Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center (SHMSTC), formerly known as Sam Houston High School is a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in the Hawthorne Place and Timber Garden subdivisions, in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States. Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center handles grades

nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

through twelve and is part of the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

. Before 1955, it was located in

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

. Established in 1889, Sam Houston operates the oldest high school newspaper in Texas, the ''Aegis''. Additionally, the school boasts the world's first female-only military drill squad initially known as the ''Black Battalion'' but now called the ''Tigerettes''.About Us
." ''Sam Houston High School''. The school is often referred to simply as "Sam" by students, alumni, and faculty. Sam Houston High School Baseball Field is located at .

History

SHMSTC was founded in

in 1878 as Houston Academy. Since then, it has had several name changes. * Houston Academy: 1878 to 1881 * Clopper Institute: 1881 to 1886 * Houston Normal School: 1886 to 1895 * Houston High School: 1895 to 1926 * Central High School: 1926 to 1955 * Sam Houston High School: 1955 to 2008 (also referred to as Sam Houston Senior High School) * Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center: 2008 to now Until the 1950s, the block bordered by Austin, Capitol, Caroline, and Rusk in Downtown Houston housed the institutions that make up what is now Sam Houston High School. Houston Academy was there in the 1850s. In 1894 Central High School was built. J.R. Gonzales of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' said that the school was " scribed as one of the finest high schools in this part of the country" and "also attracted negative attention for its incredible cost." The school had a price tag of $80,000, $1.9 million in 2010 dollars. In March 1919 the school burned down. A new Sam Houston opened two years later.Gonzales, J.R.
Sam Houston High School (old)
" ''

''. March 30, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2011. According to a 1936 ''Houston Chronicle'' article, Sam Houston was to be renamed after Dick Dowling, while the Sam Houston name would be taken by a new high school in southwestern Houston. This did not occur, and the school remained named after Sam Houston. In 1955, Houston High School moved from its Capitol Street location in Downtown to its current location. The previous Sam Houston High School became the

administrative headquarters. In July 1970 the first Hattie Mae White Administration Building became the new HISD administrative offices.Radcliffe, Jennifer.
HISD landmark demolished / Known as district's `Taj Mahal,' it won't be missed by everyone / Tearing away its old image
"

. Friday September 15, 2006. B1 MetFront. Retrieved on May 29, 2009. The Downtown Sam Houston building was demolished. As of 2011, a parking lot owned by HISD now occupies that site. A historical marker is on the south side of that block. In meetings, it had been proposed as a new location for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Sam Houston has Texas' oldest high school newspaper, the ''Aegis'', started in 1889. In addition, the world's first girls' military drill squad (formerly known as the Black Battalion, but now called the Tigerettes) originated at the school. Sam Houston was previously reserved for white children, with Hispanics being categorized as white prior to 1970,Kellar, William Henry. '' Make Haste Slowly: Moderates, Conservatives, and School Desegregation in Houston''.

Texas A&M University Press Texas A&M University Press (also known informally as TAMU Press) is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States. Overview The Texas A&M ...

, 1999. , 9781603447188. // p
33
(Google Books PT14). but it

desegregated Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

by 1970. Today, it has a mostly Hispanic student body.Sam Houston High School Profile
," ''

''Sam Houston High School
" ''SchoolDigger'' The names of the individual schools currently occupying the Sam Houston campus were chosen in 2008. On Saturday February 12, 2011, a state historic marker was dedicated at SHMSTC. The Oran M. Roberts Chapter 440 of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

organized the event. Lynna Kay Shuffield, the president of the chapter, wrote a historical narrative about the school and its former location in Downtown. Renovation of the campus started in late 2016 was completed in 2019. The Sam Houston Tiger football team holds the distinction of having both the longest active and all time district game losing streak in the entire state of Texas with 100 consecutive losses in district play as of 2022. The school has been characterized as being a place where discipline issues are rampant, soliciting police involvement. Neighbours allege illegal activity is rampant when students convene after school, and engage the sale and consumption of narcotics, as well as openly carry firearms and engage in shootings. There have been reports of students bringing firearms to campus.

Rating

Sam Houston High School, with Jack Yates High School and Kashmere High School, were the three high schools in Houston ISD that were consistently low-performing in test scores from 2001 to 2004. Because of this problem, there were movements to have the state or another organization take over the schools for a period so the test scores will be at acceptable levels. While Yates received an acceptable rating in 2005, SHMSTC and Kashmere continued to receive unacceptable ratings. Abelardo Saavedra, then superintendent of HISD, described SHHS was "close" to receiving an acceptable rating. In August 2006, the school learned that it again got an unacceptable rating from the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

. HISD threatened to close SHHS. SHHS was not closed and it received another unacceptable rating from the TEA in 2007. Houston ISD, stated that the board would consider spending $300,000 to find a method to improve Sam Houston's marks from the TEA. In 2008 the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

Commissioner Robert Scott ordered the closure of SHHS; the ''

'' said that HISD would likely replace 75% of the teachers and change the name of the school. The campus housed Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center beginning 2010–2012 and a ninth grade academy. The administration hopeds that the changes would help the school achieve an acceptable rating. In 2007, an Associated Press/

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

study referred to Sam Houston as a "dropout factory" where at least 40% of the entering freshman class does not make it to their senior year.

Student body

During the 2005–2006 school year, the school had 2,678 students. * 91% were

Hispanic American Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to the ...

* 6% were

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

* 3% were

White American White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person having ...

* Less than 1% were

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

No Native Americans were enrolled during that school year. Approximately 89% of the students qualified for free/reduced lunch.

Neighborhoods served by Sam Houston

Several areas of Houston outside of the 610 Loop that are far north of

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

and south of Aldine are zoned to Sam Houston.Sam Houston High School Attendance Zone
" ''

''. Neighborhoods include Melrose Park, Hardy Acres, Hardy Heights, Assumption Heights, Roos Acres, Virginia Acres, Sunnyland Farms, Oakwood, and Northline Terrace. Two Houston Housing Authority public housing complexes, Heatherbrook Apartments and Oxford Place, are zoned to the school. Some small sections of unincorporated Harris County are zoned to Sam Houston High School.

Feeder patterns

Elementary schools that feed into Sam Houston include: * Barrick * Burbank * Coop * DeChaumes * Durkee * Janowski * Lyons * Moreno * Northline * Scarborough (partial) * Berry * Garcia * Herrera * Kennedy * Osborne All of Fonville Middle School-zoned areas and some areas of the Burbank Middle and Henry Middle School zones feed into Sam Houston.

Notable People

Notable alumni

Melvin Baker Melvin Clyde Baker (born August 12, 1950) is an American former professional American football, football wide receiver who played three seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, New England Patri ...

, American football player * Joe Bowman, class of 1943,

bootmaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or ''cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cent ...

and

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...

* Thonnis Calhoun, radio and television writer * Kendric Davis, basketball player * William Goyen, novelist *

Jack Valenti Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association ...

, former president of the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the Major film studios, five major film studios of the Cinema of the United States, United States, the Major film studios#Mini-majors, mini-major Amazon MGM Stud ...

, special assistant to US President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

Notable faculty

: 36th president of the United States (1963–1969), taught public speaking in 1930.President Lyndon B. Johnson's Biography
." ''

Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969). It is located on the grounds of ...

''. Retrieved on January 29, 2009.

References

External links

Sam Houston Math, Science, and Technology Center
* Mellon, Ericka.

''

''. May 9, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Houston 1878 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 1878 Houston Independent School District high schools Public high schools in Houston Sam Houston Relocated schools