Sprague High School

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Location
Charles A. Sprague High School
Salem, Oregon, United States
Information
Principal	Cheryl Bower^[1]
Enrollment	1,645 (as of April 2007)^[2]
Type	Public 4-year
Mascot	Olympians
Color(s)	Orange, Yellow, Brown, Black, Blue,
Established	1972
Information	(503) 399-3261
Homepage	http://sprague.wvi.com/

Charles A. Sprague High School is a secondary school located in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Salem, Oregon, United States. The school is named after Charles A. Sprague, who served as Oregon's governor from 1939 to 1943.

Sprague High School is one of six public high schools in the Salem-Keizer School District. The school's student body is drawn from a suburban-residential area representing a cross section of the Salem community.

1 Music
2 Clubs
3 Athletics
- 3.1 State Championships
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Music

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Sprague has been known throughout the years for its exemplary music program. Orchestra, Choir, and Band comprise its musical studies, all of whom have won numerous awards.

In 2000, Sprague’s Music Program was named to the list of Grammy Signature Schools with a level "Gold" distinction. This led to continued national recognition as one of the finest high school music programs in the country highlighting all three areas of music (Orchestra, Choir and Band) within the school as top groups on the national level. In 2008 Sprague was recognized as a Grammy Signature School once again.

In the time since the Orchestral program's instatement in 1986, Sprague’s Camerata Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra have won a combined twenty three OSAA State Championships. In addition, Sprague is the only high school school in Oregon to have won state championships in all four OSAA music categories (String Orchestra, Full Orchestra, Choir, and Band) in a single year (1998). Beginning in 1993, and every fourth year since then (1997, 2001, 2005), Sprague’s Orchestra Program journeys to Austria, where the Camerata has been named the “Top High School String Orchestra in the World” on multiple occasions after winning the Prestigious Vienna Youth and Music Festival in 1997 and 2005. The Sprague Camerata is composed of twenty two students and is under the direction of Scott Esty.

Sprague's Concert Choir, which is the advanced chorale group at the high school, has won national acclaim with a record twelve-straight "Best of the Northwest" Choir Festival Titles and has won five straight OSAA Choir Championships. In March of 2007, the choir participated in the ACDA National Choral Conference where it debuted composer Eric Whitacre’s “Animal Crackers”. Choir director Russ Christensen was named the 2006-2007 Oregon Music Educator of the year after many years of success at the state and national level.

The 2008 tour was to Disneyland, where they took 1st in most all areas, and took 2nd at state by one point, to Rex Putnam Highschool. But placed first at Best in the Northwest.

Noteworthy, also, is Sprague's band program. The band program has won many awards for the school throughout the years in both concert settings and marching settings. This program was instrumental in the reception of Grammy recognition for Sprague. In 1985 the Wind Ensemble won the Willamette Valley League Concert Band Competition. The marching band and color guard won the Oregon state championship in 1984, 1985, and 1986. They also took second place at the Western Band Association Championship in San Jose, California in 1984 besting 29 other bands. They also took first place at the MBA(marching bands of america) regional championship in 1985. The color guard(winterguard) won the western dream pageant(the most prestigious competition in the western United States) with the highest score ever in 1986, having an undefeated season. Mayor Sue Harris, in 1984 issued a commendation recognizing the Sprague Band and Colorguard as the musical ambassadors of the city of Salem. Notable conductors over the years include Dr. David Booth(current director of bands at Wright State University)who created the band program at Sprague, Steve Kuskie, Chris Fisher, James Ike Nail, Jeremy Dehut (currently at Western Oregon University), Dr. Roderick Harkins, Mr. A. Graedon McGranahan, and Mr. Brad Howard. On May 16, 2008, at 7:30, Wayne Bergeron played with the Sprague Jazz Band.

[edit] Clubs

Sprague, like most schools, has extracurricular clubs including the bowling club, German club, Environmental Club, Global Relief Club, Spanish Club, and so on.

[edit] Athletics

Sprague High School is classified as a 6A school by the Oregon School Activities Association, and competes in the Central Valley Conference. Sprague has won eight state championships^[3] in various sports and numerous league titles, including six Directors Cup trophies for league standings in all sports throughout a school year. During the 2004-2005 school year, Sprague won both the football and baseball state championships, marking the first time since 1998^[4]^[5] that a major Oregon high school was a state champion in two of the "Big 3" (Football, Basketball, Baseball) during the same year. Sprague's football team has made the playoffs in each of the last fifteen straight seasons and has been the Central Valley conference champions for the past four years. Most recently during the 2006-2007 season, Sprague won its fourth straight CVC title, losing to South Eugene High School in the second round of the 6A football playoffs.