Parkway High School (Louisiana)

Parkway High School is a class 5A public high school located in outside of Bossier City, Louisiana, United States. The school is under the directory of the Bossier Parish School Board, and is currently under the administration of principal Waylon Bates and vice principals Becky Gray and Justin James.[2] Parkway has been ranked as a "Top Gains School" by the Louisiana Department of Education.[5]

Parkway High School
Address
Parkway High School Show map of Louisiana Parkway High School Show map of the United States
2010 Colleen Drive Bossier City , Louisiana 71112 United States
Coordinates	32°26′03″N 93°38′41″W
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	Safe, Honest, Accountable, Respectful, Present (SHARP)[1]
Established	1968 (1968)
School district	Bossier Parish School Board
Principal	Waylon Bates[2]
Teaching staff	67.50 (FTE) (2018–19)[3]
Enrollment	1,295 (2018–19)[3]
Student to teacher ratio	19.19 (2018–19)[3]
Color(s)	Black      White      Red[4]
Athletics conference	LHSAA[4]
Nickname	Panthers[4]
Website	parkway.bossierschools.org

Alongside the main campus, the school operates property at the Preston Crownover Stadium, which serves as the school's main athletics facility.[6] The school is partnered with Bossier Parish Community College and the Bossier Parish School for Technology and Innovative Learning to provide collegiate-level dual enrollment courses and vocational courses.[7][8]

History

Parkway High School began as a junior high school in 1963 and became a high school beginning with the freshman class of 1968. The location of the original school was on Panther Drive, north of where the current campus is. The school moved to their new campus on Colleen Drive during the 2009-2010 school year.[1] After the 2015-2016 school year, principal Nichole E. Bourgeois Ed.D. was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent, and vice principal Lorenza Baker was transferred to Rusheon Middle School, where he took on the role of principal. Waylon Bates, former principal of Haughton Middle School, took over as principal of Parkway in the 2016-2017 school year with Justin James taking the vice principal position left vacant by Baker.[2][9]

Activities and student life

Parkway High School has a wide range of extracurricular activities such as its nearly 200 member band, The Pride of Pantherland.[10] Other activities include the Black Cat Revue dance line team, the cheerleading squad, and their Cross Country Team.[1] The school is home to many clubs such as the National Beta Club, the Octagon Club, the National Honor Society, Destination Imagination, and FCA.[11] Being very close to Barksdale Air Force Base, the school has a prominent JROTC program, the LA-071st, which is the second largest JROTC program in the state of Louisiana with more than 300 students in the curriculum.[5] The AFJROTC program includes a widely successful Cyber Patriot team that finished in the top one percent of nationwide teams at the CyberPatriot VI National Finals in 2014.[12]

The school is the recipient of a $500,000 National Math and Science Initiative grant sponsored by the Department of Defense Education Activity for the improvement and promotion of Advanced Placement courses at the school.[13] The school also is a three-year recipient of the State Farm Celebrate My Drive grant, totaling up to $150,000 overall. The grant money from Celebrate My Drive is used to promote safe driving and improve student life overall.[14][15]

Marching and concert band

The school is home to a large instrumental music program under the direction of Mr. Mark Minton. This program is divided into two major classifications, marching band and concert band. The program also includes a jazz band and a basketball pep band. The percussion music program is led by Mitch Ernst, which consists of front ensemble and the battery section. [10]

The school's marching band program, widely known as the Pride of Pantherland, is a nearly 200-member Corps Style competition band. The Pride of Pantherland performs at most home football games at halftime and participates in four to five marching competitions per season. Recent accolades of the Pride of Pantherland Marching Band include Grand Champions at the Northwestern State University Classic on the Cane Invitational in the 2014, 2015, And 2016 seasons, superior ratings at the LMEA District VIII Marching Assessment, and seventh place at the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands in 2015 and fourth place in 2017.[5][16][17] The marching band also hosts their own invitational in early October at which they perform in exhibition.[18]. Parkway's marching band will perform half-time for the Saints vs. Steelers in New Orleans on December 23, 2018. The school's concert band program features two main performing ensembles, the symphonic band and the wind ensemble. The symphonic band is made up mostly of younger players and performs musical literature with a focus on expanding the skill of instrumentalists. The wind ensemble is mostly LMEA District VIII honor bands members who are selected through audition. The wind ensemble performs collegiate-level musical literature and serves as the school's main concert ensemble. Recent accolades of the Parkway Concert Bands include superior ratings at district festival, superior ratings at the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in 2015, and a high number of students in the LMEA District VIII Honor Bands. In 2018, Parkway performed at the Bands of America in Indianapolis, IN. They are currently preparing for the 2019 Percy Grainger Festival in Chicago, IL.[10][19]

Notable alumni

• Seth Lugo, New York Mets pitcher[20]

References

1. Parkway High School. Parkway High School. Retrieved on October 14, 2014.
2. Administration. Parkway High School. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.
3. "Search for Public Schools - Parkway High School (220027000130)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
4. LHSAA Member Schools - Parkway. Louisiana High School Athletic Association. Retrieved on October 14, 2008.
5. Accolades of High Schools. Bossier Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on October 14, 2014.
6. Preston Crownover Stadium Archived November 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Stadium Connection. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
7. Bossier Parish School for Technology and Innovative Learning. Bossier Parish School Board. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
8. Course Listings Archived August 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Parkway High School. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
9. Bossier Schools veteran to take helm of Parkway High School. Shreveport Times. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.
10. Pride of Pantherland Archived May 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Pride of Pantherland Marching Band. Retrieved on October 14, 2014.
11. Clubs. Parkway High School. Retrieved on October 14, 2014.
12. The One Percent. Bossier Press-Tribune. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
13. Message From The Principal. Nichole E. Bourgeois. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
14. Parkway brings home $25k in national contest. Sonja Bailes. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
15. Parkway HS makes top 100 on 'Celebrate My Drive' contest. KTBS. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
16. Classic on the Cane 2015. Northwestern State Bands. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
17. Parkway band wins NSU marching contest. The Shreveport Times. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
18. Parkway Marching Band Competition The Shreveport Times. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
19. High School Honor Bands Archived November 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Louisiana Music Educators Association, District VIII. Retrieved on November 22, 2015.
20. Hedges, Russell. "Former Parkway pitcher Seth Lugo a step away from major leagues". Bossier Press. Retrieved June 30, 2016.

External links

• Official website