NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND AREAS OF IMPROVEMENTS
98% of the faculty at Soldotna High School is Highly Qualified in their subject area and 32 have Masters Degrees. 100% of the faculty at Soldotna Prep School is Highly Qualified in their subject area and 14 have Masters Degrees, and all emphasize the importance of meeting educational goals, both for students and faculty. Soldotna High School incorporates and synthesizes its yearly and long-term goals with larger Kenai Peninsula Borough School District goals each year in their development plan. Development plans ensure that Soldotna High School continually evolves as an academic institution and adapts to best meet the needs of students and the larger Soldotna Community.
Over the past three years, Soldotna High School focused its Development Plan goals on collaboration, the incorporation of technology in the classroom, and student engagement. Meeting these goals is a priority of all staff members and has resulted in many notable achievements.
The 2013-2014 Alaska School Performance Index rated Soldotna High School at 90.97, classifying it as a four star school.
Soldotna High School is currently preparing for the new AMP testing model as a Standards Based assessment. The school is hoping to build off it’s previous success, with the Standards Based Assessment Test (SBA) measuring student progress in the areas of reading, writing, math, and science. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District has a strong track record of success on the SBA test and has had the highest scores in the state of Alaska over the past ten years. In 2013, Soldotna High School had the highest SBA scores within the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District with 91% of the students proficient in reading, 91% of the students proficient in writing, and 84% of the students proficient in math.
Soldotna High School offers a wide variety of courses to prepare students for both their academic and professional careers. The school offers Advanced Placement courses in Math, Biology, Chemistry, Language Arts, History, and Government. 23 students took the Advanced Placement Exam in 2013 and 17 had high scores of 3, 4, or 5. Soldotna High School also offers Career and Technical Education classes in Criminal Justice, Digital Electronics, Principals of Engineering, Construction, Advanced Metals, Child Development, Culinary Arts, Nutrition, as well as French and Spanish.
In 2014, Soldotna High School added Soldotna Alternative High School (SALT) within its building as an alternative for students who are significantly behind in credits. The program is completely voluntary and admission is based on credits earned as well as an interview process. SALT offers intensive support for 15 students, mapping their education and creating a personalized educational plan for each student.
Graduating seniors in 2014 received $199,450 in local scholarship money to further their education. This financing, along with a great deal more through college-specific scholarships including academic scholarships, vocational scholarships, fine arts scholarships, and athletic scholarships helps ensure graduate success as they move forward with their academic and professional careers.
Soldotna High School takes great pride in the academic accomplishments of its students. The 2013-2014 school year was an outstanding year for young scholars and included: eleven students selected for UA Scholars as the top 10% of their class with a GPA range from3.95 to 4.126, one National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalist, one National Merit Scholarship Letter of Commendation, as well as one student who received the Questbridge scholarship, which provides funding for a full four year degree.
Soldotna High School also believes that extracurricular activities and athletics enhance student engagement and achievement, while also building self-confidence for students. Soldotna High school athletes, musicians, artists, and academic performers have numerous accomplishments over the past few years.
- Math teacher Renee Merkes and science teacher Pat Nolden received the Alaska BP Teacher of Excellence Award for 2012 and 2013. Meggean Bos received the Career and Technical Teacher of the Year award.
- The Soldotna High Football team won the Alaska Medium Schools State Championship four out of the last five years as well as an ASAA GPA Award. The 2014-2015 team had 18 awards for the Medium all-state team, including Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Head Coach of the Year, and Assistant Coach of the Year. Coach Galen Brantley was awarded the Best High School Football Coach in the State of Alaska by USA Today.
- Girls Cross Country placed second in the 2014 State Championship.
- The Soldotna High Hockey team was the back-to-back Champion of the Peninsula Ice Challenge Hockey Tournament, and won first place at regions.
- The girls swim team was awarded with both the ASAA Sportsmanship Award as well as the Academic Award for having the highest Grade Point Average.
- Skills USA team members received six first place awards and two second prize awards at the CTSO Performance Based Assessment Conference. Two students were elected to State Officer Positions.
- Three students placed third in the KPBSD film festival for their film “Faded Memories”
- Ten Students made All State in Music.
- Twelve Students had creative writing published in National Literary Reviews or Magazines.
- The Soldotna High Volleyball team won first in the Shayna Pritchard Memorial Tournament, won the Regional Tournament and are Region III champions.
- Ten Students placed in the Annual Art Show.
- The Girls Basketball team won the GOA Award at the Region III Basketball tournament as well as the GPA Award, and had one student make All Region First Team, and one student make All Region Second Team
- One student won first prize in the Future Problem Solving Competition and was invited to attend the international competition in Wisconsin.
- One student won the gold medal in Russian II at the American Council of Teachers of Russian event.
- Track records set in 4X800 Relay and 4X 400 Relay
- Two sophomore students (one female and one male) qualified to attend prep schools focused on hockey development. The selection is extremely rigorous, incorporating SAT/ACT scores, GPA, as well as a team tryout.
- Two students (one female and one male) set national and Alaska records in the Alaska State Powerlifting Championship.
Because Soldotna High School’s common vision includes striving for excellence, the school is currently pursuing new three-year goals to improve in several areas. Soldotna High School is primarily targeting student engagement as a means to increase the graduation rate by 3% annually, while decreasing the drop out rate by 5% annually. The school is also working toward establishing a new baseline for the AMP test which may be used to set future enhancement goals.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The administration and staff of Soldotna High School are keenly aware that Central Peninsula students have numerous educational choices. Other local high schools, a private school, a district-affiliated home school, a charter school, and an alternative high school vie for a declining student population. In order to attract students and to maintain a healthy enrollment that ensures students are provided with the best program possible, Soldotna High School has aggressively sought to offer new courses and opportunities. As other schools have had to eliminate some of their advanced placement courses, we have worked tirelessly to keep our programs in place. Students now come from other schools to take AP classes at SoHi. Distance delivery instruction is offered to students at other sites that cannot support classes due to low student numbers. College-bound students have opportunities to earn college and high school credit through the Jump-Start program through Kenai Peninsula College, in addition to taking correspondence courses through Brigham Young University and the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. In the area of Tech Prep, articulation agreements with the University of Alaska, Anchorage now enable students to earn college credit in Nutrition, Culinary Arts, and Child Development. Our Career Technical Education now include Criminal Justice, Process Technology, and Instrument Technology. We also now offer college credit courses in Digital Photography: Adobe Suite, Computer Applications: Adobe & Microsoft Office Suites, Desktop Publishing: Web-based & Adobe Suites in new state of the art computer labs which distinguish Soldotna High School from other schools in the region. Internship opportunities in Tourism and Marketing and pre-engineering are also being developed.