Miami Palmetto High School

This article is about the high school in Pinecrest, Florida. For other high schools with the same name, see Palmetto High School (disambiguation).

Miami Palmetto Senior High School

Established	September 1958
Type	Public secondary
Principal	Howard Weiner
Students	3,093 students
Grades	9–12
Location	Pinecrest, Florida, USA
District	Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Columbia Blue and White
Mascot	Panther
School hours	7:30–2:30
Motto	Vis Per Scientiam Latin for "Strength through Knowledge"
Core Values	Honesty, Cooperation, Integrity, Kindness, Fairness, Responsibility, Respect, Citizenship, Pursuit of Excellence
Website	mpsh.dadeschools.net

Miami Palmetto Senior High School is a secondary school located at 7460 S.W. 118th Street in Pinecrest, Florida, USA, a Miami suburb; its principal is Howard Weiner. The school is on 23 acres (93,000 m²) in southwest Miami-Dade County, Florida, and is part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district. Miami Norland Senior High is Palmetto's sister school by original blueprints. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence^[1].

Palmetto's athletic rivals are Miami Killian High School and Coral Reef High School. Coral Gables High School was a rival throughout much of the school's history.

History

The school was built in 1958. Palmetto serves a diverse population both culturally and socio-economically. It is the last public high school with a white majority in Miami Dade county. The school is 42% white non-Hispanic, 33% Hispanic, 16% black non-Hispanic, and 9% Asian.

Academics

Palmetto students score higher on both state and national assessments than any other standard (non-magnet) public school in Miami-Dade County. According to Newsweek's List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools (2007), Palmetto is ranked at 115^th in the nation, 20^th in the state of Florida. This ranking is based on a ratio devised by Jay Mathews, which takes the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2005 and divides it by the number of graduating seniors.

Palmetto media

Miami Palmetto has two publications: the newspaper, The Panther, and the yearbook, Palm Echo. The newspaper is published monthly by students while the yearbook is published annually by the Palm Echo yearbook staff. Kurt Panton serves as advisor to both the Newspaper and Yearbook staffs. The daily morning newscast, WPAW, airs on closed-circuit channel 3.

Athletics

Palmetto won the Miami Herald's Athletic Program of the Year Award for large schools in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Palmetto is strong in swimming, track, golf, wrestling, girls basketball, tennis, baseball and softball. Many athletes have signed college scholarships. Currently playing for the boys basketball team is Tim Hardaway Jr. who has committed to The University of Michigan and is also the son of former NBA all-star Tim Hardaway. Palmetto's football team has recently produced players such as Jaamal Berry (Ohio State) Taylor Wasser (Florida Atlantic) and Andrell Smith (Louisvile). Miami Palmetto has won 15 state championships.

• Boys golf - 1967
• Softball - 2000, 2003, 2008
• Girls tennis - 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986
• Boys tennis - 1979, 1990, 1991, 1996
• Wrestling - 1974, 1976, 1996

Last season many teams finished strong at the regional (Southern Florida) and state level.

• Softball - District Champions, GMAC Champions, Regional Champions, State Champions
• Boys tennis - District Champions, GMAC Champions, Regional Champions, State Runner-Ups
• Boys golf - District Champions, GMAC Champions, Regional Champions, State Runner-Ups
• Girls swimming - District Champions, GMAC Champions, 3rd Place Regionals
• Boys swimming - District Champions, GMAC Champions, Youth Fair Champions, 2nd Place Regionals, State Runner-Ups
• Boys volleyball - District Runner-Ups, GMAC Champions
• Girls golf - District Runner-Ups, Regional Runner-Ups
• Girls soccer - District Runner-Ups, GMAC Runner-Ups
• Boys water polo - District Runner-Ups, GMAC Runner-Ups
• Girls water polo - GMAC Runner-Ups
• Baseball - District Runner-Ups
• Girls tennis - District Runner-Ups

Notable alumni

• Jeff Bezos - founder of Amazon.com
• Dan Blonsky - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire grand prize winner
• Alan Campos - former football player for the Dallas Cowboys
• Vinnie Chulk - Major League Baseball player (Pitcher) San Francisco Giants
• Alex Flinn - young adult author
• Tom Foley - Third base coach for the Tampa Bay Rays and former Major League Baseball player
• Robin Fraser - former U.S national soccer team member and Major League Soccer player with the Los Angeles Galaxy
• Terri Garber - Actress, most famous for playing Ashton Main in the miniseries North and South
• Glenn Geffner radio play-by-play announcer for the Florida Marlins
• Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie - American astronaut
• Ben Greenman - author and editor at the New Yorker
• Matt Gribble - Olympic swimmer
• Richard Heiens - Endowed Professor of Marketing, University of South Carolina (Aiken campus)
• Sylvia Hitchcock - 1967 Miss Universe winner
• Kevin Koffman - Boston Sports Radio Personality and host of "Timeout for Trivia" on Boston's WWZN ("1510 the Zone")
• Rohan Marley - owner of Tuff Gong Clothing and son of Bob Marley
• Bill Miller (finance) (b. 1950), Chairman, Chief Investment Officer, Legg Mason Capital Management
• Orson Mobley - football player for the Denver Broncos
• Chris Myers - football player for the Houston Texans
• Jennifer Rodriguez - Olympic speed skater
• Cecil Sapp - football player for the Denver Broncos
• Marla Schaffel - Tony Award-nominated, Drama Desk Award winner actress of Jane Eyre (musical)
• Kimbo Slice - bareknuckle boxer and mixed martial artist
• Nadia Turner - season 4 American Idol finalist

See also

• Miami-Dade County Public Schools

References

External links

• Miami-Dade County public schools
• Miami Palmetto Senior High website
• 05-06 School profile - achievement