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Smiths Station High School

Smiths Station High School
Location
Map
4228 Lee Road 430

36877

United States
Information
School typePublic
MottoPanther Pride! Go Panthers
Established1918 (108 years ago) (1918)
School board
Lee County Board Of Education
School district
Lee County Schools
SuperintendentMike Howard
CEEB code012500
Principal
Adam Johnson
Staff80.76 (FTE)[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,222 (2023–2024)[1]
Student to teacher ratio
15.13[1]
LanguageEnglish
ColorsBlack, silver, and white
   
Athletics conference
AHSAA Class 7A
MascotPanthers
Feeder schools
Smiths Station Junior High, South Smiths Station Elementary, West Smiths Station Elementary, East Smiths Station Elementary, Wacoochee Elementary
Websitessh.lee.k12.al.us

Smiths Station High School is a high school in Smiths Station, Alabama, enrolling grades 9 to 12. The school enrolls about 1,382 students, and is one of four high schools in the Lee County School District along with Beauregard, Beulah, and Loachapoka High Schools.[2]

History

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Test scores of Smiths Station High School juniors in 2010 on the Alabama High School Graduation Exam, compared with juniors at the other public high schools in Lee County

Smiths Station High School was formed in 1918 with the consolidation of rural one-room schools in the Smiths Station, Motts, and Oak Grove communities. Smiths Station High was the first full rural high school in the Lee County Schools, prior to its creation, all students wishing to complete high school had to travel to Auburn to attend Auburn High School. A new consolidated school was built in Smiths Station in 1918, and the high school soon absorbed Prince School (1919), Lee Bullard School (1928) and Salem High School (1929). J.B. Page served as principal of Smiths Station High from 1929 until 1972, during which time the school spun off Smiths Station Elementary School from its original K-12 configuration. Integration came to Smiths Station in 1970, with SSHS absorbing the black school Wacoochee High School in 1971, moving to a grades 10-12 configuration. Growth in the 1970s led to the shifting of grade 9 back to Smiths Station in 1976.[3]

Between 1976 and the 2010 Smiths Station High School grew from an enrollment of about 600 to over 1800. In 2008, that growth, combined with expected future growth related to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure involving nearby Fort Benning, led to the decision to build a new $32 million Smiths Station High School. The new facility opened in August 2011, with Smiths Station High adopting a grades 10-12 configuration.[4]

Introduced in 2021, SSHS Girls' Flag Football played its way through the inaugural season in the state of Alabama, under volleyball and now flag football coach, Meg Larsen, making the playoffs, and finishing Runners Up in the state championship game, in double overtime.[5]

Notable faculty

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Smiths Station High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  2. State of Alabama Department of Education, Enrollment by Ethnicity and Gender (School Level) Year 2009–2010 Archived August 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  3. J.B. Page, "Memories of Smiths School", Lee County and Her Forebears, (Montgomery, Ala.: Herff Jones, 1983), 134-142.
  4. J.B. Page, "Memories of Smiths School", Lee County and Her Forebears; State of Alabama Department of Education, Enrollment by Ethnicity and Gender (School Level) Year 2009–2010 Archived August 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine; Kristen Letsinger, "New Smiths Station High School on track for fall 2011 Archived October 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", Opelika-Auburn News, July 1, 2010; "Lee County names new superintendent, approves Smiths Station High School plan", Opelika-Auburn News, February 13, 2008.
  5. "Smiths Station Flag football advances to State Championship game". November 17, 2021. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  6. Segrest, Doug (July 31, 2009). "Alabama Football Warriors, Wildfire Ensure Area's Rep as Minor-league Stars". Birmingham News. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  7. "Lowe Resigns UAB Position To Take Job At Smiths Station High School". UABSports.com. April 21, 2005. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.

32°31′16″N 85°04′48″W / 32.521016°N 85.079863°W / 32.521016; -85.079863