Dr. Michael M. Krop High School
Encyclopedia : D : DR : DRM : Dr. Michael M. Krop High School
| District | Miami-Dade County Public Schools |
| School type | Public, Magnet |
| Religious affiliation | None |
| Opened | August 1998 |
| Location | Unincorporated Miami-Dade County (North Miami address), Florida, United States |
| Enrollment 2005-2006 | 3,694 students |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Campus surroundings | Suburban |
| Principal | Matthew J. Welker |
| School Mascot | Lightning |
| School colors | Black, Silver and Purple |
| School Hours | 7:25 AM to 2:30 PM |
| Average Class Size | 29 |
Dr. Michael M. Krop High School is a secondary school located at 1410 NE 215th Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County (North Miami address), Florida but locally serves the cities of Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach; its principal is Matthew J. Welker.
Krop High School is named after Dr. Michael M. Krop, an orthodontist born in 1931 who was first elected to the Miami-Dade School Board in 1980. Krop retired from the Board in 2004, after 24 years of service. The school is considered to be a magnet school because it has a "Students Training in the Arts Repertory (STAR)" program. This magnet program is a comprehensive visual and performing arts program that is open to students in the greater Miami area.
The school is located on the Miami-Dade side of the Miami-Dade - Broward County line and it is the northernmost high school in the district. Because of its location on the county line, and thus the district border, students living north of NE 215 Street (County Line Road) must attend Hallandale High School, nearly five miles away despite having Krop in their own neighborhood. The Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools districts have recently decided to allow students living near Krop and in Broward County to optionally cross over into the district and attend Krop if they wish, though this only affects students in the immediate area surrounding the school.
In early 1998, the naming of the school triggered some controversy, as letters from members of the community indicated a preference for a more generic name. Former board members Janet McAliley and Betsy Kaplan accused Michael Krop of lobbying to have the school named for him on separate occasions, a charge which Krop denied. On February 17, 1998: The city council of Aventura, Florida issued a resolution urging the Miami-Dade County school board to name the new high school in northeast Miami-Dade County "Dr. Michael M. Krop High School."
The school's athletic rival is Miami Norland Senior High School.
Facility Information
- Year of Construction: 1996
- Number of Portables: 14
- Number of Classrooms: 114
- Student Stations: 2965
- Building Footage: 263064
- Portable Square Footage: 10638
Unique program: A fast-track profession in the Arts
Every year students from all over the greater Miami area audition to become part of the unique Krop professional arts specialization, the Students Training in the Arts Repertory (STAR) program. Only a small selection of the talented applicants that audition are chosen, but those budding artists selected can expect by their junior or senior year to be working with professionals as apprentices in stage, dance, singing, instrumental music, graphic arts, film, or TV production.
Larry Davidson, a central organizer of the STAR program said, "We're trying to do a program where the student will leave here either ready to go into the industry or to go into a two- or four-year program beyond high school." Accordingly, the faculty and buildings give a professional air from the first day. The faculty are working professionals in the music, theater, dance, or graphic arts specialty areas, and they take this opportunity to give a headstart to the next generation of professional artists; the photography teacher has regularly contributed to the National Geographic magazine. To support professionalism in the theater program, Krop has a fully-equipped professional stage and auditorium, complete with modular and professional sound and lighting equipment, prop set, scene change machinery, and a professional beyond-the-audience's-view catwalk above the stage. The film and TV production facilities use modern computer-driven digital and analog processors, image generators, and editors.
Most of the applicants that come to audition for admittance to Krop will soon graduate from grade school, but some apply for transfer from other high schools in the region. To audition, the applicant must bring prepared works-of-art and a portfolio of completed art projects. Graphic and visual artists are asked to bring their best paintings, drawings, or sculptures. Drama students must bring a prepared and rehearsed dramatic monologue.
In addition, as part of the audition before critical judges, the applicant to Krop is asked to improvise a work of art according to general instructions to test the applicant's understanding of the creative process and to test how the applicant's practiced skill-set bears up under the strain of actual performance. The graphic artist may be asked to improvise a drawing or oil on-the-spot while the critics watch, or the instrumentalist or vocalist may be asked to make up a song in a specified format while the judges watch.
Those applicants who make it into Krop are expected to maintain a B average over all courses, including the required mathematics, language, and science courses. Larry Davidson, the organizer of the STAR program explains the tough requirements this way, "If they have four days of rehearsal a week and they're trying to do four academics and they're not surviving, then they probably would not survive in the industry either." In this way, he justifies challenging professionals from their very first freshman day that they will keep coming back and back again against adversity. (Ponce 1999)
The Lightning Strike Newspaper
[The Lightning Strike] is Krop's free, monthly student newspaper, It is located in room 2-233, on the second floor of the second building of the school.The newspaper began in 1998, when the school opened. The design of the newspaper underwent a major transformation during the 2005-2006 school year. The paper is designed using the page layout software Adobe InDesign and photo editing program Adobe Photoshop.
The newspaper is organized in six sections:
- 1. News : Normally occupies the first three pages of the newspaper and includes briefs. Often spot-colored.
- 2. Opinion : Includes Editorials, Op-Eds, Letters to the Editor and Editorial Cartoons. Also normally three pages.
- 3. Entertainment
- 4. Spread : Always the middle two pages. Focuses on one major theme.
- 5. Feature : Includes a section called "Everyone Has a Story," where a randomly-chosen student is featured monthly.
- 6. Sports : Includes a section recognizing student athletes of the month.
The newspaper is a member of the High School National Ad Network.
Achievements & awards
- Both of Krop's Water Polo teams (boys & girs) won the district championships in 2005. Also, the boys' team tied for 3rd place in the 2005 FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) finals.
- In November, 2004, the school team of student inventors was named as one of 13 nationwide to be awarded a Lemelson-MIT-InvenTeams $10,000 grant by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The team of student inventors designed a way to make AA-sized batteries that can be recharged by human movement. Its invention allows "human kinetic energy cells" to fuel a microgenerator placed inside the battery container. In June 2005, some of them will travel to MIT to showcase their invention.
- September 2004: The school received a $2,500 grant from The Best Buy Children's Foundation, after science teacher David Buncher applied for the award last year. He heard about the program through the Miami-Dade County Science Teacher's Association. The Best Buy Children's Foundation awards several Teach Grants throughout the United States for teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. The funds will be used to install a permanent projector in the classroom for the advanced placement chemistry classes.
- In 2004, David Buncher, a physics and chemistry teacher in the school, won the Milken Family Foundation Award, receiving $25,000 as part of the award. The Milken Family Foundation award has been recognizing the nation's most outstanding teachers, principals and specialists in K-12 education since 1985. Dr. Buncher was invited to attend the 15th annual Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference, an all-expense-paid professional development conference held in Washington, D.C. Dr. Buncher also received the 2004 Radio Shack National Teacher Awards and $3,000 in Fort Worth, Texas. It was one of 110 awards given to educators nationwide for their commitment to academic excellence in mathematics, science of technology. Buncher has been teaching for 23 years and holds degrees in biology, science education and science curriculum. He is also a member of the National Science Teachers Association.
- On January 16, 2002, the Miami-Dade County School Board presented a certificate of achievement to George Nuñez, principal of the school, for receiving the Siemens award for Advanced Placement. The award is given to schools with high participation in advanced placement courses.
- The Krop wrestling team were district champions in 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, and GMAC champions in 2001-2002.
News archive
- May 13 2005: Chosen from a pool of 10,000 students nationwide, Toyota awarded $1.12 Million in Scholarships to 100 High School Seniors for their commitment to education and community service. Two of those winners were Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High students: Harley Gould and Shannon Knee.
- March 24 2005: Erin Jackson of Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High, together with Helene Alarca of Design & Architectural Senior High were chosen to participate in the Florida Youth Leadership Forum, which would take place on July 21-24 in Tallahassee, Florida. Delegates for this forum are chosen based on leadership potential, community participation, interaction with other students and extracurricular activities. During the forum, students will undergo a leadership-training program designed for students with disabilities, in which they will learn about the disability movement, career options and community and academic resources. They will hear speeches from Professionals with disabilities, which would serve as role models for the students.
- 2004: Harley Gould, a senior at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High, is a founding member and current president of Teen Love and Care (TLC) that has raised more than $150,000 in seven years to help children with cancer.
- September 11, 2004: Students from the school attended a remembrance ceremony hosted by the Miami-Dade Public Schools at the School Board Administration Building. The cremony included a presentation of flags from the 50 U.S. states, individual perspectives and a rendition of Taps.
- 2003: A successful political forum where students from other schools in Miami-Dade County were invited to attend was held at the school.
- October 25 2002: His Serene Highness Crown Prince Albert of Monaco, son of Grace Kelly and heir to the throne of Monaco, who graduated in 1981 from Amherst College in Massachusetts with a bachelor's in political science, visited Dr. Michael Krop Senior School. Prince Albert is a five-time olympic bobsledder and member of the International Olympic Committee, and was in town for a World Olympians Association fund-raiser at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. The group's mission is have the 100,000 or so Olympians around the world get involved with their communities and talk to young athletes about dedication and training. Prince Albert arrived in a helicopter that landed in a field next to the school. Only 27 student-athletes and about two dozen yearbook, newspaper and photography students got to quiz the prince.
- 2000-2001: The School Infrastructure Thrift (SIT) of Florida awarded the architectural firm of Lemuel Ramos & Associates, with the SIT award for contruction savings for their work designing the facilities of Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, as recommended by the SMART Schools Clearinghouse.
- October 24 2000: As part of WorldLink 2000, a 24-hour Internet marathon that aimed to link more than 300 students from Miami-Dade with students from the 189 member states of the United Nations, students Michael M. Krop High school moderated a chatroom discussion on the conflict in the Middle East between high schoolers from Palestine and Israel, Lebanon and Turkey.
- April 29 1999: At midmorning, the school received a bomb threat through the phone. Students were evacuated and the school was swept by police and the county bomb squad. No explosives were found, and classes resumed a couple of hours later.
- February 17 1998: The city council of the city of Aventura, Florida, issued a resolution urging the Miami-Dade county school board to name the new high school in northeast Miami-Dade county the "Dr. Michael Krop High School".
See also
External links
- [Miami-Dade County Public Schools]
- [Dr. Michael M. Krop High School Official Web Page]
- [The Lightning Strike, Official Student Newspaper]
- [GreatSchools.net Web Page for Michael Krop High School]
- [Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School 2004-2005 Spanish Honor Society]
- [Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School Teacher Ratings]
- [Dadeschools.net Information about Krop High School]
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