North Farmington High School is a
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 ...
high 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 '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
located in
Farmington Hills, Michigan. The school was established in 1961 and, as of the 2019–2020 school year, educates a student body of over 1300. The
principal is Joseph Greene.
History
In 1959, many homes in the Farmington Hills area were being built by families with older children, creating demand for a new junior and senior high school. The Board of Education put together a proposal asking voters to approve a $3 million dollar bond for:
The construction of a new junior-senior high school on a site at 13 Mile Road and Farmington Road,
The construction of two new elementary schools, and
The renovation of existing schools.
The proposal was passed by voters and the final outcome of the vote was 1,618 in favor and 1,276 opposed. In January 1960, the School Board appointed Harold Humble, an assistant principal at
Farmington High School, to principal of the new school. The suggested name “Farmington Northern High,” was later changed to “North Farmington High School.”
It was not until the summer of 1960 that the architectural plans were approved for the new High School. As construction continued in January 1961, the School Board unanimously approved the proposed color scheme of “shades of brown and yellow.” North Farmington High School opened on September 7, 1961 but lacked many needed supplies such as chalk boards. There were 598 students from grades 7–10 who attended that first day.
Students chose the name "Raiders" as their mascot but a personal identity was needed for the Raider, so the art class designed the original Raider logo that is still being used today and was named “El Cid.” As time went on, the Raider was increasingly referred to as the “Sidney Raider.” It is a school tradition for a student to anonymously dress up as Sidney, wearing the traditional NF cape, buccaneer hat, and Zorro-style mask, and attend high-profile North Farmington sports events in order to spark excitement in the crowd.
North Farmington is noted for its strong theater, music, art, and athletic programs. It also has a high level of alumni and community involvement, with fund raising efforts leading to the construction "Raider Plaza" at the athletic field, Holland Field. In addition to its two artificial turf fields and parquet gym floor, the school also features a performing arts wing, completed in 1999, that houses the
Farmington Public Schools district television station, TV-10.
On September 8, 2008, the school hosted a campaign stop by
Democratic Presidential candidate
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
.
He spoke to a crowd of area voters in the school's gymnasium. During the town hall-style meeting, Mr. Obama announced to the audience that the 2009 Michigan Principal of the Year award was being awarded to then North Farmington principal Richard Jones.
On March 30, 2011 that the school building was renamed the "Richard B. Jones Academic Center", in honor of the outgoing principal. Around the same time, the west wing of the school was dedicated and named the "Dean and Sue Cobb Center for Media and the Performing Arts" after two long-standing instructors.
Notable alumni
*
Elizabeth Berkley
Elizabeth Berkley (born July 28, 1974) is an American actress. She played Jessie Spano in the television series ''Saved by the Bell'' and Nomi Malone/Polly Ann Costello in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film ''Showgirls''. She voiced the title role o ...
, '90, actress. Primarily known for playing
Jessie Spano
The American television sitcom ''Saved by the Bell'', that aired on NBC from 1989 to 1993, follows a group of six high school students and their principal, Mr. Belding.
Overview
: = Ensemble cast, Main cast (credited)
: = Recurring character, R ...
on the TV series ''
Saved by the Bell
''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...
'' and playing Nomi Malone in the film ''
Showgirls
''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama pulp noir film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera.
Produ ...
''.
*
Howard Birndorf, '67, biotechnology entrepreneur and one of the founders of the biotech industry in San Diego, California.
*
Pam Dawber
Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in '' Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in '' My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988).
Early life
Dawber was b ...
'68, actress. Played Mindy in the TV series ''
Mork and Mindy
''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...
'' opposite
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
. Married to Mark Harmon.
*
Jena Irene
Jena Irene Asciutto (born July 13, 1996), also known as Jena Irene, is an American singer from Farmington Hills, Michigan. She was the runner-up of the 13th season of ''American Idol''. Asciutto became the first female Wild Card contestant of t ...
, '14, singer. ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
''
season 13 runner-up.
*
Bill Joy
William Nelson Joy (born November 8, 1954) is an American computer engineer and venture capitalist. He co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Scott McNealy, Vinod Khosla, and Andy Bechtolsheim, and served as Chief Scientist and CTO at ...
, '71, co-founder of
Sun Microsystems. Known for the creation of Berkeley
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
(
BSD), the
vi text editor, and the
Network File System
Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, lik ...
(NFS).
*
Drew Mahalic, '71, former
NFL professional football player.
*
Larry Nassar
Lawrence "Larry" Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former physician and convicted child rapist. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. He used his employment as the ...
, '81,
convicted serial
child molester
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whethe ...
who was the
USA Gymnastics
United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and train ...
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
doctor and an
osteopathic physician
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become licen ...
at
Michigan State University
*
Matt Shepard, '83,
Detroit Tigers Play-By-Play Broadcaster
*
James Wolk
James Wolk (born March 22, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the CBS comedy series ''The Crazy Ones'' (2013–2014), the AMC period drama series ''Mad Men'' (2013–2014), the CBS drama thriller series '' Zoo'' (201 ...
, '03, actor. Credits include ''
Political Animals'', ''
You Again
''You Again'' is a 2010 American comedy film produced by John J. Strauss and Eric Tannenbaum and directed by Andy Fickman with music by Nathan Wang and written by Moe Jelline. The film stars Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, ...
'', ''
Front of the Class'', '
Lonestar and ''
The Crazy Ones
''The Crazy Ones'' is an American television sitcom created by David E. Kelley, and starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The single-camera series aired for one season on CBS, from September 26, 2013, to April 17, 2014. It was p ...
''
Publications
''The Northern Star'' is North Farmington's news magazine. It is published bi-monthly by the advanced journalism class and is sold for one dollar. In 2007, several newspaper staff members were selected by
Michigan Interscholastic Press Association as Student Winners. The same year, the newspaper staff won a Spartan Award.
The online edition of The Northern Star was awarded a Columbia University Silver Crown Award in 2011.
External links
Farmington Public SchoolsNorth Farmington High School
References
{{authority control
Public high schools in Michigan
Schools in Farmington Hills, Michigan
Educational institutions established in 1961
High schools in Oakland County, Michigan
1961 establishments in Michigan