# Andrews High School (North Carolina)

Andrews High School (AHS) in Andrews, North Carolina serves grades 9–12 and is one of only three high schools in the Cherokee County Schools System. As of 2007 it had a full-time teaching staff of 27 teachers giving an average of 11 students per teacher. In 2024-25 enrollment was 232. The school's capacity is 530.
The current campus consists of a main classroom and administration building (Building A), a gymnasium and cafeteria building (Designed by Chivous Gilmer Harill, 1962. Built after the original three-story school was burned down months earlier), a third classroom building built in 1970 as the Junior High (now Building B), plus a band & art building (Eric Townson, 1985), and a carpentry class building (Eric Townson, 1987).

## Athletics

Andrews' sports teams are known as the Wildcats. The football team plays at the Hugh Hamilton Stadium, track meets are on the Kenneth Moore Track (in the stadium), and basketball and volleyball play in the school's gym, named the Ken Solesbee Athletic Center.

### Sports teams

* Baseball
* Basketball
** Girls state champs - 1977
* Football
** State champs - 1958, 1966, 1967
* Soccer
* Softball
* Track
* Volleyball

### Facilities

Gym, weight-room, showers, track

## History

Andrews High School's name and the school itself was incorporated on March 3, 1893 by the North Carolina General Assembly. The school had already been in existence before this date. Andrews High School originally started as a private school and operated that way until around 1915.
Andrews High School was built in 1914 and opened in 1915. The building was a three-story facility. The school had parts that the current facility lacks today, such as an auditorium. The building was located on the property of Andrews Elementary on what is locally known as "School House Hill". All of the Andrews schools were located on this hill until 1962.
Andrews fielded its first football team in fall 1929. The team's 50 year anniversary was celebrated October 19, 1979, with original players attending the homecoming game.
In 1952, the first edition of AHS's yearbook, The Wildcat was published. The name is still on the yearbooks with the latest edition being the 2024 Wildcat. Special editions such as the Wildcat Centennial (2005) have been published. The Wildcat Centennial was published celebrating the 100th anniversary of the town of Andrews as an incorporated town.
On Feb. 20, 1962, the two-story brick school building was destroyed by fire overnight. Classes were then held in the town’s Baptist and Methodist churches. A new 48,000-square-foot high school building saw one wing open in the spring of 1963 and another wing open later that year. Chivous Gilmer Harrill was the architect for the building. Harrill also designed the Murphy High School campus. The old building's bell is across the street at Andrews Elementary, in the middle of the front driveway loop.
In 1970, the Andrews Junior High School building was constructed south of the cafeteria and gymnasium building. This was the first expansion to the current high school campus. In 1974, the school's marching band and concert band program was founded. One of the school's teachers named Mary Byrd had spent two years organizing the program. Today, the marching band is known as the "Pride of the Valley Marching Band". Around 1978, the enrollment at Andrews Senior and Junior High was about 600, and the enrollment at the nearby elementary school was of about 800, totaling about 1400. Andrews had a percentage of 64% of graduates who move into higher education, compared to the state average of that time of 30%. 98.6% of that 64% received scholarships or financial aid through the efforts student counselors. In 1978, Andrews was number 3 in the state of North Carolina of scholarship money awarded. Andrews was the top school in North Carolina for placement in summer jobs in 1979. Andrews had up to 8 sports around 1979, which was very high over the usual 2 or 3 sports for a school of its size. Band, art, and chorus were offered at Andrews High School, which was not usually found in schools of small enrollments. These three are still offered as electives today. An on-campus masters program was offered at Andrews with the help of Western Carolina University.
The Kenneth Moore Track was constructed at AHS in 1990. This constructed was featured on a page on the 1991 Andrews High School yearbook highlighting improvements to AHS and the town of Andrews throughout 1990. TVs were also installed in the school in 1990.
Andrews High operated as a junior and Senior High School from its original opening in 1915 until 1999 when the new Andrews Middle School opened. Andrews High was a 7-12 school, and Andrews Elementary held K-6 across the street. The building of Andrews Middle was completed around the beginning 1999, and classes at the new school began in August. Andrews High now operates as a traditional 9-12 high school.
Around 1992, Andrews High was renovated. Renovations included changing windows in the three main buildings, new entrance doors to the Admin and Gym/Cafeteria building, and new bleachers in the gym. Between 1998 and 2005, Andrews High was once again renovated. The most notable were the exterior changes, as a new roof was built on the main building (Building A), with a gable roof, instead of the previous flat roof, giving the building a taller look. Removal of the skylights in each building occurred. The gymnasium is now the only part of the school with skylights. The ceilings in all the classrooms were lowered. The original stage in the gym was converted into the weight room.
In 2012, the former Junior High building, Building B, had an expansion on the west side and on the north part of the building. On the north part, a large new classroom with two offices was added and is now used for chorus today. The west side of the building had restrooms added.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrews High School did not have a graduation for seniors in the class of 2020. Instead, pictures of the graduates were put up on utility poles in the town from just east of the intersection of Main Street and US-19, to the intersection of Main Street and Wilson Street. This began a new tradition of graduates' portraits and names being put up on each of the 18 poles from the area (most have two on a pole while others have three or four). Since 1964, graduations have primarily been held on the football field in the Hugh Hamilton Stadium, or in the Ken Solesbee Athletic Center, depending on weather conditions.
In May 2020, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted to consolidate Andrews, Murphy, and Hiwassee Dam High Schools. The state awarded a $50 million grant to build a new central high school in Peachtree, but after public outcry newly elected school board members voted to return the money and maintain the status quo.

## Superintendents & Principals of Andrews High

When Andrews High School operated as a private school, there was a principal. This would change when AHS switched to a public high school around 1905 after the incorporation of Andrews. From 1905 to the merger with Cherokee County Schools in 1969, Andrews City Schools did not have a principal, but rather a district superintendent. The last superintendent before the merger was Landrum Wilson.

### Andrews High School Principals (c.1893-1905)

* O.C. Huskins (c.1899)

### Andrews City Schools Superintendents (1905-1969)

* John H. Highwood (1905-????)
* F.C. Nye (c.1923-????)
* C.W.E Pittman (????-1932)
* J.J. Stone (1932-1935)
* Isham Barney Hudson (1935-1951)
* J.E. Rufty (1951-1959)
* Charles O. Frazier (1959-1967)
* Fred W. Rogers (1967-1968
* Landrum Wilson (1968-1969)

### Andrews High School Principals (1969-Present)

* Mack D. Jones (1969-1971)
* William R. Pipes (1971-1976)
* Maynard Brown (1976-1981)
* William R. Pipes (1982-1983)
* Joseph C. Morrow (1982-1988)
* S. Tim Coffey (1988-1998)
* Mike Rogers (1998-2004)
* Olin O'Barr (2004-2006)
* S. Tim Coffey (2006-2008)
* Virginia Haynes (2008-2015)
* Dr. Lisa Anderson Fletcher (2015-2021)
* Lance Bristol (2021-2024)
* Dr. Sheryl Rogers (2024-)

## Jean Christy

Jean Christy was a former English teacher at Andrews High School who retired in 1970. She was well known around the community for many years. She had helped out a lot at her church in town. Miss Jean Christy was born on May 20, 1904 and died at the age of 111 on May 28, 2016.
(From Ms. Christy's obituary)
"She was a native and lifetime resident of Andrews. After high school, she attended Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia and graduated in 1928, after which she began her teaching career in Virginia and North Carolina. Eager to continue her education, she took summer classes in California and Wisconsin. Jean taught high school English and Social Studies in Andrews for many years before retiring in 1970. She was a greatly beloved teacher and friend to her pupils, and many of them continued their friendship with her long after graduation. As class sponsor for many years, she enjoyed taking her students on trips and attended class reunions well past her 100th birthday. She was a dedicated and active member of Andrews United Methodist Church for most of her life, where she had taught Sunday School for many years and was active in many ways."
Just across the street, the road that leads to Andrews Elementary School was renamed from Walnut Street to Jean Christy Avenue in 2016.