Ashland High School (AHS) is a

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, near the

Southern Oregon University Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...

campus.

History

Fire

On June 3, 2006 at 2:30 pm, a fire broke out in the AHS room behind the gym during a farewell assembly for the seniors. Students and teachers were evacuated. The gym was heavily damaged and Mountain Avenue was closed for hours. No one was hurt during the fire. The fire department determined that the fire had been started by two students with firework sparklers.

Homecoming

The

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

dance on September 25, 2015 was the first school dance at AHS to feature

gender-neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) should avoid distinguish ...

"homecoming royalty". The change was initiated by student body presidents and approved by the principal at the time, Michelle Zundel. The change received wide publicity and was announced to the student body in a video shown to all students during the mandatory "advisory" class. On the afternoon of October 1, 2015, during the school's homecoming celebration, Ashland Police Department officers put the school into

lockdown A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

following a potential threat of a

school shooting A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple c ...

. An AHS alumnus had posted to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

a photo of a gun with threatening statements against the school. The

Umpqua Community College shooting The Umpqua Community College shooting occurred on October 1, 2015, at the Umpqua Community College, UCC campus near Roseburg, Oregon, United States. Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student who was enrolled at the school, fatally shot an assi ...

had taken place about three and a half hours prior, prompting the police to take the situation especially seriously. Students were kept in classes 10 minutes past the end of the day and the homecoming parade was cancelled. The threat was later deemed too vague to represent a significant danger.

Academics

In 2008, 81% of the school's seniors received a

high school diploma A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...

. Of 296 students, 239 graduated, 53 dropped out, one received a modified diploma, and three were still in high school in 2009. The school received a silver ranking from '' U.S. News & World Report''s 2010 "America's Best High Schools" survey.

Notable alumni

Michelle Alexander Michelle Alexander (born October 7, 1967) is an American writer and civil rights activist. She is best known for her 2010 book '' The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness''. Since 2018, she has been an opinion columnist ...

- writer, civil rights advocate * Chad Cota - NFL

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

Ann Curry Ann Curry (born November 19, 1956) is an American journalist and photojournalist, who has been a reporter for more than 30 years, focused on human suffering in war zones and natural disasters. Curry has reported from the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, S ...

(1974) -

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

award-winning television journalist * Alan DeBoer - state senator * David Fincher - film director * Sam Gaviglio -

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, Kansas City Royals * Gloria Greer - actress'Young Wife and Mother Dies Today' - Obituary of Elbert Gloria (Greer) Noelle - ''

Ashland Daily Tidings The ''Ashland Daily Tidings'' was a morning newspaper serving the city of Ashland, Oregon, United States. It was owned by Rosebud Media, like its sister publication, the Medford-based '' Mail Tribune,'' which has continued to publish. The ''Da ...

'', Ashland, Oregon, 6 June 1931 pgs, 1 and 4 *

Jeremy Guthrie Jeremy Shane Guthrie (born April 8, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, and Washington Nation ...

- MLB pitcher, Kansas City Royals * Johnny Harris - filmmaker, journalist, and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

* Kenneth Hobson -

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

four-star

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Darren Kavinoky Darren Kavinoky is an American Criminal defense lawyer, criminal lawyer and television journalist who is the creator of the television show ''Deadly Sins'' on Investigation Discovery. He is also the featured Criminal Interventionist on the Inv ...

(1984) - criminal lawyer and television journalist *

Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice ...

- Native American politician *

Tucker Reed Aisling Tucker Moore-Reed (born October 15, 1989), known by her pen name Tucker Reed, is an American novelist and disgraced civil rights activist who has been found liable for defamation and who was convicted of manslaughter in May 2020. Reed c ...

- Author, journalist, feminist activist and convicted killer *

Sonny Sixkiller Alex L. "Sonny" Sixkiller (born September 6, 1951) is a former American football player and sports commentator. He is currently a senior manager for business development for Huskies Sports Properties, the rights-holder for University of Washing ...

(1969) - WFL

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Hannah Stocking Hannah Stocking-Siagkris (born February 4, 1992) is an American comedian and internet personality who first gained recognition from the social media platform Vine. She later became known for her comedy videos on YouTube.

(2011) - social media personality *

Tessa Violet Tessa Violet Williams, previously known as Meekakitty, is a singer-songwriter, video blogger, actress, music video director, and former model. Originally a vlogger, over the years Tessa Violet's online content became devoted to her musical care ...

(2008) - internet vlogger, singer, and songwriter * Larry Wagner (1926) - composer and arranger
* Steffanie Leigh Garrard -

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

musical star * Shana Cooper - theatrical director * Solomon Weisbard - international lighting designer

References

{{authority control High schools in Jackson County, Oregon Educational institutions established in 1890 Buildings and structures in Ashland, Oregon Schools accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission Public high schools in Oregon 1890 establishments in Oregon