Williamstown High School (West Virginia)

Williamstown High School is a public high school in Williamstown, West Virginia, United States.

Williamstown High School
Address
219 West 5th St.

,
26187

United States
Coordinates39°24′01″N 81°27′05″W
Information
Former nameWilliams District High School
TypePublic
MottoDiscipline, Achievement, Service, Honor
Established1905 (1905)
School districtWood County School District
PrincipalJason Ward
Teaching staff43.00 (FTE) (2020–21)[1]
Grades6-12[1]
GenderCo-educational
Enrollment667 (2020-21)[1]
Student to teacher ratio15.51 (2020–21)[1]
Campus typeFringe Urban [1]
Color(s)  Maroon
  Gold
SongWHS Alma Mater
Fight songWashington and Lee Swing
Athletics conferenceLittle Kanawha Conference (LKC)
MascotThe Yellowjackets
RivalsSt. Marys High School (WV)
Websitewww.woodcountyschoolswv.com/o/wh

Description

Williamstown High School accommodates grades 6-12 and has an enrollment of approximately 667 students. Williamstown High School has one feeder school, Williamstown-Waverly Elementary school, following the consolidation of Williamstown and Waverly elementary school.

History

In the fall of 1905, Williamstown High School (then Williams District High School), the first consolidated high school in West Virginia opened for the first time in two separate rooms on the second floor of the Henderson Building on Ferry St. A new building was constructed in 1908 that housed grades 1-12. In 1926, a contest was held to determine the school's seal. Kathleen Bee's design of a log cabin with a rising sun was declared the winner. in 1933, Williams District was dissolved and incorporated into Wood County School District. On December 1st, 1951, a new gymnasium-auditorium ("gymatorium") was built at the corner of West 5th St. and Williams Ave., declared in honor of Williamstown alumni that fought in World War I and World War II. Eventually, classrooms were added on to the building, resulting in the high school being relocated there in 1957. In 1974, several new classrooms as well as a library and cafeteria were added to the school. The school remained largely unchanged aside from maintenance until 2019, when a new track was added. Following this, in 2020, a new wing was added to the east side of the school. This wing housed new classrooms and science labs, a new auditorium, and a new room for the school's uniquely independent strings program. In 2022, work began on the construction of a new stadium field.

Williamstown (Williamstown-Waverly) Elementary School

The building that previously housed Williamstown High School was converted to a new Williamstown Elementary School, serving grades 1-6. The bell tower and 3rd floor would be removed in 1975, the bell was moutned on wheels and is used at football games and at homecoming parades. Williamstown Elementary School would be closed for the 2020-2021 school year, when a new Williamstown-Waverly Elementary School was built to consolidate students from Williamstown and Waverly Elementary students. Prior to this, both the aforementioned Williamstown Elementary as well as Waverly Elementary were feeder schools into Williamstown High School.

Sports

WHS competes in the Single A level in West Virginia High School sports. It has held the LKC All Sports Award for more than 20 years (2003-2004 season excepted). Home of the 2008 and 2014 West Virginia Single A Football State Champions, the 2008 Sectional Soccer Champions, along with the 2015 Boys Soccer Sectional Champions and the 2016 Girls Soccer Sectional Champions. The 2016-17 Girls Basketball team were the #6 seed in the 2017 West Virginia Single A Girls' basketball tournament, advanced to their first championship game since 2003, where they lost to class A Huntington-St. Joseph.

In 2015, the boys' soccer team won their section with a combined score of 18–2. The ‘Jackets would advance to the regional championship game against, at the time, #8 Nationally Ranked Charleston Catholic, with a trip to the state championship tournament at stake. The Yellowjackets fell short 2-1 and bowed out of the postseason.

In the 2014 football season, Williamstown made it to Class “A” State Championship against 13-0 and tournament #1 overall seed St. Marys Blue Devils. This ended the game at a score of 33-32 and gave Williamstown their second football state title in their history. As of July 2018, that is the last appearance by Williamstown in the football state championship game. They were defeated by eventual state champions Magnolia 14–13 in 2015, after a controversial refereeing decision negated a Williamstown touchdown late in the game. In 2016, they were defeated by eventual state runners-up East Hardy, and graduated many of their starting players from that year's team. 2017 was the worst year for Williamstown football under Coach Smith, as the team struggled all season to a 5–4 record, barely making the playoffs as the lowest seed (#16) and losing in the first round to #1 seed East Hardy by a respectable score of 14–10. In 2021, the Williamstown Yellowjackets advanced to the Class "A" State Championship as #6 against 13-1 and tournament #4 seed and were defeated 42-21 by the Rebels of Ritchie County High School, earning the title of State Runner-Up.

In 2021, the Williamstown boys' basketball team won the LKC Class "A" championship for the first time since 1962.

Mascot, School Songs, and School Colors

The fight song of WHS is set to the tune of the song "Washington and Lee Swing".

The school's mascot is the Yellowjackets, one among two West Virginia schools that use this mascot (see Moorefield High School). The colors are maroon and gold, colors also seen on the school's flag.

Music Programs

The Pride of Williamstown

The "Pride of Williamstown" is Williamstown High School's marching band, The Pride accompanies Williamstown's Yellowjackets to almost every football game, competes in several marching band competitions as a "Class D" band (size ranking), and performs in local parades. The band went to Bands of America regional championships in the 1991 season as has won multiple awards over the course of its existence. After a brief dip in size and quality due to poor management, the steadily growing band has nearly doubled in size since 2019 thanks to its new band director, J. Corra, who was hired that year.

Yellowjacket Jazz Ensemble

The Yellowjacket Jazz Ensemble is Williamstown High School's jazz ensemble. It performs at concerts and attends ratings festivals.

Strings

The Williamstown Strings program is unique in that it is the area's only independent strings program. It performs at concerts and is divided into high school, middle school, and elementary school sections.

Choir

Williamstown High School has a high school choir and a middle school choir.

References

A Fruitful Valley Revisited. Richardson Printing Corporation. p. 153-196.

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