Pembroke Hill High School

Background
Pembroke Hill, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is one of the oldest teams in the nation. They have placed consistently at the regional, state, and national level, advancing to the national competition 20 times as of 2011, which means that only two teams have had more national trips. Pembroke usually does very well at nationals, scoring as high as third in 1996.

Part of Pembroke Hill’s success is due to the many invitationals it participates in. They typically attend two or three a year.

Often, many students from Pembroke Hill Middle School participate in the SO program at Pembroke Hill High School. The middle school and high school teams interact on a consistent basis, maintaining close relations and supporting each other in terms of resources and motivation. However, a large portion of the team is composed of students new to Pembroke.

The team does not cut its students. Coaches primarily use the invitationals’ results, along with additional tryouts, to determine which students are strong in the events. The Pembroke SO program typically has around 20-25 students participating. Eventually, that number decreases until 15 competitors and around five alternates remain.

Head Coach Connie Wells retired after the 2016 National Tournament, having led the team to 22 Nationals. Kimberly Cho, who was a student on the Pembroke Hill team that placed third in the nation, became the head coach at the beginning of the 2017 season.

Pembroke Hill High School was the highest-ranked private school at the 2018 National Tournament, and with approximately 450 students in the high school, it is by far the smallest school ranked in the top 20.

Contrary to popular belief, Pembroke Hill High School does NOT have a class for Science Olympiad.