Grant High School (Portland, Oregon)

Infobox Education in the United States
name= Ulysses S. Grant High School


imagesize=130x117px
motto=
motto_translation=
streetaddress=2245 NE 36th Avenue
city= Portland
state= OR
zipcode=97212
url= [http://grant.pps.k12.or.us/ grant.pps.k12.or.us]
schoolnumber=
schoolboard= [http://www.pps.k12.or.us/ Portland Public Schools]
affiliation=
superintendent=
trustee=
principal= Joe Malone
curriculum viceprincipal= Jeff Spaulding
disciplinary vice principal= Brian Chatard
disciplinary vice principal= Kim Patterson
administrator=
schooltype=Public
grades= 9-12
language=
area= Portland Grant Park District
mascot=
teamname= Generals
colors= Blue & Grey
founded= 1924
enrollment= 1,693
enrollment_as_of= 2006-2007

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 2008, its principal is Joseph Malone. Two movies—"Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995) and "Nearing Grace" (2005)—were filmed at the school.

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.Clarifyme|date=March 2008

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.

pecial 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.

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 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.

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, American 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, and the football team made it to the State Championship semi-finals.

Faculty

GHS's principal for many years was Toni Hunter. In 2008, she was promoted to districtwide administration. Joe Malone was chosen as the new Grant High principal. The vice principals of GHS include Brian Chatard and Kim Patterson. 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.

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. [ [http://www.pinkmartini.com/band/pm_band.html Pink Martini | The Band ] ]
* Lorry I. Lokey, founder of Business Wire, philanthropist
* Ken Nolan, screenwriter, wrote screenplay to Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/person/210411/Ken-Nolan/filmography Ken Nolan - Trailer - Showtimes - Cast - Movies - New York Times ] ]
* Darryl Motley, MLB Kansas City Royals outfielder
* Bob Packwood, lawyer, former U.S. Senator
* Robert H. Klonoff, Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School [ [http://www.lclark.edu/dept/lawadmss/klonoff.html Robert Klonoff, Dean & Professor of Law ] ]
* 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 [ [http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/heros/hero2004/5428.html Volvo for life Awards: Robina Suwol ] ]

References

External links

* [http://grant.pps.k12.or.us GHS official webpage]
* [http://www.grantonian.com The school's newspaper, "The Grantonian"]