Oakland Senior High School (also known as O-High or OHS) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

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., ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. Established in 1869, it is the oldest high school in Oakland and the sixth oldest high school in the state.

History

Oakland High was first located at 12th Street and Market Street, then at 12th and Jefferson Street. It has been at its current location at the corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Park Boulevard since 1928. The building that stood before its current manifestation was known as the "Pink Prison" or "Pink Palace." The stairway leading up from Park Boulevard is what remains of the exterior. The lamps in the commons are original fixtures. What is now the football field and basketball courts was once classrooms and a huge theater. The school colors are royal blue and white. While the mascot is Willy the Wildcat. The building was torn down in 1980 to be rebuilt as a safer structure in the event of a major earthquake. A new football/soccer/baseball field was inaugurated in the spring of 2006. The football field is officially known as the "Jackie Jensen Field", while the baseball/softball field is dedicated to Mike Marcoulis Sr., longtime coach and teacher. Pamela Moy became Oakland High's principal in fall 2020, succeeding Matin Abdel-Qawi, who was the principal serving from 2012 to 2020. As of July 2023, the assistant principals are Jennifer Howard, Chris Johnston, Rita Skyers, David Granzotto, and Celetta Hunter. Other administrative positions include Rany Ath (Wellness Center Director). In the summer of 2008, renovations and rebuilding to the main building (as well in the former shop buildings) began and were completed in August 2011. In January 2021, filmmaker Peter Nicks released ''Homeroom'', a documentary following the Oakland High class of 2020 through their senior year. The 2019–2020 school year started normally but made an unexpected turn in March 2020 as a result of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, forcing the students into quarantine and to attend virtual classes, with no prom or graduation ceremony. In the 2022-2023 school year, the boys varsity basketball team won its first state basketball championship.

Students

With over 1,800 students, 39% are Asian, including students of Chinese,

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

, Cambodian, Filipino,

Mien The Yao people () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They s ...

, and Laotian descent. Another 38% of students are

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 21% of students are Latino or

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

, 1% are

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

and 1% are of two or more ethnicities.

Class colors

*Freshmen: purple *Sophomores: yellow *Juniors: green *Seniors: blue

Student life

Oakland High School has more than 68 student-run clubs and 25 sports.

Clubs

Academics

OHS offers many Advanced Placement (AP) courses and a wide array of challenging academic electives. Many concurrent enrollment college courses are offered from the Peralta Colleges after school. The AP Test Site Coordinator for the school is Carlos Padilla.

AP courses

Test scores

For 2013, the school's API score was 634 out of a possible 1,000 points.

Families and Pathways

Ninth-grade students are parts of learning communities called freshman "families" named after different wildcats such as puma, tiger, panther, jaguar, or lion. Students in grades 10 to 12 join one of the school's Career and Technical Education (CTE), aligned pathway programs:

Visual Arts & Academic Magnet Program (VAAMP)

VAAMP is an art-based academy; it offers classes in art, fashion, drama, and graphic design. VAAMP students painted a mural on Park Blvd. entitled "Beautiful Struggle."

Environmental Science Academy (ESA)

The Environmental Science Academy (ESA) at Oakland High was founded in 1997. ESA is known for its hands-on learning and field trips including regular sophomore water quality monitoring at

Lake Merritt Lake Merritt is a lake located in a large tidal lagoon basin in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is named after Samuel Merritt, Oakland's mayor in 1867–1869, who had the lagoon dammed turning the varying tidal lag ...

and an annual trip to Catalina Island. Students are given various tools to prepare themselves for the future, such as community service, college courses, and School-to-Career. Sophomore ESA students usually have a block class consisting of Chemistry and Environmental Studies.

Public Health Academy (PHA)

Established in 2011, the Public Health Academy is the newest academy at Oakland High School. Its goal is to teach students about public health and policy. Public health problems involve complex and interrelated social, behavioral, legal, medical and economic issues. Students are given opportunities for internships in the health profession at Highland Hospital and Kaiser Permanente.

Innovative Design & Engineering Academy (IDEA)

This pathway was formerly known as Project Lead The Way Engineering (PLTW).

Law & Social Justice

LSJ prepares students for careers in education, law, and community organizations with a focus on social justice and current events.

RISE Academy

R.I.S.E. (Recent Immigrant Support and Engagement) Academy welcomes newly arrived immigrant students and supports their transition into the American high school education system. Unlike the other pathways, RISE includes students from all four grade levels.

Athletics

In the 2008–2009 season, the Oakland High

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team managed a 9–2 record, winning a co-league championship. In the spring of 1998, 2007 and 2009, the

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

team defeated Skyline High School (the seven-year defending champions) to become the OAL champions. They won the league with a record of six wins and no losses. Along with athletic talent, the badminton team also maintained a very high average GPA, and were named Oakland High's 2007 Outstanding Spring Sports Team. The Oakland High Catfish Swim Team is another of the many teams at Oakland High School. The Catfish have roughly 40 people on the Varsity and JV teams. At the 2008 OAL finals, the Catfish defeated Skyline in both men's Varsity and JV, becoming OAL champions. In the fall of 2007, the

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

team became OAL champions without a single loss. The Lady Wildcats

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team finished third in the OAL for the 2014 season. In 2002, the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team played

De La Salle High School (Concord, California) De La Salle High School is a private Lasallian Catholic school for boys run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers of the San Francisco New Orleans District within the Diocese of Oakland. It is located in Concord, California. The school was ...

in the State Champions Semi-Finals. They also won the OAL (Oakland Athletic League) basketball against

Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compre ...

in 2000. In 2023 the Oakland highschool wildcats Won the Dlll State championship.

Sports

Notable alumni

* Herbert Anderson, actor, Dennis The Menace television series. * Carroll Borland (1931), actress, author, Professor of Education * Annie Florence Brown, President, Oakland Board of Education * Jabari Brown (2011),

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

basketball player * Chris Burford (1955), NFL player and NCAA Football Hall of Fame *

Sway Calloway Jonathan Ahmad Calloway (born July 3, 1971), known as Sway, is an American radio personality, journalist and former rapper known for hosting music, news, and culture programming. He was an on-air reporter and host for MTV News and occasional non- ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor, director, and producer, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known ...

(1954), actor * King Lan Chew (1921), dancer * George Cooper Pardee (1875), Governor of California, 1903–1907 * Denny Dent (1966), painter * Sheila E., percussionist *

Ralph Edwards Ralph Livingstone Edwards (June 13, 1913DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 86-87. – November 16, 2005) was an American radio ...

(1930), television producer * Ben Fong-Torres (1962), journalist * Shirley Fong-Torres (1964), chef, tour operator, and popular travel and food writer * Chick Gandil (1906), professional baseball player * Paul Gemignani (1955), jazz drummer and Broadway music director * Sylvia Gerrish (as Lillian Rollins), (1878), musical comedy actress *

Lillian Moller Gilbreth Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (; May 24, 1878 – January 2, 1972) was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time and motion study, time-and-motion studies. She was d ...

(1896), industrial engineer * Bob Grottkau, NFL player and college coach * Eric Hughes, NBA assistant coach * George J. Hatfield (1907), Lieutenant Governor of California, 1935–39 * Harry W. Hill (admiral), vice admiral US Navy * Marsha Hunt (1964), actress, singer and novelist * Kevin Jenkins, politician * Jackie Jensen (1945), athlete, College Football Hall of Fame, 1958 AL MVP * Franklin Knight Lane (1880), US Secretary of Interior, 1913–1920 * Fay Lanphier (1924), Miss California, 1924 and 1925; Miss America, 1925 *

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Dame Time", he played college basketball for the Weber State Wi ...

(2008),

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

basketball player and rapper *

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

(1896), writer * Lorenzo Lynch, NFL football player *

Judah Leon Magnes Judah Leon Magnes (; July 5, 1877 – October 27, 1948) was a prominent Reform rabbi in both the United States of America and Mandatory Palestine. He is best remembered as a leader in the pacifist movement of the World War I period, his advocacy ...

(1894), rabbi, Chancellor/President Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1925-1948 * Dudley Manlove (1931), vaudeville, radio and B-movie actor * Yōsuke Matsuoka (1896), Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs during WWII * Armand Mauss (1946), sociologist *

Stanley Mazor Stanley Mazor is an American microelectronics engineer. He is one of the co-inventors of the world's first microprocessor architecture, the Intel 4004, together with Ted Hoff, Masatoshi Shima, and Federico Faggin. Early years Mazor was born t ...

(1959), engineer * Ken McAlister, NFL football player and college basketball player *

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980� ...

(1949), US Attorney General, 1985–1988 * Clark Miller (1955), NFL football player * Ethel Moore, civic leader *

Julia Morgan Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...

(1890), architect * Lloyd Moseby (1978), Major League baseball player * Robert Nichols, actor * Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen (1949), Olympic diver; silver medal, 1948; bronze medal, 1952 * Walter Plunkett (1919), 1951 Academy Award for Costume Design for ''An American in Paris'' * Bill Rigney (1936), New York Giants player and first manager of the San Francisco Giants, 1956 *

Boots Riley Raymond Lawrence "Boots" Riley (born April 1, 1971) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He made his feature-film directorial ...

, rapper, producer, screenwriter, film director, and activist *

Dawn Robinson Dawn Sherrese Robinson (born November 24, 1966) is an American singer and actress best known as a founding member of the R&B/pop group En Vogue, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Following her departure from En Vogue, Rob ...

(attended), singer; founding member of R&B vocal group

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the singl ...

. *

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

(1892), author * Ellery W. Stone (1912), Rear admiral and Radio pioneer * Nellie Wong (1952), poet

References

{{authority control High schools in Oakland, California Educational institutions established in 1869 Public high schools in California 1869 establishments in California Oakland Unified School District