Southwest High School

Southwest High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is one of 10 high schools in the Minneapolis Public Schools district. Southwest offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. History Construction for Southwest High School began in 1938, and the school was opened in 1940, with the main entrance at Beard Avenue South and West 47th Street. The school drew 841 students from Minneapolis, Edina and Richfield its first year. Several additions were made to the original structure. The first, a second gymnasium and several new classrooms in an area later known as the "North" building, opened in 1956; additionally, Southwest became a 7-12 school that same year. The second, was an entirely new building that became Southwest Junior High and was connected via a single hallway, opening in 1968; the new building containing another gymnasium, a new library, and a pool. With the new gymnasium in the "East" building, the gymnasium in the original structure was turned into a 700-seat auditorium. With the reorganization of Minneapolis schools in 1982, Southwest returned to just grades 9–12, with seventh and eighth graders going to Anwatin or Anthony Middle Schools. Most of the students who attended West High School were transferred to Southwest when it was closed the same year. In 1987, the International Baccalaureate Programme began at Southwest. Currently, all 9th and 10th grade students follow the IB Middle Years Programme curriculum.