The History of North Sanpete High School

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The history of our school had its beginning in two separate schools, the Moroni High School and the North Sanpete High School.  Moroni High School was organized in the year 1912 and was held in the old Moroni City Hall.  At this time, the school offered a two-year course.  The principal was Owen Beal.

 Later, the north half of the Lincoln School was constructed to house the high school.  Basketball games were played in the old Bungalow building.  In 1922, the high school was moved to the main building on the hill.  J.E. Jameson was the first principal at this new location.  The school colors were blue and white, the emblem was the “Buccaneers.” The Home Economics and Shop building was constructed in 1936 under the W.P.A.   A new gymnasium was added in 1951.

 No public high school has existed in Mt. Pleasant until 1908 when a high school course was started under the direction of P.M. Nelson, then Principal of the public school.  Classes were held in the Old Simpson Schoolhouse with A.T. Bond as instructor.  Later classes were held at the public school building.  In 1912, the North Sanpete High School on North State Street was completed.  An auditorium and gymnasium were later added to this building.  The Industrial Arts building was erected north of the main building in 1934-36.  The white stone for this building was quarried from the Ephraim hills.  The new gymnasium was erected in 1951.  The school colors were red and white, and the emblem was the “Ram”.

 To improve the educational opportunities, a program of consolidation was put into effect in the year 1957-58.  The Junior High School was located in Moroni, and the Senior High School, which included the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, was located at Mt. Pleasant.  The “Hawk” was chosen as the new school emblem, the colors were red and white, and a new school song was adopted.  Howard K. Lay, Principal 1957 thru 1977.

 During 1961, an extensive remodeling program of the North Sanpete High School building was undertaken.  The building took on a new, modern appearance.

 

Beginning with the 1980-81 school year, the 9th grade was moved to the high school as the school district adopted groupings for the Middle School concept.  The class of ‘84 became the first class to graduate from North Sanpete as a four-year school.

 

The new high school building at the current location was completed in 1985 and occupied at the beginning of the 1985-86 school year by the staff and students of North Sanpete High School.  James Thornton served as principal from 1978 to 1989 and supervised the construction of the new building.  He served as Assistant Superintendent until his retirement in 1995.

 

E. Mark Bezzant was hired as principal for the 1989-90 school year.  He served until November of 1990.  At that time Courtney D. Syme was appointed as principal.

 

The years 1991-97 were years of increased student enrollment that have required additional facilities to accommodate student learning and programs.  In 1991, the building across the street to the north was acquired and put to use as a continuous learning center to facilitate adult education, provide credit recovery options for students, and house the ed-net distance learning program.  An addition of two classrooms and additional restrooms were added to the learning center in 1995.  Four mobile classrooms were purchased and placed behind the main building in 1994 and are still in use today.  During 1994-95 it became obvious that more space was needed to meet the educational needs at North Sanpete High School.  The original building was designed for 650 students, and projections were for over 800 students by the school year 1995-96.  Through the efforts of the board of education and parents, a building bond was approved for the construction of six additional classrooms, and a multipurpose area.  This project was completed by the start of the school year 1996-97.  Two more mobile classrooms were purchased and placed behind the main building in the Spring 1998.

 

Construction of a new addition of NSHS was completed during the 2012-2013 school year.  This improvement included six new classrooms and a welding shop.  Old classroom trailers were removed and improvement to the south side of the building was completed.  A new greenhouse was added during the 2016-2017 school year. A new Band room was added to the Northeast of the building during the 2019-2020 school year.. Construction started in the summer of 2019. By November 2019 the Band room was ready for class use.