W. B. Ray High School is a 5A

secondary 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

centrally located in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

, United States and is part of the Corpus Christi Independent School District. The school is named in honor of CCISD school board president, William Benton Ray. W. B. Ray High School opened in 1950. Ray High School is noted for its Socratic method, a system based on teacher and student interaction that promulgates discussion and inquiry-based learning in the classroom. W. B. Ray High School one of 46 high schools in Texas designated as a World School by the International Baccalaureate Program. W. B. Ray High School is the only high school in CCISD which offers the

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 ...

Program and is CCISD's only program for Gifted and Talented students at the

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 ...

level, offering higher level academic courses that surpass Honors and AP courses in both rigor and difficulty.

Demographics

With a student enrollment of approximately 2,100 students, Ray High School has an ethnic distribution of 62%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

, 32%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 5%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, & 1% other (including Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and

Asians Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...

). The school's boundary area is varied in

socio-economic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

strata, ranging from extremely affluent multimillion-dollar homes to multi-family complexes.

Profile

The school principal is Roxanne Cuevas. The school's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

is "Fighting Texans". The mascots are "Tex" and "Mary Lou."

International Baccalaureate

Ray's

program graduated its inaugural class in 2013. Since then, graduates have been accepted for admission at some of the most prestigious academic institutions and programs in the world including

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, MIT,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, Columbia, Georgetown,

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

, Vanderbilt,

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

, Northwestern,

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

Stanford 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 considere ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, the American University in Paris, and

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

among others.

Extracurricular involvement

Ray High School participates in a variety of extracurricular activities. Clubs and organizations are available in academics, service, performing arts, publications, and special interests. Competitive sports for young men and women include basketball, baseball, track, soccer, softball, wrestling, football, cross-country, swimming and diving, golf, volleyball, tennis, and recently water polo. The school's award-winning Academic Decathlon and Mock Trial teams regularly advance to the state level. The Ray Speech and Debate team is a regional powerhouse and a frequent competitor at prominent national contests.

School uniform

This school has a simple dress code: any color shirt and pants, but can not be showing (stomach, etc.) anything. Assistant principals and armed police officers guard the main hallways in search of dress code offenders. In 2000, there was a push in the administration (led by Dr. Scott at the time) to ban flip-flops, but student and parent outcry and lack of support from teachers led to this being dropped.

Athletics

* 1951-52 Set Texas state record in 440 yard relay at 42.64 seconds. * 1959-60 Won Texas State Football 4A Championship defeating Katy 20-6.

Notable alumni

* David Baxter, class of 1955, World Series of Poker winner * Charles Butt, class of 1955, Chair of the H-E-B supermarket chain *

Arnold Davis Arnold Allen Davis (born September 25, 1938) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Baylor University. Early years Davis attended W. B. Ray High School ...

, former NFL player *

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Leni Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she playe ...

, model and actressWine Matters; Brewery exec turned to wine
" ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

''. August 2, 2006. *

Bill Glass William Sheppeard Glass (August 16, 1935 – December 5, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for 11 seasons in the National Football League, beginning with the Detroit Lions and finishing his career as a st ...

, former NFL player *

Clint Gresham Clint Gresham (born August 24, 1986) is a former American football long snapper. Early life Clint Gresham was born to Jim Gresham and Martha Booe on August 24, 1986. Gresham attended W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, Texas until his gr ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

long snapper * Martin Gurule, murderer and death row escapee * Jim Heath, singer, songwriter and guitarist known by his stage name The Reverend Horton Heat * John Kline, member of the House of Representatives *

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...

, class of 1955, was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, librettist, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Kent Nix Alvin Kent Nix (born March 12, 1944) is a former American football player who played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas Christian University (TCU). Nix is the son of Emery N ...

, former NFL player *

Paul Peress Paul Peress is an American drummer, composer, and record producer. Career Peress grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. He started on violin when he was six years old, then played trumpet when he was twelve. His family moved after his father, Mauri ...

, drummer, composer, producer *

Larry C. Price Larry C. Price (born February 23, 1954) is an American photojournalist who has won two Pulitzer Prizes. In 1981 he won the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography, recognizing images from Liberia published by the Fort Worth ''Star-Telegram''. In 19 ...

, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and documentary photographer *

Dody Roach Felix D. "Dody" Roach (May 3, 1937 – September 7, 2004) was an American poker player from Corpus Christi, Texas, who won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. Career Roach won his first bracelet at the 1981 WSOP in the $1,000 No Limit ...

, class of 1955, World Series of Poker winner * Pepe Serna, actor * Susan Taylor (aka

Taylor Pie Taylor Pie (born 1947) is an American folk singer from Jacksonville, Texas, better known as Susan Taylor, a founding member of the Pozo-Seco Singers, whose recording of Michael Merchant's song "Time" topped the charts in Boston, Chicago and L ...

), singer/songwriter, member of the Pozo-Seco Singers *

Chris Layton Christopher Layton (born November 16, 1955), also known as "Whipper", is an American drummer who rose to fame as one of the founding members of Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Te ...

, member of Stevie Ray Vaughan's band, Double Trouble *

Bart Shirley Barton Arvin Shirley (born January 4, 1940) is a former Major League Baseball infielder. He played in 75 games in four seasons (1964, 1966–1968) for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. He also played in Japan for two seasons with the C ...

, former MLB player (LA Dodgers & NY Mets)

References

External links

*
W.B. Ray Class of 1964 alumni website

W.B. Ray class of 1967 reunion website

W.B. Ray Percussion website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray Corpus Christi Independent School District high schools Educational institutions established in 1950 High schools in Corpus Christi, Texas 1950 establishments in Texas