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 Avilla, and parts of southern Lutz
Gaither High School is named for the late Hillsborough High School administrator, Principal Vivian Gaither. He served over 40 years in the Hillsborough County School System.
History and traditions
2013 Prospect - Ernest Suttles - Gaither High School, Tampa FL - 2012 Highlights - 2013 Prospect - Ernest Suttles - Gaither High School, Tampa FL - Defensive Line - 2012 Highlights.
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. Graduating class of 1989 would be the second.
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.
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
Gaither High School is 40% Hispanic, 39% White, 11% Black, 4% Asian, 5% Multi-Racial, and 1% Indian.
Notable alumni
- Eddie Ababio, Major League Soccer player
- Adam Bilzerian, winner of the 2009 World Series of Poker
- Kevin Cash, Major League Baseball catcher and current Tampa Bay Rays manager
- Fernando Gonzalez, North American Soccer League player
- Oscar Mercado, baseball player
- Carlton Mitchell, University of South Florida and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver
- J.R. Russell, Kentucky Xtreme wide receiver
- Brittany Snow, actress
- Jenn Sterger, sports reporter and model
- Channing Tatum, actor (transferred to and graduated from Tampa Catholic High School)
- Chad Zerbe, San Francisco Giants relief pitcher
References
External links
- Gaither High website