Omaha North High Magnet 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 ''Öffentlichkei ...
high school located at 4410 North 36th Street in the city of
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. The school is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) magnet school in the
Omaha Public Schools
Omaha Public Schools (OPS) is the largest school district in the state of Nebraska, United States. This public school district serves a diverse community of about 52,000 students at over 80 elementary and secondary schools in Omaha. Its district ...
district. North has won several awards, including being named a 2007
Magnet Schools of America
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
"Magnet School of Excellence".
History
After a start to construction in 1922 at North 31st and Ames Avenues was hampered by unexpected
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
, the present North High School was completed in 1924 at North 36th Street and Ames Avenue. Located on four acres, North opened as an eighth through twelfth grade school in September 1924, and had 650 students its first year. The building's first principal was Edward E. McMillan, who served until 1942. The junior high students were moved to other schools by 1929. The school began winning district and state awards in academic and athletic competitions in 1926, and in 1932, North High earned the top place at a national debate competition.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 1,711 North graduates served in the United States military; 77 did not make it home. By 1945 the school's attendance doubled. In the late 1940s, the building was expanded to accommodate huge growth in the population of
North Omaha
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 (Iowa-Nebraska), Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River a ...
. A music wing, cafeteria, gymnasium and more classrooms were added. The swimming pool was converted into a freshman study hall and library. In the late 1950s, the late E. E. McMillan was honored as the namesake of the nearby middle school,
McMillan Magnet Center.
Overcrowding began to become a problem in the 1960s, and by the 1970s, more than 2,400 students were enrolled. The Omaha Public Schools initiated a
desegregation plan in 1976, and in the 1980s, the temporary elimination of 9th grade at North led to decreased enrollment. North was designated a magnet school focused on math, science, and technology during that decade as well. In 1993, the school completed a $20 million renovation. Several nearby properties were bought and several additions expanded North's campus to its present twelve acres. The new student center and cafeteria, called the Viking Center, was heralded as a major development, along with a renovation of the library and new facilities that included a multipurpose physical education and athletics facility.
In the early 2000s, North shifted its magnet focus to specialize in the fields of science, engineering and technology. To complement this focus, in 2010 a new four-story, 32,092-square foot addition was dedicated at North. It consists of science, media technology, and engineering classrooms and lab space, as well as a wrestling practice room in the basement. Students taking classes in North's engineering program helped design the new building, working with RDG Planning & Design to present and finish the plans. With this building, North became the first school in Nebraska to be certified under the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
(LEED) for Schools, earning a Silver certification. Vrana Construction was the general contractor.
North is the only public high school in Omaha that does not have a stadium, and presently only has a football and soccer practice field and track with a small section of
bleacher
Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row ...
s on the school grounds that is insufficient to accommodate the crowds that appear for many athletic events. To this end, North sometimes shares nearby
Omaha Northwest High School
Omaha Northwest High Magnet School at 8204 Crown Point Avenue in northwest Omaha, Nebraska, United States, is located on a campus. Completed in 1971, it is the newest of the seven high schools in the Omaha Public Schools district. Further renova ...
's Kinnick Stadium, especially for "home" football games. In 2014, Principal Gene R. Haynes announced future plans to privately finance a 5,000–6,000-seat stadium to be built in the neighborhood around North High, with an expected cost of $8–$12 million. A local city councilman said the project would be "an important symbol of progress in North Omaha."
Longtime principal Gene R. Haynes, who held the position since 2001 and had been an employee of the Omaha Public Schools for over fifty years, announced his retirement at the end of the 2019–2020 school year.
Demographics
According to ''
U.S. News & World Report'', as of the 2015–16 school year, Omaha North High School's students were 56 percent male and 44 percent female. The total minority enrollment was 63 percent. There were 1,753 total students enrolled in grades nine through twelve. With 103 full-time teachers, there was a 17:1 teacher to student ratio. 65% of students at the school were qualified as economically disadvantaged, and the on-time graduation rate was 79%.
Curriculum
North has won many state and national awards for curriculum innovation. Currently, the school day is extended by a
21st Century Community Learning Center
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to afterschool programs. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) reauthorized 21st CCLC in 2002, transferring the administratio ...
grant from the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
. North offers higher-level mathematics courses in Omaha Public Schools and is articulating for accreditation in career and technology education. The school has over 1,200 networked computers, and
technology is pervasive in all curriculum areas. A wide variety of programming languages are offered, including
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
,
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
,
Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to:
* Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET
* Visual Basic (cl ...
, and
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
. All students and staff are issued email accounts. North's
Academic Decathlon
The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...
team placed third in the state during the 2005–2006 school year.
Omaha North High Magnet School is a certified Project Lead the Way high school. The Service Learning Academy through the
University of Nebraska-Omaha
The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...
has a partnership with North High.
Athletics
Football
The Omaha North High School Vikings football team has enjoyed success, both in the past as well as recently. They won their first Nebraska state championship in 1929, and again in 1948, 1956, 1961, 1967, 2013, 2014 and 2017. In addition, the team was runner-up in 2012 and 2016.
Dewey Wade was on the state football champion team in 1948 and the city champion football teams of 1949 and 1950. In 1961 and 1962,
University of Nebraska
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
Hall of Famer Bob Churchich was the quarterback.
State championships
Notable alumni
*
Houston Alexander
Houston Alexander (born March 22, 1972) is an American professional mixed martial artist who last competed in 2017. A professional competitor since 2001, he has fought for the UFC, Bellator, Shark Fights, the RFA, and KSW. He currently compet ...
,
mixed martial artist
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...
*
Scott Bostwick
Scott Bostwick (June 22, 1961 – June 5, 2011) was an American football player and coach. He served as the defensive coordinator at Northwest Missouri State University from 1994 to 2010 under head coach Mel Tjeerdsma, during which time the Bear ...
, 1979,
Northwest Missouri Bearcats football coach
*
Brandin Bryant
Brandin Bryant (born September 16, 1993) is an American football defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida Atlantic and was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undr ...
, football player
*
Paul Chan, artist, writer and publisher
*
Dick Davis,
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player
*
Ester Dean
Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer and actress. Dean has also written songs for many artists, with numerous Top 10 hits, including No. 1 hits for Rihanna and Katy Perry, earning the name " ...
, 2001, pop singer-songwriter
*
Patrick Flanery, 1994, author
*
Adam Fletcher, 1993, activist and author
*
John A. Gale, Nebraska's secretary of state
*
Neal Hefti
Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for ''The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series.
He began arranging professionally in his ...
, jazz musician, composer of ''Batman'' and ''The Odd Couple'' TV show themes
*
Jeremy Horn
Jeremy Graham Horn (born August 25, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist. Horn is best known for fighting in smaller American promotions, he has also competed in some of the premiere mixed martial arts organizations around the world, inclu ...
, mixed martial artist
*
Miguel Keith,
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient (non-graduate)
*
Charles R. Larson
Charles Robert Larson (November 20, 1936 – July 26, 2014) was an Admiral of the United States Navy.
Military career
A 1958 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Larson twice served as Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis ...
, four-star Navy admiral
*
Preston Love
Preston Haynes Love (April 26, 1921 – February 12, 2004) was an American saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, United States, best known as a sideman for jazz and rhythm and blues artists like Count Basie and Ray Char ...
, jazz musician
*
Mike McGee,
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
basketball player with the
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
*
Justin Patton
Justin Nicholas Patton (born June 14, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Cholet Basket of the French LNB Pro A. He played college basketball for the Creighton Bluejays. Patton was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2 ...
, NBA basketball player and player for
Hapoel Eilat of the
Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...
, first-round selection in the
2017 NBA draft
The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players.
...
*
Niles Paul
Niles Paul (born August 9, 1989) is a former American football tight end. He played college football as a wide receiver at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and was selected in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskin ...
,
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
football player
*
James Raschke
James Donald Raschke (born July 30, 1940) is an American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Baron von Raschke.
Early life
Raschke was a three-year Letterman (sports), letterman with the Univers ...
, professional wrestler known as "Baron von Raschke"
*
Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell (born February 24, 1973) is an American author known for young adult and adult contemporary novels. Her young adult novels ''Eleanor & Park'' (2012), ''Fangirl'' (2013) and ''Carry On'' (2015) have been subjects of critical acclaim. ...
, 1991, author
*
Dan Warthen
Daniel Dean Warthen (born December 1, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player and current coach for the Texas Rangers. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher from to for the Montreal Expos, Philadel ...
,
Major League Baseball
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), ...
player and coach
See also
*
Education in North Omaha, Nebraska Education in Omaha, Nebraska is provided by many private and public institutions. The first high school graduates in the Omaha area came from Brownell-Talbot School, which was founded in the town of Saratoga in 1863. The oldest school building in c ...
References
External links
Omaha North High Internet the school's official website
Omaha North High School-Class Reunion Websitesat Classreport.org
{{authority control
Omaha Public Schools
Schools in North Omaha, Nebraska
Landmarks in North Omaha, Nebraska
High schools in Omaha, Nebraska
Educational institutions established in 1924
Public high schools in Nebraska
Magnet schools in Nebraska
1924 establishments in Nebraska