Baton Rouge High School - Fricassee Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

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past few years. Soon, work began to prepare the old school for the new curriculum. A special floor was installed in one classroom along with a wall of mirrors to create the present dance lab. The walls were painted and the library was enlarged. The home economics building was remodeled to become the Performing Arts Center. In this building a minitheatre, television studio, and a FM radio station were installed. The changes in curriculum had to be established. It was decided that requirements to be admitted to the new school would be a 2.5 average overall for the past three semesters prior to entering the school. Once a student has been admitted, he is expected to maintain the 2.5 average overall and a 3.0 in his major. Majors were a new idea to students. Each student was expected to place special emphasis on one subject this being his major. New courses were established. These were planned around the curriculum and the needs of the students. Special teachers were hired to teach classes which were offered only one period. Some of these faculty members were to

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athletic director was appointed, Robert Holder. He is still with us today. In the fall of 1976 Baton Rouge High School began operating under the magnet school curriculum. Lee Faucette was appointed principal by the school board. Thus began a new era in the long and everlasting life of Baton Rouge High School. The idea was born at a meeting concerning the future arts of Baton Rouge. Someone proposed a school which would allow students to study a large variety of arts and still obtain high school credits. Some persons doubted such a program would ever work. Others failed to believe the idea would ever reach the outside of the room. But they were wrong; after continuous considerations, committee reviews, numerous school board approvals and disapprovals, lack of faith among the public, much determination, and a lot of hard work, the school became a reality. After a principal, Lee Faucette, had been appointed, the next step was to confirm a location. Baton Rouge High, con sidered by many to be one of the finest in the state, wascho sen although it had had considerably low enrollments in the Arts offer students talent chance. 8 Opening

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i commute between BRHS and other local high schools or I • LSD. The Performing Arts Department offers such-courses as | Introduction to Drama, Methods and Styles of Acting, Music, [• Theater Work Shop, television production, and radio produc- • tion. The major competitive sports such as football and basket [ ball were replaced with lifetime ' sports. Education classes f were divided so that students could concentrate on one par-| ticular sport or get a taste of them all. All P.E. classes are co | ed. The swimming classes are transported daily to the YMCA I by bus. The gymnastics classes have the best equipment [ available to high schools to work with. Adequate tennis 1 courts are available on campus to provide tennis classes a | place to practice. The dance classes are held in the specially, j designed dance lab. For those students wanting a touch of I; it all a class in life and team sports is available. The most important part, acquiring students, was next. | | Principal Lee Faucette traveled from school to school. Stu-| dents were selected from every school in the parish in y accordance with their grades, work, and talents. | Now that it was all set, would it work? i The school opened for its first semester with an enroll- 2 ment of approximately 800 students. The first week was I Individual sports jpice P.E. choices