Pike High School

Pike High School is a public high school on the northwest side of Indianapolis, Indiana so named for the township. Unlike neighboring townships, which often used "Central" in their names, the school could not use the name "Pike Central" due to the name already being taken.

Academics

Pike High School serves students in grades 9–12 in the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township.

In 2004, Pike High School was named an International Baccalaureate school.

Pike now offers more than 20 International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes. Starting with the 2010–2011 school year, Pike began offering Dual Credit classes.

BPA (Business Professionals of America)

Pike is an active member of BPA and is one of the largest chapters in Indiana.

In 2015, Nicholas Snow, Francisco Holguin, Carlos Montalvo-Hernandez, and Ripley Schenck took 1st place at state for Website Design Team. They later went to nationals and got 10th in the country. They had to create a website about a travel agency and this was their final product http://pikeworldtour.1apps.com.

Also in 2015, Nicholas Snow took 9th place at state for Fundamentals of Web Deisgn, Carlos Montalvo-Hernandez took 10th place at state for Parliamentary Procedure Concepts.

Demographics

For the 2015–16 school year, Pike had a total enrollment of 3275. Broken down by ethnicity, Pike had 2049 (62.6%) African American students, 319 (9.7%) White students, 620 (18.9%) Hispanic students, 215 (6.6%) Multiracial students, and 71 (2.2%) Asian or Pacific Islander students.

Athletics

The athletic mascot is the Red Devil. The men's basketball team has taken state titles in 1998, 2001, and 2003. Notable basketball players who attended Pike include Courtney Lee,^[1] Robert Vaden,^[2] Jeff Teague,^[3] David Teague,^[4] Justin Cage (2003 Indiana Mr. Basketball^[5]), Chris Thomas (2001 Indiana Mr. Basketball^[6]), Marquis Teague,^[7] and R.J. Hunter.^[8] During Pike's 2002–2003 basketball season, they concluded the season at a perfect 29-0 mark, ranked first in the state, and second in nation behind St. Vincent-St. Mary's team, led by LeBron James.^[9]

Other notable alumni include Lori Lindsey,^[10] of the United States Women's National Soccer Team, Ashley Barlow, of the University of Notre Dame Women's Basketball team, and two time hammer throw Olympian (2008, 2012) Amber Campbell.

Performing arts

The Pike High School performing arts department includes over 800 students featured in 5 bands, 8 choirs, 7 orchestras, 2 dance classes, and 3 theatre classes.

In 2009, 2010, and 2011 the Pike Westside Rhythm Drumline won the IPA State Championships in Group A and Open Class. They were also finalists in the WGI Regional at Franklin Central High School. In 2009 they won 1st place in Scholastic A and in 2010 started out in A but were moved to Open Scholastic during finals and received 1st place. In the 2011 season, they started in Open Scholastic and received 1st place as well, the third time in a row they have won.

Encores and Mystiques are the top show choirs at Pike High School. Encores is the mixed choir that has won several awards throughout the years. Recently they won awards in 2009 including those at Warren Central High School (1st runner up), Ben Davis High School (Grand Champion), and Huntington North High School (2nd runner up). During their 2010 season,Encores collected awards at Ben Davis High School (2nd runner up), Lawrence Central High School (4th runner up), and at Watseka High School (Grand Champions). Mystiques is the women's choir and in 2010 they won numerous awards at Ben Davis High School (3rd place) and Lawrence Central High School (3rd place), and in Watseka, Illinois they won Grand Champion of the women's division and 5th place in the collective finals. In 2011, Mystiques placed 3rd runner up at Center Grove High School. In the same year, Encores collected awards at Center Grove High School (2nd runner up, Best Choreography, Best Male Soloist), Franklin Central High School (1st runner up), and Wheaton Warrenville South High School (2nd runner up). Encores was also honored with the invitation to perform at Show Choir Camps of America in Tiffin, Ohio. These two choirs, along with Menz Choir and Concert Choir, also host Pike's yearly "Musicfest."

The Pike Crimson Rage marching band has also won many awards. In 2009 they came in first at Columbus North High School, seventh at Plainfield High School, and third at Hamilton Southeastern High School. They also won gold at both the ISSMA district and regional competitions, almost making semi-state by 1/10 of a point. In 2011 the Pike Crimson Rage marching band was an ISSMA semi-state Finalist. They hosted the ISSMA semi-state competition at 2009 (Class C) and in 2010 (Class B).

The Pike Spectacular Dancers and Guard are the two dance groups. Both have won many awards in recent history. In 2010 the Spectacular Dancers went to state with three of their dances (lyrical, hip-hop, and jazz). In 2009, the Guard was in the top 40 in WGI Nationals in Dayton, Ohio. The Guard also host the Pike Winter Guard Competition during the month of February.

Hip hop artist Mark Battles

Hip hop artist Mark Battles performing in the Numb tour.

Indianapolis-born hip-hop recording artist and record producer Mark Battles is among one of the most notable alumni of Pike High School, having graduated as Class of 2009. Battles is also the first and only rapper from Pike High School to receive breakthrough success in the music industry. ^[11] In an article by The Huffington Post, Battles was dubbed as the "first successful rapper" from the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.^[12] Battles currently resides in Los Angeles, California where he moved to pursue a music career. Battles founded his own record label Fly America and was signed to a deal with iconic music producer No ID's record company ARTium Recordings, a division of Def Jam Records.^[13] He has worked with notable rappers such as Wale, Kid Ink, Dizzy Wright and French Montana, while also scoring a successful independently-released studio album in 2015, "Numb", which debuted at #25 on the U.S. Billboard charts.^[14]

The school was also the site of his brother Carl's death, who got into a car accident on his way to Pike High School, alongside Battles and his other sibling. The death of Carl is what sparked his motivation to seek a music career, according to Battles. The incident received local coverage and enforced speed cameras near the school.^[15][16]

Publications

The journalism department publishes a newspaper called the Pike Hi-Life and a yearbook called Pike's Peek.

Notable alumni

• David Teague - Former NBA D-League player for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Teague also previously played for several other professional basketball leagues outside of the United States
• Jeff Teague - Current NBA All-star point guard for the Indiana Pacers
• Marquis Teague - Current NBA D-League point guard for the Oklahoma City Blue. Teague formerly played for the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA, as well as the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League^[17]
• Courtney Lee - Current NBA shooting guard for the New York Knicks. Lee formerly played for the Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, and the Charlotte Hornets.^[18]
• R. J. Hunter - Current NBA D-League shooting guard for the Maine Red Claws. Hunter formerly played for the Boston Celtics of the NBA^[19]
• Peter Dunn - Financial author, radio host, television personality, and speaker^[20]
• Emmanuel Adewole - Professional Soccer player for the Cypriot club Nicos & Socratis Erimis in the Cypriot Second Division
• Mark Battles - rapper, producer and founder of record label Fly America^[11]
• Carl Broemel - Rock musician and guitar player for the band "My Morning Jacket"
• Sasheer Zamata - Comedian and cast member of Saturday Night Live^[21]
• Eric Holcomb - Lieutenant Governor of Indiana^[22]

See also

• List of high schools in Indiana

References

External links

Official website