About WCS

Wabash City Schools serves roughly 1400 students in the county seat of Wabash County in northeast Indiana. Wabash, a town of 11,000, is located 45 minutes southwest of Fort Wayne and 90 minutes north of Indianapolis. The district is comprised of 4 buildings: L. H. Carpenter Early Learning Center (PK-KG), O.J. Neighbours Elementary (1-4), Wabash Middle School (5-8), and Wabash Early College High School (9-12+).

Phot of Wabash High School building with date

WCS History

Wabash City Schools began serving the students of Wabash County with the creation of a new high school in 1869. The first 2 graduates from Wabash High School were in 1871. Since the late 1890s, Wabash High School’s colors have been orange and black. However, Wabash has gone through a few mascots during its illustrious history. Since the original high school was located down on Hill Street, the original student athletics were called the Hill Climbers. During the successful athletic runs in the late Twenties, many Wabash athletes were called Thomcats in homage to the future Olympic coach Billy Thom. But in 1936, the son of then superintendent O.J. Neighbours, Jimmy Neighbours, won a mascot naming contest. Young Jimmy came up with the Apaches after his childhood hero Geronimo and the Wabash High School mascot has been the Apache ever since.

WCS Academics

Wabash City Schools prides itself on its rich academic history. Wabash High School has graduated engineers who worked with NASA to land Apollo 11 on the moon; Emmy Award winning artist; and a Grammy Award winner singer. Wabash City Schools has adopted a college and career focused mission throughout the K-12+ spectrum. Promise Indiana, a college going identity initiative was born out of this spirit. Through the Promise Indiana Wabash County, all students have an opportunity to open a 529 College Savings plan. We offer K-12 STEM opportunities through Project Lead the Way curriculum. Beginning the Fall of 2017, Wabash City Schools became one of a handful of school systems to offer a Spanish Dual Language Immersion program in Northern Indiana. Students will have the opportunity to learn half the day in English and half the day in Spanish. This program is part of our commitment to ensuring our students have an opportunity to be competitive in the global community. Wabash High School gained endorsement as one of 15 Early College High Schools in the State of Indiana. In addition to offering Indiana High School Diplomas, Wabash University High School offers a 30 credit Indiana College Core Certificate transferrable to any state post-secondary institution. This allows our high school student the ability to complete their first year of college while in high school and at essentially zero cost.