Silas High School is a four-year public secondary school in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

. It is one of five traditional high schools in the

Tacoma Public Schools Tacoma School District No. 10, commonly called Tacoma Public Schools, is a school district headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, United States. Composed of 35 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 4 early learning centers. It ...

and is located at the intersection of Orchard Street and 11th Street. Silas' current principal is Bernadette Ray; assistant principals are Alli Bennett, Rindi Hartman, and Karl Hoseth. The school was formerly named Woodrow Wilson from its founding in 1958 until July 2021 after a wave of name changes following the 2020 racial protests that swept the world. Its attendance boundary includes Ruston.

HillTop artists

Dale Chihuly, a glass artist who graduated from the school, established HillTop Artists, a glass working program at Silas. For a $20 fee, students can blow glass, make glass beads, and participate in kiln work. This program is run by glass artists who trained with Chihuly at the

Pilchuck Glass School Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education. The school was founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg (1917-2016), and John H Hauberg (1916-2002). The campus is located on a former tree farm in Stanwood, W ...

Daffodil Festival

Every year, Silas participates in the Pierce County

Daffodil Festival The Daffodil Festival is a regional festival and royalty leadership program. The Grand Floral Parade is held in Pierce County, Washington every April. It consists of a flower parade and a year-long royalty program to select a festival queen from o ...

. A competition is held in house to select the Silas Princess. The Princess must have at least a 3.5 GPA and must be a senior. She will go on to compete against other regional schools for the Daffodil Festival Queen title. The Queen title is considered the highest honor of the regional festival. In April, the Silas band accompanies the Princesses on a float in the annual parade.

Name change

In 2020, two Tacoma Public Schools principals proposed renaming Woodrow Wilson High School and other schools in response to public outcry due to their association with controversial historic figures.

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

, the school's namesake, was a segregationist who had sympathized with the Ku Klux Klan and held pro-Confederacy views. A public survey circulated to 3,900 respondents in September 2020 was returned with 43 percent in favor of renaming the school and 57 percent in favor of retaining Wilson's name. On February 11, 2021, Tacoma Public Schools Board of Directors approved a plan to rename the school for Dr. Dolores Silas, the first Black woman to serve as a school administrator and city councilmember in Tacoma. The official renaming to Silas High School took effect on July 1 and is planned to take 18 months to fully transition, at a cost of $400,000 to replace signage and uniforms.

Sports

Silas participates in Cross Country, Girls' Soccer, Football, Girls' Swimming, Boys' Tennis, Girls Volleyball, Boys' Water Polo, Boys' Basketball Girls' Basketball, Boys' Swimming, Girls' Bowling, Wrestling, Project Unify, Boys' Baseball, Girls' Fast pitch, Boys' Soccer, Girls' Tennis, Golf, Girls' Water Polo, and Track. The Silas Boys Swimming and Diving team has won 29 State titles, with 24 consecutive titles between 1960–1983. The Boys Water Polo Team has won 4 state Titles. The Girls Bowling team have won 3 State Titles. The Boys Track And Field Team has won 6 State Titles. The Baseball team has won 1 State title in 1977. The Boys Golf Team has won 2 State titles.

Notable alumni

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

, graduated in 1965, executed in 1989 *Dale Chihuly, noted glass artist *Xavier Cooper, defensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns *Joey Gjertsen, midfielder for the San Jose Earthquakes *Kaye Hall, 1968 Olympic gold and bronze medalist in women's swimming *Dick Hannula, former swimming coach, won 24 consecutive state swimming titles, 1960-1983 *Leo Randolph, 1976 Olympic gold medalist in boxing *Darrell Robinson, holder of the 400-meter national high school track record (44.69 seconds) since July 24, 1982 *Geoff Tate, lead singer of the Grammy-nominated band Queensrÿche *Desmond Trufant, cornerback for the Chicago Bears, first round selection in 2013 NFL Draft *Isaiah Trufant, former cornerback for the Cleveland Browns *Marcus Trufant, former cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks *Clyde Werner, former linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs *John Zamberlin, former linebacker for the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs; former head coach at Idaho State Bengals football, Idaho State University

References

External links

*
The Woodrow
student newspaper

{{authority control High schools in Pierce County, Washington Schools in Tacoma, Washington Public high schools in Washington (state) 1958 establishments in Washington (state)