Oakland Mills High School was established in 1973 as one of the first high schools to serve the Columbia, Maryland area. It is part of the Howard County Public School System.
The building had its first renovation in 1991, and another in 1998. A new addition was put onto the school in 2004, the "new wing," raising its total capacity to 1,400 students.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Demographics
Oakland Mills has the most ethnically diverse population of Howard County Public Schools, yet still battles racial issues similar to ones in other schools in Howard County. Of the student body, 42.2% are African American, 25.3% are White, 17.5% are Hispanic, 6.5% are Asian, 0.1% are Native American, and 8.2% are two or more races.
For students receiving special services in the 2012-2013 year, less than 5% were limited English proficiency, 38.1% received free/reduced lunches, and 9.8% were enrolled in special education. The graduation rate was 88.9%.
In 2007, Guidance Counselor Pauline Phillips was named 2006 Howard County Counselor of the Year, and 2006 Maryland State Counselor of the Year.
Kimberly Feldman, 9th grade English teacher, was named 2010 Howard County Teacher of the Year, and was a finalist for Maryland Teacher of the Year.
In 2011, health teacher Kimberly Rosado was awarded Teacher of the Year by the senior class. Principal Frank Eastham tied as Howard County's Principal of the Year. Senior Alexis Adams served as the sole Student Member of the Board (SMOB) for the Howard County Board of Education.
Activities
The athletics at Oakland Mills enjoy a widespread and rabid fan base, with black and orange-clad Spirit Club members found at every game. Popular school slogans include "You can't spell cHaMpiOnS without OMHS" and "There's no place like hOMe".
The school also has an accomplished music and drama program. The choir, band, and orchestra are consistently given high ratings at various adjudications and festivals, including the annual WBAL Kids Campaign concert held at the school. Singers from the choir program have performed live on radio for the WBAL Kids Campaign. The Oakland Mills High School Chamber Singers are an active ensemble in their community. The select ensemble has been invited twice to the University of Maryland College Park high school invitational. Multiple members have been a part of nearby select ensembles such as the Maryland All State choirs and Howard County GT/Honor Choir. Oakland Mills has participated twice in the Baltimore area Critics and Awards Program for High School Students (the "Cappies"). The 2005 show, Footloose was nominated for 11 awards, winning two (Ensemble in a Musical and Cameo Actress). The 2006 spring musical, Seussical, was nominated for 13 awards.
The school is also home to over 30 clubs and organizations, including Howard County's only Air Force JROTC program.
The school's boys' cross country team has won a state record 12 cross country state titles, including six in a row in the late eighties and early nineties. The team also had a surge of championships around the start of the 21st century, including some narrow victories over Glenelg High School.
Gifted and Talented achievements
In the 2009-2010 school year about 30% of students were enrolled in GT classes and about 20% in AP classes, according to the High School Needs/Data Assessment. The enrollment of students in OMHS's 18 AP courses has increased by 4% since 2008; this includes a 3% increase of African American students and a 2% increase of Hispanic students.
Students have been successful in higher-level classes. 89% of OMHS students who took the English Language and Composition AP/GT exam received a passing score of 3 or higher, and 86% of students who took the World History AP/GT exam received a 3 or higher. Both of these numbers impressively exceed the national average pass rate of 53%.
From the 2009-2010 school year to the 2010-2011 school year, there has been a 12.5% increase in the size of the OMHS National Honor Society. Currently, 38% of the students in NHS are minorities, 14% of whom are African American.
Since 2009, there have been 67 Maryland Distinguished Scholars: six semifinalists, and nine finalists. There were 19 National Merit Scholars and five finalists. In the class of 2011, OMHS had six National Achievement Scholars, a program for African American students. Of those six, two were finalists.
Since 2009 the school has had one or more students accepted into six of the eight Ivy League schools, including Harvard College, Princeton University, and Brown University, and other prestigious schools such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, and Juilliard School. A number of these acceptances have been of minority students, including Princeton University, Cornell University, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Athletics
Oakland Mills High School has won many state championships. Here is a list of the titles that the school owns:
Boys' basketball
- 1990 - Boys' basketball
- 2015 - Boys' basketball
Girls' basketball
- 1998 - Girls' basketball
Boy's indoor track
- 2004 - Boys' 2A-1A Indoor Track
- 2002 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 2001 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 2000 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 1999 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 1994 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 1993 - Boys' 2A-1A indoor track
- 1991 - Boys' 3A indoor track
Boys' track & field
- 2010 - Boys' track & field
- 2004 - Boys' track & field
- 2002 - Boys' track & field
- 2001 - Boys' track & field
- 2000 - Boys' track & field
- 1998 - Boys' track & field
- 1996 - Boys' track & field
- 1995 - Boys' track & field
- 1994 - Boys' track & field
- 1993 - Boys' track & field
- 1991 - Boys' track & field
- 1989 - Boys' track & field
- 1981 - Boys' track & field
Girls' track & field
- 1978 - Girls' track & field
Girls' indoor track
- 2000 - Girls' 2A-1A indoor track
- 1998 - Girls' 2A-1A indoor track
Wrestling
- 1986 - Wrestling
- 1982 - Wrestling
- 1980 - Wrestling
- 2015 - Wrestling
Boys' cross country
- 2001 - Boys' cross country
- 2000 - Boys' cross country
- 1999 - Boys' cross country
- 1994 - Boys' cross country
- 1992 - Boys' cross country
- 1989 - Boys' cross country
- 1988 - Boys' cross country
- 1987 - Boys' cross country
- 1986 - Boys' cross country
- 1985 - Boys' cross country
- 1984 - Boys' cross country
- 1975 - Boys' cross country
Boys' soccer
- 2002 - Boys' soccer
- 2000 - Boys' soccer
- 1999 - Boys' soccer
- 1998 - Boys' soccer
- 1994 - Boys' soccer
- 1990 - Boys' soccer
- 1988 - Boys' soccer
- 1986 - Boys' soccer
- 1985 - Boys' soccer
- 1981 - Boys' soccer
- 1980 - Boys' soccer
- 1979 - Boys' soccer
Girls' soccer
- 1995 - Girls' soccer
- 1992 - Girls' soccer
Football
- 1998 - Football
Notable alumni
- D'Monroe - Broadway and Off-Broadway actor
- Darryl Gee - US Olympic soccer player
- Christian Gronet - founder of Solyndra
- David Howard - 7th round pick (241 overall) by the Tennessee Titans in the 2010 NFL Draft
- Aaron McGruder - creator of The Boondocks
- Bree Newsome - activist
- Randy Pausch - professor at Carnegie Mellon University who gained a level of internet and YouTube notoriety for recording what is known as his inspirational "Last Lecture" due to a battle with terminal pancreatic cancer
- Clint Peay - fullback, men's national team player, DC United Star, and US Olympic soccer player
- Rob Ryerson - former professional soccer player, soccer coach at Mount St. Mary's University
- Dave Sitek - musician known for TV on The Radio, Akimilli
- Terry W. Virts - NASA astronaut
- Dante Washington - men's national team player, MLS scorer, and US Olympic soccer player
- B Money, Philadelphia rapper.
References and notes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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