Dimond High School

A. J. Dimond High School
Address
A. J. Dimond High School
2909 West 88th Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99502
United States
Coordinates 61°08′35″N 149°56′05″W / 61.14306°N 149.93472°W / 61.14306; -149.93472Coordinates: 61°08′35″N 149°56′05″W / 61.14306°N 149.93472°W / 61.14306; -149.93472
Information
Type Public magnet secondary
Established 1967
School district Anchorage School District
Principal Tina Johnson-Harris
Faculty 116
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,709 (November, 2016)
Color(s) Maroon and gold
        
Fight song Dimond Fight Song
Mascot Lynx
Newspaper Igaramkin
Yearbook The Spectrum
Information (907) 742-7000
Website A.J. Dimond High School

A. J. Dimond High School (DHS) is a public four-year high school in Anchorage, Alaska, and is a part of the Anchorage School District. It has been accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Dimond serves students in the Sand Lake, Kincaid, and Bayshore areas of suburban Anchorage, and had an enrollment of 1,709 as of November 25, 2016.[1]

History

Early Years

Named for the territorial-era Congressional delegate and judge Anthony J. Dimond, the school opened in 1967 and was the third high school in Anchorage. Constructed in and serving the Sand Lake section of Anchorage, the original structure was built with the plans for an open campus Southern Californian-style school, though obvious complications arose due to the differences in climate. Following its construction, causeways (referred to as "breezeways") between each of the building segments were created to allow for winter access to the different sections of the school. The original Dimond High School had over 160 exits due to these causeways. The design was single story (with the exception of the library) to reduce earthquake risk, as the construction occurred only a few years after the 1964 Alaska earthquake in which most of the second floor of West Anchorage High School was destroyed.

The original school contained gymnasiums, a pool, an archery range, a planetarium, a small and large theater, and a shared library. The original building housed both Dimond High and Jane Mears Junior High School. Mears, the sister of Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, was a teacher in the early years of Anchorage's public school system. Her husband, Colonel Frederick Mears, headed the Alaska Engineering Commission during the construction of the Alaska Railroad and was the railroad's first general manager once it began operating. During a period of heightened governmental expenditures in the 1980s which led to the construction of numerous public facilities in Anchorage, a separate building for Mears was constructed on the opposite side of Campbell Lake, which opened in the fall of 1985. Prior to the completion of the separate junior high, the two schools shared the hours of operation. Mears students attended classes on the west side of the campus, with Dimond students attending school on the east side.

New Building

In April 1999, Anchorage voters approved the construction of a new building for Dimond High School. The new building opened in the fall of 2003. During the 2003-2004 school year Dimond classes were held in the new building and a small west wing ("Casa Cinco", due to being a fifth wing to the new school and housing a large number of the foreign language classes) of the old building, with the rest of the building used for Mears Middle School. In the summer of 2004 the old building was demolished and in the location of the old Dimond High school is now the parking lot of the new building. However, the building that housed the gym, weight room, and swimming pool was not demolished and remains a part of the school. In the summer of 2008, its exterior was remodeled.

Academics

In 2005-06 A.J. Dimond High School was the Alaska State winner for the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. As of 2009-10, Dimond offers 22 Advanced Placement courses.

Listed from highest enrollment to lowest, the AP courses offered are:

Most A.P. courses are weighted, so that an additional mark point is added on the 4.0 scale.

HSGQE - Percent Proficient or Above
Dimond High School Anchorage School District
Reading 90.10% 83.95%
Writing 77.40% 74.99%
Math 84.38% 78.95%

[2]

Special Programs and Services

In 2008, Dimond began an Engineering Academy, which follows the curriculum of Project Lead the Way. Five classes are offered with the Engineering Academy:

In April 2010, Dimond High School was certified as Alaska's first four-year accredited Project Lead The Way (PLTW) engineering program.[3] Dimond is also home to the last four years of the Japanese immersion program that began at Sand Lake Elementary and continued at Mears Middle School. An Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program is also offered at Dimond. In 2007-08, the Dimond JROTC unit received the highest Cadet Formal Inspection rating in Alaska. In 2005 a Freshman House was created in hall 2B. Freshman participate in Battle of the Books, National History Day, and the Poetry Slam. Beginning January 30, 2006, Dimond High incorporated a Professional Learning Community (PLC) every Monday morning with classes starting 45 minutes later and the school operating under a shorter schedule. Other programs and services include English as a second language (ESL), a district-wide Gifted Mentorship Program, career technology offered through the King Career Center (KCC), Cook Inlet Tribal Council courses, special education intensive-needs classes, a Career Resource Center, and 11 School Business Partnerships.

Athletics

4A division high school sports are offered at Dimond High School: baseball (boys'), basketball, bowling, cheerleading (basketball, hockey, and football), competitive cheer, cross country running, cross country skiing, football (boys'), flag football (girls'), gymnastics (boys'), ice hockey, riflery, soccer, softball (girls'), swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball (girls'), and wrestling. Dimond also has a Debate/Drama/Forensics team, World Language Declamation Contest participants, and American Legion Oratorical Contest participants. In 2009, Dimond was named the top athletic program in the state of Alaska by Sports Illustrated[4] after winning that year state championships in girls' volleyball, boys' basketball, competitive cheerleading, girls' track & field, and baseball. Since then, for a total of three consecutive years, the Dimond volleyball team has won the state championship twice more, each year producing a State winner for the Gatorade Player of the Year award. In 2006, the alumni foundation got 750-thousand dollars from the Alaska Legislature and 250 thousand dollars from the Anchorage School District to put in an artificial football field. Construction was halted in July 2007 after Governor Sarah Palin vetoed the final half million dollars in funding to finish the project. On July 6, 2007, the alumni foundation secured anonymous donor funding of $500,000 to finish it. 30,000 Nike shoes were recycled to create the rubber for the turf.

Student Organizations

Extracurricular student-led activities at Dimond include:

Demographics

Ethnicity Percentage (%)
White 48.4
Black 4.3
Hispanic 9.6
Asian/Pacific Islander 15.2
American Indian/Alaska Native 8.7
Two or more races 13.8

[8]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ http://www.eed.state.ak.us/stats/SchoolEnrollment/2015SchoolEnrollment.pdf
  2. ↑ "404 error" (PDF). asdk12.org. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  3. ↑ "UAA engineering faculty help Anchorage's Dimond High School become Alaska's first Project-Lead-The-Way Engineering Academy". Green and Gold News. May 12, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Sports Illustrated: Top athletics program in each state and the District of Columbia" (PDF). Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Dimond High School National Honor Society". https://sites.google.com/site/ajdimondnhs/. Retrieved September 8, 2010. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. ↑ "Dimond High School Key Club". Dhskeyclub.googlepages.com. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Adapt, Migrate or Die". Dimond robotics. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  8. ↑ "ASD Ethnicity report" (PDF). ASD. October 31, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
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