Thoreau High School is a public high school in

Thoreau, New Mexico Thoreau ( nv, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,863 at the 2000 census. It is majority Native American, primarily of the Navajo Nation, as this community is located within it ...

. It is a part of

Gallup-McKinley County Schools Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) is a school district based in Gallup, New Mexico which serves students from Gallup and surrounding areas of McKinley County. History Prior to 1980, the district had of land. That year parts left to form the ...

. Communities in its boundary include Thoreau,

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

, Prewitt, and Smith Lake.

History

In 1964 the

Navajo Tribal Council The Navajo Nation Council ( nv, Béésh bąąh dah siʼání) is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation government. The council meets four times per year, with additional special sessions, at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber, which is in Wi ...

's advisory committee voted to allow for fewer than of land in Thoreau for the school district so it could establish Thoreau High School there; the tribe would get the land back the moment the land is not used for education purposes. The land was to include apartment buildings for faculty. The high school began in 1965 with grade 9, with other years added later. While an elementary school existed in the area previously, the number of students made the community decide it wanted a local high school. Previously area Native Americans attended boarding schools elsewhere. By 1969, enrollment exceeded 400, and the teaching staff numbered 21. Over 75% of the students were Native Americans.
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of second page at

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, ...

. The proposal was for of building area.
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. The GMCS board of trustees began to quarrel with the architectural form, Kruger, Lake, and Henderson, because the federal government had delayed approving the architectural plans for the school on the basis of ensuring the school had enough sources of water. Construction ended in the 1967-1968 school year.

Campus

The field used for

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

games was spearheaded by the school's

booster club Booster clubs are organizations in schools at the high school and university level. The clubs are generally run and organized by the parents of the students in the supported organization in high schools, and by athletic supporters and fans at col ...

, and members of the local community built it.
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References

External links

Thoreau High School
{{coord, 35.4181, -108.2318, type:edu_region:US-NM, display=title Public high schools in New Mexico Schools in McKinley County, New Mexico 1965 establishments in New Mexico Educational institutions established in 1965