Ben Lomond High School is a

comprehensive high school Comprehensive high schools are the most popular form of state school, public Secondary school, high schools around the world, designed to provide a well-rounded education to its students, as opposed to the practice in some places in which examinati ...

located in the

Ogden City School District Ogden City School District is the school district serving Ogden, Utah, United States. The superintendent, as of July 2021, is Luke Rasmussen. The district was established in 1849. It is an inner-city district, enriched by multicultural diversity ...

of Ogden,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States, currently educating students in grades 10–12. As of 2018, the principal is Steve Poll, his first year at Ben Lomond (2018/19).

History

Ben Lomond High School was named for the nearby Ben Lomond Mountain, so called by Scottish settlers who were reminded of

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laomainn, 'Beacon Mountain'), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Me ...

in Scotland. This local cultural influence gave the school its theme, including bagpipers, Royal Stewart tartan, and Scots. Students are known as "Friendly Fighting Scots." The school was originally to be called North East Ogden High School, with school colors of black and red and the spikes (a reference to the golden spike driven into the

Transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

) as the mascot; however, at the very first assembly held on the floor of the wood shop (the school was yet to be finished) the students said that since the school was closest to Ben Lomond it should be named hence. "We weren’t going to Ogden High and we didn't want to be called Ogden High," one student recalled fifty years later. After renaming the school, the "Scot" became the mascot and the school's colors were changed to red, white and blue, the colors of traditional Scottish uniforms (Stewart

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

Rivalry

Ben Lomond has a long running rivalry with

Ogden High School Ogden High School is an Art Deco secondary school located in Ogden, Utah, educating students in grades 10–12. Operated by the Ogden City School District, Ogden High enrolls approximately 1,250 students each year. The graduation rate has increa ...

which culminates each year with a football game known as the "Iron Horse" game. The winner takes possession of a trophy called the Iron Horse, a statue of two trains to signify Ogden's well-known railroad history. In the most recent game, on October 12, 2022, Ben Lomond lost to Ogden High School 21-14. The rivalry also exists in basketball, although not as strongly.

Renovations

In June 2006, residents of Ogden passed a bond to obtain money to reconstruct and renovate Ben Lomond High and other Ogden City schools. A partial demolition commenced in June 2007 on Ben Lomond's library media center, English/Freshmen building, ceramics room, courtyard, boiler/furnace room, the ROTC drill field and two

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...

classrooms, and was completed in September 2007. Construction of a new building was completed in August 2010. This included the construction of new classrooms, cafeteria, commons area, Media Center, office area, and a "facelift" to areas not replaced by new construction, including the auditorium and gym areas. The entry of the school was changed to face 9th Street in a southeasterly direction, with a new address of 1080 9th Street. The renovation of Ben Lomond High School was awarded the Mountain States Construction Silver Award for grades K-12 in 2010.

Hymn

The School Hymn, written by Richard Packham, is sung to the tune of

The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or "Loch Lomond" for short, is a Scottish song (Roud No. 9598). The song prominently features Loch Lomond, the largest Scottish loch, located between the council areas of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Arg ...

. The song is sung with crossed arms and swaying from side to side. The lyrics are: From the green Scottish hills where the proud pipers play,
To the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch,
There's no better clan, nor will there ever be
Than the Friendly Fighting Scots of Ben Lomond.

We're proud of Ben Lomond and all that she stands for,
And though o'er the earth we may wander,
A part of our hearts will always yearn to be
In the memory-hallowed halls of Ben Lomond.

Notable alumni

* Michael Richard "Rich" Clifford (

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

), Class of 1970 –

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

William deVries William Castle DeVries (born December 19, 1943) is an American cardiothoracic surgeon, mainly known for the first transplant of a TAH (total artificial heart) using the Jarvik-7 model. Early years and Medical School William DeVries was born ...

– cardiothoracic surgeon *

Nick Howell Nicholas Wade Howell (born February 26, 1980) is an American football coach. He is the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Vanderbilt. Coaching career Howell began his career coaching high school football. He worked from 2002 to ...

– defensive coordinator,

Virginia Cavaliers football The Virginia Cavaliers football team represents the University of Virginia in the sport of American football. Established in 1888, Virginia plays its home games at Scott Stadium, capacity 61,500, featured directly on its campus near the Academi ...

Glenn Hubbard Glenn Hubbard may refer to: *Glenn Hubbard (baseball) (born 1957), American baseball player *Glenn Hubbard (economist) Robert Glenn Hubbard (born September 4, 1958) is an American economist and academic. He served as the Dean of the Columbia Univ ...

– former Atlanta Braves second baseman and current Braves first base coach * Major General Robertus "Dutch" Remkes (retired) – former Director of Strategy, Policy, and Assessments U.S. European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany *

Richard H. Stallings Richard Howard Stallings (born October 7, 1940) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Idaho's 2nd congressional district from 1985 to 1993. Early life and education Richard Stallings ...

, Class of 1958 – U.S. Congressman representing

Idaho's 2nd congressional district Idaho's 2nd congressional district is one of two congressional districts in the U.S. state of Idaho, in the eastern portion of the state. Beginning with the 2012 election, the district expanded westward and now includes most of Boise, the state ...

(1985-1993) and Chairman of the

Idaho Democratic Party The Idaho Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Idaho. While the party has been in the minority for most of the state's history, it has produced several notable public figures, including former U.S. sena ...

(2005-2007) * Bill Allred - Local radio host

References

External links

Ben Lomond High School

Ogden City School District
{{authority control Public high schools in Utah Buildings and structures in Ogden, Utah Educational institutions established in 1953 Schools in Weber County, Utah 1953 establishments in Utah