Sunrise Mountain High School

Description

Sunrise Mountain High School is a public secondary school located in Peoria, Arizona, part of the Peoria Unified School District. The school opened its doors in August 1996. It is the district's second-smallest high school by enrollment, larger than only Cactus High School.Overpopulation problemSunrise Mountain dealt with considerable overgrowth in the early and mid-2000s. With 2,440 students by 2005, many freshmen classes were pushed out to "Frosh Island", a former elementary school. Between each period a bus would shuttle students between "Frosh Island" and the main campus so that classes such as physical education, band, advanced science, and choir could be attended by freshmen. The use of this campus was discontinued by Sunrise Mountain following the end of the 2005-2006 school year. The overpopulation problem has been relieved by the creation of Liberty High School. Liberty is now larger than Sunrise Mountain by some 600 students.MusicSMHS has a marching band, concert band and jazz band directed by Chris Vail. The jazz band competes yearly in the Northern Arizona University jazz competition.SMHS also has the best choral and drama program in the Peoria Unified School District. The choir, directed by Tanya Boehme, has achieved superior in several festivals over the past few years, including Superior with Distinction, which was won by SMHS's Varsity Choir at the NAU Jazz Festival in February 2017.The drama department, led by Jason Taylor, has put on several superb performances. In Fall 2016, Taylor put on In the Middle of Grand Central Station for the fall play. The lead role, Marty, was executed perfectly by one Jamie Breutzmann. In Spring 2017, the department took a risk doing a show as big as "Shrek the Musical". Jason Taylor's rendition of this show not only drew in huge crowds of people but inspired other schools to take the same risk he did. Cayden Pape(Shrek) and McKenna Spanko(Princess Fiona) made jaws drop with their beautiful voices and comedic timing.