Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon)

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name=Franklin High School (Oregon)
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location = 5405 SE Woodward St,
Portland OR 97206
Multnomah County
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city = Portland
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zipcode = 97206
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principal = Dr. Charles Hopson
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mascot = Fighting Quakers
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enrollment = 1236
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homepage = http://www.franklin.pps.k12.or.us/

Benjamin Franklin High School is a public high school located in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1911, it is Portland's second oldest high school. Franklin is located in central southeast Portland in the South Tabor neighborhood, at the foot of Mt. Tabor. Although primarily a neighborhood school, Franklin also attracts students from the entire Portland metropolitan area.

This years freshman class(2008-09) contains over 300 students. Approximately 200 of those students attended Franklin last year as 8th graders from one of the PPS schools in the area that closed around the beginning of the school year.

Courses of study range from art to woods/finish carpentry. Honors and advanced placement courses in English, mathematics, science and social studies offer students the opportunity to earn college credit. Programs in law and public service, business technology, automotive-technician training, foods and child development allow students to tailor their schedules to personal interests and future academic or career goals. Franklin offers opportunities in five of the six new Career Pathways created by the district. Multiple electives are available in the following areas: Human Resources, Arts and Communications, Business Management, Health Services, and Industrial & Engineering Systems. Students may also take electives in business technology, ceramics, choral and instrumental music.

The musical arts program, which contains a beginning strings and woodwinds group, a string ensemble, a Jazz Band, and an Orchestra, all taught, and led by James "Jimmy" Sours. In spring of 2006 Franklin High School's Symphonic band accompanied senior student and Concertmaster Michael DeBenedetti performing Carl Maria von Weber's Clarinet Concerto #1. DeBenedetti was Franklin's first Symphonic Band Member in over 10 years to place 2nd in the Oregon State Solo Contest.

Once the largest school in Oregon, Franklin has seen its student body decline due to the migration of families to the suburbs. Franklin continues to have a strong neighborhood focus, with local families sending third and even fourth generation students to the school. Franklin is supported by the Quaker Club, a version of the old Parent Teacher Association (PTA), bringing parents and community members together to support school projects and activities and by the fast growing Franklin Alumni Association.

The School contains two statues of Benjamin Franklin, the revolutionary statesman for whom the school is named: a wooden figure hand-carved by a local artist in the 1970s and a larger stone statue near the Franklin Bowl athletic field, affectionately known as Benjy. Benjy is an honorary graduate of the school, having been fitted for a massive mortar-board cap and tassel by the Class of 1976. The wooden statue had his cane stolen sometime around 2007 by vandals who broke into the school.

The Franklin Bowl, which was once named the fourth best place in Oregon to have a sports game, was created during the construction of the school when a marsh was drained to make way for a planned walkway from the main street to the front of the building. The drained area left a massive hole over 20' deep. Rather than filling the hole, it became the site of the school's football stadium. Because the new field blocked the planned walkway, Franklin became the only school in Portland to have its main entrance face the athletic field and the address at the back door.

Franklin's mascot is the Fighting Quakers and the school colors are maroon and gray. A member of the Oregon School Activities Association's Class 6A Portland Interscholastic League, the Quakers have a long history of athletic success, winning numerous city titles in many sports, as well as state basketball championships in 1921, 1956 and 1959.

Notable alumni

* Howard Hobson, legendary college basketball coach who led the 1939 Oregon Ducks to the first ever NCAA basketball championship
* Steve "Snapper" Jones, former professional basketball player in the American Basketball Association (Oakland, Carolina, St. Louis) and National Basketball Association (Portland) and current television analyst for NBA TV. Led the Quakers to the 1959 Oregon State Basketball Championship.
* Legedu Naanee, [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/players/8426/ SI.com - NFL - Legedu Naanee Player Page ] ] professional football player, San Diego Chargers (2007- )
* Richard Unis, 89th Associate Jusctice of the Oregon Supreme Court and former special master for the United States District Court.
* Betty Evans (Grayson), all-star pitcher for the World Champion Erv Lind Florists softball team and member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
* Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse.

References

External links

* [http://www.franklin.pps.k12.or.us/ Franklin High School website]