Bellaire High School

I am currently a junior at Bellaire and know it's ins and outs. There are so many clubs and opportunities, it is highly competitive, especially in the top 5-10%. Bellaire students are good at everything, except for maybe football and band. the work is extremely time consuming, as most of the great students are involved in multitudinous extracurriculars. The facility is horrendous; the bathrooms are horrible, the A/C is unpredictable, and it looks like a prison. Walking down the hallways, you will see great diversity:class skippers, homework procrastinators, couples, fights, loiterers, the like. You get a full high school experience here. Some of the teachers are great, most are mediocre at best. I admit, it's the most competitive and academically succesful school in houston with a very diverse group of students. I have so far enjoyed my years at bellaire, but i feel that i could perform so much better in a not so competitive environment. Bellaire is where cheating is the norm and the students are nocturnal.
--Submitted by a student

BEST high school ever I've been in this school for a year, but it is so far the best school that I've ever attended. Bellaire has great teachers, and people here are really friendly and nice. Even though this school is very crowded, it has really good environment. This school has lots of different languages to choose from, along with many courses and sports. It also has many different levels to choose from (regular, college prep, pre-ap, AP, pre-IB, and IB). Even though there can be a lot of work, with few hours to sleep, but this will prepare you for later on in college. - A junior at BHS
--Submitted by a student

Bellaire is by far the BEST public school around. Though it doesn't get as good of ratings as CVHS or Debakey or some other schools, it is by far a better school. I have many friends and have visited debakey and talked with the students there, and I attended Carnegie, supposedly one of the top schools in the nation, for a year. Bellaire's curriculum is far better and more advanced than Carnegie's, and it has so many more opportunities and a better, happier environment than Debakey. Bellaire gives students the opportunity to grow and develop as people, and to choose their path in life. Though I can mostly only speak for the advanced courses, in general the teachers and administration have been EXTREMELY supportive and accommodating, as long as one has a willingness to learn and puts in effort as best they can. It is very stressful, and at times difficult to handle, and I definitely do not get the amount of sleep I should, but it is definitely worth it because the overall experience is so wonderful.
--Submitted by a student

Its diverse but really challenging

Well, I have a contrary opinion to the previous viewer.Bellaire has a very healthy environment and Yes, you have to work hard to go to the Ivy League and if there is no competition kids often complaint it is Boaring and off course hard work pays off.Bellaire is a great school very safe,great programs and very near to medical center.I reccomend Bellaire high school to anyone who wants their kids to be focus and do well overall.
--Submitted by a parent

There are definitely many criterions to consider when one attempts to objectify the quality of a school. If you look at highschool as a vehicle to an Ivy League or a Tier-1 college, then Bellaire is the perfect choice for you. However, the academic environment, while inspiring, is rather fierce. For many, the aggressiveness and the competitive nature of the school is too much to handle. Students will literally have many instances where the workload is simply too much to handle, even if the student do not sleep. My personal sleep schedule never allows me more than 5 hours of sleep, after which I must once again return to a mundane cycle of study, eat, study, and then sleep. Of course, this mundane lifestyle succeeded in rocketing me into an Ivy League school, yet I often question myself whether it was worth it all. Reflections by a Bellaire Senior
--Submitted by a student

I am a senior currently attending Bellaire; contrary to the previous reviewer, I would definitely send my kids to this school. I am also an officer of many organizations (if it adds to my credibility, specifically Prez/VP of both academic/nonacademic clubs). This school's environment has significantly contributed to who I am. Agreed, the administration can sometimes be unreasonable, but I completely disagree with the statement about 'horrible' teachers. If any student puts in the effort to converse with teachers outside a classroom setting , he/she will definitely find themselves in the company of passionate educators. This statement is unequivocally true, especially if the student pushes himself/herself to enroll in the hardest AP/IB coursework. At those levels, teachers like Peek, Ghosh, Newland, Clark, Mazzoni, and Casteel prove that inspiring academia exist in our country's HS system. Teachers today are under-appreciated in society; it's time we treat them with some fairness.
--Submitted by a student

I am a student from the inside of Bellaire, and honestly I think my opinion is more relevant than parents or teachers. Bellaire High School is a school I would never send my children to. The administration, counselors (apart from Ms. Rubin) and teachers (apart from the RARE few) are not there to help they are there because they have no other option or they, are the few that actually enjoy teaching. I am an officer of four organizations at Bellaire and I am a member of six active clubs, I am not just a slacker who hates Bellaire just because. I feel as if the administration does a horrible job of helping the students, they are more out to hurt students. I have never felt as if Bellaire has helped me in anyway, most of my teachers have been slackers, push overs or just ignorant.I intend on transferring soon.
--Submitted by a student

Bellaire is one of the top schools in the nation with many graduates went to MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and other great schools.
--Submitted by a teacher

A mathematics teacher, Ed Mazzoni, was awarded the American Star of Teaching from the United States Department of Education in 2005, the highest honor a secondary school teacher can receive. After competing with thousand of students in the United States, a student won Third Place in the 2005 National High School Essay Contest. The Bellaire economics challenge team won First Place at the 2004 National Economics Challenge in West Region and Third Place in the 2006 National Economics Challenge. In December 2007 a Human Geography teacher was selected to participate in Polartrec's research program, traveling to Antarctica to spend 2 months working on a project entitled 'Monitoring the Effects of Human Activities at McMurdo Station, Antarctica'.
--Submitted by a parent