Collierville High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

(

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

9–12) located in

Collierville, Tennessee Collierville ( "call your ville" or "call yer ville"), officially the Town of Collierville, is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. With a population of 51,324 in the 2020 Unite ...

which operates under the administration of

Collierville Schools Collierville Schools is a municipal school district that serves approximately 9,000 students in Collierville, Tennessee. It was formed by secession from Shelby County Schools in 2014. History Collierville Schools was formed in 2014 as one o ...

. It was previously under the authority of Shelby County Schools until Collierville Schools splintered from it in 2014. Its

school colors School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...

are maroon and white—formerly black and gold—and its mascot is the

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, originally designed by elementary art teacher Lisa Ackerman as "Blister the Dragon". Collierville High School is fully

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...

and holds memberships in NASSP, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), 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

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

nasium. In the 1930s, the school became one of the first buildings in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

to be aided by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

, and it was given a $250,000 grant by the CWA in the winter of 1933–34. Hundreds of workers were brought in from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

to build an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, and

study hall Study hall, known as private study, SAS, structured study or free periods in the United Kingdom, is a term for a place to have a study time during the school day where students are assigned to study when they are not scheduled for an academic cl ...

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 2014, Collierville High School became the central high school of the newly created

district after its formation from Shelby County Schools. The third and current campus, first opened for the 2018–19 school year, was built on land south of State Route 385 and east of Sycamore Road on Shelby Drive at a cost of $94 million due to

overcrowding Overcrowding or crowding is the condition where more people are located within a given space than is considered tolerable from a safety and health perspective. Safety and health perspectives depend on current environments and on local cultural ...

at the previous campus. The former building at Byhalia and Frank Road became the location of the West Collierville Middle School.

Academics

Academically, the school offers 25

dual enrollment In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university cour ...

courses, 34

Honors courses Honour (or honor in American English) is the quality of being honorable. Honor or Honour may also refer to: People * Honor (given name), a unisex given name, including a list of people with the name * Honour (surname), English-language surnam ...

, and 26

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

courses, and the school reports an ACT average of 25.3. 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 (in 2002 and 2014). Collierville High School has numerous

National Merit Scholarship Program The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...

finalists every year. Collierville High School offers an array of

extracurricular activities An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activity is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Although approved ...

, with 113 clubs are registered at the school.

Athletics

The school accommodates twenty-two sports and five club sports. The boys'

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team won the state championship in 2013, and the school's Joshua Wheeler won the 2014 Decathlon state championship for

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. The Hockey Team won the state championship in 2005 becoming the first team in school history to win a state championship.

Robotics

The school has a team participating in

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

. Founded in 2014 under the name of ''Dragon Robotics'', they are team number 5002. They have won numerous awards at competitions, including the Highest Rookie Seed and Rookie All-Star awards in their rookie year. Along with these, they have earned the Team Spirit Award in and First Dean's List Finalist Award in 2018, the Safety Award in 2019, and the Regional Finalists award in 2022.

Awards and recognition

Collierville High School is the only public high school in Tennessee that was offered a charter from the

Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an international organization that honors academic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa, which honors academic achievements at the university level. History The Cum Laude Society was fo ...

. CHS ranks in the "Top 10 High Schools in Tennessee" by '' U.S. News & World Report'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

's'' "America's Best High Schools". CHS is also recognized annually as a winner in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

s "High School Challenge."

Notable alumni

* Hunter Bradley, former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

long snapper for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

* Zack Cozart, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

shortstop for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

* Jack Dougherty, MLB relief pitcher in the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

organization *

Nikki McCray Nikki Kesangane McCray-Penson (; December 17, 1971 – July 7, 2023) was an American basketball player and coach. She was the head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball team from 2020 to 2021 and a professional basketball pl ...

, coach, former professional women's basketball player, 2-time Olympic Gold medalist (1996, 2000) *

Drew Pomeranz Thomas Andrew Pomeranz (born November 22, 1988), nicknamed Big Smooth, is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, ...

, MLB pitcher for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

* Olan Rogers,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

star and creator of ''

Final Space ''Final Space'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated space opera comedy drama television series created by Olan Rogers and developed by Rogers and David Sacks (writer), David Sacks. The series involves an astronaut named Gary Goodspeed ...

'' on TBS