Columbia High School (Mississippi) Explained

Columbia High School is a 4A High School located in Columbia, Mississippi, United States. The principal is L.V. McNeal. It is in Columbia School District. It is a Mississippi Landmark.

The architecture of the building is an example of European-inspired modernism, and was featured in the French architectural journal l'architecture d'aujourd'hui.^[4] It was built in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project.^[5]

In the 2021-2022 school year, the student body was 49.89 percent White and 45.37 percent African American.^[1]

Notable alumni

• Ernest Duff (1931-2016), businessman, lawyer and Mormon bishop^[6]
• Walter Payton, hall of fame former Chicago Bears running back who died in 1999, and the namesake for the Walter Payton Award
• Gus Hunt, American cybersecurity expert, and former intelligence officer. He is the managing director and cyber strategy lead for Accenture Federal Services. He formerly served as the Chief Technology Officer for the Chief Information Officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
• Jaheim Oatis (2022), offensive tackle for the Alabama Crimson Tide^[7]

Extracurricular activities

Marching Band

The CHS Marching Band has won 9 MHSAA state championship titles in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2023, & 2024 ^{[8] [9]}

Athletics

Football

The CHS Football Team has won 2 MHSAA state championship titles in 1982 and 2021. ^[10]

Baseball

The CHS Baseball team has won 1 MHSAA championship in 2011.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Columbia High School. National Center for Education Statistics.
2. Web site: Superintendent's Office. Columbia School District.
3. Web site: McNeal Aims to Make CHS an 'A' School . Columbian Progress Newspaper. June 25, 2021.
4. Web site: Michael Fazio: Columbia Mississippi High School . 2012-09-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215209/http://home.nctv.com/mfazio/mhs_columbia.htm . 2016-03-03 . dead .
5. http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7jz;chunk.id=d0e1854;doc.view=print Hines, Thomas S., William Faulkner and the Tangible Past: The Architecture of Yoknapatawpha, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996, ch. 8, p. 106
6. News: Southern Tire Mart founder Ernest Duff dies . 4 October 2018 . Tire Business . 1 June 2016.
7. Web site: Jaheim Oatis - Football . University of Alabama Athletics . en.
8. Web site: 2022 MHSAA Marching Band Championship Results. Mississippi High School Activities Assosiation. October 27, 2022.
9. News: Campbell . Joshua . November 1, 2023 . Marching Wildcats Go Back-To-Back: Columbia Band Wins 9th State Title . The Columbian Progress . November 4, 2023.
10. Web site: Athletics. Columbia School District.