Spring Woods High School is a secondary school in Spring Branch, Houston, Texas. The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is operated by Spring Branch Independent School District.
Spring Woods serves several neighborhoods, including Campbell Woods, Royal Oaks, Spring Meadows, Shadow Oaks, and a portion of Spring Shadows. A section of the Memorial City district is within the school's attendance zone.
History
Spring Woods High School opened in 1964 during the population boom in the western suburbs of Houston on the former grounds of the Spring Branch Country Club. It opened within a year of the openings of Spring Oaks Junior High (now Spring Oaks Middle School) and Westwood Elementary School, all immediately adjacent on the same former golf course. Currently the second-oldest functioning high school in the Spring Branch ISD, Spring Woods serves the northwest part of the district, roughly an area north of Interstate 10 and west of Gessner Road. Expanded and renovated several times, the Spring Woods campus has wide courtyards in which classrooms face inwards, yet with passages that are open to the outside air, a different approach than Northbrook High School and Stratford High School, the two newer schools in the district, which are mostly enclosed but are still kept dry and warm when weather becomes an issue. Spring Woods opened about the same time and with a similar design as Westchester High School, which closed in the 1980s and is currently home to a district-run charter school called Westchester Academy for International Studies.
It is generally believed that the choice of the Navy Hymn as the tune of the school song is in tribute to World War II Navy hero and President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated the year before Spring Woods opened. The song was played at his funeral.
In 1992 the school's student body was 25% Hispanic, 13% Black, and 13% Asian. In May 1992 25 12th grade students vandalized the school by spray painting racial slurs, placing the Confederate flag on the flagpole, placing a dead raccoon and a dead opossum in two empty lockers, and drew an image of a black person being impaled on a cross. The principal of Spring Woods, Perry Pope, said that the students took their prank "too far."
Spring Woods was named a 1997-98 National Blue Ribbon School.
Feeder patterns
Elementary schools that feed into Spring Woods include:
- Shadow Oaks
- Spring Branch
- Westwood
- Woodview
- Pine Shadows (partial)
- Sherwood (partial)
- Terrace (partial)
Middle schools that feed into Spring Woods include:
- Spring Branch Middle School (partial)
- Spring Oaks Middle School (partial)
- Spring Woods Middle School (partial)
Notable alumni
- Roger Clemens - major league pitcher - Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Houston Astros. 11 x All Star, 2 x World Series, 7 x Cy Young winner. Active from 1984 - 2007.
- Chris Snyder - major league catcher - Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles. Active from 2004 - 2013.
- Kurt Brecht - musician, songwriter - vocalist for D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles)
- Mica Endsley - Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force
- Sam Strickland - minor league pitcher from 2009 - 2012.
- Robert Ferguson - former NFL and UFL wide receiver (Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Omaha Nighthawks)
- Greg Koch - former NFL tackle and guard (Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings)
- R. C. Thielemann - former NFL guard (Washington Redskins, Atlanta Falcons)
- Kim Tomes - Miss Texas U.S.A. 1976, Miss U.S.A. 1977
- Tate (Michel Taylor) Armstrong - Olympic Gold Medalist - Basketball - 1976. Chicago Bulls 1977-79. Played college basketball for Duke Blue Devils.
- U.S. Congressman Ted Poe - served as Harris County Chief Prosecutor and Judge before becoming Congressman representing Texas' 2nd Congressional District in 2005
- Robert Harvey - President and CEO of Greater Houston Partnership 2012 - current.
- Roberto Orci- TV and Movie producer
- Rear Admiral Michael R. Groothousen - commanded the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), eighth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, from March 2002-July 2004.
- Army Lieutenant General Frank G. Helmick - [1]former Commanding General of the XVIII Airborne Corps [2] served as the Deputy Commanding General for Operations from February to December 2011 of the US Forces-Iraq. Prior to assuming command of the XVIII Airborne Corps, he commanded the Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq along with the NATO Training Mission-Iraq from July 3, 2008 to October 7, 2009. Commanded and served in many units in both operational and training Commands: Commander 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Commander Ranger Training Brigade, Fort Benning, Georgia; Assistant Division Commander 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Commander of the Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Vicenza, Italy. His staff assignments include service in the 82nd Airborne Division, the Joint Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he served as the Senior Military Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
- Tim W. Cannon - Chief Deputy at the Harris County Sheriff's Office who is 2nd in Command to Sheriff Ron Hickman. Chief Deputy Cannon commands the largest Sheriff's Office in the State of Texas and 3rd largest in the United States.
Gates Millennium Scholarship
In 2007, two students were awarded the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, which is awarded each year to only 1,000 graduating seniors across the United States.
Business Professionals of America
In 2007, Spring Woods had two students qualify for National Leadership Conference at New York City. Students advanced through Area and State competitions to earn a spot at the National Leadership Conference.
Notes
External links
- Spring Woods High School
