You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|November 2005|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
| ||
| Name |
Plymouth-Canton Educational Park | |
| Address |
(Canton High School) 8415 Canton Center Road Canton, Michigan 48187 | |
| Town | ||
| Established |
2002 | |
| Type |
Public Secondary | |
| Religion |
None | |
| Students |
Coeducational | |
| Grades |
9 through 12 | |
| Accreditation |
NCA | |
| Mascot |
Chiefs (Canton) | |
| Colors |
Red and White (Canton) | |
| Website | ||
Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (known by locals as PCEP, "The Park", and "Pee-sep") is a 305-acre (1.2 km²) campus home to the three high schools in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools in Canton, Michigan. The park services residents of the City of Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Canton Township, and parts of Salem Township and Superior Township. For the most part, the Park acts as one school with academic programs, and three schools for athletic programs, although certain sports teams, such as lacrosse, marching band, and women's ice hockey combine as one team. The Park has over 50 clubs and organizations, including an award-winning radio station, WSDP-FM 88.1 'The Escape'.
History
The original Plymouth High School
Originally built in the early 20th century, the original Plymouth High School was built on the northwest corner of Main Street and Church Street in downtown Plymouth, on the opposite corner from present-day City Hall. The facility was determined to be outdated by the 1960s, however, as the baby boom had resulted in a dramatic rise in the suburban population, especially in northern Canton Township. When the first new high school opened in the present-day Plymouth-Canton Educational Park, the original Plymouth High School was converted into a middle school, dubbed Central Middle School (in conjunction with the more recently constructed East and West Middle Schools). Central Middle School remains in operation today as part of the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.
The Centennial Educational Park
In order to accommodate the increase in student population, the school district purchased the land owned by dairy farmers, south of Joy Road and between Canton Center and Beck Roads, at the northern border of Canton Township. The new Plymouth High School would be the first to open, accompanied by an adjacent, second high school, to be called Canton High School, thereafter. The combined facility would come to be named the Centennial Educational Park; by the year 2000, the name of the park had been changed to the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park.
Salem High School
The first school to open at the new park, the direct successor to the original Plymouth High School opened its doors in 1970. The school was self-contained, as it was constructed to contain all of the amenities its student body would require at the time. The main entrance to the school, the North Mall, faces Joy Road. The North Mall provides access to a connecting corridor between the principal clasrooms on the building's west side, and the athletic facilities and theater on the east side. The administrative offices and cafeteria are also located on the first floor on the west side, as is the school store.
Originally planned to simply remain Plymouth High School, the school's name was changed to Plymouth-Salem High School after Canton's opening. Although the school district services much of rural Salem Township, Salem residents were not necessarily exclusive to Plymouth-Salem.
The history of the original Plymouth High School, along with the "Rocks" nickname for its athletic programs, was transferred to Plymouth-Salem. The school would come to borrow the Rock of Gibraltar logo of Prudential Financial. Plymouth High's colors of red, white, and blue, were split up, with Plymouth-Salem retaining blue and white.
One of the more unique features of the school building was its large ramp at the North Mall, which provided direct access to the second floor of classrooms. What made this ramp strange was the three steps placed at the bottom of the ramp, making wheelchair or vehicle access impractical. Also, the North Mall, and its counterpart, the South Mall, were popular hangouts for delinquents. The ramp was demolished in the early 1990's, and the North Mall was revamped to provide a more appealing façade, while the South Mall was eliminated in favor of an expanded cafeteria. New renovations to the school are scheduled to begin in mid-2006.
In 2002, with the opening of the new Plymouth High School as part of the P-CEP, "Plymouth" was dropped from Salem's name. Salem High School retained the "Rocks" nickname, logo, and colors.
Canton High School
Opening as Plymouth-Canton High School in 1972, Canton has a strikingly darker appearance than its sister school, Salem. Darker bricks and metalic protusions provide a stark contrast to Salem's lighter bricks and rounded corners. Canton was built without any athletic facilities of its own; these came later, in the form of an independent building just north of the school, dubbed Phase III. Two parallel corridors run north-south through the building, with the library and cafeteria located between them. The administration offices are off the east corridor, near the main entrance. The bulk of the classrooms are located on the first and second floors on the north side of the building, with "shop" classes located at the far south end.
Canton High School's nickname is "Chiefs". Their logo is a reuse of the arrowhead logo of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. Prior to dropping "Plymouth" from its name in 2002, the logo featured the letters "PC" in the same font as Kansas City's "KC"; since 2002, a large italic "C" is superimposed over the arrowhead. The school has also used a secondary logo of an Indian chief's head. The school colors are red and white.
Plymouth High School
Opened in 2002, and constructed southwest of Salem High School, the new Plymouth High School was designed by arcitecture firm French Associates, Inc., as a state-of-the-art facility.
The students selected to be Plymouth High's first senior class, the Class of 2006, were polled to come up with a new nickname for the school. Their selection, the Predators (after the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League), met with strong opposition with parents, reportedly because of concerns that the nickname could be linked with sexual predators. As a result, the school decided to use the generic "Wildcats" nickname, while still using the sabertoothed tiger logo of the Nashville Predators. Plymouth's school colors are black and silver.
Additional Facilities
In 2004, there were rumors a fourth high school, Superior High School, would be built by 2009. In September 2005, it was confirmed that a new building would be added to the park, but not a new high school. It will be a career/tech building.
Campus
The campus is 305 acres (1.2 km²), although much of this is empty field. There are four academic buildings (Canton High School, Plymouth High School, Salem High School, and Phase III, also known as Canton North). Students have classes in all four buildings. One advantage to the 3-in-1 idea is cost-cutting. There is only one auto shop, only one varsity field per sport, one large theater, etc.
Students
The Park currently has over 5,200 students. The racial makeup of PCEP is 85% White, 8% Asian, 5% Black, 2% Hispanic, and 1% American Indian. Figures are rounded and do not add to 100.
Faculty
There are 280 members of the faculty.
Extracurricular activities
The Park has over 50 clubs and organizations, including a radio station. Canton High School's football team continuously ranks high. On November 12, Canton won its first-ever regional title, by defeating Detroit King. They made an appearance in the finals against Rockford High but lost 21-31, and Salem remains the only school out of the three with a State championship in football. All three Science Olympiads made it to states in 2004. P-CEP's radio station, WSDP-FM 88.1 'The Escape' has won numerous awards, including the Michigan Association of Broadcaster's annual 'Station of the Year' prize, which it has won nearly every year in the past decade. Salem men's swimming won the WLAA conference championship for 11 straight years, and Salem women's swimming continues to close the gap between them and Stevenson High School at Conference Finals. There are many clubs for languages and culture of different races, too.
Marching Band
The Plymouth Canton Marching Band has placed in the top 12 marching bands in the country at the Bands of America Grand National Championships (presented by Yamaha) 15 out of the past 16 years. They have won the Grand National Championship there 3 times; 1990, 1991 and 1999. The group has won the Michigan Competing Band Association Flight or Division I title over 16 times and 9 years in a row.
The Plymouth Canton Marching Band has caused quite a bit of controversy. Many people within the Michigan Competing Band Association believe it is unfair that Plymouth, as they are most often referred to, gets to draw from three seperate schools, while other schools have a seperate band for each school in their district. Many people think that if Plymouth was required to have three seperate bands, they would not be nearly as good. Others say this is not true, and if they had to split the bands, they would enroll all of the marching band students in one school. Lastly, many will say that Plymouth's excellence is not due to the pool of students, but how hard they work, and if there were three seperate bands, each would be just as good.
Curriculum
PCEP, with its large size, offers a wide range of classes. Students have the opportunity to run a restaurant (the Rock Cafe in Salem), work in an auto lab, and work in one of the Park's three school stores.