Bremerhaven HS History
Opened: 1947
Closed: 1979
In the 1947-48 school year a dependents high school, Bremen Enclave Dependents High School, was established in the old Hanseatic city of Bremen. During that year there were thirty-seven students enrolled. In the summer of 1948, the school moved to Bremerhaven because a greater portion of the American population resided there. Bremerhaven was a port city on the North Sea with the focus of handling consumer goods and military equipment for troops stationed in Germany. The school retained the name of Bremen. The students who remained in Bremen commuted the sixty miles by train each day. The move to Bremerhaven provided advantages to the students such as an athletic field, gymnasium, cafeteria, and an auditorium. In 1949 there were thirty-nine students enrolled. In 1950-51 school year the name changed to Bremerhaven American High School. It was housed in an old wing of a former German Navy training school, educating students in grades K-12. Mr. Russell H. Stickney, a graduate of Syracuse University was the principal.
In 1948 the student council was established. The school colors were black and gold, the nickname, Blackhawks. The student council organized extra-curricular activities such as the Christmas dance and promoted intramural basketball games. In the 1948-49 school year the school won the EUCOM basketball championship. During the 1949-50 school year they staged a play and sent delegates to an international UNESCO Conference in Bremen. The following year they won the Class B section of the Junior High School basketball tournament. Football participation was with a six-man team.
In 1950 a junior high school consisting of seventh and eighth grade was added to the school. There were fifteen students in the seventh grade and fourteen students in the eighth. Activities in the school included a Halloween Masquerade Dance, Sadie Hawkins Dance, and a Christmas Dance. There were numerous clubs including the Varsity Club, 7th and 8th Grade Clubs, Drama Club, and Camera Club. The school newspaper was The Keyhole. The senior class of 1950 was one of the smallest of the nine graduating classes of the European Command with five graduating seniors.
Bremerhaven High School closed in 1979 when a new school was built in Osterholz-Scharmbeck some twenty-one miles south of Bremerhaven.