Alfred E. Beach High School
Encyclopedia
Alfred Ely Beach High School is one of the oldest public high schools located in Savannah, Georgia
, USA.
with funds donated by Alfred Ely Beach
, editor of Scientific American. The school was privately funded as a manual training school
to provide a means for newly freed African Americans to assimilate into white society. By 1874, the institute was appropriated by the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education for the purpose of providing free education to Savannah's African American citizenry. Although the Beach Institute closed its doors in 1915, it was reopened as an African American cultural center and is currently operated by the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation. The Beach name survives in the name of Alfred E. Beach High School.
At the end of the 2009-2010 academic year, the Savannah-Chatham County School District released the school's faculty and staff personnel citing inadequate academic progress over the previous five years.
curriculum that includes four years of English
, history
, and laboratory-based sciences (chemistry
and physics
are required), three years of mathematics
(most students opt for four) and foreign language, a semester each of introductory art
, music
, health
, and computer science
, and two lab-based technology courses. It offers students a broad selection of elective courses.
Beach offers the district's only CISCO networking academy. Students who complete this program are eligible to take the CISCO Certified Network Associate examination. Additionally the Health Professions program partners with Memorial Health University Medical Center and CVS Pharmacy to provide internships for Beach High students.
Information provided by the Savannah-Chatham County board of Education.
s include football
, basketball
, baseball
, soccer, tennis
, wrestling, softball, and volleyball. The teams compete in the Georgia High School Association's Region 3-AAAAA.
The school won the boys state basketball championship in 1953, 1963, 1964, and 1965.
Georgia High School Association
The school won a boys state basketball championship in 1967 (the first year that African-Americans were allowed to play in the Georgia High School Association) under coach Russell Ellington
. The girls basketball team won a state championship in 2000.
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, USA.
History
In 1867, the Beach Institute was established by the Freedmen's BureauBureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
The Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. federal government agency that aided distressed freedmen in 1865–1869, during the Reconstruction era of the United States....
with funds donated by Alfred Ely Beach
Alfred Ely Beach
Alfred Ely Beach was an American inventor, publisher and patent lawyer, born in Springfield, Massachusetts.-Early years:Beach was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and was the son of a prominent publisher, Moses Beach...
, editor of Scientific American. The school was privately funded as a manual training school
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
to provide a means for newly freed African Americans to assimilate into white society. By 1874, the institute was appropriated by the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education for the purpose of providing free education to Savannah's African American citizenry. Although the Beach Institute closed its doors in 1915, it was reopened as an African American cultural center and is currently operated by the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation. The Beach name survives in the name of Alfred E. Beach High School.
| In 2010, Beach High School was selected as the recipient of "Outstanding Service By a High School" at the 38th annual Jefferson Awards, an honor for community service and volunteerism. |
Academics
Beach High students undertake a college preparatoryUniversity-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
curriculum that includes four years of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, and laboratory-based sciences (chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
are required), three years of mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
(most students opt for four) and foreign language, a semester each of introductory art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, and two lab-based technology courses. It offers students a broad selection of elective courses.
Beach offers the district's only CISCO networking academy. Students who complete this program are eligible to take the CISCO Certified Network Associate examination. Additionally the Health Professions program partners with Memorial Health University Medical Center and CVS Pharmacy to provide internships for Beach High students.
Advanced Placement
Students can choose from Advanced Placement courses in Calculus, English III, English IV, US History, European History, and Biology.Special Education
The school has special education programs for the following areas:- Learning disabled
- Behavior disorder
- Moderately intellectually handicapped
- Mildly intellectually handicapped
- Severely intellectually handicapped
- Profoundly intellectually handicapped
Clubs and organizations
- Future Business Leaders of America
- National Junior Classical LeagueNational Junior Classical LeagueThe National Junior Classical League is a youth organization of secondary school students sponsored by the American Classical League...
- National Honor SocietyNational Honor SocietyThe National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
- Band
- Cheerleading
- Flag Team
- ROTC Rifle Team
- Spanish Club
- Mock Trial Team
- SECMESECMESECME is a nonprofit organization originally established in 1975. The organization is based in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Institute of Technology...
- VOCA
- Step Team
- Jobs for Georgia Grads
- Family, Community and Career Leaders of America
Information provided by the Savannah-Chatham County board of Education.
Sports teams
Beach High fields 11 varsity teamVarsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
s include football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, soccer, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, wrestling, softball, and volleyball. The teams compete in the Georgia High School Association's Region 3-AAAAA.
Georgia Interscholastic Association
The school won the boys state basketball championship in 1953, 1963, 1964, and 1965.
Georgia High School AssociationGeorgia High School AssociationThe Georgia High School Association governs athletic and club events for member high schools in Georgia, USA. The GHSA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The association comprises 437 public and private high schools...
The school won a boys state basketball championship in 1967 (the first year that African-Americans were allowed to play in the Georgia High School Association) under coach Russell Ellington
Russell Ellington
Russell Ellington was an American basketball coach. He compiled nearly 900 wins in his lifetime at the college level coaching Savannah State College, Savannah Tech and Morris Brown College. He also coached the world famous Harlem Globetrotters for nine years...
. The girls basketball team won a state championship in 2000.
Notable alumni
Alumni have become President of Savannah State College, Georgia State Senator, Mayor of Savannah, and Dean of a major university in New England.Books
- YOUNG, R. A. (1953). The need for establishing a department of vocational agriculture at the Alfred E. Beach High School in Savannah, Georgia.
- CARLERS, M. (1987). The 1987 Golden Bulldog. Savannah, GA, Published by students, faculty, and alumni of Alfred E. Beach High School.