Beechwood High School is a 6-year 7–12th grade high school, located in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, United States. It is a part of the Beechwood Independent School District.
The district (of which Beechwood HS is the sole comprehensive high school) includes the majority of Fort Mitchell, a portion of Fort Wright,[4] and a portion of Lakeside Park.[5]
Beechwood High School, founded 1860, is operated by an "independent" school district, which in Kentucky refers to a district that is independent of a county. Most school districts in the state coincide exactly with county boundaries. The Beechwood district is run by superintendent Dr. Mike Stacy. Beechwood High School is consistently one of the highest-rated schools in Kentucky. This school is a relatively small with roughly 115 students in each graduating class. The school's mascot is the Tiger. Although the high school is listed as 7th-12th grade, an elementary (grades K-6) also exists in a connected building. These two schools make up the Beechwood Independent School District.
They have been ranked one of the best high schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2008.[6]
The school has historically fielded the following teams: Football, Boys' and Girls' track, Boys' and Girls' Cross Country, Archery, Boys' and Girls Basketball, Baseball, Fastpitch Softball, Girls' and Boys' swimming, Boys' and Girls' Golf, Boys' and Girls' Tennis, Volleyballs, and Girls' Soccer.[2] The school has also recently added an Esports team.
Beechwood built a dominant football program in the 1990s under head coach Mike Yeagle. Accumulating 7 state titles, 3 undefeated seasons, and a Northern Kentucky record 38 consecutive wins all within the decade, the Tigers were the most successful team in the state from 1990 to 1999 in both wins (126) and winning percentage (.893). Beechwood carried their winning tradition into the new millennium by winning back-to-back state titles in 2007 and 2008 under new head coach Noel Rash, soon after forming an active streak of three consecutive state championships from 2016 to 2018 and the first 2A state championship in school history in 2020.
The Beechwood band program is the largest activity on the Beechwood Schools campus encompassing nearly 250 students from 5th to 12th grade. The band program includes the national award-winning Marching Tigers, high school symphonic band, high school percussion ensemble, jazz ensemble, jazz lab band, middle school bands, pep bands, chamber ensembles, and winter guards. The band program is under the direction of Austin Bralley and Savannah Starks.
The Beechwood High School Varsity Winter Guard is one of the most successful guard programs in Kentucky.[citation needed] The Beechwood Varsity Winter Guard competes in Tri-State Marching Arts as well as Winter Guard International. Recently, the Varsity Winter Guard was the TMA Regional A Gold Medalists in 2017 and 2018.
The Marching Tigers have been named KMEA State Champions 11 times and the Bands of America Class A National Championship two times (2006, 2011). Beechwood is the only band program in KMEA history to win a state championship under four different band directors. In 2019, the Marching Tigers represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington DC. The Marching Tigers were awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield in 2022.
KMEA State Champions
Class 1A – 1990, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
Class 2A – 2019, 2021, 2023
KMEA State Finalist
Class 1A - 1986, 1990, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Class 2A - 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 2019, 2021, 2023
Class 3A - 1996, 2022
Bands of America National Champions
Class 1A - 2006, 2011
Bands of America National Semifinalists
2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
39°2′56″N 84°33′20″W / 39.04889°N 84.55556°W / 39.04889; -84.55556