Tomorrow (Tuesday), more than 1,500 students will be walking the halls again at Traverse City West Senior High School. But not one of those students was born before their school was, marking the first time that’s happened in the school’s 17-year history. The Ticker looks back at how TCAPS’ newest school came to be and how some students went from being Trojans to Titans in a single day.

Building Up
Joe Tibaldi, who had served as the Traverse City High School (now Central High School) principal from 1994 to 1997, would later become West’s first. But he recalls visiting junior high schools and PTA meetings detailing the need for a new high school. TC’s only high school had become one of the state’s largest, creating overcrowding issues for students and administration alike. Tibaldi assured groups the schools would be “functionally equivalent,” and that a second school would allow more opportunities for students to participate in activities. He also encouraged the community to foster a “respectful rivalry."

On June 12, 1995, local voters passed a $54 million bond proposal, $25 million of which was set aside to construct TC West.

Eventually the community was invited to weigh in on the name, mascot, and logo. Given the St. Francis Gladiators and the now Central Trojans, TCAPS leaned toward another ancient historical mascot. Ultimately students selected “Titans.” Students in grades 7-12 voted on a new logo, but the selection was deemed “too violent,” so the district settled on a shield containing a “T” and a wave.

Students picked green as their school color, and “Notre Dame gold” was selected to match.

Moving In
West was originally slated to open on the first day of school in fall 1997, but construction and inspection delays caused TCAPS to push back the date five times before Traverse City West finally opened on January 26, 1998.

Given the overcrowding issues, administrators had believed they had to get kids into the new school in the 1997-98 school year, even if it meant splitting students up mid-year. A detailed plan was conceived that would prepare for the split, but aim for minimum disruption to academics and student life. Students - who up until that point had been united as one class - were segregated into "Central" and West" classrooms that year, based on their intended destination. (While the split was determined based on geography, students were also offered the option to open enroll in either school.) Incoming sophomores also shared hallways, but never classrooms, with their cross-town counterparts on campus.

Traverse City West’s first class president, Ryan Kron, says he witnessed many students picking schools based on extracurricular activities; many football players gravitated West, while Central seemed to retain many star basketball and hockey players. Former choir director Russ Larimer moved to West at the time of the split; principal Tibaldi recalls some students following him.

Tibaldi deems it inevitable that in a district with multiple schools, each school will develop its own unique strengths. He adds that he witnessed many examples of collaboration and cross-town help. "Central’s robotics team helped West’s get better,” he says. “I think it’s been more collaborative from that perspective.”

The 1998 Trojan and Titan graduating classes experienced major milestones together even after the mid-year split: The bands would perform together at athletic events, playing both fight songs. Prom and graduation were combined. When the yearbooks arrived, seniors received a packet of portraits from the other school to insert into their own schools yearbook. And, in 2008, the classes came together once again for a joint ten-year reunion…leading some to still have conflicted allegiances.

“It’s cool to be a part of the first graduating class,” says Mariah Nisbett Powell (West ’98), “but I still consider myself a Trojan.”