The first high school classes in Arvada commenced in 1900 at Zephyr and Grandview. Known as the Arvada School (it was renamed Lawrence Elementary School in 1955), local high school students attended classes there until a permanent high school was built in 1920. The first Arvada High School was located at 7225 Ralston Road and served students until 1955. The building served as a junior high school until 1984 and was demolished in 1986. A new building at 5751 Balsam Street served students until 1971, when the school's current building was completed at 7951 W. 65th Avenue and the Balsam Street location became Arvada Junior High School.
In the early 1920s, the school adopted the team name "Redskins". This was challenged in 1993 as derogatory and the new name "Reds" was adopted by a 2–1 margin in voting.[5] The school subsequently adopted a bulldog as its new mascot.[6]
Curriculum
Since 2006, Arvada High School has been home to the district's North Area Option School, a rigorous college preparatory program. Many advanced placement classes are also available. Program classes are taught by Arvada High School instructors and 50% of the available enrollment is for Arvada High students.[citation needed]
Extracurricular activities
Arvada High School fields teams in interscholastic competition in football, baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(June 2022)
^Morson, Berny (1993-06-03). "'Reds' new, if confusing, name for Arvada High teams". Rocky Mountain News. Arvada High School teams will be called the Reds, a vote by students, alumni and neighborhood residents has decided. The new name was chosen by a 2-1 ratio in voting that ended last week, [Principal James] Melhouse said through a spokeswoman...
^Cornelius, Coleman (2002-03-17). "Whities' fightin' for a cause". Denver Post. p. B1. Arvada High School switched from The Redskins to The Reds in 1993 with a Harlequinmascot that never caught on; The School voted and recently adopted a bulldog.
^Rooney, Pat (2002-04-22). "Lesson learned, Bozied now focused on hitting". Rocky Mountain News. Bozied, a graduate of Arvada High School, learned a discouraging lesson two years ago when he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the second round of the amateur draft after his junior season at the University of San Francisco.
^"Conte blames election loss on sex change". Rocky Mountain News. 1995-11-09. " had a number of people who I graduated with from Arvada High School who jumped in the campaign and helped me out.
^"Education briefing". Rocky Mountain News. 2003-03-10. A Jefferson County Public Schools graduate is up for an Oscar. Chris Sanders, a 1980 graduate of Arvada High School, created and directed Lilo and Stitch. . . . Sanders, who also provided the voice of Stitch, created the film for Walt Disney Studios.
