Garfield High School (Seattle, Washington)

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James A. Garfield High School
Location
Temporarily Housed at Lincoln High School:
4400 Interlake Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103
Garfield Building Location:
400 23rd Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122
USA
Information
Principal Theodore Howard II
Enrollment

1,595 (October 2005)
Faculty 92 (October 2005)
Type Public
Mascot Bulldog
Color(s) Purple & White
Established 1920
Information (206) 252-2270
Homepage http://www.ghs.seattleschools.org/

James A. Garfield High School is a public high school in the Seattle Public Schools district of Seattle, Washington, USA.

Located along 23rd Avenue between E. Alder and E. Jefferson Streets in Seattle's urban Central District, Garfield draws students from all over the city. Garfield is also known as the magnet school for the school district's Accelerated Progress Program for especially gifted students. As a result it has many college level classes for students to take ranging from calculus-based physics to Advanced Placement studio art.

Contents

[edit] History

James A. Garfield High School was founded in 1920 as East High School at its current location. Its original class consisted of only 282 students, transferred from Broadway High School. In just three years, however, the school's enrolment grew enough that the 12-room building was replaced with a brand-new, Jacobean-style building designed by Floyd Naramore. In 1929, the city commissioned the architect to design an addition for the school as enrollment peaked at 2,300 students. [1]

Garfield High School has long played a key role in its neighborhood, and as what is now known as the Central District has changed, so has the school's population. In its early decades, the school was noted for its Jewish, Japanese and Italian populations. After World War II, the neighborhood evolved into a predominantly African-American one [2] and by 1961, 51 percent of Garfield students were black, compared to only 5.3 percent of the general Seattle school district population. [3] In the late 1960s and 1970s, Garfield was at the center of the school district's attempts to avoid forced busing through various schemes, including turning it into a "magnet" school. This began the focus on music and science that have continued to this day.

[edit] Remodel

The buildings have lasted for over eight decades, but are being partially demolished in a sweeping redesign of the school which began in June 2006. The remodel is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2008 making the class of 2009 the only class to attend both the old and new Garfield. There was a fight to hold off the remodel to preserve the building's history including a city initiative to preserve the Quincy Jones auditorium as a historic site, thereby blocking the remodel.[4] The new design has wider hallways to better accommodate the mass of students during passing periods and a new state-of-the-art performing arts center.

[edit] Academics

Each year there are dozens of valedictorians, most of whom go on to the top universities.[5] In June of 2005, 44 valedictorians graduated.[6] In recent years, however, the school has faced widespread complaints that white students are served through Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors programs, and black students are not supported. [7] During the 2006-2007 school year Garfield offered over 120 different classes across 9 departments, including a huge array of advanced classes. A growing number of Garfield students also take classes from local Community Colleges through a program called Running Start, online from Stanford's EPGY, online from Johns Hopkins University's CTY program, or on-campus at the University of Washington.[8]

[edit] Athletics

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[edit] Basketball

Garfield basketball teams have won many regional and state titles, including a stretch from 1980 to 1991 during which time the Bulldogs won five Class AAA titles, eight Seattle Metro League championships, qualified for the state tournament nine times, and won the state tournament five times. The boys' basketball team has been state champions a total of eleven times and runner-up five times since 1949. The team has had several notable alumni, including Portland Trailblazers 2008 NBA All Star Brandon Roy (GHS c/o 2002, UW c/o 2006), and University of Washington alumni Will Conroy and Tre Simmons (GHS c/o 2001, UW c/o 2005). [9] Both the girls' and boys' teams were state champions in 1980 and 1987. More recently, the girls' team was state champions in 2005. [10] [11] [12]

[edit] Tennis

Garfield's tennis teams have been very successful recently in the KingCo 4A division. The Boys were League Champs in 1997, 2004, 2006, and 2007. [13] In 2004, 2006, and 2007 the Boys Tennis Team was undefeated (10-0).

[edit] Track & field

Garfield track & field teams have won multiple metro, district & state titles. Garfield won state titles in boys & girls track in 1987.

[edit] Volleyball

The Volleydogs have gone through their highs and lows over the years, but can always be seen with their pep band.

[edit] Programs, clubs, and activities

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[edit] Drama

Garfield's Drama Club is the school's second-largest student organization. The Drama Club is run entirely by students, who decide what shows to produce each year. Annually it supports six productions, including the mainstage Winter Show. The five remaining shows are collections of student-directed one acts and musical reviews; there are four "Dramatic Paws" productions, and one "Senior Directed One Acts". All of Drama Club's productions are produced, directed, stage managed, and performed by Garfield students.

In 2005, Garfield's performance of Cabaret received nominations for Outstanding Male in a Leading Role and Outstanding Male in a Supporting Role. It also won the Outstanding Program and Poster Design award and Special Honors in Educational Impact and Student Achievement. [14]

[edit] The Garfield Messenger

The Messenger is Garfield's bi-weekly student-run newspaper. The typical issue is over 20 pages, and many go over 30. The Messenger has been awarded by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association: placing in Best of Show in the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Conventions in 1997[15], 1998[16], 2000[17], 2001[18], 2002[19], 2003[20], and 2004[21]; honorable mention in the annual design competitions in 2000[22]; placing in the annual best photo competitions in 1998[23] and 2001[24]; placing in the annual best story competitions in 1998[25] and 2003[26]; and winning their most prestigious honor, the Pacemaker Award, in 1997 and 2006[27] and was a finalist in 2000[28] and 2004[29]. The paper won an honorable mention from the Society of Professional Journalists in their 2001 Excellence in Journalism Competition.[30] It received an IRC and the Environmental Foundation Award Grant in 2005 for its Sustainability Edition.[31] A column from the paper was reprinted by All About Jazz in 2004.[32] In 2006 and 2007, staff reporters won the NSPA's Brasler Prize, also known as the high school Pulitzer Prize.

[edit] The Watchdog

The Watchdog is the "Student-run political newspaper of Garfield High School," founded in 2007 by members of the class of 2008. The paper has no staff advisers and is distributed on a monthly basis. Issues generally focus on global or national problems, touching such topics as the environment, immigration, abortion, and education.[33]

[edit] Global Technology Academy

Global Technology Academy (GTA) is a private, non-profit organization run on the grounds of Garfield High School that uses students to refurbish donated computers and take them to underserved nations around the world. The students then take the computers to various countries, set up computer labs, and teach the students there how to use them. GTA has taken 30 trips abroad, bringing computers to children in Ghana, Russia, Mozambique, the Gambia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Philippines, Poland, India, Chile, Tanzania, and Turkey. As of March 20, 2008, GTA is no longer allowed to operate on the grounds of Garfield High School. It still exists as a private, non-profit organization.

[edit] Math Team

The Garfield Math Team is composed of several four-person teams. The teams consistently place at the top of Washington State math contests like the Northwest Math Championship, Mu Alpha Theta and Math is Cool. The team also participates in national contests like the American Mathematics Contest, the American Invitational Mathematics Examination and the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. Several team members have attended prestigious summer math camps like the Mathematical Olympiad Program, which prepares high school students for the International Math Olympiad. Six of the twelve members of the '05-'06 school year team represented Washington State at the American Regions Mathematics League in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Garfield Math Team also hosts the Garfield Annual Math Extravaganza. Only one adult (a teacher) is closely involved in the staging of the event, making it an enormous undertaking. The team must write several hundred unique problems, find sponsors and manage the contest itself, with hundreds of competitors. The competition is open to other math teams in Washington.

[edit] Music

The music program at Garfield High School has won numerous awards. It has seen several noted artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, and Ernestine Anderson, although Jimi Hendrix rarely attended school.

[edit] Orchestra

The orchestra, under the direction of Marcus Tsutakawa, currently holds Downbeat magazine's Best Overall Orchestra award, and has won the award multiple times previously. The orchestra program includes a symphony orchestra, a concert orchestra, and a thriving chamber music program. The orchestra has toured in Japan on numerous occasions. One tour included a joint concert with the Kobe Philharmonic Orchestra and a performance at the Asakuchi Music Festival in Satosho. It has also toured central Europe, finishing second in the internationally renowned Vienna, Austria, Austria Youth and Music Festival in 1997. The symphony orchestra went to Boston in March of 2007, winning first place, and plans on a tour Japan in 2008. [34]

The orchestra routinely takes first place at the Northwest Orchestra Festival in Gresham, Oregon. It was a finalist for the 2004-2005 GRAMMY Signature School Program award. Each year many students participate in the Washington State Solo and Ensemble Contest and bring home awards. In 2007, Marcia Croft placed first in bassoon and Emily Choi second in violin. Every year around 20 students from the Orchestra play in the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, often in principal positions. Garfield students also play in the Youth Symphony's Junior and Debut Orchestras, the Seattle Conservatory of Music Starling Scholar Chamber Orchestra, and many community ensembles. Garfield Orchestra members have had their original compositions debuted by the Seattle Symphony and the Youth Symphony. In 1995, Garfield guest conductor Gerard Schwarz, Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, said, "I don’t recall hearing a high school orchestra perform anywhere in this country on such a high level."[35]

Graduates of the Garfield Orchestra have been admitted to many of the top music programs around the country, including those at The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, The Curtis Institute of Music, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, New England Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Oberlin College[citation needed]. Former Garfield Orchestra musicians hold principal positions in some of the country's leading orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony.[citation needed]

[edit] Marching Band

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The Marching Band plays at all school football and basketball home games. The trumpet line is known as the "wall of sound".[citation needed]

[edit] Drumline

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The Garfield High School Drumline, also known as "Rick's Bricks" or "Purple Haze", represents the traditional styles of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities of the South.[citation needed] Each year, the drumline focuses on a different member of the HBCU (i.e. Southern University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, etc.) and learns their style. In these traditions, the drumline is an ensemble meant to demonstrate musicianship and technique.[citation needed] A great deal of importance is placed on choreography, dance ability, and the overall quality of the cadences and performances.[citation needed] The Garfield Drumline uses a traditional New Orleans instrumentation, and includes members from the Garfield marching band, jazz band, orchestra, and choir.[citation needed] Members of the drumline performed a Stomp-like show in 2005 called Conundrum, using every day objects like water bottles and trash cans to make beats.[citation needed]

[edit] Pep Squad

The Pep Squad plays at all home volleyball games and occasionally travels to nearby away games. The band consists of: one snare drum, a tom or tenor drum, a bass drum, trumpets, and occasionally trombones, saxophones, and cymbals. The squad typically cheers between games and during time-outs. Pep Squad plays marching band songs, drum cadences and songs from popular culture, like the theme to The Godfather or Jeopardy!. [36]

[edit] Jazz

Garfield's jazz program has won many state, national, and international awards and accolades in big band, combo, and individual categories. The Jazz Ensemble has toured Europe at least five times, most recently in the Montreaux and North Sea Jazz Festivals, and has attended the International Association of Jazz Educators' conference, as well as the Essentially Ellington Competition in New York City. It is the only band to win the 'First Place' trophy in consecutive years (2003-04). It is also the only band to have been invited to Essentially Ellington for ten years straight. [37] Its consistent placement in national competitions and long history of national recognition make it one of the best high school jazz bands in the country. [38]

Awards:

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival - Moscow, ID. (Division & sweepstakes awards):
1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001,2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Reno Jazz Festival Reno, - NV. (first place awards):
1981, 1982, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Clark College Jazz Festival - Vancouver, WA. (all sweepstakes awards):
1995, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006
Viking Jazz Festival - Poulsbo, WA. (sweepstakes or first place awards):
1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008
Bellevue Jazz Festival - Bellevue, WA. (all sweepstakes awards):
1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005
Mount Hood Jazz Festival - Gresham, OR. (first place awards):
1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2004
Fullerton College Jazz Festival – Fullerton, CA. (First place in ‘Heavy [Top] Division’):
1995
Essentially Ellington National Jazz Band Festival - New York, NY:
1999 (honorable mention), 2000 (honorable mention), 2002 (2nd place), 2003 (1st place), 2004 (1st place), 2006 (3rd place), 2008 (2nd place)
European Tours - The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Italy:
1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Musicians and singers

[edit] Athletes

[edit] Others

[edit] References

  1. ^ Broom, Jack. "Newsman Bill Hosokawa defeated bias, his own anger", Seattle Times, 2007-11-14. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 

[edit] External links

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Seattle Public High Schools
v • d • e
Kingco Athletic Conference [48]
4A
3A