Forest Grove High School 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 ...

Forest Grove, Oregon Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorpora ...

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 ...

. Founded in 1907, it is the only high school in the Forest Grove School District.

Academics

The school has been awarded the Bronze Medal in the '' U.S. News & World Report'' rankings of America's Best High Schools. The school once had the highest dropout rate in Washington County and test scores below the state average in the early 2000s.Tareen, Sophia. A model for change. ''The Oregonian'', May 18, 2006. Forest Grove High hired a new principal, John O'Neil, to address these issues in 2002. He introduced mandatory reading and math workshops for students below the state average to raise their performance. This, and other changes, helped to reduce the dropout rate and improve test scores. For these improvements, in 2006 the school was presented the Closing the Achievement Gap award from the

State of Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The following year, the 2,000-student school became the first high school to win the award two years in a row.Pardington, Suzanne. Forest Grove High School: School turnaround? 'Absolutely'. ''The Oregonian'', May 8, 2007. During this time, graduation rates improved from around 66% to 85%. In 2008, 73% 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 444 students, 325 graduated, 51 dropped out, 19 received a modified diploma, and 49 were still in high school the following year. In 2009, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' described the school as an "overachiever" at teaching reading and math, due to its achievement scores.

Athletics

* State championship in women's softball: 2007 * State championship in women's wrestling: 2022

Notable programs

In 1976, the school started the ''Viking House Program'', in which students build a single-family home each year in the community.Trap pen, Michelle. Forest Grove High School - Students build every square inch of house. ''The Oregonian'', October 4, 2007 They begin building in early September and finish construction with an open house in late May.Mandel, Michelle. Viking House not your average school project. ''The Oregonian'', June 8, 2006 The house is then put up for sale at market price, with the proceeds used for furthering the program with purchases of new tools and the materials for the next house.Trappen, Michelle. Hands-on classes make a comeback. ''The Oregonian'', October 11, 2007 This program is one of few focused on house construction in Portland-area schools, in addition to those at Canby High School and

Benson Polytechnic High School Benson Polytechnic High School is a technical public high school in the Portland Public Schools district. It is temporarily located in Portland's Lents neighborhood while a renovation project is underway at its campus in the Central Eastside ...

. The program adopted "learn by doing" as their motto. Through 2011, the program had built 35 homes. The school also operates a firefighting cadet program that began in 2001.Navas, Melissa. Firefighter cadet class might be cut. ''The Oregonian'', January 30, 2007 The program allows juniors and seniors to learn firefighting techniques that are usually taught at the community college level to prepare students for careers in firefighting. Forest Grove’s fire department and the school partner in the program with the fire department providing instructors. In 2015, the school began publishing an online newspaper, ''The Advocate'', written and edited by students. Published monthly during the school year, it emulates a full-fledged city newspaper, with national and world news sections. The September 2019 edition, for example, covered the devastation in the Bahamas from

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and tied for strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also reg ...

. Along with sports and school news, it also provides a platform for student commentaries, such as criticism of

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

television program changes.

Notable alumni

Bobby Chouinard Robert William Chouinard (born May 1, 1972) is a Filipino-American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He is the only person born in the Philippines to play Major League Baseball. Chouinard played high school baseball at Forest ...

, baseball pitcher *

Robert Garrigus Robert Garrigus (born November 11, 1977) is an American professional golfer who is currently a member of the PGA Tour. He won the 2010 Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last event of the PGA Tour season, to guarantee exempt status on the ...

, golfer *

Mitch Meeuwsen Mitch Meeuwsen (born April 20, 1982) is a graduate assistant football coach at Oregon State University. Early years Mitch Meeuwsen was born in Hillsboro but grew up in Forest Grove. Meeuwsen played football, basketball and baseball while growing ...

, football player *

Zac Rosscup Zachary Martin Rosscup (born June 9, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and ...

, baseball pitcher

References

External links