Fresno High School is a four-year secondary school located in Fresno, California. Fresno High is the oldest high school in the Fresno metropolitan area and one of the few International Baccalaureate schools; in addition it continues to be the most populous and most diverse campus in Fresno. Elisa Messing is the 28th and current principal of Fresno High.
History
The growth of Fresno during the boom period of the 1880s brought about many changes, including the need to establish the city’s first high school in 1889. It was named Fresno High because it would serve all people in Fresno.
The initial student body was 50 students with three teachers and three grade levels, ninth, junior and middle. A year later, Fresno High became a four-year school when the senior class was formed by those who passed the third level.
The first classes were held on September 16, 1889, on the second floor of the K Street School, located at Santa Clara and K (now Van Ness Avenue) streets. T.L. Heaton was the principal. The curriculum was classicalâ€"â€"four years of Latin, English, history, science, and math. In June 1891, the first commencement ceremony was held at the Barton Opera House. Seven students graduated.
The new school quickly outgrew the available space and had to be moved to the White School, where the Memorial Auditorium is located today. Plans for a new high school building were developed. In September 1896, the school year began in the new building on 0 Street between Stanislaus and Tuolumne streets. The new back structure, with its clock tower, had the latest and most modern facilities, including a library, a chemistry laboratory, a gymnasium, and a theater-style lecture hall. Some people felt it was too far from town and that the land, which cost $7,500, was too expensive. In 1922, the school moved to its present site on Echo Avenue.
More than a hundred years after its founding, Fresno High continues to serve Fresno's students. The curriculum, though, has been broadened to meet the needs of the world's professions. However the opportunity to pursue a classical education, including the study of Latin, is still available to the students of Fresno High School. Fresno High School has foundations dating back to the 1800s. Fresno's second high school was originally located in downtown near "M" Street. The school was relocated several times. Freshmen students were once sent one-fourth of a mile away from their school to the Hamilton K-8 magnet campus. Fresno High School's current location is at 1839 North Echo Avenue, near Palm and McKinley Avenues. Fresno High School is surrounded by large homes (originally in one of Fresno's affluent areas) and large Fresno ash and pine trees. The campus retains most of its history and is one of the few schools to hold on to its original architecture. During 2002 the historic Royce Hall building caught fire and suffered minimal damage.
Academics
Fresno High School is one of the few accredited schools in the Fresno Unified School District to offer its students the full International Baccalaureate diplomas. The school has been offering its graduate students full IB diplomas since June 2007. The campus offers several advanced placement courses and requires the study of foreign language in order to receive a diploma, along with the completion of a 4,000 word essay and 150 hours of community service. The campus has received poor academic achievement scores in the past, but it has shown impressive improvement. The campus employs 133 full- and part-time instructors, in addition to several guidance counselors, classified staff, administrative employees, one full-time psychologist and one full-time family therapist. The campus offers Spanish, French, Latin, and German language courses.
Performing Arts
Performing arts that are offered are Theater, Piano, Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Choir.
Sports
Fresno High is an active athletic school, maintaining several teams for both boys and girls in addition to several co-ed teams. The Fresno High football team continues "the oldest high school rivalry West of the Mississippi" known as the Pig Game. The Pig Game is an annual game in which Fresno High plays against its rival Roosevelt High School for a pig statue to hold for that year. The pig was at one time stolen from Fresno High's attendance office and a replacement was made. The campus offers Prep and Cheer, football,cross country, soccer (valley champion 2010-2011 season), baseball, golf, tennis, water polo, softball teams, basketball, track and field, swim, badminton, and a lacrosse team.
Structure
Fresno High's Campus has changed several times from its original construction downtown near "M" Street. The campus is currently one of the smallest in Fresno Unified School District. The campus is divided into several components. The two main components are "South Side" and "North Side", named so from their campus location. South Side campus houses Title I offices, the business, foreign language, science, and mathematics divisions. The North Side houses English, social sciences, art, and history divisions. Physical education, leadership and JROTC are housed on the westernmost portion of the campus. The drama and music divisions, in addition to various miscellaneous classrooms, are attached to Fresno High's historic Royce Hall. Also there is a little known of fallout shelter entrance at the rear of the handball courts, (in the middle where the metal grate is on the ground), that goes down stairs to a door that leads under "goat hill" and then under Royce Hall, this is all the information known at this time.
Notable alumni
- Mike Connors, actor
- Dick Contino, accordionist
- Dick Ellsworth, former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball
- Geoffrey Gamble, former president, Montana State University
- Jon Hall, actor
- David Harris, anti-war activist and journalist
- Bobby Jones, New York Mets and San Diego Padres pitcher
- Arthur Scott King, physicist and astrophysicist
- Les Richter, Los Angeles Rams football player
- William Saroyan, writer
- Tom Seaver, Major League Baseball pitcher
- Cher, singer and actress
- Lee Cronbach, educational psychologist
- Charles Amirkhanian, composer and broadcaster
- Jim Maloney, former Major League Baseball pitcher
- Pat Corrales, former Major League Baseball catcher and manager
- Philip Austin, comedian/writer, member of The Firesign Theatre