Willamette High School, or "Wil-Hi", is located in the Bethel-Danebo area of West

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Bethel School District along with

Kalapuya High School Kalapuya High School is a public high school in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was established in an innovative model to provide an alternative to students who were not succeeding in a traditional high school environment, usually drawing from Wi ...

History

Willamette High School first opened to students on September 26, 1949. The opening of Bethel School District's only comprehensive high school was the culmination of a process that began on April 9, 1948. On this date, the rural Lane County, Oregon communities of Bethel, Clear Lake, Danebo and Irving passed a measure to consolidate and build the high school. A school site was purchased on May 17, 1948. Funding was provided by bond levies passed on May 11, 1948, and October 20, 1948. In November 2012, Bethel voters approved a $10 million science wing. In 2022 a new $3 million CTE building was approved for classes like graphic design,photography and kitchen type classes to take place.

Academics

In 2008, 79% 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 316 students, 251 graduated, 37 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 23 were still in high school in 2009. In 2021 Willamette students achieve record setting graduation rates. Willamette’s 2021 four-year senior cohort graduation rate of 90.3% was 10% higher than the state average. Willamette High School is noted for its vocational education, in addition to college prep, as featured on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Athletics

The Willamette girls'

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team won the 5A state girls' basketball championship in 2007, 2009, and 2013. In 1985 the boys' track team won the State Championship In 1985 the varsity rally squad won the State Championship. In 1957 and 1958 the cross country team won state titles.

Wolverine Stadium

Willamette's Wolverine Stadium was completely rebuilt after being burned down on August 2, 2003. The new stadium includes an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

field.

Notable alumni

Brandon Beemer Brandon Richard Beemer (born February 27, 1980) is an American actor and model, best known for his role in the soap operas as Shawn-Douglas Brady on '' Days of Our Lives'' (2006–08, 2016–present) and Owen Knight on ''The Bold and the Beautifu ...

, 1998, actor and model, ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...

'' *

Mickey Loomis Mickey Loomis is the executive vice president and General manager of the NFL's New Orleans Saints. He was named NFL executive of the year for 2006. From 2012-2019, he was also head of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans of the N ...

, 1974, general manager of the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Quintin Mikell Quintin Perry Mikell (born September 16, 1980) is a former American football safety who played for eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for Boise State University, he was signed by the Philadelphia ...

, football player,

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Curtis Salgado Curtis Salgado (born February 4, 1954, in Everett, Washington, United States) is a Portland, Oregon-based blues, blues rock, and blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter. He plays harmonica and fronts his own band as lead vocalist. Career Salgado b ...

, 1971, blues musician, who inspired

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his ca ...

to form the

Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...

External links

2013 Willamette High School promotional video on vimeo

Willamette Newsletter

Willamette's College and Career Center

Willamette Pride Facebook page

References

{{authority control High schools in Lane County, Oregon Education in Eugene, Oregon International Baccalaureate schools in Oregon Educational institutions established in 1949 Public high schools in Oregon 1949 establishments in Oregon