Alfred Ely Beach High School is one of the oldest public high schools in Savannah, Georgia, United States.
History
Fight @ Beach High School (12/16/2016) - Just another Friday @ Beach High School.
In 1867, the Beach Institute was established by the Freedmen's Bureau 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.
Enrollment
Beach High is open to residents of Chatham County in grades 9th through 12th.
Academics
Beach High students undertake a college preparatory 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. 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
Extracurricular activities
Clubs and organizations
Sports teams
Beach High fields 11 varsity teams, including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, wrestling, softball, and volleyball. The teams compete in the Georgia High School Association's Region 3-AAAAA.
State championships
Georgia Interscholastic Association
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 and 2017.
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.
Further reading
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.
References
External links
- Official website
- Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools webpage
- U.S. News and World Report High School Bronze Ranking
