Booker High School is a public high school in North Sarasota, Florida, United States. It is part of the Sarasota County Public Schools district. The athletic teams are known as the Tornadoes. The school was established to serve a predominantly African American community.

History Booker High School is named after a teacher and educational leader in Sarasota's black community, Emma Edwina Booker. Booker moved to Sarasota in 1910 and soon helped start Sarasota Grammar School, for the education of young black children. In 1925 she led a procession of students and teachers from the old school (in Knights of Pythias Hall) to a new school built next to the railroad tracks at Lemon and Thirteenth Street (now Seventh Street) by the Rosenwald Fund. Booker served as an inspiration to many of her students and was eventually commemorated by having three schools named in her honor: Emma E. Booker Elementary, Booker Middle School, and Booker High School.

The school expanded to include a high school, which graduated its first class in 1935, and in 1939 was relocated to Orange Avenue in the Newtown neighborhood of north Sarasota; in the 1940s the grammar school was consolidated there as well."Booker Schools", Sarasota History Alive (accessed 2015-04-01).

* With the advent of school desegregation in the 1960s, proposals arose to close Booker and other traditionally African-American schools and send the students out of the neighborhood to white schools. The school was closed in 1967. The community objected to the negative impact this loss would have on the area, and eventually a boycott took place in spring 1969. Thereafter the schools reopened, but the threat of closure persisted, especially due to low enrollment. In 1979 the school obtained a grant to establish a magnet school in the performing arts with the goal of attracting white students to the school. The elementary and middle schools moved to other locations by 1993."Booker High School: A Historical Perspective" , School Board of Sarasota County (accessed 2015-04-01).Mark Zaloudek, "Booker Arts Program Escapes Federal Cuts", Sarasota Journal, July 24, 1981. A renovation budgeted at $58 million broke ground in 2011, changing the route of Orange Avenue so that it no longer divided the campus, and providing five new buildings and improved athletic facilitiesChristopher O'Donnell, "Booker High getting a $58M new campus", Sarasota Herald-Tribune, January 26, 2011.

Academic programs Booker High School offers several "Academies" within the school. The school is particularly known for its Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) programs, which currently include art, dance, digital design, music, and theater. The VPA program has turned out students such as Oscar-winning makeup artist Bill Corso and American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado.Booker VPA website (accessed 2015-04-01).Grant Boxleitner, "Booker High Grad Nominated for Second Oscar", Suncoast News Network, January 26, 2015.

The goal of the Booker's JROTC is to teach its cadets to appreciate the ethical values that underlie good citizenship, to develop leadership potential, and to learn to live and work cooperatively with others. This program is greatly influenced by the armed forces and strives to instill military conduct principles in students.

Athletic Program

Basketball The 2006 Boys Basketball were State Champions. They have five state basketball championships in school history.

Demographics Booker HS is 34% Hispanic, 31% white, 29% black, 1% Asian, 4% multiracial, and 1% other

Notable alumni

, sportscaster at ESPN Brazil who is a color analyst for football Baraka Atkins, NFL linebacker Charlie Barnett, actor on NBC'c Chicago Fire and Netflix's Russian Doll Jeremy Butler, NFL wide receiver Bill Corso, Academy Award-winning makeup artist Glen Gauntt, American football player Justin Hamilton, Florida's Class 4A boys' basketball player of the year as a senior in 1999, now plays professionally in EuropeMcGee, Brian Evers. "BOOKER'S HAMILTON NAMED STATE'S 4A PLAYER OF YEAR.(SPORTS)." Sarasota Herald Tribune. March 3, 1999. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-74053481/bookers-hamilton-named-states.html Michael Seneca Hawthorne, NFL cornerback for the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers Marquis Johnson, NFL cornerback for St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints Marlon Mack, NFL running back for the Indianapolis Colts Jeff Meacham, actor on ABC’s Black-ish Syesha Mercado, musical performer, contestant on American Idol Darren Ritchie, Broadway actor Sam Shields, NFL cornerback for the Green Bay Packers Ruby G. Woodson, educator, founder of two private institutions for gifted minority students

References

External links Booker High School School profile