Santa Fe High School (New Mexico)

Santa Fe High School
Address
2100 Yucca Road Santa Fe , New Mexico USA
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	Home of the Demons
Established	1899
School district	Santa Fe Public Schools
Principal	Dan Webb
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,733
Color(s)	Blue and Gold
Mascot	Demon
Newspaper	Demon Tatler
Website	http://www.sfps.k12.nm.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=28

Santa Fe High School, founded in 1899, is a public high school (grades 9-12) in the Santa Fe Public Schools. It is located about two miles southwest of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico and is the largest school in Santa Fe, public or private, with an enrollment of 1,733.

Santa Fe High's mascot is the Demons. The school is laid out in multiple buildings, and students walk outdoors from one building to another between classes. There are two distinct clusters of buildings, the "main campus" that offers most of the standard English, math, history and science classes, and the "vo-tech" campus that offers courses such as auto mechanics. Students may take classes at either cluster.

Santa Fe High's student population is ethnically diverse as is the city itself. Students of primarily native American, hispanic, Mexican, and caucasian backgrounds attend. However, there is racial tension at the school because the more affluent white population has displaced the hispanic and native American families living in the city to some extent.

Because the school serves populations of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, it offers a wide array of classes from advanced placement and honors program college prep classes to remedial English and math classes.

In 2001 the administration building in the middle of the north campus was burned severely, destroying important records, including students' SAT scores. It happened during a weekend when the school was closed. The building was left standing but was scorched inside and out and eventually was torn down. After investigation the fire was deemed arson. This, however, was not the only time flames were spotted on campus. Students with an unusual sense of humor were known to set fire to a large dumpster between north and south campus. It would repeatedly be extinguished just to be reignited shortly thereafter. In 2005 the small shack that housed the security guard at the southern side of the student parking lot was burned down. Also, that same year, a rack of tires used for running football drills was burned, along with a twenty-five square foot patch of the running track and turf field.

There was a concrete and metal staircase leading up to the library and administration buildings that injured many many students. The way the metal was coming loose from the concrete allowed people to get their feet caught in between the metal and concrete. This would often trip the student and send them face first into the fairly sharp metal edges. These dangerous stairs became more of a nuisance during the winter months when they were iced over. Because of a lack of school funding, they often remained unsalted, making matters worse.

The school had many many security guards that were supposed to keep students in classes. This however failed miserably as there was a bike trail that ran all the way through Santa Fe. This trail passed right under the bridge between the north and south campuses. Students could easily, and very often would, just walk down the slope of the bridge foundation onto the trail and off the campus.

Santa Fe High School Teachers

Gary Myers was an art teacher at Santa Fe High for 31 years, ending in the late 1990s. He is well known to have inspired many students as well as provided a stable and fun envoronment for the students.

Karshis was an Art History teacher at Santa Fe High in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of Karshis' students succeeded in the Advanced Placement exams in Art History, earning college credit for his course.

Egle Germanas was an English teacher at Santa Fe High in the 1980s and 1990s. She made her students keep a journal, and she had an extensive reading list.

Anita Gerlach was a chemistry teacher at Santa Fe High in the 1990s. She was known for her wild red hair and somewhat crazy demeanor. She would bustle about campus wearing her white lab coat.

Thor Christianson was an upper-level math teacher who taught calculus in a room on the vo-tech campus in the 1990s.

Mr. George Perfors was a mathematics teacher who taught in the 1980s.

Ms. Mary Cornish was an English teacher who taught in the 1980s.

Santa Fe High Students

Class of 1994:

Nathaniel Ari Long graduated from Santa Fe High in 1994, before changing his name to Nathaniel Aristotle Gilder. Gilder is known for his work as a patent attorney for a number of major corporations and universities, including Microsoft and the University of Washington.

Other:

Zachary Condon, member of the one-man band "Beirut" attended Santa Fe High from 2000-2002 until he dropped out to travel Europe.

Principals

Name	Start Year	End Year
Claudia Krause-Johnson	2005	2007
Dan Webb	2007	----

External links

• Santa Fe High School website
• District website