Mission

To provide excellence in teaching and learning that enables all students to become lifelong learners and productive citizens.

Vision

At Helen Cox, we strive to create an environment that promotes student success and prepares them to excel in post-secondary pursuits.

Melanie Moore

melanie.moore@jpschools.org

Regular Schedule Hours: 8:20 a.m. - 3:40 p.m.
Early Release Schedule Hours: 8:20 a.m. - 1:10 p.m.

Front Office Hours 7:50am – 4:00pm
Discipline Office Hours 8:30am-11:00am; 2:01pm-4:00pm

Helen Cox High School was named after Helen Cox, an inspirational leader in education, who spent her career striving to make education more accessible to West Bank residents.

Helen Cox was born in 1872 and was a life-long resident of Gretna. She taught for 51 years which included her time as being principal and elementary teacher at McDonough and also one later at Gretna High School.  Teaching ran in her family. Her brother George was an educator, as well as her sister, Hilda, who was also a teacher who taught for 42 years.

Helen Cox is known to many as the inspiring and driven founder of the first schools in the West Bank. Because there were no high schools on the West Bank back then, she became very determined to have one established to serve the residents of Gretna.

A year after Ms. Cox began her drive for a high school on the West Bank, Lee Hall High was opened, where Ms. Cox served as Vice Principal. Ms. Cox continued her mission for secondary education and in 1908, thanks to some money from the John McDonough Educational Fund, another new school was built.

Several of Helen’s former students had generous accounts of things she did to share at a reunion. For example, in 1941, she called all the male students into the auditorium and said she would give every student who joined the military a diploma on the spot. Quite a few students took her up on her offer. During one Mardi Gras season, students built a float in the basement, but didn’t realize it was too big to get it out of the door until it was completed. Ms. Cox had the custodian take down the wall, rather than destroy the float that the students had worked so hard on. Ms. Cox died in 1967 at the age of 95 years old. A school was named after her, two years later, in 1969.

Helen Cox High School has come a long way since 1969. Helen Cox High School serves a diverse group of students, representing cultures from around the world. Helen Cox High School also offers a wide variety of clubs and events and a multitude of classes.  The school is a place striving to provide high levels of education, enabling all students to become life-long learners and productive citizens.

Alma Mater

Hail to thee dear Helen Cox
Thy name we’ll forever sing
Thy honor shall we always claim
Thy fame forever ring
Our hearts, minds and souls
You haved graced with
knowledge true,
Dear Helen Cox
We pledge our best in loyalty to you

Colors

Red & Gold

Mascot

Charlie the Cougar

Motto

“Maturity, Responsibility, and Self-Discipline”