Grant High School (Portland, Oregon)
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| Ulysses S. Grant High School | |
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| Address | |
|---|---|
| 2245 NE 36th Avenue Portland, OR 97212 |
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| Information | |
| School board | Portland Public Schools |
| Principal | Toni Hunter |
| Enrollment |
1,693 (2006-2007) |
| School type | Public |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Area | Portland Grant Park District |
| Team name | Generals |
| Color(s) | Blue & Grey |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Homepage | grant.pps.k12.or.us |
Ulysses S. Grant High School (commonly known as Grant High School), founded in 1924, is the largest high school in the Portland Public Schools District. It is located in Portland, Oregon's Grant Park District. As of 2004, its principal is Toni Hunter. Two movies—Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and Nearing Grace (2005)—were filmed at the school.
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[edit] Overview
Freshman classes at Grant are divided into five different communities: The G community, the R community, the A community, the N community, and the T community. (the US community was eliminated for the class of 2009 due to its smaller class size), in which non-elective classes a freshman takes, excluding mathematics, is determined by which community he or she is placed in. All freshmen take the same classes in their communities; Modern World History, English 1-2, and Biology.[clarify]
[edit] Curriculum
GHS offers many different elective and non-elective classes including but not limited to ten different mathematics courses, fourteen different science courses, two years of accounting classes, four different foreign language courses (French, Spanish, Japanese and classical Latin), and multiple performing arts classes.
[edit] Special programs
English Language Learners is a program for students whose native language is not English. Students in the ELL program take science, math, and social studies classes in addition to English as a Second Language classes.
Grant High School houses the last installment of the "Japanese Immersion Program", a 13 year immersion program, begun at Richmond Elementary and continued at Mt. Tabor Middle School. Ethnic composition: 41% African American 40% Caucasian 8% Hispanic 1% Native American 7% Asian 3% Other.
[edit] Extracurricular activities
Grant High School is recognized in the community for its high student involvement. Some notable programs are its outstanding theatre department which will be sending a group to perform a new work at the Fringe Festival in Scotland. Also, the school boasts a strong Constitution Team which has placed 2nd in 2005 and 3rd in 2004, 2007 and 2008 in the national We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution competition. Grant offers several different clubs ranging from community service groups to the philosophy club to the Model United Nations which is over 100 members strong. The Speech and Debate team is one of the few in the state to not have an actual class.
Co-curricular activities at Grant include Choir and Band. Grant High School is one of only two schools in the Portland Public School District to have both a full time band and choir teacher. Both programs are traditionally strong and have also seen recent success. Grant's Wind Ensemble has been named PIL (Portland Interscholastic League) Champion 3 of the last 4 years its last championship coming in the 2006-2007 school year. The group was also awarded first place at the Northwest Invitational Band Competition in 2007, and received a silver medal at the Heritage festival in Anaheim California in 2007. The Jazz Ensemble has also been recognized repeatedly as one of the top groups in the region. In 2007 they received gold at the Willamette Jazz Festival, finished 5th at the Northwest Jazz Festival, 2nd at the Clackamas Community College Jazz Festival and repeated as Champions at the University of Portland Jazz Festival.
[edit] Athletics
GHS's mascot is the Grant General, in honour of its namesake General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant officially has baseball, cross country, basketball, softball, football, dance, tennis, golf, volleyball, wrestling, track, swimming, and soccer teams. Student- and/or parent-run bowling, dragon boat, snowboard, ski, and lacrosse teams also exist. There are also informal soccer, football, and ultimate games played. The Grant football, basketball, and soccer teams have proven themselves to be powerhouses in the last few years and are routinely favored to be the Portland Interscholastic League champions. In the 07-08 academic year, the Grant men's basketball team was Oregon State Champion, the men's soccer team was second in the state, and the football team made it to the State Championship semi-finals.
[edit] Faculty
GHS's principal is Toni Hunter. The vice principals of GHS include Brian Chatard, Kim Patterson and Jeff Spalding. Five different counselors work at the school, each one assigned to a certain number of students as determined by a combination of their last names and by what 'community' students were part of their freshman year. The counselors continue to advise those students throughout their high school career.
[edit] Notable graduates
- Terrell Brandon, NBA All-Star inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2006
- Beverly Cleary, children's author
- Charles Crookham, former Oregon Attorney General
- C. Gordon Fullerton, astronaut
- June Jones, NFL player and coach
- Thomas M. Lauderdale, pianist, founder and artistic director of band Pink Martini.[1]
- Ken Nolan, screenwriter, wrote screenplay to Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down[2]
- Darryl Motley, MLB Kansas City Royals outfielder
- Bob Packwood, lawyer, former U.S. Senator
- Robert H. Klonoff, Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School[3]
- George Shaw, NFL quarterback, inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980
- Sally Struthers, actress, spokeswoman
- Robina Suwol, Internationally celebrated Children's Health Advocate & Founder of California Safe Schools[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Pink Martini | The Band
- ^ Ken Nolan - Trailer - Showtimes - Cast - Movies - New York Times
- ^ Robert Klonoff, Dean & Professor of Law
- ^ Volvo for life Awards: Robina Suwol
