Merritt Hutton Junior-Senior High School served the communities of Northglenn and Thornton until the early 1970s, when it was scaled back to a junior high program and high school students began being served by two new high schools. Thornton High School opened in 1974.
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme is an educational programme intended for students aged approximately 11 to 16. Thus, in the United States the programme is often taught throughout the middle school years and the first two years of high school. Typically, middle schools and high schools work in coordination with each other when the programme can not be entirely hosted within one combined school. However, Willams Middle School, in Tampa, Florida, and later, Herbert Ammons Middle School in Miami, Florida, have been granted the authority to host the a full MYP curriculum in only grades 6, 7, and 8. The full programme lasts five years although more limited programmes can be adopted with permission from the International Baccalaureate Organization. Official MYP documentation is available from the IBO in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. The IBO contends that the MYP programme naturally prepares students for the IB Diploma Programme and there are significant parallels in structure and philosophy.
Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is an educational programme examined in one of three languages and is a university entrance course. It is taught in 2,075 schools, often in international schools, in 125 countries. More than half of the schools offering the Diploma Programme are state funded schools. The programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, is the most widely recognized pre-university educational programme. However, it remains less popular than nationally affiliated preparatory programs in most countries, such as that of the Advanced Placement examination system in the United States, the A-level in the United Kingdom, the HSC in Australia or Advanced Highers system in Scotland.
Athletics
State championship titles:
Girls' basketball: 1980, 1988
Fall
Boys' golf
Boys' soccer
Boys' tennis
Cross Country
Football
Gymnastics
Softball
Volleyball
Winter
Boys' basketball
Girls' basketball
Girls' swimming
Wrestling
Spring
Baseball
Boys' swimming
Girls' golf
Girls' soccer
Girls' tennis
Track and field
Cheerleading is held all year.
Publications
Goulash is the school's literary magazine. The Trojan Voice is the school's newspaper. YBK is an abbreviation for "yearbook," and was created in the 2005–06 school year. Its official name is Retrospect.