We are establishing a new phase in the history for Shortridge High School as an International Baccalaureate high school with new traditions. This IPS school is now the proud home of more than 1,000 scholars who have chosen the challenges of the IB program and have set a new course for education in the State of Indiana. This website will chronicle their journey as they move into positions of leadership, scholarship and service.
We understand that the present is closely linked to the past and therefore find it fitting to share a short history of our founder, Abraham Shortridge. Shortridge was born on a Henry County farm in 1833, attended Fairview Academy in Rush County, and then taught school for ten dollars a month. He later studied near Richmond, Indiana first at Greenmount College and then Whitewater College in Centerville where he remained for six years as a student and then served as a teacher.
In 1861 he moved to North Western Christian University (now Butler University) where he was hired as principal of the preparatory department. Two years later he was offered the superintendency of the Indianapolis schools but refused. He was elected to the post and was finally prevailed upon to accept the task.
The total valuation of the school system at that time was less than $90,000; all the facilities were in bad repair and the teaching staff was poorly prepared. He obtained permission to employ women teachers who were paid at a lower rate than men, and then set about improving the tax structure and the legal basis of the school board. Substantial buildings were erected, and a normal school for the education of teachers was organized, a branch that continued well into the present century.
Shortridge started a high school for city pupils, and admitted the first African American student to secondary education in Indiana. After dealing with blindness and ill health, Shortridge left the superintendency in 1874, but was persuaded by the governor to direct the affairs of the new Purdue University. He left that position after two years, again due to his physical deterioration, and spent his last years on a farm east of Indianapolis.
An influential educator for fifty years, Shortridge was one of the founders of the Indiana State Teachers Association, and was active in national movements for the betterment of the schools. Shortridge went on to serve as the second President of Purdue University following Richard Owen. In 1919 Abraham Shortridge died and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. It is this remarkable man’s legacy of service and integrity which we emulate; it is his work that laid the foundation upon which we continue to build.
Fight Song
Sung to the tune of the “Artillery Caisson Song” (Over Hill, Over Dale, We will hit the dusty trail, As the Caissons go rolling along.)
Hit ‘em high, hit ‘em low,
Come on Shortridge let us go;
We are for you with all of our might.
Push them back, never yield,
In the gym or on the field,
Keep a-going with pep and with fight.
Then it’s rah, rah, rah, RAH (louder)
Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah!
Nine rahs for Shortridge and the team
(Team! Team!)
From far and near
You will always hear
Come on Shortridge; oh Shortridge let’s go.
(Come on Shortridge!)
Come on Shortridge; oh Shortridge let’s go!
Alma Mater
In the land of milk and honey
In the Central West,
Stands a school of many virtues,
Ranked among the best,
Glorious Shortridge is her title,
Loved by old and young;
Let her name be duly honored,
Let her praise be sung.
Many come to her for knowledge,
Wide her portals stand,
Bidding youth to pause for learning;
Youth from every land,
Greek, Italian, Hoosier, Chinese,
All have entered here;
Now they join to raise the chorus
With good Shortridge cheer
In athletics as in studies,
Stand we at the head;
In the race for higher culture,
We are never let.
Sound the chorus, speed it onward
Over vale and bridge;
Praise to thee, our alma mater,
Hail, Oh hail! Shortridge
Hail to the Colors
Hail to our colors blue and white.Hail to the school that stands for right.Let’s help to make our schoolThe one that is the bestAnd keep her o’er the rest We’ll win whate’er we try to do.We’ll fight for our dear white and blue.We’ll always be loyal,We will never fail you, ShortridgeHail, oh, hail!