Gaither High School

Gaither High School
Address
16200 North Dale Mabry Highway Tampa , Florida 33618 United States
Coordinates	28°06′11″N 82°30′14″W
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	"Commitment to Excellence"
Established	1984
School district	Hillsborough County Public Schools
Superintendent	Jeff Eakins
Principal	Thomas D. Morrill
Teaching staff	95.50 (FTE)[1]
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2,123 (2022-23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio	22.23[1]
Color(s)	Silver, white, and blue
Nickname	Cowboys
Newspaper	The Pony Express
Yearbook	Silver Star
Website	Gaither High School

Gaither High School is a public high school located in the Northdale area of Hillsborough County, Florida. It opened in 1984 and is located on 16200 North Dale Mabry Highway. Bloomingdale High School, located in Valrico, Florida, was built around the same time and has the same architectural design.

The school serves the communities of Northdale, Carrollwood Village, Lake Magdalene and other parts of northern Hillsborough County, such as Avila, and parts of southern Lutz.

History and traditions

When Gaither first opened up its doors in 1984–85, Seniors were not in attendance, and the school served only 9th-11th graders (Gaither did not have a class of 1985). In the 1985-86 year, (class of 1989) Gaither kept its doors open to 9th graders. The following year in 1986–87, Gaither ceased to include 9th graders and began to only house the 10th-12th grades until 1997 when Gaither reinstated a four-year program. Gaither's graduating class of 1988 was the very first group of students that included all four years.

On January 31, 2009, Gaither High School hosted the 7th annual Snoop Bowl, a youth football game which puts a youth team coached by Snoop Dogg up against a youth team coached by an NFL player in conjunction with the Super Bowl which was in Tampa.^[2]

The school's most historical rival is Chamberlain High School, however Sickles High School became a prominent rival school for the Cowboys when it opened in 1997 . Contemporarily, the school's most modern and primary rival is Steinbrenner High School, established in 2009. Students from Ben Hill and Buchanan Middle School make up the majority of the population of Gaither students, however there are also many students from Martinez, Adams, and Walker Middle Schools.

Each year, the school hosts a Special Olympics and a Multicultural Assembly. The school's Homecoming is called Starlight.

Arts

Gaither High School offers many courses in performing and fine arts. Such courses include: Band, Chorus, Orchestra, Guitar, Keyboarding, Theatre/Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre/Stagecraft, TV Production, and many other visual arts such as but not limited to Drawing and Ceramics.

Athletics

Gaither offers a variety of seasonal sports for student participation. Sports for both boys and girls include cross country, golf, swimming, volleyball, basketball, soccer, tennis and track. In addition, boys sports include baseball, wrestling and football while girls compete in softball, flag football and competitive cheer. In certain situations girls may compete on boys teams that do not have a comparable girls team; this typically is found in wrestling, and more rarely in football and baseball.

Demographics

As of 2020, Gaither High School was 44% Hispanic, 37.6% White, 10.4% Black, 3.8% Asian, 3.7% Multi-racial, 0.3% American Indian and 0.1% Pacific Islander.^[3]

Notable alumni

• Eddie Ababio, Major League Soccer player^[4]
• Adam Bilzerian, winner of the 2009 World Series of Poker^[5]
• Dan Bilzerian, internet personality and professional poker player
• Kevin Cash, Major League Baseball catcher and current Tampa Bay Rays manager
• Fernando Gonzalez, North American Soccer League player
• Jennifer Kesse, missing person
• Alex McGough, NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks^[6]
• Oscar Mercado, baseball player^[7]
• Carlton Mitchell, NFL wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons
• Amani Oruwariye, NFL cornerback for the Detroit Lions^[8]
• J.R. Russell, NFL wide receiver
• Brittany Snow, actress
• Jenn Sterger, sports reporter and model^[9]
• Kaleb Stewart, musician^[10]
• Channing Tatum, actor (transferred to and graduated from Tampa Catholic High School)
• Jackie Toledo, politician^[11][12]
• Chad Zerbe, San Francisco Giants relief pitcher
• Lydell Ross, NCAA Football National Champion (2002 - Ohio State), NFL Running Back (San Diego Chargers)

References

1. "GAITHER HIGH SCHOOL". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
2. "Saturday's Best Super Bowl Parties". Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
3. "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for GAITHER HIGH SCHOOL". nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
4. "UNC Men's Soccer Bio". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
5. Barancik, Scott (June 22, 2001). "FBI Agents Raid Bilzerian Home". St. Petersburg Times.
6. Knight, Joey (April 28, 2018). "Seahawks draft Gaither High alumnus Alex McGough". Tampa Bay Times.
7. "Florida high school sports - Gaither SS Oscar Mercado accepts $1.5 million deal with Cardinals". Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
8. "Amani Oruwariye Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com.
9. Gillin, Joshua (2010-11-19). "Gaither High grad Jenn Sterger ditches her famous implants". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on 2012-07-05. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
10. "Final Traditions: Seniors". Tradition with a Twist: Silver Star 1993 - Gaither High School Yearbook (High school yearbook). Vol. Nine (1993 ed.). Tampa, Florida: Gaither High School. June 1993. Retrieved June 24, 2022 – via Classmates.
11. "Civil engineer Jackie Toledo files for Tampa City Council District 6". 25 March 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
12. "Jackie Toledo, Debra Bellanti face off for Florida House District 60: What you need to know". Florida Politics. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2020.

External links

• Gaither High website