With origins dating back to 1877, Green Bay West High School has long been a symbol of pride and tradition for those lucky enough to be raised on the west side of the mighty Fox River. The architectural beauty of West High School provides the backdrop to a vibrant and diverse school community filled with the rigor of academia, the spirit of the arts, and the drive of athletics. Creating opportunities for our students to achieve our building and district missions of “Empowering ALL students to build successful lives today and for the future by working to ensure that all of our students are college, career, and community ready, inspired to succeed in our diverse community”, is key to creating and maintaining a community we are all proud to call home. Today West High School prides itself on not only our rich diversity of students, but also on the variety of career pathways we provide our students. West High School is home to a variety of innovative approaches to learning, including being just one of thirteen high schools in Wisconsin to offer an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Key to the IB Diploma Programme is its internationally minded curriculum that allows students to advance their learning through an inquiry-based approach, often pushing students to connect their knowledge to multiple disciplines. Developing students who are knowledgeable, risk-takers, communicators, balanced, thinkers, inquirers, principled, open-minded, reflective, and caring is done through this internationally minded approach rooted in intercultural understanding and respect for all people and their perspectives. In addition to this elite inquiry based approach to learning, West High School is also in the process of becoming an authorized IB Middle Years Programme (MYP). The IB MYP is a building wide programme that requires all members of our school community to have a commitment to the IB philosophy, fundamental concepts, instructional and assessment practices. Rigor and increased collaboration with colleagues are essential in creating mandatory horizontal (across grade level departments) and vertical (seamless programming at each level including: K-5 PYP, grades 6 -10 MYP and grades 11-12 DP) articulation of curriculum. All teachers plan for instruction using the Areas of Interaction to meet required aims and objectives while using formative and summative assessments. WHS also offers Advanced Placement (AP) and Concurrent Enrollment Program (CEP) credit options. Many of these courses and programs, such our Certified Nursing Assistant, Neighbor Works Green Bay, and Bay Link Manufacturing programs allow students to apply their knowledge and earn college credit that transfers to many public and private post-secondary colleges and universities, including UW system schools, St. Green Bay West High School is proud of our strong traditions, rich history, and bright future. As we continue to prepare tomorrow's leaders, a critical aspect of achieving our mission of Empowering ALL students to build successful lives today and for the future is maintaining our completely open-access policy for students who want to push themselves. As stated in our vision, we expect every student to graduate from WHS having successfully participated in a college level course while at WHS and to receive a scholarship for their continued education. To this end, 60% of last year's graduating class participated in a college level course during their senior year. In addition, nearly 1 in 3 of our graduates left WHS wish a college scholarship, sharing nearly $700,000. Come walk our beautiful halls, check out our one-of-a-kind library, and see the school in action.
