John W. Ligon GT/AIG Basics Magnet Middle School, formerly John W. Ligon Junior-Senior 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 ...

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

middle school in the

Wake County Public School System The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is a State school, public school district located in Wake County, North Carolina. With 159,995 students in average daily membership and 198 schools as of the 2023–24 school year, it is the large ...

located in the Chavis Heights neighborhood of

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. It was historically an all black high school in Raleigh until it was integrated in 1971.

History

High school

The

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

ceremony for John W. Ligon High School was held in November 1951. The school opened in 1953, replacing

Washington Graded and High School Washington Magnet Elementary School is a historic school and building located at Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. It was built in 1923-1924 to serve African-American students in Raleigh and is now a magnet elementary school. History Fro ...

as the only all black secondary education institution in Raleigh, North Carolina. The overall building costs amounted to $1 million, making it the largest school construction project in the state at the time. It was named after John William Ligon, an educator, local pastor and interim principal at Washington. The school's books were supplied secondhand from its white counterpart, Broughton High School. Ligon was seen as model for black education throughout the state, attracting a large number of students and an educated teaching staff from the local black colleges. By the late 1960s it possessed a higher percentage of teachers with graduate degrees than any of Raleigh's three white schools.

Middle school

Ligon served as the city's only black high school until 1971, when it was desegregated and subsequently converted into a

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

. In the late 1970s, officials considered closing the school, but this was met with opposition from alumni and Ligon continued to operate. In 1982, Ligon was formally consolidated into the new

and became involved in the Magnet Program. The Crosby-Garfield school in Raleigh merged into Ligon at the same time. Between 1994 and 1995, computers and

laserdisc player A LaserDisc player is a device designed to play video (Analog video, analog) and audio (Analog audio, analog or Digital audio, digital) stored on LaserDisc. LaserDisc was the first optical disc format marketed to consumers; it was introduced by ...

s were installed in many of the school's classrooms. 360 students were educated on the use of

ClarisWorks AppleWorks was an integrated office suite containing a word processor, database, and spreadsheet. It was developed by Rupert Lissner for Apple Computer, originally for the Apple II and launched in 1984. Many enhancements for AppleWorks were crea ...

, HyperStudio, and MacGlobe software. Teachers were trained in the areas of data management, email, and multimedia. In the early 2000s, the school underwent major renovations and expansions, including the construction of new hallways, a baseball field, and additional classrooms.

Demographics

After the

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...

period, Ligon heavily promoted diversity, which is still part of its goal. As of 2007, there were 157 Asian students (~15%), 376 African-American students (~36%), 496 White students (~47%), and 17 Hispanic students (~1%). In addition, students' differences in income and class are shown by the 24% of the school which gets reduced price or free lunches.Ligon Middle School; National Center For Education Statistics: A large number of its NC state-identified academically

gifted Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average and is also known as high potential. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to pe ...

students go on to

Enloe High School William G. Enloe GT/IB Magnet Center for the Humanities, Sciences and the Arts, also known as Enloe Magnet High School or Enloe High School, is a public magnet high school offering Gifted & Talented and International Baccalaureate programs lo ...

Admissions

In the 2008–09 school year, only 34% of applicants received admission.The News and Observer, "."

Chapters

Ligon belongs to multiple school related organizations. Among them are: *Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) *

National Junior Honor Society The National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) is an American international student organization with chapters in middle schools. The NJHS was founded by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and today has chapters in the United Sta ...

Tri-M Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is an American high school and middle school music honor society. A program of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), it is designed to recognize students for thei ...

Music Honor Society *

Future Farmers of America (FFA) The National FFA Organization or FFA is an American nonprofit career and technical student organization, which offers middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV) was founded in ...

Curriculum

Electives

Ligon has many extracurricular courses and electives. These include foreign languages, which include

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, and

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

. Ligon also offers courses in physical education. These would include, Archery, Tennis 1, Tennis 2, Basketball 1, Basketball 2, Basketball 3, Racket Sports, Sports Variety, Golf, Soccer 1, Soccer 2, and Fencing. Ligon also has electives that can be as specific as

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

software and

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic (.NET), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic (classic), the original Visual Basic suppo ...

programming. Many electives involve students in running the school, such as technical theater, yearbook, and LTV (Ligon Television).Ligon Middle School: "Courses" at 2008

Performing arts

Ligon offers multiple courses in

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

, and

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

. Two of Ligon's string orchestras, Silver Strings and Ligon Philharmonic, performed in Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY.

Extracurricular activities

Sports

Ligon's colors are blue and gold, and their teams are referred to as the Little Blues. Ligon's sports teams include: *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

*Men's and Women's

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

*Men's and Women's

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

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 ...

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Beth Cochran Alice Beth Cochran (born June 11, 1964) is a Canadian-American educator, educational consultant, and former basketball player. She played for the Winnipeg Wesmen from 1982 to 1987 and served as team captain from 1985 to 1987. Cochran was selected ...

, former principal

References

External links

Ligon Middle School official website

Magnet Schools of America official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ligon, John W. Middle School African-American history in Raleigh, North Carolina Wake County Public School System Public middle schools in North Carolina Schools in Raleigh, North Carolina Magnet schools in North Carolina Historically segregated African-American schools in North Carolina Former high schools in North Carolina Educational institutions established in 1953 School buildings completed in 1953 1953 establishments in North Carolina