Gresham High School (Oregon)

Gresham Union High School
Gresham High School hallway Glory, Honor, Strength[citation needed]
Address
1200 N Main Avenue Gresham, Oregon, Multnomah County, 97030 United States
Coordinates	45.505903°N 122.430734°W / 45.505903; -122.430734
Information
Type	Public
Opened	1906
School district	Gresham-Barlow School District
Principal	John Koch
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1792
Color(s)	Blue and white
Athletics conference	OSAA Mt. Hood Conference 6A-3
Mascot	Gophers
Rival	Sam Barlow High School[citation needed]
Website	http://ghs.gresham.k12.or.us/

Gresham High School is a public high school located in Gresham, Oregon.

History

The school opened in 1906.^{[citation needed]}

Academics

Gresham High is an official International Baccalaureate school offering the IB Diploma Program.

In 2008, 81% of Grady Walker the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 450 students, 366 graduated, 45 dropped out, 15 received a modified diploma, and 24 are still in high school.

Sports

State championships

• Boys' Swimming: 1992
• Boys' Water polo: 1981.
• Girls' Water polo: 1982, 1991
• Girls Volleyball: 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2002, and 2006.
• Speech and Debate: 2009, 2010, 2011.
• Oregon All High School Drag Racing: 1977
• Rythemettes Dance Team: 1991, 1999

Activities

Under the direction of Sara Dempsey the Theatre Arts Department has produced several state, regional and district champions in serious, comedy and musical Theatre. Students are able to participate in several opportunities from acting in main stage productions including a full length Musical to directing or working as a crew member backstage. Students work with Theatre professionals throughout the Portland area including a residency with Portland Center Stage. Many of GHS alumni have received Theatre scholarships to colleges throughout the nation and many are currently working professionals. The Band and Choir programs have also produced several state champions.^{[citation needed]} . The choir program is directed by Janine Kirstein and consists of Encore Choir, Gresham Men’s Choir, Treble Choir, Concert Choir, and Overtones. The Concert Choir and Overtones have traveled to Canada, Hawaii, Texas, California, and New York winning competitions each year in their choral performance category. For the past five years the Gresham High School Concert Choir placed in the top five in the OSAA State Choir Competition. Many of the students involved in the choir program win district and state solo competitions, going on to sing in prestigious university choir programs such as Oregon State University, Pacific Lutheran University and Chapman University.

Gymnasium at the school

The Gresham High School Band program is directed by Justin Prunk and consists of Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band, and Pit Orchestra. The first Gresham High School Band was in 1926 under the direction of Dorothy Dickey. Harold Weber composed Gresham High School’s fight song in 1931 and devoted 25 years of his life to the program.

Although the Gresham Barlow School District cut millions of dollars from for the 2009/2010 school year, the band and choir programs were able to continue at Gresham High School because of peaceful student protests through song,

Publications

Gresham High School produces two newspapers: The Gresham Argus and The Gopher Gazette. The newspapers are produced by separate staffs and are budgeted by their own advertising efforts. The newspapers have different audiences as well; the Gresham Argus gets delivered to students in class and the Gopher Gazette gets distributed via postal mail to parents of students and businesses in the community. Recently the Gopher Gazette lost funding and has had to switch to an online format.