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Stephen Hempstead High School (commonly Hempstead or HHS) is a four-year public high school located in Dubuque, Iowa. It is one of three high schools in the Dubuque Community School District, and enrolls 1,824 students in grades 9-12. Hempstead is named in honor of Stephen P. Hempstead, the second governor of Iowa. The school's mascot is the Mustang, and it competes in class 4A of the Mississippi Valley Athletic Conference.
History
After World War II, the population of Dubuque moved further out to the west. The children born during the post-war baby boom also were in their late teens at the time. The community found that Senior High School would no longer be enough to serve the needs of the community.
In 1966, the district began planning for Hempstead. District employees were encouraged to offer their thoughts on the design of the new building. In the spring of 1967, a $6.7 million dollar bond issue was approved to cover the costs of the building. In the fall of 1968, construction began on the new building, with completion scheduled by the fall of 1969. Construction was delayed by labor strikes and bad weather, which resulted in the building not being complete until the spring of 1970.
Because Hempstead was not yet ready, classes for Hempstead students were initially held at Senior High School. In the spring of 1970, students began receiving education at Hempstead for the first time under Principal Dr. Roger Kampschroer. In 1970, there was no graduating class because there was no senior class that first year.
In the 1990s, the windows on the second floor were replaced with windows that could be opened. The locker bay was recently refurbished. In the summer of 2005, construction began to expand the school, as enrollment is expected to increase over the next several years. Over the next several years the school district has formulated plans to completely remodel the school.
Hempstead was affected by the mumps outbreak that struck Iowa in 2006. While school was not shut down and only a small number of students were infected, the long-standing Tri-II Music Festival which Hempstead was hosting that year was downscaled, and several sports matches were canceled.
In 2007 Hempstead lost two students in the span of two weeks. Lauren Schmidt was killed when she was struck while crossing Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the school. A week later Chris Runde died after a car accident the night before the day of homecoming.
Campus
The building is a three-level structure with an open courtyard in the center of the school. The school features a locker bay on the ground level; all student lockers were formerly centralized in the locker bay.
Renovations currently under way will relocate lockers to the school hallways. The second level contains classrooms, an indoor pool, gyms, art, music, driver education, and FHACS (Family Health & Consumer Sciences) classrooms. The third level holds the administrative offices, library/media center, math, science, business classrooms, a physical fitness room, cafeteria/commons area, industrial technology, wood working, and automobile shops. The third level also features an auditorium complex.
The school is divided into wings. The "A" wing contains music, speech and driver education classrooms. School offices are in the "B" wing, the eastern edge of the triangle. Most of the general education classrooms are in the "C" wing, the southern side. To the west is the "D" wing, home of industrial education, art, and FHACS. An addition to the southwest corner of the building was added in late 2005 providing new classrooms for several general education subjects. The "E" wing on the north side of the building contains the cafeteria, gym, and pool. The locker bay classrooms added in 2004 and 2005 are part of the "L" wing.
The gym can be divided into three separate areas, with retractable curtains for each section. There is also retractable bleacher seating along the eastern and western walls typically used for assemblies, ballgames and other functions.
Hempstead features a 25-yard indoor swimming pool. Although swimming is no longer part of the wellness education requirement for students occasional classes are held in the pool and it is also used by the swim teams of both Hempstead and Senior High School for both practice and meets. An upgraded scoring and timekeeping system was funded jointly by both schools' booster clubs in 2003. The city recreation department also allows the general public to use the pool when school is not in session.
There is also a large auditorium complex near the eastern end of the school. This complex features movable walls, and can be divided into one or more (up to six) seating areas. However, the design of this auditorium, because of its low slope, lack of a flyspace, and modified theater-in-the-round concept, has proved impractical for many productions. Therefore, musicals are currently performed at the Five Flags Theater, and concerts are held at Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School.
HVAC
The building was originally designed to be fully air conditioned: however, a building-wide air conditioning system was never installed. The administrative offices were air conditioned, but the rest of the building was not.
As part of the renovation process, the school is upgrading the heating and cooling system. The school will use a geothermal system, and wells are being dug near the softball and football fields for this new system.
Students
In the 2007-2008 school year, HHS enrolled 1,824 students. Of those, 1,754 (96.2%) were White, 30 (1.6%) were Black, 21 (1.2%) were Asian, and 3 (.2%) were American Indian. 16 (.9%) students were Hispanic, and may be of any race. Additionally, 943 (51.7%) were male, and 881 (48.3%) were female.[2]
Academics
Hempstead, being one of the largest schools in the state, is able to offer fourteen advanced placement courses. This has enabled the school to rank highly on the Iowa AP Index published by the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education, coming in ninth in the state in 2006 (based on the class of 2005).
The school is generally meeting No Child Left Behind proficiency standards, outpacing its goals in both reading and math.
Music
Michael Gilbertson, class of 2006, is an accomplished composer who has written several pieces for orchestra, piano, and ballet. His works have been performed by the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, the Flint Symphony Orchestra, and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. He will be the first graduate of Hempstead to study at the Juilliard School of Music.
The Hempstead Mustang Marching Band is directed by Mr. Dowe. The group of around 115 students competes in 4A competitions in the state of Iowa. They received Best Overall Drumline and Best Drum Major awards at the 2006 Marion Marching Invitational and Best Drumline in 4A at the Little Hawk Invitational in Iowa City in 2007. Devin Burgess is currently the percussion caption head and arranger of the 2007 season and instructed for the 2006 season. The band has received Division I ratings at the State Marching Contest for over ten years.
Extracurricular activities
[] Student government
Hempstead is noted for its student government program, widely accepted to be one of the most active in the state. The program consists of an eight-member executive council and a 40-member senate, 10 elected from each class. Spring Wind, a week-long festival featuring speakers and activities every March or April, is completely organized by the student government, which is elected in May for the following year.
Sports
Hempstead competes in class 4A, the largest classification in Iowa, and in the Mississippi Valley Conference. The girls volleyball team won the 4A State Championship in 2003 and competed in the state tournament in 2005. The Mustang football team won its first and only state championship in 1980, and golf in the late 1980s. Baseball has also been successful, being the runner-up in the 2003 state tournament.
Hempstead won its only football state title in the fall of 1979 by the graduating class of 1980, and has qualified for the state playoffs 11 times.
Hempstead had the distinction of being one of the first schools to perform a stage version of High School Musical, which was presented in January 2007.
Economics
Since the National Council for Economics Education Economics Challenge was inaugurated in 2001, Hempstead has been extremely successful at the national level. The team won first place in 2002, second in 2001 and 2005, and third in 2004. In the seven years of state competition (2001-2007), Hempstead has been first in Iowa every year and often has fielded the second-place team as well. Much of the credit given to Hempstead's nationally recognized economics team goes to economics teacher Dennis C. Schroeder.
Notable alumni
Renovation
In 2004, a renovation program began using proceeds from a one-cent sales tax approved by Dubuque County voters in December 2002. The seven-phase program is projected to eventually cost $30 million, roughly five times the original cost of constructing the school in the 1960s.
2006 marked the begininng of a two-year complete remodeling of the main classroom wing and locker bay. While the renovations are greatly appreciated, some controversy has arose during the construction. Hundreds of students were forced to move out of their lockers with twenty-four hours notice, only to be allowed back in a week later. Several classes are being held in the auditorium, and the stage has become departmental offices, forcing music and drama programs to perform off-campus. Finally, the renovation is stirring up Hempstead's long-standing insect problem, although new sections of the building are designed to be inhospitable to termites and cockroaches.
References
See also
External links
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