Oregon City High School

Oregon City High School is a public high school in the northwest United States in Oregon City, Oregon, a suburb south of Portland.

Oregon City High School
OCHS in 2006
Address
19761 South Beavercreek Road

Oregon City
,
Oregon
Coordinates45.32°N 122.56°W / 45.32; -122.56
Information
TypePublic
Established1885 (1885)
2003, current campus
School districtOregon City S.D.
PrincipalCarey Wilhem [1]
Teaching staff75.75 (FTE)[2]
Grades9–12
Number of students1,984 (2018–19)[2]
Student to teacher ratio26.19[2]
Color(s)Red, Black, & White
     
Athletics conferenceOSAA Mt. Hood (6A)
MascotPioneer Pete
Team namePioneers
RivalWest Linn
NewspaperThe Elevator
Websiteochspioneers.org
Oregon City
Location in the United States
Oregon City
Location in Oregon

History

Oregon City High School was established 136 years ago in 1885 on the lower level of Oregon City on Jackson Street (45.357°N 122.596°W / 45.357; -122.596). Due to the growing number of students in the late 1980s, a freshmen campus was established in 1989 at Moss Junior High School on the southeast side of Oregon City and the main campus had just the upper three grades (10–12) for its last fourteen years.

In the early 2000s, construction began on the Moss Campus for the new high school, often referred to as Beavercreek. With its completion in 2003, OCHS became a four-year high school again for the 2003–04 school year. The original 1885 campus on Jackson was closed in 2003 due to the aftereffects of multiple disasters (fires and earthquakes) and the inability to effectively repair the damage. It is now the campus for the Clackamas Academy of Industrial Sciences (CAIS), and is still in use for basketball games and other activities.

Pioneer Memorial Stadium, adjacent to the 1885 campus, continues as the OCHS venue for football, soccer, lacrosse, and track and field.

Academics

In 1985, Oregon City High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States.[3]

Oregon City offers 14 Advanced Placement courses and is connected to Clackamas Community College, where some Oregon City Courses are taught by professors.

In 2008, 85% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 474 students, 405 graduated, 46 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 18 were still in high school the following year.[4][5]

In 2009, The Oregonian described the school as an "overachiever" at teaching reading and math, due to its achievement scores.[6]

Extracurricular activities

Choir

The Rendezvous Jazz Choir took first place at the Pleasant Hill Jazz festival. The OC Master Choir performed the song "Raua Needmine" (Curse Upon Iron) by the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis in the 2009 school year.

Athletics

The girls' basketball program won three consecutive USA Today girls' national championships from 1995 to 1997, as well as state championships in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, and 2014. They have placed at the State Tournament 24 years in a row starting in 1987.

State Championships
  • Girls' lacrosse: 2009, 2010
  • Baseball: 2012
  • Boys' cross country: 1996
  • Girls' track & field: 1988, 1989
  • Boys' Track & Field: 2017
  • Dance: 1992

Political cartoon controversy
A hallway at OCHS (2020)

During the 2004–2005 school year, a political cartoon drawn by a student concerning the border issue between Mexico and the United States, was taken out of context, making national news.[7][8][9] The cartoon was a depiction of two vigilante patrolmen discussing a "point system" for the capture of illegal immigrants. Local news coverage of the issue soon expanded to national coverage, bringing aboth criticism and support for the cartoonist and the newspaper.

Walkout Controversy

During the 2016–2017 school year, a Twitter post that showed a group of students holding a sign that included a racial slur was released, stirring controversy.[10] In the following days, many of the students united to express their views and opinions of the incident by walking out the classrooms and gathering in the courtyard, receiving a significant amount of media coverage.

Notable alumni

References
  1. https://pamplinmedia.com/cr/24-news/428018-335276-new-principal-chosen-for-oregon-city-high-school
  2. "Oregon City Senior High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  3. "Archived: Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
  4. "State releases high school graduation rates". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  5. "Oregon dropout rates for 2008". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  6. Hammond, Betsy (2009-08-31). "Oregon middle schools make big academic gains". OregonLive.com. The Oregonian. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  7. "Student cartoon draws ire, vow of unity", Suzanne Pardington, The Oregonian
  8. Scholastic Journalism In The News
  9. Unión América Newsletter Issue No 15, June 2005
  10. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/oregon-city-high-students-walk-out-to-protest-racism/283-342420114
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