General William J. Palmer High School, commonly referred to as Palmer High School (PHS), is a public high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship high school of School District 11 and has the oldest

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 D ...

(IB) program in the area.

History

Gender-inclusive bathrooms

In 2016 senior Doe Schall, a genderqueer student, along with others from the school's Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance, lobbied school officials for gender-inclusive bathrooms due to the discrimination experienced by

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

students. Palmer was the first high school in Southern Colorado to have gender-inclusive bathrooms.

Extracurricular activities

Mock Trial

Palmer's Mock Trial program won the Southern Colorado Regional Competition in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015; the Colorado State Competition in 2009 and 2013; and took 14th place in the National High School Mock Trial Tournament in 2013.

Notable alumni

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

(graduated elsewhere) * Albert Balows (1921–2006), clinical microbiologist *

Patricia Louise Dudley Patricia Louise (Pat) Dudley (1929–2004) was an American zoologist specializing in research of copepods. An early pioneer using an electron microscope to study copepod organs and tissues, she taught at Barnard College for 35 years and served as ...

(1947, as Colorado Springs High School),

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

specializing in copepods *

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for ''Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he h ...

(1980), host of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's '' College Gameday'' * Robert L. Gordon III, (1975) Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy * Robert M. Isaac (1945, as Colorado Springs High School), mayor of Colorado Springs * Reggie Jackson (2008), basketball player for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

of the NBA *

Ray Jardine Ray Jardine (born in 1944) is an American rock climber who, along with Bill Price, in May 1979, was the first to free climb the ''West Face'' of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Jardine is also a mountaineer, sea kayaker, sailor, hang glider pilot, s ...

(1961), rock climber, adventurer, inventor of "Friends"

spring-loaded camming device A spring-loaded camming device (also SLCD, cam or friend) is a piece of rock climbing or mountaineering protection equipment. It consists of two, three, or four cams mounted on a common axle or two adjacent axles, so that pulling on the ax ...

* Cassandra Peterson (1969), actress; played Elvira, Mistress of the Dark *

Laura Veirs Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/ alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang o ...

, singer-songwriter

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Colorado Springs, Colorado International Baccalaureate schools in Colorado Works Progress Administration in Colorado School buildings completed in 1940 Public high schools in Colorado Educational institutions established in 1874 1874 establishments in Colorado Territory