School Histories

Bitburg HS History

Opened: 1954
Closed: 2017

Bitburg High School was originally part of the elementary school and was located in the main building of the complex which became Bitburg Middle School. The school was originally named Bitburg American Dependents School. In September 1953, the building that now housed the Bitburg American High School and Elementary School was erected. However, not until September of 1954 were there enough ninth graders to form a class; from this basis the high school developed. When the student population was supplemented by pupils from Spangdahlem, Pruem, and Luxembourg City in 1955, the school had a sufficient enrollment for a full, four-year high school. In June of 1955, Bitburg American High School graduated its first senior class, consisting of seven members. Mr. Stanford C. Ramsey was the school’s first principal. Mr. Ernest M. Morgan was the assistant principal, and there was a teaching staff of twelve. The original high school had grades seven through twelve with an enrollment of about 150 students.

By the 1956-57 school year, the school’s enrollment had doubled. The staff increased to approximately twenty-one teachers. The rapid growth resulted in a lack of space for school activities. Consequently, classes were held in an adjoining prefabricated building. Mr. Donald I. Grant replaced Mr. Stanford Ramsey as principal, and Mr. Ernest M. Morgan was assigned as principal of the elementary school. Mr. Ramsey served as Supervising Principal. The senior class sponsored “Baby Day” to initiate incoming freshmen, the “Christmas Fantasy” formal dance, and presented a comical assembly to the student body. The theme was an evening of television. The school’s second graduating class consisted of eighteen students.

One of the goals of Bitburg High School students and staff was to better the relationship between Americans and foreign neighbors. To accomplish this, several language clubs were established, school exchanges were started, and students participated in host nation activities such as concerts and parades. The school also had several unique traditions. One of these was B-Week or Baron Week which was celebrated during the winter sports season. Activities during the week were similar to Homecoming activities, and a king and queen were crowned at the annual dance. The school also had an Outdoor Education program which led to students and teachers participating each year in Project Bold at Hinterbrand Lodge. Another school tradition was painting the school windows to celebrate special events. For the 1982-83 school year, the National Honor Society began the tradition of Student Teacher Day. On this day, students took the place of teachers and other school personnel for the day. Teachers were able to participate in the selection of their replacement.

Extracurricular activities were a mainstay of the school’s program throughout its history. The first year the school was open, there were clubs for drama, art and folk dance. The student council was established as was the Junior Red Cross program. By the end of the 1950s the school had a German–American Club, an International Club, and a Career Club. The first Afro-American Club was formed during the 1972-73 school year, and the first NAACP chapter was formed for the 1990-91 school year. The Varsity Club, originally the Lettermen’s Club, opened a School Store for the 1977-78 school year. SADD—Students Against Drunk Driving—became a club for the 1987-88 school year. By 1990, the school had participated in Model United Nations for ten years and continued to participate until the school’s closure.

The school fielded sports teams from the time it opened. In its opening year it had a basketball and baseball team. The following year there were two soccer teams, and the school’s basketball team won their league championship. Bitburg High School did not have a football team until the fall of 1957. Due to its size, the school played in the Class B League which was composed of Army high school teams. The cheerleading squads were augmented with flag and baton twirlers. By the 1966-67 the school’s pep club had the largest participation of any school activity. The Girls Athletic Association was the venue for female sports since they did not have traveling teams in the fifties and sixties. The first teams to have women were the golf team in 1967 and the tennis team in 1969. The 1971-72 yearbook stated “then there were jockettes” referring to the inclusion of women in interscholastic programs. By 2010-11 middle school students were allowed to participate on the golf and track and field teams.

The Bitburg Sports Teams earned many sports championships throughout the school’s history. These championships included:

• Girls’ Golf team placed first in the Northern Regionals in 1967 and placed second in the finals in Ramstein.
• The first year of Girls’ Basketball the team won the Blue Division Crown.
• Cross Country had its sixth undefeated season during the 1974 school year and a winning streak of 41 meets. The JV cross country team won the European Championship during the 1976 season.
• JV Girls’ Basketball was undefeated in 1979 and 1980.
• The Wrestling Team had its first undefeated season in 1973 and won first place in the AA Division for the 1988 season.
• Men’s soccer was undefeated for the 1980 school year and took Silver in the North Championships.
• Football won the AA-AAA championship in 1984.
• In 1987, the Gymnastics team took first place in the European Finals.
• Football was the DoDDS AA Champions for the 1982 season.
• For the 1990-91 school year, swimming was added as a recognized school sport.
• In 1993, the soccer team won their division championship.
• The 1994-95 and 1995-96 school years were banner years for women’s sports with championships for volleyball, girls’ cross country, and girls’ basketball.
• The 1997 Girls’ Tennis Team were Division II Champs and Boys’ Soccer won the Division II Championship
• The Bitburg Football team was undefeated in 1970 and won back-to-back championships in 1999 and 2000.
• The girls’ Basketball team was the European Champ in 2003.
• In 2003-04 the girls’ Softball and Basketball teams won their fourth Division II Championships.
• In 2006 the girls’ tennis team was undefeated.
• Bitburg Cheerleaders won the Division II European Championship in 2007.
• Softball and baseball were the Division II Champs in 2009.
• The Division Championship was won by the football team with an 8-0 record in 2010 and the team was the Division II champions from 2009-2011.

In 2003, the football field was named in honor of Rik Carr, a teacher and coach at Bitburg High School. Mr. Carr had been a teacher and coach at the school for twenty-five years, and the 2003-04 school year was his last year before retiring. The football field would now be known as Coach Rik Carr Field.

Throughout many years of its existence, Bitburg High School students were very proud of the schools’ outstanding music and arts programs. The singing groups were organized into three units, the Chamber Choir, The Brass Choir, and the Combined Choir. The school’s bands included a Roadshow Band, a Concert Band, a Marching Band, and a Dance Band at different times during the years. The first year of the school, there were thirty-seven students actively involved in the Chorus. Highlights of the music and arts programs:

• Bitburg music students participated in their first International Music Festival during the 1956-57 school year. The festival included schools from Germany, Luxembourg, France, Canada, Belgium, and the United States.
• The band got new uniforms for the 1977-78 school year.
• During the 1978-79 school year, the band had performed ten concerts before Christmas.
• During the 1979-80 school year, the music program put on more than three dozen shows.
• In 1980, choir members participated in the weeklong Honors Choir Festival in Berlin.
• Musical groups on more than one occasion performed at the Pruem Basilica.
• For the 2013-14 school year, classes for guitar and piano were added to the music program.

The school’s drama program provided many entertaining performances including Once Upon a Mattress. The pantomime, mime, and drama groups, and the school band provided many entertaining performances for school and community activities. The first chapter of the National Thespian Society was formed during the 1968-69 school year. The school’s drama group was known as “The Corporate Image” for many years. There were at least two drama productions including a musical most years.

The school colors were blue and white with red added as a school color in the mid-eighties. The school mascot was the Baron. The first yearbook, printed in 1956, was The Baron. The yearbook name was later changed to the Baron Shield. During the early sixties, the name of the yearbook was changed to Unsere Andenken (Our Memories) but became Baron Shield again for the 1967 yearbook. The first year of the high school there was a school newspaper. The school newspaper published during the 1961-62 school year was called the Baron Scroll. The school newspaper was finally called the Baron Broadcast or BBC. The first chapter of Quill and Scroll was organized for the 1982-83 school year. The school had a fight song that was published in the 1966-67 yearbook. The school’s literary magazine, Et Cetera, was first published during the 1987-88 school year.

The school’s enrollment had reached over 600 by the 1964-65 school year and over 900 students for the 1967-68 school year. That year there were thirty-nine teachers, two guidance counselors, and three principals for the school. The next school year the school was referred to as Bitburg Junior-Senior High School. Construction began on the new Bitburg High School during the 1974-75 school year. That year auto mechanics and JROTC were added to the curriculum. Driver’s Education was added as a course for the 1974-75 school year and cosmetology was added in 1975-76.

Bitburg High School opened in its new facility in 1975. The building was a modern, multi-purpose educational facility with a staff of forty-five. Special resource personnel included a school psychologist and a prescriptionist who served all the schools in the area. The school now had students in grades nine through twelve with grades seven and eight attending the middle school. The school had extensive laboratory facilities for sciences, human ecology, industrial arts, business education, computer science, cosmetology, as well as a modern automotive shop. A separate gymnasium facility and athletic field were adjacent to the main building. In August of 1980, the ceiling in the gymnasium began to sink and collapsed by September. The facility was unavailable until February 1981. The absence of the school facility affected the school’s sports teams but, luckily, the base made their gym available.

In the eighties, the school enrollment was around 600 students in grades nine through twelve. By the early nineties, the enrollment dropped to 500 students and was down to 380 by the mid-nineties. The mission for the Bitburg Air Base was over in 1994 and the school now supported the bedroom community from Spangdahlem that lived in the housing area. The school staff was reduced by almost half for the 1995-96 school year.

New courses for the nineties included Skating as a Career, CD Collecting, Sports Fads and Fashions, and a second year for Physics and Chemistry. By the 2000s the students were involved in video production, TV productions, and Culinary Arts.

The Bitburg military community and local German community were always receptive to the American community, especially to the high school. At most community events, Bitburg American High School was represented by at least one school club or group. Colonel Kuehn, Bitburg Air Base commander said, “The high school is one of the centers of community life at Bitburg. The high school reflects the intense pursuit of excellence that has made Bitburg the best in the Air Force and the envy of military communities throughout Europe.”

For the 2013-14 school year, Bitburg High School became Bitburg Middle/High School and now had grades seven through twelve.

After 60 years, Bitburg High School closed in 2017. The school’s final principal was Ms. Jennifer Remoy. There were 154 students enrolled the final year including thirty-one in the graduating class. The schools’ closing ceremony, attend by students, teachers, military personnel, families, community members, and alumni was held on June 8, 2017. The school’s yearbook used the theme “Every Ending is a New Beginning.”

High School Administrators

Information from former teachers, school yearbooks and DOD Dependent Schools Information Guides