Wabash City Schools

Wabash City Schools serves roughly 1500 students in the county seat of Wabash, Indiana.  Wabash, a town of 10,500, is located 45 minutes southwest of Fort Wayne and 2 hours north of Indianapolis.  The district is comprised of 4 buildings: L. H. Carpenter Early Learning Center, O.J. Neighbours Elementary, Wabash Middle School, and Wabash High School (Wabash University High School).

Wabash City Schools is committed to the motto The Apache Way: The Right Way, Every Day.  We believe in applying this commitment in all of our classrooms, in our finances, and in our community partnerships.    Wabash City Schools began serving the students of Wabash County with the creation of a new high school in 1869.  The first 2 graduates from Wabash High School were in 1871.   Since then, Wabash High School has graduated students every year except twice: in 1876 and 1899.    School History Wabash athletics began in the late 1890s.  Throughout its history, Wabash has had its share of individual state champion wrestlers and runners; however, Wabash High School has 3 team state championships: 1926, 1927 Wrestling Team State Champions and the 1986 Indiana State Baseball Champions.  For a complete list of the athletic accolades, check out the Wabash High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Since the late 1890s, Wabash High School’s colors have been orange and black.  However, Wabash has gone through a few mascots during its illustrious history.  Since the original high school was located down on Hill Street (diagonal from Carnegie Library), the original student athletics were called the Hill Climbers.  During the successful athletic runs in the late Twenties, many Wabash athletes were called Thomcats in homage to the future Olympic coach Billy Thom.  But in 1936, the young son of then superintendent O.J. Neighbours, Jimmy Neighbours, won a mascot naming contest.  Young Jimmy came up with the Apaches after his childhood hero Geronimo and the Wabash High School mascot has been the Apache ever since.

Today, Wabash High School offers 19 varsity sports and competes in the 10-school Three Rivers Conference.   Check out Wabash Athletics to learn more about these opportunities.  Wabash City Schools prides itself on its rich academic history.  Wabash High School has graduated engineers who worked with NASA to land Apollo 11 on the moon; Emmy Award winning artist; and a Grammy Award winner singer.  To learn more about some of these accomplishments, check out the Wabash City Schools’ Hall of Distinction.  Wabash City Schools’ mission is to provide a relevant and rigorous education, founded upon relationships, to ensure all students are college and career ready for success in a global community. And it is our vision to build a legacy of opportunity for all.

Academics

In order to achieve this mission, Wabash City Schools has adopted a college and career focused mission throughout the K-12 spectrum.  Promise Indiana, a college going identity initiative was born out of this spirit. Through the Wabash County Promise, all students have an opportunity to open a 529 College Savings plan.

In addition to college and career identity exploration, O.J. Neighbours and Wabash Middle School will offer STEM opportunities through Project Lead the Way curriculum. Beginning the Fall of 2017, Wabash City Schools became one of a handful of school systems to offer a Spanish Dual Language Immersion program in Northern Indiana.  Students will have the opportunity to learn half the day in English and half the day in Spanish.  This program is part of our commitment to ensuring our students have an opportunity to be competitive in the global community.  Wabash High School gained endorsement as one of 15 Early College High Schools in the State of Indiana.  In addition to offering Indiana High School Diplomas, Wabash University High School offers a 30 credit Indiana College Core Certificate transferrable to any state post-secondary institution. This allows our high school student the ability to complete their first year of college while in high school and at a fraction of the cost.

Student Hope

Gallup research has demonstrated that the greatest indicator of student success is not standardized test scores or grades; instead, success depends on the level of a student’s hope.  With this understanding, Wabash City Schools approaches students holistically.  In addition to state standardized assessments, Wabash City students also participate in the Gallup Student Poll, to measure student hope and engagement. 

Student Safety Recognizing that students must feel safe before they can learn effectively, Wabash City Schools has a partnership with the City of Wabash to have a School Resource Officer in our schools every day.  In addition to the physical security this officer provides our students, staff and families, our SRO also works to build positive relationships with our students and families.   Relationships, Relevance, Rigor Wabash City Schools believes that the 3 R’s are the bedrock of all learning.  Building relationships with all students is key to building the foundation upon which students will learn best.  All Wabash Middle School and Wabash High School students are provided a home room teacher.

Wabash City Schools believes in personalization of education.  Because of this belief, we are a 1:1 computing school and look to build individual education plans for each and every child.  We design programming to support the success of all students.  Wabash City Schools is one of a few SAT School Day schools in the State of Indiana.  All students are provided the PSAT in their 8th grade through junior year and the SAT will be provided (at no cost) to all juniors and seniors.  Moreover, we build relationships within and surrounding our community.  Relationships with our Wabash County YMCA, Community Foundation of Wabash County, Ivy Tech, Manchester University, and local businesses help create greater educational opportunities for all of our students.