Ottawa High School is a public

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., ...

located in

Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County. As of the 2020 United ...

, operated by Ottawa USD 290 public school district, serving students in grades 9-12. Its athletic teams, known as the Cyclones, compete in the Frontier Athletic League. The principal is Kelly Whittaker, the assistant principal is Johnny Lewis, and the athletic director is Shawn Phillips. The current enrollment of the school is approximately 710 students, and the school has 102 teachers, secretaries, paras, and nurses. Ottawa Middle School is its main

feeder school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily design ...

History

The original Ottawa school district was established on November 12, 1864. The first term of Ottawa Public School (then the only school in the county) was held from 1864 to 1865 in the upstairs of a building on Second Street and Main Street. The first school building was built in 1866 and served until 1872. A newer school, referred to as Central School, was built at Fifth Street and Main Street and served until 1898 when it was renamed Washington School until 1927. In 1917, adjacent to Washington School, a new building designed by architect George Washburn's son officially became Ottawa High School. This new school served the community for 51 years before a new school on Ash Street replaced it in 1968. Later, in 1978, wood and metal shops were added. The latest addition was created in 1990.

Academics

Ottawa High School operates on a 7:45am to 3:10pm school day with 7 classes each day. Ottawa High School offers a wide variety of classes geared towards the specific abilities and interests of its students. In addition to the standard curriculum, the school also has various courses geared towards the preparation of students for college or university-level education. College prep courses are offered in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. Ottawa High School also offers college classes via

Neosho County Community College Neosho County Community College (NCCC) is a public community college in Chanute, Kansas. It has a secondary campus in Ottawa, Kansas. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History In 1936, it was established as Chanute Junior Colle ...

, classes on the

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 ...

language, and visual and performing arts classes such as basic/advanced art, clay construction, debate, forensics, theatre, band, and various vocal classes. 2024_Marching_Cyclones_Drum_Major

Ottawa High also has a newspaper class that electronically publishes ''The Review'', with physical copies released near the end of each semester, and a yearbook class that annually puts out ''The Record''.

Extracurricular activities

The Cyclones compete in the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

and are classified as a 4A school according to the

KSHSAA The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and spon ...

. Throughout its history, Ottawa High School has won several state championships in various sports and activities.

Athletics

Ottawa High School offers the following sports: ;Fall * Football * Volleyball * Boys' Cross-Country * Girls' Cross-Country * Boys' Soccer * Girls' Tennis * Cheerleading * Dance Team (Cyclonettes) ;Winter * Boys' Basketball * Girls' Basketball * Wrestling * Winter Cheerleading * Dance Team (Cyclonettes) ;Spring * Baseball * Boys' Golf * Boys' Tennis * Girls' Soccer * Softball * Boys' Track and Field * Girls' Track and Field

State championships

Drama and theatre

Fall musical and spring play

Every year the Ottawa High School music department presents a fall

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

. The performance is run by a student cast, stage crew, tech crew, and pit, and is put on at the school’s own performing arts center. Ottawa High School puts on a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

every spring at the performing arts center with a student cast and crew.

Debate and forensics

Many Ottawa students participate in speaking and acting competitions throughout the school year. During the fall, Ottawa's

Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

team is active, and during the spring the

Forensics Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

teams is active. Both teams, composed of 9th–12th graders, compete on Saturdays at area high schools. Ottawa annually hosts both debate and forensics tournaments. When competing nationally, Ottawa competes in the

National Catholic Forensic League The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is a speech and debate league that was formed in 1951. It is organized into regions that correspond to Roman Catholic dioceses. Member schools include both public and parochial high schools. The NCFL r ...

Other

Ottawa High School students actively participate in

Student Council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

(STUCO). It also has a state-qualifying

Scholar's Bowl Quiz bowl (quizbowl, scholars' bowl, scholastic bowl, academic bowl, academic team, academic challenge, etc.) is a family of quiz-based competitions that test players on a wide variety of academic subjects. Standardized quiz bowl formats are pl ...

team, a branch of the

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

, a state-qualifying chess team, and a successful

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad, sometimes abbreviated as SciOly, is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science. The subjects include earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. O ...

competition team.

Notable alumni

Steve Grogan Steven James Grogan (born July 24, 1953) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Kansas Stat ...

, former

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

quarterback, led Ottawa to a runner-up place in state football and to a state championship in basketball *

Don Harrison Don Harrison (August 8, 1936 – May 2, 1998) was an anchor on CNN Headline News from 1982 until his death from renal cancer in 1998. He was a member of the original team of anchors when Headline News went on the air for the first time as "CNN2" ...

, news anchor, one of the original anchors of

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...

Semi Ojeleye Jesusemilore Talodabijesu "Semi" Ojeleye ( ; born December 5, 1994) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Valencia of the Spanish Liga ACB. He played college basketball for both Duke University and Southern Methodist Univers ...

, forward for the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, selected 37th overall in the 2nd round of the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

. Ojeleye led Ottawa to a state championship and the school's all-time best record of 25–0 in 2013. *

Stanley Sheldon Stanley Sheldon (born September 19, 1950) is an American bass guitar player best known for his work with Peter Frampton. Allmusic performance credits page/ref> He is notable as an early adopter of the fretless bass for rock music. Sheldon was ...

, bassist and vocalist for

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

, most notably on Frampton's ''

Frampton Comes Alive! ''Frampton Comes Alive!'' is a double live album by the English musician and songwriter Peter Frampton, released in 1976 by A&M Records. Following four studio albums with little success and sales, ''Frampton Comes Alive!'' was a breakthrough for ...

'' album *

John G. Thompson John Griggs Thompson (born October 13, 1932) is an American mathematician at the University of Florida noted for his work in the field of finite groups. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970, the Wolf Prize in 1992, and the Abel Prize in 2008. ...

, mathematician, awarded the

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

in 1970

References

External links

Ottawa High School Website

Ottawa USD 290 Website

School Newspaper

{{authority control Public high schools in Kansas Schools in Franklin County, Kansas Buildings and structures in Ottawa, Kansas 1917 establishments in Kansas