Pleasant Hill High School is a public school in

Pleasant Hill, Oregon Pleasant Hill is an unincorporated community in Lane County, Oregon, United States. History Pleasant Hill was the first white settlement in Lane County when Elijah Bristow settled in 1846. He was the first of a party of four immigrants to se ...

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 territori ...

, serving grades

six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

through twelve. The school served grades

nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

through twelve until 2009, when the Pleasant Hill School District closed the district's elementary school because of declining enrollment and funding issues. The students were redistributed, K-5 going to the

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

buildings and 6-12 going to the

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 ...

buildings. The current high school building was constructed in 1961, and rebuilt in 2016.

Academics

In 1984, Pleasant Hill High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States. In 2008, 86% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 96 students, 83 graduated, nine dropped out, three received a modified diploma, and one was still in high school the following year.

Athletics

The school's mascot is the

billy goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

and its athletic teams' nickname is the "Billies". Formerly the teams were known as the

Hillbillies Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

, but only for three years in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" movie era. An early publication of the school in the 1920s was ''The Goat's Gazette'', showing that the original team name did refer to the goat, not "hillbillies." In 1910, the basketball team went undefeated, beating the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

's second team as well as Springfield and Eugene high schools.

Notable alumni

Russ Francis Russell Ross Francis (born April 3, 1953) is a former American football player who was a tight end for thirteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. Francis finished his ...

, NFL player; Super Bowl Champion with San Francisco 49ers; member of Oregon State Sports Hall of Fame; national and world record holder for javelin, 1971 * Joe Freuen, trombone player in the Cherry Poppin' Daddies * Everett W. Holstrom, United States Air Force brigadier general and participant in the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japa ...

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 opposing ...

References

High schools in Lane County, Oregon Public high schools in Oregon Public middle schools in Oregon {{Oregon-school-stub