The school has more dual-enrollment classes on its campus than any other high school in Broward County. It leads the district in reassignment requests, meaning more students want to transfer in to Coral Springs High School than to any other high school. So there’s a lot to brag about at the home of the Colts.
"We have so many more choices than other schools, we have four innovative programs, we have so many programs for each different student,” said Vivian Suarez, the school’s principal.
For example, the Colt Chorus is an institution, 250 students in harmony, regularly winning superior awards. On the other hand, for kids who want to bang on their drums all day, the Colt Drumline makes a raucous noise that will make your heart pound. Different strokes, as they say, for different folks.
Let’s say your kid is a techie. The school has a four-year course in video game design, complete with motion-capture capability. It allows the students to design games with characters that move like real people. The course gives the kids an avenue into tech careers.
"Just knowing the ins and outs of gaming and computers, it’s gonna give them an opportunity to be able to launch to any kind of technology career,” said Jason Freedman, who teaches video game design. “Whether they do want to go into gaming and animation or they want to go into something like network engineering.”
Thanks to a partnership with the Coral Springs Fire Department, students here can train like real firefighters. They wear the gear, they practice with real hoses, they learn fire suppression and emergency medical response skills. The idea is to expose them to a career option.
"They get early education, they get a jump start on a career, a lot of kids when they started weren’t sure what they were going to do, and this gives them a little direction to let them know this could be something they’re interested in or not,” said Zac Roseboom of the Coral Springs Fire Department.
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The school also has a growing agricultural science program, in which students raise fruits, vegetables, and chickens. Those chickens produce lots of eggs, which are sent directly to the culinary program. Farm to table.
"So the agricultural science actually feeds, for lack of a better word, into the culinary so we have our own chickens that hatch eggs and our students prepare the eggs,” explained Principal Suarez.
The students do catering jobs, they make lunch for the faculty, and they get real-world culinary experience in the process.
Coral Springs High also has a solid athletic program. Their boys won the class 8A state basketball championship last year, and the cheerleading team almost won a national championship, recently finishing second in a nationwide competition.
"What makes us most proud is that we really have a welcoming environment, our teachers and staff welcome all students, and we treat everyone as is they are really focused on just that one child,” Suarez said.
