Wichita West High School, known locally as West, is a public

secondary 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., b ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, United States. It is operated by Wichita USD 259 school district and serves students in grades 9 to 12. The high school is located southwest of downtown Wichita and near

U.S. Route 54 U.S. Route 54 (US 54) is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific an ...

. The current principal is Stephanie Smith.

History

Wichita West High School opened in September 1953, but a council had started looking to build a high school for the westside of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

in 1925. Three years after its opening, Wichita West added 25 classrooms with an addition of 24 mobile units 15 years later. In 1976, a new library was added to the building with the existing library being renovated. Renovations again took place in 1988 and 1989, due to the school district moving the ninth grade to the high schools.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics

Wichita West won city league titles in football in 1993 and 1995.

State championships

Notable people

Alumni

* Karla Burns, operatic mezzo-soprano and actress

Faculty

* Eddie Kriwiel, football and golf coach, member of 7 Kansas Halls of Fame

References

External links

* ;Historical
Excerpts from ''A History of Wichita Public School Buildings''
Wichita USD 259 ;Map
Wichita School District - High School Boundary Map
valid starting fall 2012, Wichita USD 259
Wichita School District - Boundary Map and Directory of Buildings
Wichita USD 259 {{Authority control Schools in Wichita, Kansas Educational institutions established in 1953 Public high schools in Kansas 1953 establishments in Kansas