Collierville High School (Collierville, Tennessee)


Collierville High School is a public high school located in Collierville, Tennessee which operates under the administration of Collierville Schools. Its school colors are maroon and white and its mascot is the dragon, originally designed by elementary art teacher Lisa Ackerman as 'Blister the Dragon'.
Collierville High School is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and holds memberships in NASSP, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, NACAC, and SACAC.

History

The original campus was built in 1905, with expansions and additions being made in 1911, 1924, and 1926; the last was a large gymnasium. In the 1930s, the school became one of the first buildings in Tennessee to be aided by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Hundreds of workers were brought in from Memphis, Tennessee to build an auditorium, library, and study hall in later years.
The second campus sat at the intersection of Byhalia and Frank Road on the same property that once held the Bellevue High-Security Correctional Facility. Collierville High School transitioned there in the autumn of 1995, after ninety years at its original campus. The site received a $14,500,000 addition that made it the largest school facility in Shelby County.
In June 2015, the Collierville School Board recommended a $99 million high school to be built on land south of Highway 385 east of Sycamore Road and south of Shelby Drive due to overcrowding at the existing high school. It was completed in time for the 2018–2019 school year, and the institution has operated there since. The old High School building was made into West Collierville Middle School.

Academic programs

Academically, the school offers 5 dual enrollment courses, 34 Honors courses, and 25 Advanced Placement courses. It was listed on Newsweek’s America’s Best High Schools list from 2008-2013, has the largest PTSA in the state of Tennessee, and has had 21 United States Presidential Scholar candidates in the past fourteen years with two Presidential Scholar winners.

Athletics

The school accommodates twenty-two sports and five club sports. The boys' baseball team won the state championship in 2013, and the school's Joshua Wheeler won the 2014 Decathlon state championship for track and field. In addition, it is one of only two schools in West Tennessee with a mountain biking team.

Extracurricular activities

Collierville High School offers an array of extracurricular activities. 51 clubs are registered at the school, in addition to a public-access television cable TV station located on its campus that serves the local Shelby County Comcast and UVerse community on Comcast channel 98.7 & UVerse channel 119. Additionally, CHS's STEM program includes the team, which competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition and VEX.

Awards and recognition

Collierville High School is the only public high school in Tennessee offered a charter from the Cum Laude Society. CHS ranks in the "Top 10 High Schools in Tennessee" by U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek's "America's Best High Schools". CHS is also recognized annually as a winner in The Washington Post's "High School Challenge."

Notable alumni