Discover the Largest High School in Florida (And Notable Alums)

Florida has different types of schools at various academic levels, both private and public. Each school type caters to different needs.

The largest high school in Florida is Cypress Bay High School.

Keep reading to uncover interesting facts about the largest public Florida school. Also, we’ll cover a few notable alumni.

Cypress Bay High School – Largest High School in Florida

Cypress Bay School remains the largest school in the state. It is the most populous non-virtual school in Florida. It has the highest population among private and public physical schools. Below are exciting details you should know before considering enrolling your child there.

Cypress Bay is a public school open to Grade 9 through Grade 12 students in Weston, Florida. It offers various academic options encompassing 33 Advanced Placement (AP) courses. They also have honors courses, Cambridge AICE, and a dual enrollment program.

Extracurricular Activities

Besides that, the school has numerous extracurricular activities. This covers over 115 sports options and 70 student clubs and organizations. Cypress Bay is often the pilot school for the FBI and Broward County Public Schools partnerships. It offers a unique guideline for the STEM/ Cyber program, the second one of its kind nationally.

From its inception, Cypress Bay received the FCAT school grade, “A,” each year. However, there was an exception in 2009 when it got a B.

In 2016, the school placed in the U.S. News Best High School rankings. It scooped first place in Broward County, 21st in Florida state, and 243 nationally.

Cypress Bay is located at 18600 Vista Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33332. It is one of the 74 public high schools in Broward County.

Population

Cypress Bay has 4,659 students from Grade 9 to Grade 12. It has a top 20% math proficiency and top 10% reading proficiency based on the 2020-2021 results. About 66% of the students achieved proficiency in math, while 77% achieved reading proficiency.

The student-teacher ratio is 23:1. The school also has a high diversity enrollment of 74%. Additionally, about 15% of the school population is disadvantaged economically.

This school is rated among the top 20% in Florida due to high proficiencies and a high graduation rate. It ranks among the top 10% of schools with the highest graduation rates.

The History of the School – Story of Inception

The Cypress Bay High School groundbreaking began in 2001, with construction ending in 2002. It opened its doors in 2002 with 200 students from grades 9 to 11. This number exceeded its expected capacity.

During the 2003 – 2004 school year, grade 10 – 12 students attended the main campus, while grade 9 students attended the annex building in a different location. This continued until 2008 when the Grade 9 annex was eliminated.

From 2005 to 2006, they built a new building with 36 classrooms on the main campus. The new structure helped offset the overcrowding.

The 2007 – 2008 school year saw the school attain full enrollment capacity with 5,500 students. This made it the most populous school in the U.S. at the time.

The school’s growth continued to stabilize over the years. It still excels academically and in extracurricular activities.

Cypress Bay Rankings

This high school is ranked as the 36th high school in Florida. The school gives students opportunities for advanced placement coursework and exams. Generally, the school has a high participation rate in advanced placement, with 73% participating.

Nationally, Cypress Bay is ranked number 494. Usually, schools’ rankings are based on performance on all state-required tests and graduations. How well the schools prepare students for college is also considered.

Based on this, the Cypress Bay High School ranks 25 in Miami, FL, Metro Area Schools. It is also number 4 among Broward County Public High Schools.

In 2022, the school performed differently based on specific ranking indexes. According to the College Readiness Index Rank, Cypress Bay was 437 nationally and 39 in the state. Based on the college Curriculum Breadth Index rank, the school was 653 nationally and 411 in the state.

One can see how the school performs using the following markers:

• State assessment proficiency rank – 1,217 nationally and 45 in the state
• State assessment performance rank – 2,261 nationally and 84 in the state
• Graduation rate rank – 2,345 nationally and 159 in the state. In both cases, the positions tied with another school.

Student Distribution at Cypress Bay High School

Cypress Bay’s current student enrollment of 4,659 is impressive. The students’ distribution in the different grades is as follows:

• 9th Grade – 1,130
• 10th Grade – 1,156
• 11th Grade – 1,256
• 12th Grade – 1,156

As for the 74% diversity level, the distribution of nationalities differs. It includes:

• Minority Enrollment – 74.2 %
• White – 25.8%
• Hispanic – 61.6%
• Asian – 7.0%
• Black – 3.3%
• Two or More Races – 11.9%
• American Indian/Alaska Native – 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander – 0.1%

The gender distribution of students is almost equal. The school has 49% females and 51% males.

As for the economic distribution:

• 15% are economically disadvantaged
• 13% access free lunch programs
• 2% are on reduced-price lunch programs

Where is Cypress Bay High School Located on a Map?

Cypress Bay High School is located on Vista Park Blvd, in Weston, Florida. It is just 30 miles from the Everglades, 23.5 miles from Fort Lauderdale, and 35 miles from Miami. The school, across from Library Park, is accessible by Bonaventure Boulevard and is down the road from the Weston Branch Library.

Top Alums from Cypress Bay High School

The high ratings of Cypress Bay may explain its successful alums. Schools that do well academically tend to churn out many high achievers. Below are some of the top alums linked to the Cypress Bay High School.

Daniel Bluman (Born 1990)

Daniel is a renowned Colombian-born Israeli Olympic athlete. He is a show jumping rider who made a mark in the sport. He was part of the 4-rider squad representing Israel in 2019. Daniel and his team qualified to represent his country in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

He attended Cypress Bay High School and later attended Florida Atlantic University.

Steven Bohlemann

Steven is a Paralympic soccer player, born in 1989. He plays as a CP8 classic defender. His first big break was in 2016 when he was invited to the U.S. Paralympics National Team. He participated in the national team’s training camp.

Later he traveled with the team to the 2016 pre-Paralympics tournament. This took place in Salou, Spain.

Steven was born in Weston, Florida, and attended Cypress Bay High School. While at Cypress Bay, he excelled as a student. Bohlemann accumulated several academic honors, including the National Society of High School Scholars, the Science Honor Society, and the National Honor Society.

He graduated with a GPA of 3.89 and placed 18th out of the 1,150 students who graduated that year.

During his senior year, he became the sun-sentinel scholar-athlete. As one of the high achievers, he was allowed to be a two-sport athlete, competing in varsity cross country and boys’ soccer.

Matthew Dayes

Matthew was born in 1994. His career began at Cypress Bay High School, where he played high school football. Dayes continued to excel in football even after he went on to university.

As a running back, he played college football at NC State. His career progressed to the extent that the Cleveland Browns drafted him during the 7th round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Jake Miller

Jake is a famous singer, rapper, and songwriter born in 1992. In 2013, he released a debut album titled ‘US Against Them.’ By 2016, he released another EP called ‘Overnight.’

In 2017, he released a second album titled ‘2:00 a.m. in L.A.’, which he did as an independent artist. It was later followed by another album in 2018 titled ‘Silver Lining.’ His achievements did not stop there. In 2019 he released an EP titled ‘Based on a True Story.’

Jake Miller’s music excellence proves that Cypress Bay nurtures all talents equally. They encourage most of their students to make successful careers out of their passions. Jake is a successful artist who has released music albums and toured as part of his career journey.

Wrapping Up

Cypress Bay High School is a public school with the highest population in Florida.

Despite the many students, the largest high school in Florida continues to thrive and do well. It has managed to strike a delicate balance between academic and extracurricular excellence.

If the success of the alumni is anything to go by, then this is a school worth attending. The stats are favorable, with academic, sports, artistic, and athletic excellence.