Bay City Western High School (colloquially referred to as BCW or WHS) is a high school located at 500 Midland Road, Auburn, Michigan, and a part of Bay City Public Schools. Its mascot is the Warrior, and its colors are brown and gold. The school fight song consists of music from the march Winchester (from Winchester High School, Winchester, Virginia), with original words written for Western High. The entrance roads to the school are Bryant Boulevard, named after the original principal, and Noell Way, named in honor of the school district administrator and head of the school board at the time.
Western High School opened its doors in September 1973 after two years of construction. It was built due to overcrowding at Bay City Central and T. L. Handy High School. During this time the students who lived in Bay City would go to school in the morning from 7:00 AM to 12:00 Noon; and those outside of the city would go in the afternoon, from 12:00 Noon through 5:00 PM. In 1973, new boundaries were established, with mostly everyone west of Two Mile Road attending Western High School. Seniors (and some juniors) were given the option to complete their education at Handy or Central. On the first day of school, there were Handy kids on one side of the room and Central kids on the other side. By the end of the year, they were all Western High Students. When the building opened, construction on some parts of the facility had not yet been completed, including the main hallway, the swimming pool, the football stadium, and the commons. There were student desks still in boxes in some parts of the building. In some cases, students ate their lunches on top of carpet rolls in the commons that had not yet been installed. It has been claimed that, after Handy High School was converted back to T.L Handy middle school (having been Handy High School since 1940) in 1990, two of its former students, now being forced to attend Western, went to their old school's parking lot and danced their own personal Homecoming, rather than attending Western's. At commencement that year, former Handy students were permitted to wear their traditional red caps and gowns, while Western students wore brown and gold.
In the 1980s, it was announced that Western Middle School would be created and would share a building with Western High School. To this day, Western Middle School occupies half of the building that was originally designed for the high school. The two schools are able to operate simultaneously because of different schedules. In addition, classrooms are physically separated into different areas of the building. The two schools share the building's swimming pool and commons, but each has its own gymnasium.
In the 1980s, some portions of the school's tunnel systems collapsed due to water damage and were fixed with wooden beams to prevent future damage.
Bay City Western earned athletic state championships in 1999 in Michigan Division I Boys' Golf, and in 2013 and 2014 in Division 1 Baseball. In 2006 the Pompon team earned a state championship at the Highkick competition.
Western High School has the usual number of academic departments. These include English, math, social studies, science, computers, arts, broadcasting and communications, human services, physical education and industrial arts, all of which are separated into wings.
There is a library, now commonly referred to as the media center, is in between the high school and middle school sides. The area was remodeled before the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, installing new carpet, adding couches and chairs, and replacing old bookshelves with new ones.
The second floor hosts both middle and high school classes, consisting mostly of math, human services, and social studies. Science, social studies, and English classes are hosted on the first floor.
The first floor floor contains the main entrances, commons, and gym. To the east is Bryant Auditorium and the Arts Department, which offers classes such as art, auto mechanics, industrial drawing, welding, woodshop, video and radio, drama, choir and band.
Bryant Auditorium seats about 1200 people and is used for various activities including school plays and presentations. The region features a rehearsal/dressing room and an area for technical work with sound and lighting. In the upper portion of the auditorium, there is a lounge and access area for spotlights.
The Commons is the area in which students of Western High and Middle School eat. A trophy case is in the hallway at the front of the commons.
The school has both an upper and lower gym, plus a pool which ranges from 4 to 10.5 feet deep and has 6 lanes. It is used for swimming tournaments and practice for the Western swim team and for the swim unit in the school's P.E. classes. The pool also has diving boards and starting blocks.
The Bay City Western Football Stadium is commonly referred to as "The Cornfield". It is believed that the most attended game at the stadium was between Bay City Western and Midland High on November 4, 2005, in a district championship playoff game, which Western won 35âÂÂ21.
The grounds consist of tennis courts, practice fields, baseball fields, and track surrounding the football field. The school's campus includes numerous sidewalks, providing pedestrians access to Midland Road. The courtyard area, in which some students eat lunch, is located outside the main entrance.
The WHS band, also known as the Western High School Band, is the official band of Western High. The school offers a concert, symphonic, jazz, and marching band. Their marching band performs concerts and at pep rallies.
Before every home varsity football game, the marching band will march from the east wing of the school to the football field to the sound of their cadences which can be heard from inside the stadium. From there they stay in still in a parade block pregame. This pregame routine consists of the "train" routine where they begin in concentric circles and slowly rotate before speeding up and running out while imitating the sound of a moving train. As well as the tomahawk, and the death march. From there they form a W, representing the school's logo, and play their alma mater and the "Star-Spangled Banner". In more recent times, the band has started performing one of their most famous routines â Trombone Danger Line. This consists of the trombone section and the drumline lining up on the home side of the track at the end of the first quarter. They will then perform their "Ts" and spins 3 times, getting faster each time. In the 2024 Central vs Western game, the band did this blindfolded. For 20-plus years, the school's concert band has consistently performed well at band festivals. The band leads the parade in the Bay City Western Homecoming and is featured in the Cornfest and the Bay City St Patrick's Day parade.
The demographic breakdown of the 1,102 students enrolled in 2022-2023 was:
320 of the 1,102 students were eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch.