Watertown High School (South Dakota)

Watertown Senior High School
Watertown High School from Arrow Ave.
Location
209 9th ST NE Watertown, SD 57201
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Enabling all students to succeed in an ever changing world
School district	Watertown School District 14-4
Superintendent	Jeff Danielsen
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1,259[1]
Color(s)	Purple, Gold, White
Athletics	AA
Athletics conference	Eastern South Dakota (ESD)
Mascot	Arrows
Website	Official Website

Watertown High School (WHS) is a public high school in Watertown, South Dakota. The school was the first in the state and the second in the United States in which every student and teacher was issued a laptop computer.^{[2][failed verification]}

Academics

Watertown High School has a dual-enrollment program with the neighboring Lake Area Technical Institute campus, allowing students to take college level course during all four years of enrollment. WHS also allows students to take courses directly through South Dakota State University. WHS has nearly a quarter of its students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.^[3] WHS has 102 teachers, of which 70.2% have obtained a master's degree or higher.^[4]

Laptop program

Watertown High School first started its laptop program in the 2003–2004 school year, making WHS the first high school in South Dakota and the second high school in the nation to give every student a personal laptop.^{[citation needed]} In 2006, WHS became part of the state-sponsored Classroom Connections project, where it was among 20 selected schools in the state to receive funding for laptops for students and tablet computers for teachers. In the 2017–2018 school year, WHS gave each student an iPad.

Extracurricular activities

Competitive speech activities

The WHS oral interpretation program was among the first 100 chartered squads in the National Forensics League. The department has produced a number of Truman scholars.^[5]

The Head coach for Arrow Speech and Debate is Scott Walker, who is an alumnus of Watertown High School himself.^[6]

Forensic events offered are: (State championships are listed to the right)

• Policy Debate: 2006,^[7] 2016^[8]

State championships

WHS also offers competitive cheerleading, dance, soccer, softball, and baseball, some of which are sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association.

Notable alumni

• Notable Watertown High School alumni include:
• 
  Stephen Foster Briggs,
  1903,
  inventor of the Briggs & Stratton engine.
• 
  George R. Mather.
  1929,
  Commander in-chief of U.S. Army, United States Southern Command.
• 
  John Hamre,
  1968,
  U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1997–2000.
• 
  Lee Raymond,
  1956,
  CEO and President, ExxonMobil.
• 
  Neal Tapio,
  1988,
  Trump Presidential Campaign Director

This page was last edited on 10 February 2024, at 03:40