Staples High School
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Staples High School is a public high school in Westport, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Horace Staples, who founded the school on April 26, 1884.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.126">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Selleck1896">Template:Cite book</ref> Westport is one of eight school districts in District Reference Group A (along with Darien, Easton, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, and Wilton).<ref>Template:Cite web Web page titled "Find a Community: By Educational Reference Group (DRG)" at the "Discovery 2007 / An initiative of the William Caspar Graustein Fund" Web site. Retrieved March 25, 2007.</ref>
Campus
The school was first located at Riverside Avenue in a three-level red brick building.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128" /> In 1958 Staples High School moved to a Template:Convert campus at 70 North Avenue.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.382">Template:Cite book</ref> As of 2020, the neighborhood around the high school is known as the Staples census-designated place.
History
Seeing the "town's lack of progress in education," Horace Staples, a wealthy businessman with interests in shipping, hardware sales, and banking, founded Staples High School.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128" /> Initially Staples intended to fund the school via an interest left in his will; however, that interest became known while he was still alive, and led to the school's foundation being laid in 1884.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.127" /> On April 24, 1884, businesses closed early in Westport to celebrate the dedication of Staples High School.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128" /> Connecticut Governor Thomas M. Waller attended the opening.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128" />
In the first year of operation, commencing in the fall of 1884, Staples High School had 60 of the 807 students attending schools in Westport.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.127">Template:Cite book</ref>
On June 24, 1887, Staples High School conferred its first high school diplomas to six female students who comprised its first graduating class.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1909, the town of Westport accepted control of Staples High School from the Horace Staples estate.<ref name="Klein(Conn.)2000.128" /> From 1966 to 1969, Staples attracted some of the biggest names in music to perform in concert. The Animals, Cream, the Yardbirds, the Young Rascals, Sly and the Family Stone and Louis Armstrong to name a few. A short documentary was produced in 2017.
Activities
Inklings
The school newspaper, Inklings, has won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association gold medal every year since 2000 (in addition to a silver medal in 1999).<ref name=Inzitari2011>Template:Cite news</ref> The paper has also received the rank of First Place with "Special Honors" from the American Scholastic Press Association since 2001 and has been dubbed "the best school paper in the state" by the Hartford Courant.Template:Citation needed
Notable alumni
- Lynsey Addario, photojournalist
- Britt Baron, actress
- Ben Casparius, Major League Baseball pitcher
- Marilyn Briggs (1970), professionally known as Marilyn Chambers, model and adult film actress<ref>"Westport remembers Marilyn Chambers," The Hour (Norwalk, CT), Monday, April 13, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2022.</ref><ref name="The Story of M">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Kevin Conroy, actor
- John DiBartolomeo, American-Israeli basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Cynthia Gibb, actress
- Luke Greenfield, director
- Will Haskell, Connecticut State Senator <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Win Headley, American football player
- Tyler Hicks, photojournalist
- Stew Leonard Jr., President and CEO of Stew Leonard's<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
- Paul Lieberstein, screenwriter, actor and producer
- Mariangela Lisanti, theoretical physicist<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Christopher Lloyd (1957), Emmy Award winning actor<ref name="Brant2006">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Pamela Sue Martin, actress
- Mike Noonan, soccer coach<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Justin Paul, of the team Pasek and Paul, is a Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning composer and lyricist.
- Harry Rodrigues, record producer<ref name="Harlem Shake and Westport Too!">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Jane Yolen, children's book author<ref name=OfficialBio>Template:Cite web</ref>