North High School is a public secondary school located in

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. It is one of five secondary schools in the Des Moines Independent Community School District.

History

North High School was originally founded as Forest Home School in 1875 and became a high school in 1889. The school was incorporated into the Des Moines School District in 1907. The school moved to a new location in 1896. In 1957, the school moved again. The school was renovated in 2011. A student was injured in a drive-by shooting in 2014. Another student was injured in a shooting connected to a confrontation at the school in 2021. On December 17, 1965, John Tinker was kicked out of the school for wearing a black armband in protest of the Vietnam War. His parents sued in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which went to the Supreme Court and set a legal standard for free expression in American schools.

Academics

North High School is ranked 212th to 317th within the state of Iowa and 3rd to 5th in the Des Moines Independent Community School District by

US News ''U.S. News & World Report'' (''USNWR'', ''US NEWS'') is an American media company publishing news, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. The company was launched in 1948 as the merger of domestic-focused weekly newspaper ''U.S. News'' and ...

Athletics

North High School was a member of the Central Iowa Metro League until its exit in 2021 when it formed the

Iowa Alliance Conference The Iowa Alliance Conference is a high school athletic conference whose members are mostly located in the metropolitan areas of central Iowa, with five of the schools being from the Des Moines Independent Community School District. The conferen ...

with 10 other schools. It is also a part of the

Iowa High School Athletic Association The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) is the regulating body for male Iowa high school interscholastic athletics and is a full member of the National Federation of State High School Associations. Its female counterpart, the Iowa Gir ...

and

Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) is the governing body for girls' junior and senior high school sports in the U.S. state of Iowa. The association promotes and regulates interscholastic sports among its member schools. Though it ...

. It participates in football, volleyball, cross country, golf, swimming, basketball, bowling, wrestling, track and field, soccer, tennis, baseball and softball in the school year. The high school's football team was featured in an ESPN documentary in 2016.

Awards

* 6-time State Cross Country Champions (1944, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1953) * 2-time State Boys' Swimming Champions (1938, 1942) * Boys' 7-time State Track and Field Champions (1917, 1919, 1934, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1959) * 3-time State Champions (1931, 1934, 1936)

Extracurricular activities

North High School's

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual Student competition, high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective mult ...

team placed 4th in the state in 2011. The Academic Decathlon team placed 5th in the state and 7th in the Medium School e-Nationals in 2012. In 2024, the school also has the first team to enter a NASA competition from Iowa. The NASA competition team advanced to the interview phase of the competition.

Notable alumni

Herbert W. Armstrong Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was an American evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he claimed was the comprehensiv ...

(Class of 1910), founder of the

Grace Communion International Grace Communion International (GCI), formerly named the Radio Church of God (RCG) and the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), is a Christian denomination based in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the organization's website, the denomination ...

* Ed Beisser (Class of 1939), All-American basketball player at

Creighton University Creighton University () is a private research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate ...

in 1943 and three-time AAU national champion *

MarTay Jenkins MarTay Jenkins (born February 28, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He also was a member of the Arizona Rattlers in the Arena Footbal ...

(Class of 1993), former NFL wide receiver for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

* John F. Tinker (Class of 1968), one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case '' Tinker v. Des Moines Schools'' *

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

(Class of 1942), pianist

References

External links

Official website

North High School Homepage

President Barack Obama at North (2015)

Governor Terry Branstad at North High (2015)
{{Central Iowa Metro League , state=autocollapse Schools in Des Moines, Iowa Public high schools in Iowa Iowa High School Athletic Association 1885 establishments in Iowa