J. M. Hanks High School, commonly referred to as Hanks High School, is one of seven public secondary schools in Ysleta Independent School District, which encompasses much of east El Paso, Texas. Hanks' primary feeder school is J.M. Hanks Middle School. Additionally, many students from nearby Eastwood Middle School go on to attend Hanks High School.
History
J.M. Hanks High School is named in honor of former Ysleta superintendent Jesse Mack Hanks, who retained the position for a full fifty years from approximately 1939 until his death in 1989.[2] For his extended service to the district, Hanks was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from New Mexico State University in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1965 and was named superintendent emeritus by Ysleta.[3]
The school was opened in 1978 to accommodate El Paso's eastward expansion and to ease overcrowding at nearby Eastwood High School, which lies 2.5 miles to the west of Hanks. The school initially enrolled seventh, eighth and ninth graders comprising the classes that would graduate in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The class of 1985 was added for the 1979–80 school year as those students became seventh-graders. As those four classes "moved up" each year, the student body thus remained virtually intact until Hanks reached standard high school set of grades 9-12 for the 1981–82 school year. Hanks' enrollment had reached 1,800 by 1980, with the inaugural class graduating 372 students in May 1982.
Student publications
Hanks High School has four student-run publications, each produced in a different media. The Exeter is an annual magazine that is filled with student-submitted content including poems, short stories, and drawings, all based around the year's chosen theme. Scriptoria is the monthly news and features magazine (formerly a newspaper) that consists of current events ranging in scope from the small-scale school news to world news, as well as movie reviews, restaurant reviews, and editorials. It also manages [www.hanksmedia.com]. Hanks' yearbook is entitled The Shield and the theme of the book is chosen by the student staff at the beginning of each year. The Shield has won national awards in the past for its originality. Starting in 2003 the Shield Yearbook also started producing a DVD that highlights the year's events. KnightVision News is the student-run daily 10-minute closed-circuit television broadcast, and consists of school announcements, news, weather, sports and special features. It is produced by students in the Advanced Broadcast Journalism class.
