Creston High School (Michigan)
Creston High School opened in 1923 as Creston Junior High School, with its first class graduating in 1927. This school was one of the five high schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At its peak, it housed around one thousand students and over fifty teachers making the teacher to student ratio about 1:20. The school mascot was the polar bear. The colors were blue and gold.
Closure
[edit]In 2012 the district administration proposed closure of Creston, on the basis of an enrollment decrease, as part of a plan to shutter ten campuses. Monica Scott of MLive wrote that "biggest push back has come from closing Creston High School."[1]
As part of a realignment among Grand Rapids Public Schools high schools, Creston students were pushed toward Charter Highschools like Innovation Central which was not a consolidated GRPS with the Grand Rapids Central High School like the GRPS leadership told the news. The Charter high school was finally named the Grand Rapids Innovation Central High School name and location. And may have been rebought by GRPS as the plan evolves to rid Unions out of GRPS. Students who lived too far from Grand Rapids Innovation Central's location have been allowed to attend the high school nearest their neighborhood, including Grand Rapids City High-Middle School which moved into the former Creston High School building. The GRPS District realignment took place for the 2013–14 school year.[citation needed]
Campus
[edit]The building could house 1,397 students.[1]
Demographics
[edit]In 2012 the school had 650 students. 56% did not come from the northeast part of Grand Rapids, where the school was located after the district was redrawn to erase South East part of Grand Rapids (that also included Central students), to show a smaller student population in the records. After Central Highschool was sold to a Charter school and was told to the Citizens that it was not a Public School under GRPS, GRPS leadership worked hard to follow a script to continue to deceive and undermine Creston Highschool sports teams, Teachers Union, and Buss Driver Union, to close down the school entirely and push for City Highschool new location, with all the sports amenities to never use. Plans to expand a small School in North Grand Rapids was in the works, which took on more of Creston students after the district redraw to exclude south east Grand Rapids. That Newer Highschool is called Northview. [2]
Notable alumni
[edit]- Cameron Bradfield - football offensive tackle who played for NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars
- Carlton Brewster - football wide receiver who played for NFL's Browns, Packers, Chargers, Broncos, and Saints[3]
- Chuck F. DeShane - football player who played for Detroit Lions from 1945 to 1949, after he coached football at Creston from 1942 to 1944[4]
- Jim Command - former Major League Baseball player for Philadelphia Phillies
- Sparky McEwen - football quarterback and head football coach for Creston from 1996 to 2003, winning three city league titles and school's first appearance in the state championship game[5]
- Scott S. Haraburda - U.S. Army Colonel and former president of Indiana Society of Professional Engineers[6]
- Doug Meijer - co-chairman of supermarket Meijer[7]
- Hank Meijer - co-chairman and CEO of supermarket Meijer[7]
- Roger W. Wilkins - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and African-American civil rights leader[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Scott, Monica (November 6, 2012). "Grand Rapids superintendent says merging Creston and City High-Middle School is an option". MLive. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
- ^ Dewey, Charlsie (November 10, 2012). "Creston High closure could impact business district". Grand Rapids Business Journal. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
- ^ "Carlton Brewster Chosen to AP Little All-America Team" (Press release). Ferris State University. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
- ^ "Chuck DeShane, two-way player for Lions, dies at 87". USA Today. November 8, 2006. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
- ^ "Sparky's Total Athlete Factory". sparkystotalathletefactory.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
- ^ Haraburda, Scott S. (2013). Christian Controversies: Seeking the Truth. Meaningful Publications. pp. 50–53, 103, 221, 226. ISBN 978-0-9886072-0-0.
- ^ a b "Hank & Doug Meijer". Forbes. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^ Wilkins, Roger (1982). A man's life: an autobiography. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-22673-8.
External links
[edit]- Creston High School at the Wayback Machine (archive index) - Grand Rapids Public Schools
- Creston High School, History of Grand Rapids