Olive Branch High School is a Mississippi Tech Prep School and a part of the DeSoto County School System. It has a student body of over 1550 and a faculty and staff of over 100. It is currently the 7th largest high school in the state of Mississippi, and the largest in DeSoto County. The principal is Mr. Barry Owen. He is assisted by Mr. William McCulley, Mrs. Vickie Bullock, and Mr. Michael Murphy. The Director of Guidance is Mrs. Patricia Jack.  She is assisted by Mrs. Nancy Josey and Ms. Angeline Kern. The Superintendent of Education for the DeSoto County Schools is Mr. Jerry Baird.

The school moved into the present facility in January of 1996. This building was part of a $35 million building initiative taken on by the county schools that provided one new high school, three middle schools, and renovations to several other schools in the county, including Olive Branch Intermediate and Olive Branch Middle.   To keep pace with the growth in the county, eight new classrooms were added to the facility in 1999.  During the spring and summer of 2001, 8 additional rooms, along with an additional building containing 2 technology labs, an art lab, and 6 classrooms was added to the school for the current school year.  The middle school has added an additional 17 rooms, a band hall and renovated the existing building.  This project was completed for the 2000 - 2001 school year.   Olive Branch is currently the fastest growing community in the state of Mississippi and the sixth fastest in the nation.  From 1990 to 1999, Olive Branch has grown from a small town of 3,000 to a large community of over 21,000.  The county schools are in the process of adding an entire new campus in the center of the county called DeSoto Central.  It currently contains an elementary school with students in grades K-9.  Future plans call for a new High School on the campus site.  The new campus is scheduled for completion in the year 2003.  To alleviate further crowding the lower grades in Olive Branch, Center Hill, a new K-5 school, opened in August 2002.  

  Olive Branch offers the student body many challenges. There are numerous clubs and organizations that are available to the students. From the Art Club to the Spanish Club, with Interact and FCA in between, the students contribute to the community in which they live.  Interact adopted a section of Mississippi Highway 305 and picked up trash.  The Explorers Club provides the students with the chance to travel abroad.  For Spring Break 2002, a group of 22 are planning a trip to Spain visiting Madrid and Barcelona.  The Spanish Club traveled to Costa Rica, French students visited Paris, and a group of English students visited London and Scotland. The English Department is sponsoring a trip to France during Summer Break 2002. During Spring Break 2001, they traveled to England and Ireland, visiting London, Oxford, Stratford, Dublin, Cork, and Killarney.  In the past, the group has traveled to Athens, London, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Venice. 

In addition to the clubs, Olive Branch offers students a wide range of competitive activities in which they can participate. For boys there is football, baseball, track, basketball, tennis, golf, power lifting and soccer. For girls, fast pitch softball, tennis, golf, soccer, volleyball, track, and basketball.  In 2001, the boy's varsity golf team won the school's first ever state championship by capturing the Class 5A state title on their home course at Cherokee Valley.  In addition to these athletic teams, there are Junior Varsity and Varsity Competition Cheerleading and Dance Teams that are award winning squads. The cheerleading and dance teams regularly compete at the national competition in Orlando,  Florida.  Olive Branch also has a fine musical tradition. The band regularly competes at the state level in marching and concert.  

When the school moved into its new home, we also moved into a new football stadium. It was a very sad night when the Quistors played the last game in "The Hollow" as the field at the old school was named. One tradition ended and a new one started on "The Hill" as the play-by-play announcer for Quistor football, Mr. Jimmy Woods, started calling the new stadium. The facility will rival any in the state.   Due to the rapid growth of Olive Branch and the school, the Conquistadors now compete in Class 5A, challenging state powerhouses Starkville, Columbus, and South Panola.  

This page was last edited Friday, December 13, 2002 03:40 PM