Franklin High School (FHS, formally Benjamin Franklin High School) is a

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. It is located in central southeast Portland in the South Tabor neighborhood. It is the second largest high school in the Portland Public School District. Its attendance boundary is expansive, with six middle schools feeding into it and covering a large portion of Southeast Portland, specifically the neighborhoods of Mt. Tabor, Lents, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Brentwood-Darlington, Sunnyside, and Richmond.

History

Founded in 1914, Franklin is Portland's fourth high school. The city's high schools were filled to capacity at the time, and the population in southeast Portland was rapidly growing. It was initially founded in part of the Creston Elementary School, with nine instructors and 115 students in the spring 1914 semester. The current building, designed by Floyd Naramore, opened in September 1917. In 1942, a statue of Benjamin Franklin, after whom the school was named, was installed outside of Franklin High School. Due to the

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and the passing of a $25 million building levy by the school district in 1947, a new addition for arts,

industrial arts Industrial arts is an educational program that features the fabrication of objects in wood or metal using a variety of hand, power, or machine tools. Industrial Arts are commonly referred to as Technology Education. It may include small engine ...

, and

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

departments was slated. In October 2010 the school decided to discontinue its competitive robotics team due to the lack of any school official sanctioning the team, allegedly by locking the team out of their workspace without access to their tools, or the more than $7000 the team had raised to sustain the program. The team had been a part of the school for seven years. Between 2015 and 2017, the school was modernized and expanded, with funding from a $482 million bond measure in 2012. The modernization included a new arts center, a new gym, biomedical, and culinary arts building, seismic retrofitting, and a new entrance.

Student profile

In the 2017–2018 school year, Franklin's student population was 48.9% White, 20.5% Hispanic, 16.4% Asian, 5.6% African American, 0.6% Pacific Islander, 0.6% Native American, and 7.4% mixed race. In 2008, 80% of the school's seniors received a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

. Of 354 students, 282 graduated, 52 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 15 were still in high school the following year. In 2009, 31% of the students were transfers into the school.

Athletics

Franklin High School athletic teams compete in the

OSAA The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) is a non-profit, board-governed organization that regulates high school athletics and competitive activities via athletic conferences in the U.S. state of Oregon, providing equitable competition a ...

6A-1 Portland Interscholastic League, the highest division and league in the

State Championships

Source: *Boys Basketball: 1921, 1956, 1959 *Boys Cross Country: 2019, 2023 *Boys Soccer: 2019 *Boys Track and Field: 1929

Notable alumni

* Robin Reed, US Olympic Gold Medalist wrestling 1924 * Bob Amsberry, actor on ''

The Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and briefly returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first te ...

'' *

Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer, inventor, and a pioneer in many aspects of computer science. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularly ...

, inventor of the

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice; also mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the Cursor (user interface)#Po ...

* Tamara Fazzolari, Miss Oregon 1987 * Vic Gilliam, Oregon State Representative from the 18th District * Chris Gorsek, Oregon State Representative from the 49th District * Howard Hobson, head men's basketball coach at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

(1936–47); led the team to the first

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the Division I level ...

in 1939 * Steve "Snapper" Jones, former basketball player in the ABA and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

; color analyst for

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

broadcasts * Jack Landau, Oregon Supreme Court Justice * Gerald Mahan, physicist and member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* Rod Monroe, Oregon State Senator from the 24th District * Legedu Naanee, former NFL player * Claire Phillips, spy in the Japanese-occupied Philippines during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; recipient of the Medal of Freedom *

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

, singer * Francis L. Sampson, 12th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army * Shoni Schimmel, WNBA player with the Atlanta Dream * Melvin Storer, United States Navy shipfitter * Richard Unis, Oregon Supreme Court Justice * Denorval Unthank Jr., architect and University of Oregon Faculty member

References

External links

* {{authority control 1914 establishments in Oregon Educational institutions established in 1914 High schools in Portland, Oregon Portland Public Schools (Oregon) Public high schools in Oregon South Tabor, Portland, Oregon Buildings and structures in Sunnyside, Portland, Oregon