David B. Oliver High School, commonly known as Oliver High School, was a public school in the

Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * " Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...

area of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. Oliver was one of ten high schools in the

Pittsburgh Public Schools Pittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district serving the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (except for two small parts served by the Baldwin-Whitehall School District) and adjacent Mount Oliver. As of the 2021–2022 school year, the ...

. The school was closed in 2012 but the building remained open as offices.

History

Established February 3, 1925 it is named in the honor of David B. Oliver, President of

from 1911–1922. Oliver was largely responsible for the increase in the number and size of Pittsburgh Public Schools. The school sits on land that once was a landfill and is one of ten high schools in the

area. The school colors are orange and seal brown, also in reference to Oliver's name (David ''Brown'' Oliver). The school's newspaper has run an advice column "Dear Moppet" since the 1920s. The school's alma mater, written in 1925, originally had as many as seven verses which can be found in several copies of the "

Omicron Omicron (; uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, ell, όμικρον) is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin: . In classical Greek, omicron represented the close-mid back rounded vowel in contr ...

" (the school year book) from the 1970s. Today, however, only one verse is widely known and is sung each day during morning announcements. The school is home to the Zeta Rho Chapter of the National Honor Society. The school's original motto 'On, Sail On!' was changed to "Believe, Achieve, Succeed!" The school serves primarily as a neighborhood school for the surrounding North Side area, and also attracts non-local students to its magnet programs, JROTC and Law and Public Service. Oliver offers all academic programs at the Gifted, Scholars, Advanced Placement and standard academic levels. Oliver offers eight Applied Technology and Career Development Programs for students interested in vocational training. On November 23, 2011, the Pittsburgh Board of Education approved a facility reform plan that would close Oliver as an active city high school for the 2012-13 school year. The staff and students would be relocated to the Pittsburgh Perry High School, and the Oliver building would remain open as the new home of the district special education offices.

Notable alumni

* Jalan Crossland, bluegrass singer and musician *

Jakim Donaldson Jakim Nestekaya Donaldson (born September 3, 1983), nicknamed "The Machine", is an American professional basketball player, who lastly played for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Edinboro U ...

(born 1983), basketball player in 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 competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball c ...

Sammy Nestico Samuel Louis Nistico (February 6, 1924 – January 17, 2021), better known as Sammy Nestico, was an American composer and arranger. Nestico is best known for his arrangements for the Count Basie orchestra. Early life and education Samuel Luigi ...

, arranger and composer

References

External links

Oliver High School
{{authority control Defunct schools in Pennsylvania School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1925 High schools in Pittsburgh City of Pittsburgh historic designations Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Public high schools in Pennsylvania Magnet schools in Pennsylvania 1925 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh