Parkway West High School

Story

Parkway West High School is a public comprehensive high school in Ballwin, Missouri that is part of the Parkway School District.HistoryPWHS was the second high school built in the Parkway School District; it opened in the fall of 1968 with grades 10-12. In the 1969-1970 school year, Parkway West Junior High was formed, and grades 7-9 were housed in the West Senior building operating on the same schedule as West Senior. For the 1970-71 school year, West Senior operated as a four year high school (grades 9-12), with West Junior grades 7 & 8 attending Parkway South Junior High School on a split schedule. Members of the Class of '74 attended school in the West Senior building for five straight years. West Junior opened for the 1971-1972 school year with the new "open classroom" layout. One of the unusual features of PWHS was that for 13 years under the leadership of principal Al Burr, they operated without any written rules or regulations—only mutual agreements and expectations.ActivitiesFor the 2013–2014 school year, the school offered 28 activities approved by the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA): baseball, boys and girls basketball, sideline cheerleading, boys and girls cross country, dance team, field hockey, 11-man football, boys and girls golf, girls lacrosse, music activities, scholar bowl, boys and girls soccer, softball, speech and debate, boys and girls swimming and diving, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls track and field, boys and girls volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. In addition to its current activities, Parkway West students have won several state championships, including: Baseball: 1996Boys basketball: 1991Boys cross country: 1988, 1990Girls cross country: 1989, 1990Girls golf: 1980Boys soccer: 1986Softball: 1988, 1992, 1993Boys Volleyball: 2003Water Polo: 1984, 2012, 2014Boys swimming and diving: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993Girls swimming and diving: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994