Vel Phillips Memorial High School (formerly James Madison Memorial High School (JMM) ) or simply "VPM" 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., ...

on the west side of

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was built in 1966 and is part of the Madison Metropolitan School District. It is home to the MMSD

Planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

. The school is named after Vel Phillips, an American attorney, politician, jurist, and Civil Rights activist, who served as the first female alderperson and judge in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

and as

Secretary of State of Wisconsin A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

(1979–1983). It was originally named for

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

, a U.S.

Founding Father The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...

and the nation's fourth president.

History

The school was originally built in 1966 but received a major addition in 1967 because the school's population was higher than expected. The A-Wing housed the senior high and B-Wing the junior high. It was not until the 1970s that

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

Middle School (now Ezekiel Gillespie) was built. A fieldhouse was added in 1992. On February 11, 2014, principal Bruce Dahmen unexpectedly died from a heart attack while on a field trip with students. A memorial service was held in the main gym. The welcome center was named after Dahmen. Starting in May 2022 and ending in August 2024, the school went under an extensive renovation as part of a referendum passed in the fall of 2020. In 2022, the school was renamed as Vel Phillips Memorial High School by the Madison Metropolitan School District board after concern was raised by the public over James Madison's ownership of enslaved people, following a petition started by a student in 2017. Only one year later, the adjacent Thomas Jefferson Middle School was renamed as Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School.

Academics

Memorial offers classes ranging from Algebra 1 to Photography. Chinese, German, French and Spanish are some of their language classes. The school also hosts the Madison school district's planetarium and offers an Astronomy class.

Small Learning Communities grant

In 2001, Memorial received a U.S. Department of Education Small Learning Communities federal grant to support a "neighborhood" reorganization. The four neighborhoods are Rock, Wolf, Fox, and Wisconsin . Each of the neighborhoods have a neighborhood center. The Fox Neighborhood Center is known by the students and staff as the "fishbowl".

School newspapers

The official school newspaper is ''The Sword and Shield'' and until 2014 kept all issues online. Independent newspapers, ''The Spartacus'' and ''Aficionado'' existed at one time, but have all ceased distribution. ''The Independent'' was created after the 1990–91 school year by ''The Sword and Shield'' staff.

Extracurricular activities

Memorial offers interscholastic sports and extramural activities. .

Athletics

Baseball

*1990 State champion; beat Marinette, 8–7 (9) *1992 State champion; beat Oconomowoc, 10–8

Basketball (boys)

*2005 State champion; beat Milwaukee Vincent, 63–55 *2009 State champion; beat Racine Horlick, 56–41 *2011 State champion; beat De Pere, 80–78 (3OT)

Cross country (boys)

*1967 State champion; beat Antigo, 80–82 *1969 State champion; beat Milwaukee Marshall, 52–109 *1991 State champion; beat Homestead, 65–97

Soccer (boys)

*2006 State champion; beat Brookfield East, 2–0

Swimming and diving (boys)

*2005 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 269.5–222 *2006 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 272–245 *2007 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 257.5–212.5 *2009 State champion; beat Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, 200.5–182.5 *2011 State champion; beat Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, 234.5–192 *2012 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 326–234 *2013 State champion; beat Madison West, 316–206 *2014 State champion; beat Madison West, 319–216.5 *2015 State champion; beat Madison West, 350.5–201 *2016 State champion; beat Madison West, 314–202

Swimming and diving (girls)

*1999 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 313–242.5 *2000 State champion; beat Arrowhead, 320.5–236 *2001 State champion; beat Madison West, 295–267.5

Track and field (girls)

*2003 State champion; beat Waukesha West, Hartford, Cudahy & Waukesha Catholic Memorial, 34–25

Notable alumni

* Tamara Grigsby, member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

(2005–2013) * Ari Herstand, class of 2003; singer-songwriter, author, actor, and blogger * Mark Johnson, former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player and gold medalist with the US Olympic Men's Hockey team at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

; UW-Madison women's hockey coach *

Wesley Matthews Wesley Joel Matthews Jr. (born October 14, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He i ...

, class of 2005;

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

guard * Jeronne Maymon (born 1991), former basketball player for

Hapoel Eilat B.C. Hapoel Eilat (), for sponsorship reasons named Hapoel Yossi Avrahami Eilat, is an Israeli basketball club. The team plays in the Liga Leumit, the second tier of Israeli basketball. The team represents the far-South region of the country - the Arab ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Madison, Wisconsin Public high schools in Wisconsin Educational institutions established in 1966 1966 establishments in Wisconsin