Bremerton High School is four-year

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

secondary school in the port city of

Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, west across

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, in the Bremerton School District. Between 1993 and 2007, Bremerton High School contained grades 10–12 for enrolled students, but starting in the 2008 school year, the school facilitates grades 9–12, where grade 9 was previously contained at Bremerton Junior High School. Several changes in the district's grade configuration have meant

freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

have been in and out of the building. In 2015, the school came to national attention following the suspension of football coach Joe Kennedy, who would pray at the 50-yard line of the field after varsity games. In 2022, the resulting lawsuit reached the Supreme Court, where it was decided in ''

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District ''Kennedy v. Bremerton School District'', 597 U.S. ___ (2022), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held, 6–3, that the government, while following the Establishment Clause, may not suppress an individual ...

'' (2022) that Kennedy's

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

rights had been violated by the suspension.

History

The original Bremerton High School was founded in the 1920s with the first high school building. From at least the 1940s, the school was located in West Bremerton. In 1957 the school was split into West High School (which remained in place) and East High School, located across the

Port Washington Narrows The Port Washington Narrows is a tidal strait located in Bremerton, Washington, United States. The northwest entrance is marked on the west side by Rocky Point, and the southeast entrance is located at Point Turner on the west side and Point Herro ...

in East Bremerton, on Wheaton Way. In 1978, "Bremerton High School" returned when East and West were combined, and its first commencement was held on June 8, 1979. Ronald K. Gillespie, former principal of West High School, was the first principal of the new Bremerton High. For the first few years, BHS occupied the buildings of former East High School. In September 1988, following the completion of a new facility at the original location of Bremerton/West High, the student body was moved back across the water to 1500 13th Street.

School colors and mascot

Bremerton High School's mascot is a

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

carrying The Sword of Justice and The Cape of Truth. The Cape of Truth was handmade by Marialis Jurges and introduced by the Class of 1996. During the Class of 2012 graduation, a second mascot, the Page was introduced. She now accompanies the Knight at all school gatherings. The school's traditional colors are Royal Blue and Gold. The official emblem is a Knight on a horse carrying a lance surrounded by a major arc with "Bremerton High School" written upon it. The origin of the school colors and mascot comes from the unification of West Bremerton Wildcats, whose colors were blue and gold, and the East Bremerton Knights, whose colors were black and white. They chose the colors of West Bremerton and the mascot of East Bremerton giving us Bremerton High School's Knight along with Royal Blue and Gold as its colors. The Bremerton High School yearbook is known as "The Gauntlet."

Academics

Bremerton High School offers many honors and advanced placement classes: *Language and Composition *Literature and Composition *Biology *Chemistry *Environmental Science *Calculus *Statistics *Human Geography *Psychology *World History *US History *Studio Art *Art History

Controversy

In the fall of 2015, BHS drew national attention over assistant football coach, Joe Kennedy, and his seven year old practice of taking a knee and praying at the 50-yard line after varsity and JV games. School Superintendent Aaron Leavell, declared in September that Kennedy was in violation of federal court rulings and school district policy. Initially Kennedy bowed to Leavell's order, but in October, after acquiring legal advice and defense from the

First Liberty Institute First Liberty Institute is a nonprofit Christian conservative legal organizationHenry FarrellThese are the conservative legal groups behind the Masterpiece Cakeshop case ''Washington Post'' (December 5, 2017). based in Plano, Texas. Prominent ...

, coach Kennedy resumed his post-game prayer. Kennedy was put on paid leave on October 29, 2015, as per the school district statement. Kennedy was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case ''

'', in which the Court ruled in Kennedy's favor, affirming that the

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

does not mandate nor allow the school to suppress an individual's personal religious observance.

Notable alumni

Nathan Adrian Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event. In his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer O ...

(2006), Olympic swimmer,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

gold medalist,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

in the 100-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter medley relay and silver medalist in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2x gold and 2x bronze

medalist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

Miller, Sara (September 1, 2016)
"Welcome home: Nathan Adrian returns to Bremerton"
''Kitsap Daily News''. Retrieved July 22, 2021. * Tony Boddie (1978), NFL

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Norm Dicks Norman DeValois Dicks (born December 16, 1940) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for , between 1977 and 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district was located in the northwestern corner o ...

(1959, West), U.S. congressman (1977–2013) *

Bill Gates Sr. William Henry Gates II (November 30, 1925September 14, 2020), better known as Bill Gates Sr., was an American attorney, philanthropist, and civic leader. He was the founder of the law firm Shidler McBroom & Gates (a predecessor of K&L Gates), ...

(1943), attorney and father of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

co-founder

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

Don Heinrich Donald Alan Heinrich (September 19, 1930 – February 29, 1992) was an American football player, coach, and announcer. He played professionally as a quarterback in National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, and in ...

(1948), NFL

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 ...

and coach * Dana Kirk (2002), Olympic swimmer *

Tara Kirk Tara Kirk Sell (born July 12, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is an Olympic silver medalist. She is a former world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke (short course). She has won a tot ...

(2000),

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

swimmer *

Joe Pichler Joseph David Wolfgang Pichler (February 14, 1987 – disappeared January 5, 2006) was/is an American former child actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in '' Varsity Blues'' (1999), '' Beethoven's 3rd'' (2000) and '' Beethoven's 4th'' ...

(2005), child actor * Kevin Sargent (1987), NFL offensive tackle *

Ted Tappe Theodore Nash Tappe (February 2, 1931 – February 13, 2004) was an American professional baseball player from 1950 to 1952, 1954 to 1955 and 1957 to 1961. An outfielder, he appeared in 34 Major League Baseball games played for the Cincinnati R ...

(1949), MLB outfielder * Gale Wade (1947),

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), ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Marvin Williams Marvin Gaye Williams Jr. (born June 19, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one season of college basketball for North Carolina before being drafted second overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 NBA draft. H ...

(2004), NBA forward * Greg Williamson, Jazz drummer, Composer, and Professor

References

External links

*
Bremerton School District Site
{{authority control High schools in Kitsap County, Washington Bremerton, Washington Public high schools in Washington (state) 1921 establishments in Washington (state) Educational institutions established in 1921