Grand Rapids High School is a four-year public

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in

Grand Rapids, Minnesota Grand Rapids is a city in, and the county seat of, Itasca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 11,126 at the 2020 census. The city is named for the long rapids in the Mississippi River which was the uppermost limit of practi ...

, United States, on 800 Conifer Drive. GRHS offers a wide range of extracurricular activities, and has one of the few competitive field show

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

programs north of

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. GRHS' Student Council and the school facility served as the host of the 2010 Minnesota Student Council State Convention in April. The Theme was "Survivor Northwoods: Leadership By Nature"

Overview

Grand Rapids High School, "GRHS", is one of the two high schools in Independent School District 318. The school was founded in 1895. The school was the first in Northern Minnesota to offer courses in the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

program, and offered the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

College in the Schools College in the Schools (CIS) is an educational program for Minnesota high school students run by the University of Minnesota. It allows students to take college level classes in their high school and, as a result, earn college and high school credit ...

Program, and Project Lead the Way, a project in conjunction with the

Itasca Community College Itasca is a word coined by Henry Schoolcraft and may refer to: * Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River __NOTOC__ Places in the United States * Itasca County, Minnesota * Itasca Township, Clearwater County, Minnesota * Itasca Township, ...

. GRHS's school song is the "Rapids Rouser". Similar to other northern Minnesota high schools, GRHS has two

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

s: the traditional Fall Homecoming for

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and a winter homecoming for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. The school also has a "Spring Fling", similar to a homecoming week. All three events are usually a week long, with a different dress-up theme each day, with Friday being Orange & Black (the school colors) Day. Friday also commonly has a shortened class schedule with a pep fest in the morning. On October 5, 1966, 15-year-old David Black, killed school administrator Forrest Willey and seriously wounded fellow student, 14-year-old Kevin Roth. Black was tried as a juvenile and released after serving 5 years in prison.

Technical education

GRHS has a technical education center with much equipment, from a

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

computer lab to a CNC

plasma cutter Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrical conductor, electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma (physics), plasma. Typical materials cut with a plasma torch include steel, stainless steel, alumin ...

CNC Router A computer numerical control (CNC) router is a computer-controlled cutting machine which typically mounts a hand-held router as a spindle which is used for cutting various materials, such as wood, composites, metals, plastics, glass, and foams. CN ...

, CNC Lathe, and

3D Printer 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

for making computer-designed parts.

Athletics

all of the schools athletics were under the direction of activities director Dale Christy. Anne Campbell retired from the post of athletic director in 2023.

Notable alumni

Jon Casey Jonathon James Casey (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars, Boston Bruins, and St. Louis Blues from 1984 to 1997. Early life Jon Cas ...

, professional ice hockey goalie * Spencer Igo, member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

Hunter Shepard Hunter Markus Shepard (born November 7, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing with the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Shepard attended Grand Rapid ...

, professional ice hockey goalie

References

Works cited

External links

Grand Rapids High School Homepage
{{authority control Public high schools in Minnesota International Baccalaureate schools in Minnesota Educational institutions established in 1895 Schools in Itasca County, Minnesota 1895 establishments in Minnesota Grand Rapids, Minnesota