Technical High School is a public high school in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, United States. It is one of St. Cloud's two major public high schools, the other being Apollo. The school's first building was built in 1917, with another building added in the 1970s to accommodate the student population. A brand new facility .
Academics
St. Cloud Tech offers Advanced Placement courses. Students have a wide variety of choices for Advanced Placement, including math, science, language, and social sciences, with a total of 19 AP courses. Students at both Apollo and Technical High Schools have performed very well on AP Exams, with approximately 70% of students receiving college credit for their scores. Other options for additional rigor are available as well, including Senior to Sophomore, the state's Post Secondary Enrollment Options, articulated college credit, Discovery Academy, SciGals, and Upward Bound. In the 1980s and 1990s, Tech served as both a senior and junior high school, with grades 7–12 in attendance. The class of 1994 was the last to attend Tech from grade 7 through grade 12.
Sports
St. Cloud Tech has a number of boys' and girls' sports programs, including football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, golf, softball, hockey, alpine skiing, lacrosse, Nordic skiing, wrestling, soccer, tennis, swimming, cross-country running, track and field and adaptive sports. Tech is in the Central Lakes Conference, competing against other high schools in and around central Minnesota, including its crosstown rival Apollo. Tech's mascot is the Tiger, with its athletic teams sporting the tiger's colors of black and orange. Tech's football team formerly played across the street from the school at Clark Field, which was affectionately nicknamed "The Pit" or "The Hole" by opposing school's players. In September 2012, it was announced that Clark Field would be temporarily but indefinitely closed because of poor conditions, including mold and lead. Varsity events that would have been held there are held at Saint Cloud State University. The field is still used for smaller events. Tech's new sports complex is located on the same grounds as the new high school. As a result, athletic activities occur on site on the new complex of fields for baseball, football, soccer, and tennis.
Music
Tech High School has a music program, with orchestra, band, and choir as the three major components. The orchestra, led since 2009 by Kara Mather, is broken into three groups, according to ability: Concert Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra. The Chamber Orchestra is a smaller elite team of musicians who have volunteered to practice before school one day a week. It performs at special events in the community, as well as at Tech. Symphony Orchestra is the primary orchestral group at Tech, and the Concert group comprises mostly freshman and sophomore students. A notable previous director of the orchestra program is Steven Eckblad, now retired, who is still a prominent musician in the St. Cloud area, teaching cello and bass while playing bass in the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra. Some Tech students also participate in the St. Cloud Symphony. The band is conducted by Gary Zwack, and the choir by Kevin Kiffmeyer. Starting in the 2012–13 school year, an AP music theory course will be offered, taught by Zwack. The Tech Band and Orchestra have a tradition of going on tour every two years to a major city in the United States. Some recent destinations have been Orlando in 2014, New Orleans in 2012, and New York City in 2010.
Activities
A variety of extracurricular activities are offered at St. Cloud Tech, including Speech, TARGET, Math Team, Students Against Destructive Decisions, Knowledge Bowl, Music Listening Contest, the Economics Challenge, and National Honor Society. These programs have helped students develop leadership skills. At the 2013 Econ Challenge, Tech senior Tyler Benning was named the #1 Econ student in the state. Led by head coach Karmin Schraw, the speech team placed 8th at the 2013 National Forensics League national tournament in Alabama. Phillip Hoelscher, a 2013 graduate, placed 8th in the Drama category, beating out hundreds of kids from around the nation. The previous year he placed 2nd in Drama at the Harvard Invitational while his teammate, Maria Null, took 5th place in Drama that same year. The speech team has also won the Central Lakes Conference title 21 years in a row.
New building
After a referendum on November 8, 2016, it was announced that the school would be moved to a new building and renamed Tech High School. The 100-year-old school building celebrated its last school year in June of 2019. Athletic facilities at the new school include a pool, three court main gym and one court auxiliary gym, multipurpose activities room, fitness room, multipurpose outdoor stadium, four multipurpose grass fields, three softball fields, two baseball fields, and eight-court outdoor tennis facility. New Tech features an 800 seat auditorium; choir, orchestra, and band ensemble rooms, and small group practice rooms; 2D and 3D art studios.
