Anoka Senior High School

Being a student here, I've had one of the most negative experiences in my life. Drugs, discrimination, racism, suicides, and little visible efforts to create bonds between the "family" show that this school talks more than it makes happen. The teachers can praise as much as they'd like, but even the students know that we're all just going through the motions of having school spirit--it's hard to take pride in something that lacks motivation, change, production, and support for its own.
--Submitted by a student

I attended Anoka Senior High School although I was transferred my senior year so I wasn't able to graduate from the school. The school has great teachers that influenced my life who I still remember to this day. Overall I believe that Minnesota has a high bar for education, and I thought the cirriculim was really great at this particular school. They had a program that students could enroll in to receive college credits during their Jr. & Sr. year which is a huge jump start in the process. Not only do you start getting college credits early, but you learn what the college experience is like by getting your feet wet with one or two classes a semester which makes the transition easier.

Anoka is a great school when it comes to academics, activities, sports, and teachers; but it has a huge drug problem and more and more kids are winding up in gangs. I have heard too many stories about kids getting messed up. If you look beyond this, the school is a great place that produces some of the best young men and women I have ever seen.
--Submitted by a parent

Best high school experience ever. My boys are proud to attend Anoka. Teachers and administration are wonderful. The music program is unequaled anywhere. The football program is wonderful at the underclassmen level but is very political at the varsity level.
--Submitted by a parent

I have one graduate & one current senior at AHS. The school's enrollment declined after Andover High opened. This is a large school district as a whole, but I feel AHS has been a good school. Keeping involved is key to any students success. Attend conferences, check out their website, attend a sporting event. My daughters lettered in academics & sports.
--Submitted by a parent

Yes, it is crowded, athletics are mediocre (although great hockey programs), but music department is terrific. It's known state-wide, and often receives excellent marks in competitions (for band, orchestra, and choir). Academically, this school has the potential to prepare students to go to Ivy League schools (and typically sends a few each year to US News Top 25 schools). It offers 3-4 AP courses per year, which isn't too bad. The teachers need to have more experience teaching for the AP tests, because the average AP test score would be a 2 (out of 5). Would the kids who go to Ivy League schools go to those schools regardless of which school they attend? Maybe, but Anoka nutures kids who want to excel, and provides them with more challenging options if necessary. Overall it's a great public school where there are plenty of academic and extracurricular opportunities and niches for students.
--Submitted by a former student

Achedemically the school is good to great and moving in the right direction. In sports it needs work. Some of the youth coaches have limited knoledge of what it takes to put together a winning program and some students are umprepared for H. S. sports when they get there.
--Submitted by a parent

6 of our 7 children attended this school for some or all of their high school education. Our overwhelming opinion is the school is extremely overcrowded. Your child will be but a number and the experience is impersonal and more. We got everyone of ours out of there asap.
--Submitted by a parent

Great School and Great Extracurricular activities and sports! Only problem is with overcrowding.
--Submitted by a parent