Columbine High School is a secondary school in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. The school was the scene of the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999.

The school is located at 6201 South Pierce Street in Columbine CDP, an unincorporated neighborhood in southeast Jefferson County, Colorado. It is one mile west of the Littleton city limits and half a mile south of Denver. "Littleton" is indicated in the school's address because it is located within the zip code 80123, which is associated with that city. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district, not the Littleton Public Schools system. The current principal is Frank DeAngelis.

1 History
2 Cultural references
3 Cheerleading squad
4 Notable alumni
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Beginning

Columbine High School opened in the Fall of 1973; there was no senior class in its first year. The school's first graduating class was the class of 1975. Columbine was named after the census designated area it is located in, which in turn is named after the state flower of Colorado: the columbine. Its first principal was Gerald Difford.

The official school colors are blue and silver. However, there has been some controversy surrounding what the true school colors actually are. In the 1980s, in addition to blue and silver, the sports uniforms also included the color red. In the early 1990s, responding perhaps to the fact that red is one of the clolors of nearby rival Chatfield High School, then Principal Ron Mitchell banned the use of red on Columbine's sports uniforms. More recently, cheers have included references to the school colors being blue, white and silver. Privately, some alumni have expressed concern about this misrepresentation of the school colors in this cheer, as, they maintain, the official colors are blue and silver, as referenced in the school song.

[edit] School shooting

Main article: Columbine High School massacre

The school was the site of the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher, and wounded 24 others before committing suicide. The massacre made headlines around the world, making Columbine a household name, and causing moral panic in American and Canadian high schools. [1]

After the shooting, classes at Columbine were held at nearby Chatfield High School, for the remaining three weeks of that school year.

[edit] Remodeling

The school had undergone a massive remodeling just four years before the shooting adding a new library and cafeteria. After the massacre, Columbine demolished its library, located above the cafeteria, since it was the site where most of the deaths took place; it was then turned into a memorial ceiling and atrium; a new, larger library was built on the hill where the shooting began and dedicated to the memory of the victims.

[edit] Cultural references

Image:Columbine High School Pan.jpg

Michael Moore's 2002 film Bowling for Columbine, a documentary focusing on a supposed correlation between media propaganda, guns, and gun violence takes its title from the school's name. The documentary does not exclusively focus on the Columbine school shooting, but includes it as purported evidence of the easy availability of weapons in the United States.
Flyleaf's song Cassie references to both Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott, the two girls who are reported having said 'yes' when asked if they believed in God, even if it would result in them being killed.
There are also three articles featured in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III, one of which is a piece written by one of the persons who died at Columbine High School, and the other two by survivors coping with the event and aftermath including one of the injured, and another one who knew the shooters but was not injured.
Composer Frank Ticheli wrote the concert band piece An American Elegy in honor of those who lost their lives the day of the Columbine school shooting and the survivors.
In the song "The Good Die Young" by Tupac Shakur, near the end Tupac says "This song is dedicated, to all them young kids that died innocent. Died young, at Columbine High ... rest in peace."
In The Distillers song "sick of it all" there is reference to a school shooting. Brody Dalle sings "I went to school today with an Uzi, theres this kid he teased me so I shot him in the face."

[edit] Cheerleading squad

The school was also home to the highest ranked cheerleading squad to ever come out of Colorado, placing 4th at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in 2003.