, motto_translation = We can do it , streetaddress = 1001 Haysland Road , city =

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

, zipcode = 35802 , country = United States , ceeb = 011466 , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Alabama , type =

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 ...

, established = , district = Huntsville City Schools , principal = Jeanne Greer , grades = 9– 12 , enrollment = 1,843 (2019–20) , teaching_staff = 96.50 ( FTE) (2019–20) , ratio = 19.10 (2019–20) , nickname = GHS , accreditation = AdvancED , newspaper = Tiger Tale , yearbook = Invictus , website = , colors = Orange, brown, and white
, team_name = Grissom Tigers , module = Virgil I. Grissom High School, more commonly referred to as Grissom High School, 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 ...

, United States with approximately 2000 students in

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

9– 12 from Southeast Huntsville. The school was named a 2007

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, ...

by the U.S. Department of Education. In the ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' ranking of schools throughout the nation for 2015, Grissom High School was ranked second best in the state and 390th nationally. Grissom was the only high school in Huntsville to make the 2015 list.

History

Grissom High School was founded in 1969 and is named for astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, killed in the

Apollo 1 Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was intended to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbita ...

fire at Cape Kennedy, Florida on January 27, 1967. Huntsville is home to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first ...

and has extensive ties to the American space program. At the same time, the Huntsville City Schools named Roger B. Chaffee Elementary and Ed White Middle School for Grissom's fallen

crewmates. In August 2012, the Huntsville City Schools announced plans to tear down the original two-story main high school building and replace it with a three-story structure at an estimated cost of $58 million. The new building was opened for the 2017–18 school year. Tom Drake served as Grissom's principal from 2000 through August 2013. The school board named June Kalange, then a vice-principal and former science teacher at Grissom, as his replacement in early August 2013. In 2015, Rebecca Balentine, the then-principal of Jones Valley Elementary School, was announced as the new principal of the school. She served until the end of the 2017–2018 school year. The current principal is Grissom High alumna Jeanne Greer.

Academic achievement

In 2007, ''

'' magazine ranked Grissom among the top 5% of all high schools in the United States. The school was ranked 531 among the top 1200 high schools in the nation based on the number of Advanced Placement, Cambridge tests, and/or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school and then dividing by the number of graduating seniors. In the ''

'' ranking of schools throughout the nation for 2015, Grissom High School was ranked second-best in the state and 390th nationally. Grissom was the only high school in Huntsville to make the 2015 list. Grissom produced 28

National Merit Semifinalists The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

for 2007, the highest number in the state. Grissom's math teams and academic team have also earned national recognition. Grissom's 2007 Science Olympiad state team placed 2nd at the state competition at Samford University. They participated in the National

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 ...

competition in

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 ...

in May 2007, and in 2008 participated in the National competition in Augusta, Georgia. In 2008, Grissom's Debate and Speech Team qualified for, and competed in the NFL National Tournament in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Notable people

Notable alumni

Mo Brooks Morris Jackson "Mo" Brooks Jr. (born April 29, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. His district was based in Huntsville and stretches across the northern fifth of the sta ...

, class of 1972, congressman in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, representing

Alabama's 5th congressional district Alabama's 5th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It encompasses the counties of Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Morgan and most of J ...

Hans von Spakovsky Hans Anatol von Spakovsky (born March 11, 1959) is an American attorney and a former member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). He is the manager of the Heritage Foundation's Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow in Herit ...

, class of 1977, member of the

Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

. *

Michael E. Brown Michael E. Brown (born June 5, 1965) is an American astronomer, who has been professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 2003. His team has discovered many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), including ...

, class of 1983, professor of

planetary astronomy Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Spike McRoy Robert Lynn "Spike" McRoy Jr. (born May 20, 1968) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. Early years and education McRoy was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. He got his nickname ''Spike ...

, class of 1986, former

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and Nationwide Tour * Hunter Morris, class of 2007, All-American collegiate baseball player *

Yaa Gyasi Yaa Gyasi (born 1989) is a Ghanaian-American novelist. Her debut novel ''Homegoing'', published in 2016, won her, at the age of 26, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first ...

, class of 2007, author *

Marvin Stone Marvin Chester Stone ( – ) was an American inventor. He is best known for inventing the modern drinking straw. Early life Stone was born in Portage County, Ohio in 1842. The son of an inventor, Stone made many useful articles in his boyhood. ...

, class of 1999, professional basketball player *

Tim Stowers Tim Stowers (born February 8, 1958) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Southern University from 1990 to 1995 and the University of Rhode Island from 2000 to 2007, compiling a care ...

, class of 1976, head football coach at

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hi ...

* Jayson Swain, class of 2003, formerly a wide receiver for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

* Peter J. White, class of 2001, Senior Policy

Advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs categor ...

to President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

John E. Hyten John Earl Hyten (born July 18, 1959) is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 11th vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2021. A career space operations and acquisitions officer, he commanded the United St ...

, class of 1977,

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VJCS) is, by U.S. law, the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, - Vice Chairman ranking just below the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vice chairman ...

(Designee) * Justin Foscue, class of 2017, 14th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft *

Jon Sumrall Jon Sumrall (born July 5, 1982) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach at Troy University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Coaching career Sumrall began his coaching career at his alma mater, Kentucky W ...

, class of 2001, head football coach at

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. Troy University is accredi ...

Notable faculty

Jeremy Brown Jeremy Scott Brown (born October 25, 1979) is an American former professional baseball catcher with the Oakland Athletics. Career Brown played for Hueytown High School in Hueytown, Alabama, and went on to the University of Alabama, where he pl ...

, teacher, baseball coach, 35th overall pick in the

2002 Major League Baseball draft The 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 4 and 5. It is featured in Michael Lewis' 2003 book '' Moneyball''. First round selections Supplemental first round compensation selections * ...

* Kay Cornelius, author

Advanced Placement classes

Grissom High School offers

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 ...

courses in the following courses, including, but not limited to: Students from Grissom can participate in a

dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cours ...

program and take classes at

Calhoun Community College Calhoun Community College is a public community college in Tanner, Alabama. It is the 2nd largest of the 24 two-year institutions that make up the Alabama Community College System. History The college was founded in 1946 and named after John C ...

, the

University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises nine colleges: arts, humanities & social scienc ...

, and the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

through correspondence.

Extracurriculars and athletics

As of 2007, Grissom has

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 ...

, boys' and girls'

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, cross country, softball, track,

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 ...

, swimming and diving, boys' and girls'

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 ...

, boys' and girls'

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 ...

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 ...

, and

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

teams, a dance program, a choral program, a theatre program, as well as

marching Marching refers to the organized, uniformed, steady walking forward in either rhythmic or route-step time; and, typically, it refers to overland movements on foot of military troops and units under field orders. Marching is often performed t ...

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

, and

jazz band A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ...

s. Other notable extracurricular activities include an academic team and an extremely competitive math team, that in addition to competing in contests, runs numerous mathematics programs, camps, and competitions. Rocket City Math League is an international mathematics competition run by Grissom math team students. A wide variety of extracurricular clubs are also present at Grissom. Grissom's academic team has won nine Alabama UAB/Alabama Scholastic Competition Association (ASCA) state championships (1982 (4A), 1987 (5A-6A), 1991, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2013 (the state's inaugural Junior Varsity Championship)) – the most of any Alabama high school. Grissom's wrestling team has won seven AHSAA State Championships, and has been runner-up seven times as well. Its most recent state championship was in 2004, while its most recent runner-up placement was in 2012. The program has also developed many individual state champions.

School publications

Grissom's bimonthly newspaper is ''The Imprint,'' which is recognized by the Alabama Scholastic Press Association. The annual literary magazine is called ''Seed'', and the annual school yearbook is named ''Invictus''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grissom High School High schools in Huntsville, Alabama Educational institutions established in 1969 Schools in Madison County, Alabama Public high schools in Alabama 1969 establishments in Alabama