Grant High School (Portland, Oregon)

Ulysses S. Grant High School

Address
2245 NE 36th Avenue Portland, Oregon, Multnomah County, 97212 United States
Information
Type	Public
Opened	1924
School district	Portland Public Schools
Principal	Vivian Orlen^[1]
Grades	9-12^[2]
Number of students	1610^[3]
Color(s)	Blue and grey ^[4]
Athletics conference	OSAA Portland Interscholastic League 6A-1^[4]
Mascot	Generals^[4]
Newspaper	'Grant Magazine'
Website	grant.pps.k12.or.us

Ulysses S. Grant High School (known as Grant High School) is a public high school in the Grant Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is the largest high school in the Portland Public Schools district.^[5] Three movies have been filmed at the school—Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) and Nearing Grace (2005), and the made for T.V. movie, Reunion (1980).

1 History
2 Student profile
3 Curriculum
- 3.1 Special programs
4 Extracurricular activities
5 Athletics
- 5.1 State championships
6 Notable alumni
7 References

History

Grant opened in September, 1924, with 1191 students.^[6] After the Vanport flood in 1948, it was home to the Vanport Extension Center (now Portland State University) through the summer of 1948.^[6]

In the mid to late 1990s, student Tom Curtis, who was student body president at the time, homecoming king, and an Eagle Scout, was convicted after having led friends in a year-long string of armed robberies of neighborhood stores, mostly in Northeast Portland. When the robberies occurred he was the fastest runner on the cross-country team, as well as the 3,000 meters in track and field.^[7]

Student profile

The student population is 62% white, 22% African American, 7% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5% Latino.^[3] About 25% of Grant's students live out of boundaries and transfer in.^[5]

In 2008, 88% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 443 students, 388 graduated, 39 dropped out, 6 received a modified diploma, and 10 are still in high school.^[8]^[9] In 2009, 27% of the students were transfers into the school.^[10]

Curriculum

Special programs

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.

Extracurricular activities

The school boasts a strong Constitution Team which has been the state champion in Oregon eight times (2002, and consecutively 2004 to 2009 and again in 2011) and placed 2nd in 2005 and 3rd in 2004, 2007, and 2008 in the national We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution competition.

Grant's Wind Ensemble was also awarded first place at the Northwest Invitational Band Competition in 2007 and 2011, and received a silver medal at the Heritage festival in Anaheim California in 2007. The Wind Ensemble has performed at Disneyland in 2007, 2009, and 2011. In 2007, the Jazz Ensemble 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 honor of its namesake General Ulysses S. Grant.

State championships

Men's Football: 1943, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1963(tie w/No Salem)
Men's Gymnastics: 1982
Men's basketball team: 1969, 1986, 1988, 2008
Men's soccer team: 2008
Men's Tennis: 2005^[11]
Men's Swimming 2010
Men's track and field: 1930, 1931, 1939, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1988^[12]