Fresno High School is a four-year

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. Fresno High is the oldest high school in the Fresno metropolitan area and one of the few

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

schools. As of 2021, Linda Laettner is the 29th and current principal of Fresno High.

History

Fresno High School was founded in 1889. The new school quickly outgrew the available space and had to be moved to the White School, where the Memorial Auditorium is located today. Plans for a new high school building were developed. Old Fresno High School

In September 1896, the school year began in the new building on 0 Street between Stanislaus and Tuolumne streets. The new back structure, with its clock tower, had the latest and most modern facilities, including a chemistry laboratory, gymnasium, library, and lecture hall. In 1922, the school moved to its present site at 1839 North Echo Avenue, near Palm and McKinley Avenues. Fresno High School is surrounded by large homes (originally one of Fresno's affluent areas) and large Fresno ash and pine trees. In 2002 the historic Royce Hall building caught fire and suffered minimal damage. The campus is divided into several components. The two main components are "South Side" and "North Side", named so from their campus location. South Side campus houses

Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-re ...

offices, the business, foreign language, science, and mathematics divisions. The North Side houses English, social sciences, art, and history divisions. Physical education, leadership and

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 ...

are housed on the westernmost portion of the campus. The drama and music divisions, in addition to various miscellaneous classrooms, are attached to Fresno High's historic Royce Hall. There is a little known fallout shelter entrance at the rear of the handball courts, (in the middle where the metal grate is on the ground), that goes down stairs to a door that leads under "goat hill" and then under Royce Hall. Renovations to Royce Hall were completed for the 2018–2019 school year. They were worked on throughout the 2017–2018 school year. The goal was to give the historic hall a modernization which included new carpeting, acoustic sound paneling, a sound booth located near the auditorium entrance and the removal and relocation of a handicap elevator to make more room for stair access to the stage.

Academics

Fresno High School offers its students the full

diplomas. The school has been offering its graduate students full IB diplomas since June 2007. The campus offers several advanced placement courses and requires the study of foreign language in order to receive a diploma, along with the completion of a 4,000 word essay and 150 hours of community service. The campus has received poor academic achievement scores in the past, but it has shown impressive improvement. The campus employs 133 full- and part-time instructors, in addition to several guidance counselors, classified staff, administrative employees, one full-time psychologist and one full-time family therapist. The curriculum has been broadened to meet the needs of the world's professions. However the opportunity to pursue a classical education, including the study of Latin, is still available to the students of Fresno High School. The campus offers Spanish and Latin language courses.

Extracurricular activities

Performing arts

Fresno High is home to numerous Performing Arts which are offered to students as elective courses. Performing arts courses that are offered currently consist of: Theater, which includes IB Level options, Piano 1&2, Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Intermediate Symphonic Orchestra, Advanced Symphonic Orchestra, Concert Choir and Chamber Choir.

Sports

Fresno High is an active athletic school, maintaining several teams for both boys and girls in addition to several co-ed teams. The Fresno High football team continues its rivalry game against Roosevelt High School, known as the Little Big Game. The Little Big Game is also known as the Pig Game. It is an annual game in which Fresno High plays against its rival Roosevelt High School for a pig statue to hold for that year. The pig was at one time stolen from Fresno High's attendance office and a replacement was made. The campus offers Prep and Cheer, football, cross country, soccer (valley champion 2010–2011 season), baseball, golf, tennis, water polo, softball teams, basketball, track and field, swim, badminton, and a lacrosse team.

Notable alumni

Armen Alchian Armen Albert Alchian (; April 12, 1914February 19, 2013) was an American economist. He spent almost his entire career at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). A major microeconomic theorist, he is known as one of the founders of new i ...

, economist *

Charles Amirkhanian Charles Benjamin Amirkhanian (born January 19, 1945; Fresno, California) is an American composer. He is a percussionist, sound poet, and radio producer of Armenian origin. He is mostly known for his electroacoustic and text-sound music. Perfor ...

, composer and broadcaster *

Phil Austin Philip Baine Austin (April 6, 1941 – June 18, 2015) was an American comedian and writer, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre. Early life and education Austin was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Fresno, California, att ...

, writer and comedian of

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, creator of

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, Major League Baseball First Baseman and Manager in the

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, actor in films and star of TV series ''

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'' *

Pat Corrales Patrick Corrales (born March 20, 1941) is an American former professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1964 to 1973, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Philadelphia Phillies, S ...

, Major League Baseball catcher and manager *

Sean Halton Sean Michael Halton (born June 7, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers. Career Halton attended Fresno High School and Fresno City College. After two ...

, Major League Baseball first baseman *

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, singer and

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actress *

Dick Contino Richard Joseph "Dick" Contino (January 17, 1930 – April 19, 2017) was an American accordionist and singer. Early life Contino was born in Fresno, California. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Contino, and he attended Fresno High School. H ...

accordionist Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed i ...

and actor *

Lee Cronbach Lee Joseph Cronbach (April 22, 1916 – October 1, 2001) was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to psychological testing and measurement. At the University of Illinois, Urbana, Cronbach produced many of his works: the "A ...

, educational psychologist *

Gordon Dunn Gordon Glover "Slinger" Dunn (April 16, 1912 – July 26, 1964) was an American discus thrower who won a silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics, a U.S. Navy lieutenant, and former mayor of Fresno, California from 1949-1957. Godron Dunn was bo ...

, Silver Medalist - Discus Throw (

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

), Mayor of Fresno (1949-1957) *

Dick Ellsworth Richard Clark Ellsworth (March 22, 1940 – October 10, 2022) was an American professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs (1958, 1960–1966), Philadelphia Phillies (1967), Boston Red ...

, Major League Baseball pitcher *

Geoffrey Gamble Geoffrey Gamble (born 1942) is an American linguist who served from 2000 to 2009 as the 11th president of Montana State University. Early life Gamble was born in 1942 and raised on a farm near Fresno, California.

, former president,

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"Fresno State Gets $1 Million Bequest." ''Central Valley Business Times.'' October 16, 2010.
Accessed 2013-08-10. * Jon Hall, actor * David Harris, anti-war activist and journalist * Bobby Jones,

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and

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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 ...

* Arthur Scott King, physicist and astrophysicist *

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, Major League Baseball pitcher *

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, Major League Baseball pitcher, 4-time World Series champion *

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, Film Director, Screenwriter notable for

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football player *

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, playwright *

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, Major League Baseball pitcher in

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, Major League Baseball pitcher *

Ginny Simms Virginia Ellen SimmsSleeve notes from ''Ginny Simms – I'd Like To Set You To Music'', Jasmine JASCD 118, 2001. (May 25, 1913 – April 4, 1994) was an American popular singer and film actress. Simms sang with big bands and with Dinah Shore, ...

, singer and film actress * Frederick C. Weyand – former U.S. Army Chief of Staff (1974-1976) and member of the

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References

{{authority control High schools in Fresno, California International Baccalaureate schools in California Public high schools in California 1889 establishments in California