ashworth Road were purchased by the School Board for $116,000 as a site for a new high school. Construction of Valley High School was completed in four phases from 1963 to 1970. Valley became a four-year high school during the 1971–72 school year. Costing nearly $5.5 million, Valley High School stretched almost one-quarter of a mile from end to end. Also in 1971, Valley opened the Metropolitan Conference's newest and largest gymnasium. Additional classrooms, science labs, and other student spaces have been added over the years. The first year that the new school was open, it was used for classrooms for some sixth grade students and for the ninth grade year of the class of 1970. The next year, it became a three-year high school. The graduating class of 1975 was the first class to attend four years in the new building. In 1995 the school district had 546 students as an average enrollment in grades 9-12, making Valley the largest high school in the state. - See clipping
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Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

. In the fall of 1997, the construction of the Freshman High School Building, Valley Southwoods, was completed. Valley High School became a tenth through 12th grade building. Valley Southwoods school serves ninth-grade students and provides a similar style of curriculum as Valley High School.

Academics

Valley offers almost 190 academic courses, including 23

Advanced Placement Program Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) courses. Valley also has recently started an Honors Program, which is meant to be comparable to the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program. This program allows for highly motivated and advanced students to take college-level courses sooner than normal. Valley also has a "designated scholars" program, which allows students to specialize in one specific area of academics, such as math.

Athletics

Football The Valley High School football team won the Iowa State 4A Championships in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2011. Boys' Cross Country The Valley High School Boys' Cross Country team won the 1A State title in 1955. The Valley High School Boys' Cross Country team won the 2A State title in 1962. Boys' basketball The Valley High School boys' basketball team won the 4A state title in 1993 and 2016. Girls' basketball The Valley High School girls' basketball Team won the 5A state title in 2017 and 2019. Wrestling The Valley High School wrestling team won the 3A dual tournament state title in 2016. Boys' swimming The Valley High School Boys' Swim Team won the 4A State title in 1984 and 2010. Girls' swimming The Valley High School girls' swimming and diving team won the state title in 1974, 1975, in addition to winning it four years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). Girls' soccer The Valley High School girls' soccer team won the 4A State title in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. Boys' soccer The Valley High School boys' soccer club won the state title 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2016. Boys' Track and Field The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in Outdoor Track and Field in 1942, 1955, 1998, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in Indoor Track and Field in 1951 and 1952. The Valley High School Boys' Track and Field won the State title in the Pentathlon in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2016. Girls' track and field The Valley High School girls' track and field won the 4A State Track and Field Meet in 1998, 2003 and 2006. Boys' tennis The Valley High School Boys' Tennis Team won the State title in 1985, 1986, 1993 and 2010. Girls' tennis The Valley High School girls' tennis team won the state title in 1993, 2A in 1994 and 2001. Girls' golf The Valley High School Girls' Golf Team won the state title in 1968, 1970, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 3A in 1982, 1983, and 4A in 2006. Boys' golf The Valley High School boys' golf team won the state title in 1976, 1989, 2008, 2012 and 2017. Baseball The Valley High School baseball team won the state title in 1955, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Softball The Valley High School girls' softball team won state titles in 1990, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2019. Synchronized Swimming (No longer sanctioned by IGHSAU) The Valley High School Girls' Synchronized Swim Team won the State title in 1979, 1980 and 1981. It is now held as a club sport during the winter and spring.

Music & arts

The Valley Music Department was honored with the first GRAMMY Signature School award in 1999.Valley Arts Home
/ref> The 240-member Valley Marchmasters were selected to perform in the 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade. In March 2007, the band traveled to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland to march in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. In addition to the strong band program, Valley's orchestra has completed concert tours in Austria and Italy. In June 2007, the orchestra traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to play at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

as part of NYBOF'07. The choral show, jazz, and core ensembles have performed in several national and international festivals from Carnegie Hall to Disney World, and received top honors at competitions throughout the country. The school also has a

high school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...

station,

KWDM KWDM, "88.7 KWDM The Point," is a modern rock high school radio station serving the Des Moines, Iowa area on 88.7 FM. The radio station's studio is located at Valley High School in West Des Moines. It is owned and operated by the West Des Moin ...

, which broadcasts from 6am to 6pm, Monday through Friday. It is one of only two high school radio programs in Iowa and the only high school program in the state to have a fully digital production and on-air studio.

Activities

Valley High School won the 2006

National High School Mock Trial Championship The National High School Mock Trial Championship is an American nationwide competition of high school mock trial teams. Hundreds, and even thousands of teams participate in district, regional, and state tournaments to select one champion team to re ...

, held in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

and more recently won the state competition in 2011. Valley has a large selection of clubs for students to participate in. The Valley High School debate team has won the Lincoln-Douglas division of the

Tournament of Champions (debate) The Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a national high school speech and debate tournament held at the University of Kentucky every year in a weekend in April. Tournament of Champions is considered to be the national championship of the “National ...

, the debate national championship, more times than any other high school in the United States. In the 2015–16 debate season, they were in the top five programs in the country by number of Tournament of Champions bids and hosted a tournament with an octafinals bid to the Tournament of Champions in Lincoln-Douglas, the highest level, one of only eight high schools in the country to do so.

Notable alumni

Cindy Axne Cynthia Lynne Axne (née Wadle; born April 20, 1965) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she narrowly defeated incumbent Republican David Y ...

(born 1965), U.S. Representative *

Jake Campos Jake Campos (born October 18, 1994) is a former American football offensive tackle. He was a member of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa State University. Early years Campos attended Va ...

(born 1994), XFL player *

Jared Clauss Jared Clauss (born April 7, 1981) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft with the 230th overall pick. He played college football at Iowa. Clauss ...

(born 1981), retired professional football player, who played for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

after being drafted in the seventh round from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

Dominique Dafney Dominique Dafney (born June 3, 1997) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at Iowa and Indiana State, and signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He has also played for th ...

(born 1997), professional football player for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Katelyn Epperly Caitlin () is a female given name of Irish origin. Historically, the Irish name Caitlín was anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s, however, non-Irish speakers began pronouncing the name according to English spelling rules as , which ...

(born 1990), ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' Season 9 *Broc Everett, 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Individual Champion * Rodney Faraon (born 1970), former CIA officer and film/television producer *

Justin Hartwig Justin Hartwig (born November 21, 1978) is a former American football center who played in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Kansas. Hart ...

(born 1978),

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

Champion center for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Peter Hedges Peter Simpson Hedges (born July 6, 1962) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, film director and film producer. Early life Hedges was born in West Des Moines, Iowa, where he was raised, the son of Carole (Simpson), a psychotherapis ...

(born 1962), film director and screenwriter *

Ashley Hinson Ashley Elizabeth Hinson (born June 27, 1983) is an American politician and journalist serving as the U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district since 2021. Her district comprises much of the northeast quadrant of the state, includi ...

(born 1983) US Congresswoman- Iowa 1st District * Dan Jennings (born 1987), pitcher for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

* Peter Jok (born 1994), professional basketball player *

Shawn Johnson Shawn Johnson East (born Shawn Machel Johnson; January 19, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 al ...

(born 1992), retired

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

, Olympic gold and silver medalist, ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' Season Eight winner and ''

'' Season Fifteen runner-up *

Karlos Kirby Karlos Kirby (born October 2, 1967) is an American bobsledder who competed during the 1990s. A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, and a graduate of Valley High School. In 1992 Kirby became the first person from the state of Iowa to compete in a ...

(born 1968), Olympic bobsledder *

Carl Pohlad Carl Ray Pohlad (August 23, 1915 – January 5, 2009) was an American financier from Minnesota. Pohlad is best known as the owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise from 1984 (succeeding Calvin Griffith) until his death in 2009. In ...

(1915–2009), businessman and owner of the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

*Major General Roger W. Sandler, US Army Retired (born 1934), Chief, United States Army Reserve, 1991–1994.Hilkert, David E
''Chiefs of the Army Reserve: Biographical Sketches of the United States Army Reserve's Senior Offices''
p. 263. Office of Army Reserve History, U.S. Army Reserve Command, 2004. Accessed September 22, 2020. "Young Roger spent all but one year of the remainder of his formative years in West Des Moines, Iowa, attending Valley High School."

References

External links

Valley High SchoolWest Des Moines School District Website
{{Central Iowa Metro League , state=autocollapse Public high schools in Iowa West Des Moines, Iowa Schools in Polk County, Iowa Iowa High School Athletic Association 1869 establishments in Iowa