West Orange High School recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary in 2025. While many things have stayed the same, the school has changed a good deal. 

The school was founded in 1975 and opened, making the first class to graduate was the class of ‘76. The first principal was principal Lester Dabbs and many teachers came from Lakeview, Ocoee, or Evans High School. West Orange was originally created as a school to take excess students from Lakeview and Ocoee. 

The school was very modern for its time and had a very similar layout to the sister school, Apopka High School. The three wings of the school were arranged in a triangular pattern. The band, gym, and arts buildings were in one wing. The media center and lunchroom made up the second wing. The final wing was the classrooms. The classrooms were all in one building and helped fend off weather. 

1985

Joe Worsham

Girls Cross Country

1995

Fan Favorites of the 90s

The school has evolved and grown in the two decades since opening. The school was crowded and made students grateful for the extra time to get to class. Senior Kristina Stebbins said “This school is too crowded. Thank goodness, we have longer to get to class this year because I know I would be at least 5 minutes late for each class the way the halls look. People

would hardly have enough room to go from class to class. 

High school in the nineties was a time for growth, development and making lifelong friends. You find people with similar interests and spark up conversation and before you know it you’ve become friends. The fan favorites of the 1994 seniors at West Orange for multiple categories are listed below

• The favorite actor was Christian Slater and the actress was Nicole Kidman. The favorite movie of the year was The Fugitive and the favorite show was Martin.
• While the favorite music genre was country, SWV (Sisters With Voices) was considered the best music group. 
• Chili’s was chosen as the favorite restaurant by

  

  the senior class, with cheeseburgers and pepsi as the favorite food and drink.

• The best hangout spot was at JJ Whispers – a club open in the 80s and 90s. The Altamonte mall was close second where plenty of people spent their weekends and did most of their shopping at Gap. Teens also spent plenty of time at the beaches, New Smyrna being the favorite. 
• The Chevrolet Corvette was the car to have in 1995. It was voted fan favorite by a long shot. Seniors also enjoyed gaming and they’ve decided the coolest Nintendo game anyone could have was Street Fighter. 

2005

Florida’s Wreckage

Three decades after opening West Orange students had gone through a bit of a wreck. Like the rest of central florida three hurricanes in just the span of a month caused tremendous damage to both the campus and students homes. Hurricane Charley, a category 4 reaching 150mph winds, Hurricane Frances, a category 2 hurricane reaching 105 mph winds and finally Hurricane Jeanne a category 3 reaching 125mph winds. Together, mother nature’s events accumulated around 29.5 billion dollars in just property damage.  

Because of these hurricanes, all other extracurriculars were cancelled. But, that didn’t stop these fierce warriors from pursuing their high school experience.

Water Sports Club

This club was sponsored by Mr. Andrew Jackson and president Wes McMillian. During holidays and weekends, the members water boarded at Lake Butler and Starke Lake.

JV Football

The JV team achieved their goal of being undefeated this season. Winning every game being at least ten points ahead. 

2015

Varsity Cheers First Win

The cheer team of the early 2010’s was the first cheer team in school history to win the state competition for cheerleading. That year the West Orange varsity football team finished the season 13-2 with the cheerleaders keeping the crowds hyped and engaged the whole time. 

While the West Orange cheerleaders have won state competition three times since the founding of the program over 40 years ago. Our most recent win was during the 2023-24 season. In that same time window, the schools first win was in the 2012-12 season.

At the time, senior Kortney Gauger, said that of all the things she will remember from her time at West Orange, was “being a part of the first team to win states.” 

2025

Modern Day

From opening in 1975 to modern day 2026, our school has had its fair share of accomplishments and changes keeping us all growing and changing. Our sports teams are still playing hard and achieving their goals of becoming better than the previous year. The football team ended the season with a record of 10-2. 

West Orange has come a long way from their opening, 50 years exactly. While many things have changed, loads have stayed the same and we look forward to seeing how the school changes in the future and generations flood through the doors beaming with warrior pride.