Cherry Creek High School Mission, Vision and History

  • CCHS Crest

     

    Cherry Creek High School Vision

    Each member of the CCHS community will be equipped intellectually, socially, and emotionally in pursuit of their chosen path. 

    Cherry Creek High School Mission 

    As members of the Cherry Creek High School community, our mission is to ignite curiosity, empower intellectual growth, and foster engagement in an inclusive community that respects all identities while providing nurturing and expansive experiences.    

     

    Cherry Creek School District Mission, Vision and Values

    • Our Mission: To inspire every student to think, to learn, to achieve, to care

      Our Vision: Pathway of Purpose

      Our Core Values: Through conversations with our community over the past two years, we've identified five core values that guide our work and help every student find a pathway to a fulfilling future. Those five core values – Equity, Growth Mindset, Whole Wellbeing, Relationships, and Engagement – are the grounding force for empowering every student with what we call a Pathway of Purpose.

     

    The History of Cherry Creek High School

    Original School House

    Formal education in the Cherry Creek School District began in 1874 in a one-room schoolhouse with one teacher instructing various grades according to the needs of the students. This schoolhouse, located on Parker Road one-half mile northwest of the present Arapahoe Road-Parker Road intersection, constituted the entire Cherry Creek School District No. 19. The District, covering an area of about twenty-five square miles immediately north of the Douglas County line, was approximately bisected by Parker Road. In some years there were as few as seven or eight students; in 1898 the school operated the entire year with only four students. A former student remembers that as early as 1908 older students at Cherry Creek wishing to continue their education beyond eighth grade stayed at homes in Denver during the week to attend Denver schools. School Board records of 1936 showed that a monthly tuition of $7.00 per student was paid to several districts (Parker Consolidated, Englewood, Littleton, Denver) to educate District No. 19's high school students, with the District being responsible for transporting these students by car pool or bus from their homes to schools in other districts. In 1950, seven small school districts in Arapahoe County were consolidated to form Cherry Creek School District No. 5, eliminating original School District #19 and making its one-room schoolhouse obsolete. In 1953 the schoolhouse was sold at public auction; and for the next 16 years, it was used as a storage shed. The consolidation brought the eight schools of Ash Grove, Castlewood, Cherry Creek, Cherry Hills (Cherry Creek), Cunningham, Maple Grove, Mountain View, and Sullivan (Mountain View) together for educating elementary students, but Cherry Creek area high school students did not have their own school until 1955. Appropriately, it was named CHERRY CREEK HIGH SCHOOL. On September 6, 1955, the school opened its doors to 364 high school students (grades 9-12) and an additional 349 younger students (grades 7-8) who had to wait until the following year for their own Cherry Creek Junior High School building to be completed.

    Four separate additions were made to the high school building before 1970, more than doubling its size. The Vocational-Practical Arts Center (1970), and the Performing Fine Arts Center (1974) were added to the campus unit between the West Building, which was the entire Cherry Creek High School in 1955, and the East Building. The latter reverted to the high school when Campus Middle School was built in 1971 (grades 7-8) and Cherry Creek became a four-year high school. The humble, $800, one-room original Cherry Creek Schoolhouse, found on a ranch North of Parker, was purchased and brought back to the high school campus in 1969. Restored and now serving as a museum classroom, it rests south of the Vocational Arts Center, just a few yards from Cherry Creek's multimillion dollar modern educational facility.

    In 1955 the District was led by Superintendent Clark Stutler and Assistant Superintendent Russell Polton. Superintendents Dr. Robert Shreve, Dr. Otis Dickey, Dr. Edward Pino, Dr. Richard Koeppe, Mr. Jim Huge, Mr. Stutler, Dr. Robert Tschirki, Dr. Monte Moses, Ms. Mary Chesley, Dr. Harry Bull, and Dr. Scott Siegfried. Mr. Chris Smith is the current Superintendent. At the high school, there were thirty-five charter faculty members, and Richard Womack served as its first principal. Leonard Shillinglaw was principal for the following ten years (1956-66), followed by Dr. Ivan Muse (1966-68), Dr. Walter Armistead (1968-70), Dr. Donald K. Goe (1970-73), Henry F. Cotton (1973-88), Dr. Mary Gill (1988-1993), and Dr. Kathy Smith (1993-2009). Ryan Silva became principal on July 1, 2009.