# Park Center Senior High School

Park Center Senior High School (PCSH) is a four-year public high school located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States, on 7300 Brooklyn Blvd. PCSH is located near the border of two northwest twin cities suburbs, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, thus the school name "Park Center" is a combination of these city names. The principal is Antwan Harris. Park Center Senior High's mascot is a pirate and the school's sports teams are known as the Pirates. The school's colors are green and gold. From their website, "As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, Park Center Senior High infuses core curriculum with a world focus that helps young people understand their role as responsible world citizens."

## School overview

Park Center Senior High School is one of three public high schools in the Osseo Area School District 279 and one of two public high schools located in the city of Brooklyn Park. (Brooklyn Park is served by 3 school districts: Osseo Area School District 279, Anoka-Hennepin School District 11, Robbinsdale Area Schools). In August 2007 Park Center became an official International Baccalaureate (IB) School. This designation as an IB World School means Park Center has joined its partner, North View Junior High as one of only 21 MYP programmes in the state of Minnesota. It is currently offering the Middle Years Programme (MYP) to ninth and tenth grade students. The first IB students graduated in 2009. As with North View Junior High, Park Center is a magnet school open to any student in the Northwest Suburban Integration School District (NWSISD.) Park Center is one of only 20 public schools in Minnesota that are authorized to offer the Diploma Programme. In addition to International Baccalaureate classes, Park Center also offers college-level Advanced Placement classes.
The NWSISD is a consortium of seven districts in the northwest suburban area of Minneapolis which has been formed to promote integration and eliminate racial isolation of students in these districts. By creating magnet schools in IB, math & science, and in the arts the NWSISD has begun to bring students of diverse backgrounds together in programs based on academic excellence.
PCSH students come from about 20 different countries and speak roughly 35 different languages. Demographic information lists the student population as 36.0% Black, 31.5% Asian, 9.9% White, 16.2% Hispanic, and 1.3% are American Indian as of data from the Minnesota Department of Education in February 2024. The student population has 1,991 total students.
Departments: Arts, Business Education, Career and Technology Education, Cooperative Education, EL Department, Family & Consumer Science, Individuals & Societies(Social Studies), Language and Literature (English), Language Acquisition(Spanish, French, Hmong), Mathematics, Music, Physical and Health Education, Sciences, Social Work, Special Education.

## Athletics and activities
### Basketball

The Pirates Boys’ basketball team won the 2022 MSHSL AAAA state championship. The Pirates Boys’ basketball team placed 2nd in the 2023 MSHSL AAAA state championship.
The Pirates girls' basketball team won the 2014 and 2015 MSHSL AAA state championship.

### Hockey

The Pirates girls' hockey team won the 2000 MSHSL state championship.

## Theatre program

Each Spring, Park Center students perform a musical in the auditorium. Recent showings include Big Fish in 2020, Urinetown in 2021, All Shook Up in 2022, SpongeBob SquarePants (musical) in 2023, and Les Miserables in 2024. Students in the program are participants across many focuses including acting, technical crew, and pit orchestra.
Park Center also performs a yearly fall play.

## Notable alumni

* Jon Borchardt - Former starting tackle for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks.
* Dave Brat - United States Congressman from Virginia's 7th district
* Amani Hooker - Class of 16 safety, played football for Iowa University, and currently #37 for the Tennessee Titans.
* Quinton Hooker (born 1995) - basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
* Tim Jackman - Former NHL right wing for the Anaheim Ducks
* Tim Laudner - Former Minnesota Twins catcher.
* Pat Neshek - Former professional Major League Baseball player
* Ansu Toure - Professional soccer player (footballer), formerly of the Minnesota Thunder.
* Krissy Wendell (Pohl) - Former Women's Hockey Olympic silver medalist (Salt Lake City), two-time NCAA Champion University of Minnesota (2004 and 2005)