Olympic Heights Community High School

Olympic Heights Community High School is a public high school, located at 20101 Lyons Road, serving west Boca Raton, parts of Boynton Beach and parts of Delray Beach as part of the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida.

Academies

Olympic Heights offers a number of "academies", or specializations within the school itself. These academies are Early Childhood and Teacher Education, Engineering and Technology (Project Lead The Way), Hospitality and Tourism, and Finance & Resort Management.

Students applying to any of the programs must meet the following eligibility criteria:

-2.0 GPA (Not required for Tourism, Hospitality, & Resort Management)

-3 Favorable Teacher Recommendations (Teacher recommendations must be sent to the school to which student is applying)

All forms and other information can be found on the Palm Beach County School District website.

There are also two in-house academies: Culinary and Fashion Design.

Athletics

Although the school's sports teams have captured a number of state titles, Olympic Heights is perhaps best known for the girls volleyball team's unprecedented run of success, as the team won a state record seven straight state titles from 1996-2002 under Coach Ginny Kelly.

Football

Olympic Heights football achieved remarkable success early in the school's history, going 10-0 in its second year of existence (1992) and 10-0 in its 3rd season (1993). Ultimately, Olympic Heights tied a Florida state record of 27 straight regular season victories from 1992-1994. These Teams were directed by Ray Buscemi and then Frank Kunf.
From 1995 until 2003 the program was run by Head Coach Willie Dodaro who kept up the success of the program going on to win the last District Title by the lions in 1997 as well as the last playoff game won in 2002. Coach Dodaro also saw many of his players go on to college and play such as QB's T.J. Jackson (Virginia Tech) and James Pinkney (East Carolina).
2009-2010 school year was the last year the Lions had reached the playoffs. They went to Merritt Island in the first round. With a eventual loss, the program suffered greatly by losing the seniors, their passion, and leadership. The next year the Lions did not make the playoffs. Long live class of 2010 for many years to come. This program was destroyed by the old coach, the AD and now ex-principle Rodriguez.
In Feb. 2011, Mitch Henghold resigned after six seasons as head football coach.

Wrestling

The Olympic Heights Wrestling team has flourished under head Coach D'Annunzio (1995–2008). In his thirteen seasons as coach, the Lions have gone undefeated three times (1999, 2004, & 2008), been Palm Beach County Champions three times, District Champions seven times.

Basketball

In 2004 the Olympic Heights basketball team made it to the final four in the 6A division for the state of Florida. The Lions were coached by Joe Nappi and were led by Seniors Sean Alarcon, James Lopez, Fitzroy Anthony, Josh Lamons, Matt Irisarri, Matt Rosenberg, Chad Ross, and Corey Renken, and Juniors Matt Torres, Steven Cusimano, Teo Fiddelman, and Mark Currier. The Lions played the second-ranked team in the State (Palm Beach Lakes) and won by over 20 points to make it into the Final Four. The Lions finished in fourth place after losing on a buzzer beating three to opponents South Miami.

Olympic Heights State Titles

{| class="wikitable"
!Gender||Event||Year(s)
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|Girls||Volleyball||1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
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|Boys||Soccer||1994,2000, 2002
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Hip-Hop Dance Team

The Olympic Heights Hip-Hop Dance team was started by two students; Dara Smith & Rachel Bentley in 2002. The dance team was awarded first place and an elite gold medal at the StarPower dance competition in 2004. The Hip Hop team then started to decline in ranks and in popularity in 2010

The Torch

A newspaper run by the students of OHHS and supervised by David Keithley.

Marching Band

The Olympic Heights Mighty Lion Marching Band won the State Championship two years in a row. In the 2004 Marching Season, the Lions won the Class A Championship with their show titled "Category V" and they won once again in 2005 with their show entitled "Vesuvius".

Social Studies Academic Games

The Social Studies Academic Games team at Olympic Heights was founded in the late 1990's and enjoyed a string of success under Coach Brad Bluhm. The team has seen several players advance to the national finals, including Jariel Bortnick (1st place nationally in 1999) and Michael Christ (1st place in Palm Beach County) in 2007.

Notable alumni

Chloe Dolandis
Chloe Dolandis
Chloe Dolandis is an American singer-songwriter, voice actor and TV host. An independent artist, her 2011 debut album, Bring Back The Fever, was penned by Dolandis and her writing team, and produced and engineered by Grammy winner Zach Ziskin...

- Professional singer, songwriter, and television personality.
Jevon Tarantino
Jevon Tarantino
Jevon Tarantino is an American springboard diver.He is a member of the Fort Lauderdale Diving Team and is coached by David Burgering. He was a member of the US National Team for seven years. He represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games...

- Member of the 2008 Olympics diving team in Beijing, China. 2004 NCAA Champion (University of Tennessee), 2004 SEC Champion (University of Tennessee), 2 Time High School State Champion
Central McClellion
Central McClellion
Central Bernard McClellion is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs . He played college football at Ohio State University....

- Professional 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...

player, Kansas City Chiefs
Pedro Heizer - Sports Editor of The Boca Raton Tribune and a published sportswriter
Megan Hauserman
Megan Hauserman
Megan Hauserman is an American model and reality television personality, best known for her appearances on Vh1.-Modeling career:...

Reality TV Star- Beauty and the Geek 3, Rock of Love 2, and Megan Wants a Millionaire
Ryland Blackinton
Ryland Blackinton
Ryland Blackinton is the lead guitarist for the band Cobra Starship. He is from Wilmington MA, but was born in South Kingstown Rhode Island on March 31, 1982. Before joining Cobra Starship, Ryland, along with high school best friend Alex Suarez formed the folk/pop duo This Is Ivy League...

- Member of Cobra Starship
Alex Suarez
Alex Suarez
Alex Suarez is the bass player and additional keyboardist and vocalist for Cobra Starship as well as co-founder of This is Ivy League, a band created with fellow Cobra Starship member and high school best friend Ryland Blackinton.-Early life:...

- Member of Cobra Starship
Shannon Woodward - Actress, Raising Hope
Raising Hope
Raising Hope is a television comedy program first aired on September 21, 2010 on Fox. The series airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. On January 10, 2011, Fox renewed Raising Hope for a second season, which premiered on September 20, 2011....

, The Riches
The Riches
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Thomas Gregg
Thomas Gregg
Thomas Gregg was born 18 November, 1859 in Willford and died 25 March, 1938 in Gotham. He was an England cricket player who played 35 first-class matches for Gloucestershire and Somerset in the 1880's.- External Links :* from Cricinfo....

- Former Professional baseball player, Baltimore Orioles organization
Mike Bruno
Mike Bruno
Mike Bruno an American professional mixed martial arts fighter, instructor, and speaker. Born in Brooklyn, New York. He currently fights as a featherweight and trains full-time at main American Top Team located in Coconut Creek, Florida. Mike Bruno is the younger brother to Steve "Hollywood"...

- Professional Mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

(MMA) fighter, Submission Grappler North American Grappling Association
North American Grappling Association
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Champion

Theater

The Olympic Heights Theatre Department was established in 1991, and has grown to hold a significant place in the Boca Raton community, most notably under the leadership of former director, Jacquie Hasko. Among other accomplishments, the department, Thespian Troupe 4992, has won several State Championships, produced over 40 mainstages, performed at hundreds of community centers, brought home dozens of Cappies and Critics Choice Awards, raised significant sums for Broadway Cares and Equity Fights AIDS, and graduated many students who have gone on to careers as professionals in the arts.

School Rating

Each year the school is rated by the students performance on the FCAT

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or the FCAT , is the standardized test used in the primary and secondary public schools of Florida...

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Little Lion's Preschool

Olympic Heights has an on-site preschool serving children aged three to five. The preschool, run by Diana Saker, offers early childhood education. The high school students enrolled in the Early Childhood and Teacher Education academy are able to work as teachers in the preschool, where they carry out lesson plans with the children.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.