Baumholder MS/HS History
Opened: 1955
OPEN
Baumholder Middle/High School is located in the Wetzel Housing Area for the Baumholder Community. The original school in the community was Smith Elementary School, with Baumholder Junior High opening for the 1953-54 school year. The junior high school had grades seven through nine with eighty-four students. The first principal was Cecil Gyer and there were five faculty members. Activities for the students included a student council, a school newspaper, a collectors’ club, and basketball teams for eighth and ninth grade boys.
Construction for the new high school, Baumholder American High School, was started in 1954, and the school was ready for high school students for the 1955-56 school year. The original high school consisted of one main building with a gymnasium behind the building; a career education building was built in 1971; a new gymnasium was built in 1968; a multi-purpose room was completed in 1982; an extension to the main building housing several general-purpose classrooms and a band room was completed in 1982. The 1982 yearbook stated that Baumholder American School started as a few rooms in Faulenberg and became a rambling multi-structure complex with a new addition being constructed during the 1981-82 school year.
In all, the school had nineteen general purpose classrooms; four science laboratories; labs for auto mechanics, business, graphics, art, music, and industrial arts; a counseling center, media center, and learning resource center; and storage facilities. The first high school principal was George Reeves, and there were seven seniors in the first graduating class. In grades nine through twelve there were just over seventy-five students and the school had fourteen faculty members.
The school colors were burgundy and gold, and the mascot was the Buccaneer. The first yearbooks were part of the European school combined yearbook, Erinnerungen. The school published its first Baumholder-only yearbook for the 1960-61 school year, and it was called Der Kreis (The Circle).
Fight Song
On to victory, On to victory
We will Fight, Fight, Fight!
Maroon and Gold our BANNERS fly
To WIN this GAME tonight.
AND SO WE
Are the BUCS and WE are striving
TO DEFEND OUR NAME
Baumholder, FIGHT and we will
WIN THIS GAME!
The school’s first six-man football team won the USAREUR (US Army Europe) Championship. Activities and organizations included a mixed chorus, band, cheerleaders, and clubs for Junior Red Cross, Science, German–American activities, stamp collecting, personal typing, and chess and checkers. The school also had cheerleaders and a boys’ basketball team.
Charles Konarska became the principal for the 1956-57 school year, followed by William Ruppel for the 1958-59 school year. By the 1959-60 school year, there were over 370 students in grades seven through twelve. As the student enrollment increased, more activities were added including a pep club, photography club, record club, nurses’ club, a junior high student council, the Lettermen’s club, and National Honor Society. For the 1958-59 school year, the school had its first eleven-man football team. The school also started the tradition of Operation Tannenbaum. During this activity the high school students had an American Christmas for a local German orphanage.
Homecoming at Baumholder was traditionally observed by students and staff much like stateside schools celebrated it. The activities included a week of spirit activities, a football game, a dance, and a Homecoming Court.
There were several different administrators during the sixties including principals William Ruppel; Charles Wood; Royal LaPlante, Jr.; George Stevens; and Jerald Bloom. The vice principals were Robert Engle; Royal LaPlante, Jr.; Mr. Wagner; Jerald Bloom; William Yarbrough; and Leo L. Browne. The school’s enrollment fluctuated between 500 and almost 670 for the 1968-69 school year. The faculty and staff increased to forty-six by the end of the decade.
For the 1960-61 school year, track was added to the sports schedule and the Girls Athletic Association was formed. The following year there was a Lettergirls’ Club. The school’s first wrestling team (1961-62) won the Class B Championship. Later in the sixties, the school offered cross country, golf and soccer for men. The 1968-69 boys’ basketball team won the USDESEA (US Dependents Schools, European Area) Class B championship.
The arts were an integral part of the school program, and the school had its first marching band for the 1961-62 school year as well as a pep band. The drama club was formed that same year, and the school first produced a talent show for the 1966-67 school year, which became an annual event at the school. The school also started other annual events such as the school carnival and the Science Fair. New organizations included the Futures Teachers of America, Future Homemakers of America, a Travelers Club, and Future Nurses Club. The school produced its first commercially printed newspaper, Allerlei, for the 1961-62 school year. The yearbook’s name was changed to the Buccaneer for the 1964-65 school year.
Women’s competitive sports became part of the Baumholder program beginning in the 1970s. There was a coed golf team during the 1969-70 school year. The first women’s sport was gymnastics, which was offered beginning the 1971-72 school year. This was followed by girls’ basketball, volleyball, track, and coed tennis for the 1973-74 school year.
The cross country team won its first ALL USDESEA Championship, and the 1972 football team were the USDESEA Champions for the Silver Division. In 1975 the wrestling team was the USDESEA Class B champs. The 1976-77 school year was a banner year for the Baumholder sports teams with repeated championships for football, cross country, and wrestling. Bowling and swimming were added to the sports program.
The arts’ program continued to expand during the seventies. By the middle of the decade, there were three bands, two choruses, and a madrigal group as well as an annual variety show and one or two drama productions each year. Twirlers were added to the halftime entertainment at sports events, and student/faculty games boosted school spirit.
The school newspaper became the Buccaneer Log in 1971 and was renamed the Galleon for the 1974-75 school year. The 1973-74 yearbook was two volumes and was published in-house by the graphics arts classes. The school had its first Quill and Scroll chapter for the 1974-75 school year. The school started an International Political Organization for the 1979-80 school year. This group became the basis for Model United Nations teams and student representatives to the Presidential Classroom. That same year the school had its first Thespians chapter, an outdoor education program, foreign language clubs, and a ski club.
School administrators in the seventies included Jerald Bloom, Robert K. Jones, Bob Bradach, and Dr. John Davis as principals and Leo Browne, Fred Antrobus, Warren Moyles, and James Rodney as deputy/vice principals. The school enrollment was between 600 and 650 students during the 70s, with a faculty and staff of approximately fifty.
Baumholder High School was the first school in Europe to adopt the Pontoon System of education. This system was based on the principals of Opportunity, Exploration, Responsibility, and Initiative and was used in the seventh and eighth grade classrooms.
The 1981 yearbook was again renamed and became Mainsail. With the new name, the volume numbers were restarted. Sports honors for the 1981-82 school year included the football team as AA champs, the cross country as the DoDDS North Champions and the girls’ basketball team earning their second DoDDS North trophy.
The student enrollment for grades seven through twelve for the eighties ranged from 525 to 640 students. The school principals for this decade were Dr. Lowell Jacobson, Shelley Rucker, Rodney James, and Robert Brinton. The assistant/vice principals were James Rodney, Ted Edwards, Bob Ermel, Howell Iles, and Bill Diesselhorst. New student organizations/activities included a forensics club, Future Business Leaders of America, computer club, audio-visual club, a video club, and an adventure club. The 1987 yearbook included student creative writing, and a literary magazine, Stuff in a Bucket, was published for the 1988-89 school year. The school also started its first chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and the junior high had its first Math Counts team.
The nineties brought many changes to Baumholder High School – some were educational changes and other were changes brought on by world events. For the 1990-91 school year, middle school concepts were added to the educational program for the seventh and eighth grade. The first evidence of this new concept was the introduction of an advisory period and an exploratory wheel for electives. JROTC was added to the curriculum for the 1992-93 school year, and as a result the school now included a new sport – Rifle Team. The beginning of the nineties brought increased security to the school due to the world events of Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
Prior to a large troop deployment from the community to Bosnia, President Clinton visited the troops and their family members. The 1996 yearbook reported about the President’s visit and how the school got to do a school wave on the American television show Good Morning America. According to the yearbook:
It’s not everyone that can say their entire school was on Good Morning American giving the people in T.V land a Good Morning America wave--but you can. With all the excitement of President Clinton’s visit Ms. Dengel, 7th grade English teacher, decided she would assign her class a writing assignment that would allow them to express their feelings about their parents going to Bosnia. The students were required to write a letter to their parents, if their parents were deploying to Bosnia, or to the President, if their parents were not deploying to Bosnia. Surprisingly, Clinton’s speech writer was informed of the letters and two of the letters were chosen to be included in his speech given to the troops of Baumholder. The two students whose letters were chosen were Rachel Bybee and Justin Zimmerman.
They had no idea that by writing their letters, they would be in the spotlight for the next couple of weeks. Following the President’s speech, many of the reporters that were at the speech contacted the school and requested interviews with both Rachel and Justin along with many other students from Ms. Dengel’s class. Even representatives from The Good Morning America show contacted the school to request a live interview with Rachel, Justin, and their fathers.
Within a couple of days The Good Morning America crew was in our school setting up for the interview. Justin, Rachel, and their fathers were interviewed live via satellite by Joan London herself. After the interview was over, the entire school was invited to gather out in front of the school for a traditional Good Morning America wave.
Thanks to Ms. Dengel and her 7th grade English classes, students of BHS will have many exciting memories of the time they were on television.
Later that same year the school was visited by Hilary and Chelsea Clinton.
Baumholder continued to earn several sports championships in the nineties:
- 1991-92 – The football team was undefeated in the A conference, the golf team was the conference champs 1991-92for the A Division, the wrestling team was the A conference champs, and the men’s basketball team was the 1991 European Champions
- 1992-93 – The girls’ volleyball team earned first place in the conference, and the girls’ basketball team earned their third consecutive conference championship
- 1998-99 – The girls’ basketball team won the Division III tournament
The administrators for the nineties included principals Robert Brinton, William Diesselhorst, Dr. Tom Dignan, and Dominick Calabria. The assistants were Meganne Johnstone, Tom Abbott, Ofelia Robles, and James Funk. Continued deployments and the drawdown in Europe affected the school enrollment. For the 1990-91 school year there were 625 students enrolled in grades seven through twelve, and by 1999-2000 the student population had dropped to 340. Career education and technology courses increased during this decade, and courses in graphic communication, television production, cosmetology, computer science, and more business education classes were added to the curriculum. The school also had an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program.
In 1995, a large 9.5-ton stone was placed in front of the school by the flagpole. It would forever be known as the “senior rock”.
The name of the yearbook was changed once more for the 1999-2000 school year, becoming the Eclipse. The same year the school had its first teacher interns.
During the first decade of the new millennium, the sports teams continued to earn championships. These included:
- 2001-02 – The girls’ volleyball team won the Division III European Championship and the girls’ basketball team the Division Championship
- 2002-03 – The golf team won the Division III Championship
- 2003-04 – The girls’ volleyball team won the championship for the third time and also won the Division III Regional Tournament
- 2004-05 – The volleyball team won their fifth Division III Championship
- 2005-06 – The girls’ volleyball team had a European record of 16–0, the girls’ basketball team were the Division III South Champs, and the girls’ softball team were the Division III European Champs
- 2006-07 – The boys’ basketball team were the Division II European Champs, and the girls’ basketball team were the Division II North Champs
- 2007-08 – The girls’ volleyball team won the Division III South Trophy, and the girls’ basketball team won the Division III Europeans
- 2008-09 – The girls’ and boys’ basketball teams won the European Division III Championships
During this time period, the wrestling team, which had been dormant for three years, was revived, skateboarding was sanctioned as a school activity, and the school had its first softball and baseball teams.
Other new programs for the 2000s included afterschool tutoring, a robotics club, the Geography and Spelling Bees for middle school students, the Student2Student orientation program, and Future Educators of America. The SADD chapter became Students Against Destructive Decisions.
Danny Robinson became the principal for the 2005-06 school year, and the school’s enrollment was between 350 and 450 students. The 2009-10 yearbook referred to the school as Baumholder Middle/High School.
The community was downsized for the 2011-12 school year, and the enrollment dropped to 200 students for the 2012-13 school year. The school administrators were principal Joseph Malloy and assistant principal Richard Jimenez. For the 2014-15 school year, the sixth grade was added to the middle/high school.
When the COVID pandemic hit, the school principal was Leah Zamor, with Willard Clites as the assistant. The school’s Educational Technologist, Mr. Radley Ramirez, was the Teacher of the Year for DoDEA Europe East. The school was closed due to the pandemic on 20 March 2020, and reopened for the next school year.
Even with the trials of the pandemic, the students had a great school experience. The 2020 yearbook reported:
One of the benefits of going to a small school is the opportunity to participate in so many activities and events. This benefit is doubled when you can do all of this in a foreign country! Going to Baumholder Middle High School is the ultimate adventure, everyday a new avenue opens up for you to try, to explore, to fill up your life jacket with memories.
When the school reopened, the 2021 yearbook took a philosophical view of the situation. The yearbook reviewed the year:
To mask or not to mask? To be... In school or not in school? Those are the question we faced this school year. From in school learning (with no sports) to remote learning, and then back to in school learning.
This year has been full of so many new, and different things. But as always, the differences were met head on with the matters that greet every new school year. Timeless things like make-ups and break-ups. New students coming in and old students leaving. Seniors anticipating the new frontier called graduation. New ninth graders exchanging their middle school cred for high school relevance. Newly arrived sixth graders looking about cautiously trying to mix in and not be overwhelmed by the bigness of the students and the classrooms, and the teachers.
Challenges encountered and conquered.
We have captured this 2020-21 school year with pictures that we hope will bring back memories for the present and more importantly, for times yet to come.
The administrative team for the 2022-23 school year was Leah Zamor and Michael DeFrancesco. The student enrollment was 182 students, and the school colors were now burgundy and black.
The Baumholder Middle/High School is currently open.