Palo Alto High School
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| Palo Alto High School | |
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| Established | 1898 |
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| School type | Public |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Principal | Scott Laurence |
| Location | Palo Alto, CA, USA |
| Enrollment | 1670 |
| Colors | Green & White |
| Mascot | Viking |
| Website | http://www.paly.net/ |
Palo Alto Senior High School is the older of the two high schools in Palo Alto, California, United States. Founded in 1898, its enrollment today is almost 1700 students. "Paly", as the school is known locally, draws high-achieving and scholastically-minded students due to the demographics of its location in the heart of Silicon Valley and its proximity to Stanford University. In 2002 Newsweek magazine ranked it among the top 200 public high schools, based on test scores.[1] The school also carries on a distinguished athletic tradition, marked in recent years by a rivalry with crosstown foe Gunn. Titles won by teams from Paly include California State Championships in Boys Varsity Basketball in 1993 (during which the team went undefeated) and 2006.
Paly is situated on the older, northern side of Palo Alto, a location it has occupied since 1919. The western boundary of campus is El Camino Real, opposite which stands Stanford Stadium and the campus of Stanford University. The northern end of Paly runs along Embarcadero Road (from which the main parking lot is accessible). Across Embarcadero Road is situated the Town & Country Village shopping center. Students take full advantage of their proximity to Town and Country (or "T&C", as they call it), and lunch hours during the school year will generally find them giving brisk business to its eateries.
The eastern edge of the Paly campus abuts the Caltrain rail tracks, which separate the school from Alma Street. Commute trains thunder by on the route between San Jose and San Francisco, their window-rattling passage routinely ignored by all but the newest students and teachers. In 2002 and 2003, the Paly community was shaken by two students' suicides (by jumping in front of oncoming trains) at or near the Alma Street-Churchill Avenue crossing. Despite a lack of any public evidence concerning cause, some have speculated that these suicides were related to the emphasis on grades, achievement, and the pressure to compete for acceptance at highly selective colleges that characterizes many Palo Alto families. Another Paly student suicide involving the Caltrain tracks occurred in 1986.
The southern side of the school grounds, with its expanse of athletic fields, ends at Churchill Avenue and the leafy residential area beyond. What would be the extreme southwestern corner of the campus is occupied by the main offices of the Palo Alto Unified School District.
The school can reached by the VTA bus line 22 along El Camino Real, the Dumbarton Express bus, the SamTrans bus line KX, Stanford's free Marguerite shuttle, Caltrain's Palo Alto station, as well as by the Palo Alto city shuttle, which runs along Embarcadero Road.
The school mascot is the Viking.
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[edit] Publications
- The Campanile is Paly's school print publication. It claims one of the largest circulations of any high school newspaper in the Bay Area. It prints around 20 broadsheet pages once every three weeks. It has won four Pacemaker awards and also a West regional award for editorial excellence from Time.
- Verde is Paly's school magazine publication, published five times each year. Verde is the widest distributed student-run magazine in the nation, and has won numerous Pacemaker and Gold Crown awards for scholastic journalism, including the 2005 Gold Crown award in the Newspaper category. In 2006 Verde won the Best in Show at National Journalism Convention held in San Francisco.
- The Paly Voice, launched in the 2002-3 school year, is Paly's online news source. It features searchable archives of all of the above publications as well as exclusive online content. In the spring of 2005 the site won both the People's Voice and Overall Webby Award in the "Student" category, a rare accomplishment for a high school level Internet site. The Voice was also one of the national Online Pacemaker award recipients in 2006, 2005 and 2004, and was a finalist for the same award in 2003. The Voice can be accessed at voice.paly.net.
- InFocus is Paly's television news channel. It is broadcast five days a week during fourth period, and available only on Paly campus and online at voice.paly.net. It has recently come under fire from Campanile for its inefficiency, an issue highlighted by the occasional missed broadcasts due to technical difficulties. Their conflict has manifested in a cartoon in the Campanile and a subsequent InFocus segment .
- Calliope is Paly's literary magazine, published once or twice a year. It is also available online at calliope.paly.net.
[edit] Mock Trial
Palo Alto's mock trial team, run by former Social Studies Instructional Supervisor Suzanne Stewart, is a perennial force in the Santa Clara County division of the Constitutional Rights Foundation's mock trial competition. Palo Alto competed in the 2004,[2] 2005,[2] 2006, and 2007 county finals, beating Lynbrook High School in 2005 and 2007[3] to represent Santa Clara County in the California Mock Trial Competition. In 2005, Palo Alto placed 10th in the state.[4]
[edit] Theater
Drama Instructor Kristen Lo has been at Paly since 2001, and has overseen more than fifteen productions as director and producer.
Past productions include: Big Love, The Fantasticks, A Chorus Line, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Metamorphoses, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Learned Ladies, Romeo and Juliet, Anything Goes, and 43 Plays For 43 Presidents. Every other year, Paly holds a Spring showcase of student-written and directed one-act plays called "Speed Limit 25."
The Thespian Society is the oldest club on campus, and facilitates field trips to see plays throughout the Bay Area, as well as to attend acting and improv workshops. Since 2004, the annual Play in a Day festival has been held the first weekend of Winter Break, when theater alumni join current students in the Haymarket to write, rehearse and perform one-act plays within a period of just over 24 hours.
In addition to productions of the Paly drama and music departments, the historic Haymarket Theater houses performances, lectures, and special events for organizations from the larger community. The Grateful Dead (then the Warlocks) played at the Haymarket during the 60's, as well as legendary jazz pianist Thelonius Monk and other artists widely popular during their time.
[edit] Robotics
The Palo Alto High School (Paly) Robotics Team, established in 1996 by Doug Bertain and his engineering technology students, is one of the many active academic programs at Paly. They are funded mainly by corporate sponsors and compete annually in competitions such as the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Competition, the Electric Vehicle Rally, Botball, and the Tech Challenge. In 2006, the Robotics team won first place at the FIRST Las Vegas Regional Competition. This year, the team has also been selected to participate in, and given a $10,000 grant from MIT's InvenTeams program.
[edit] Campus Traditions
Since Palo Alto High school was built at its current location in 1919, it has acquired a host of campus traditions.
[edit] Spirit Week
Each class is assigned a color for Spirit Week, which they wear on Wednesday. Each day has its own costume theme, which is broken down into sub-themes by class. Rallies and competitions are held on the quad at lunch and points are awarded to each class based on their performance. Points can also be taken away for poor sportsmanship or the wearing of unauthorized class apparel.
- Spirit Week Themes
- Monday: Class Theme
- Tuesday: Salad Dressing
- Wednesday: Class colors/shirts
- Thursday: Ages
- Friday: School colors
[edit] Senior Pranks
- Six-foot C painted on Stanford's main quad (c. 1940)[5]
- Cow in Tower Building (possibly apocryphal)[6]
- The entire freshman class was assembled for a group photo. As the shutter clicked, several hundred gallons of water were dumped on them from above (1979)
- A beehive was brought into the library in a sealed 33 gallon plastic garbage can, then opened. The library and adjoining offices were closed for a day in order to remove the bees (1979)
- All the doorlocks in the Science wing were removed and reversed (1979)
- Eight-foot paper maché and chicken wire penis was tied between palm trees and dangled across the quad (1991)[7]
- Library broken into; library carrels moved to quad (1997)[6]
- Hundreds of crickets unleashed in the library prior to the finals for grades 9-11, Class of '99.
- Complete classroom moved to quad and reassembled, Class of '99
- Giant inflatable water polo ball taken from Stanford was re-inflated on top of the library building (2003)[6]
[edit] Streaking
Typically a group of just graduated seniors streak across the quad during the last week of school (usually the last day of classes at brunch).
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Erle Stanley Gardner, novelist, class of 1909.
- Lester Steers, world record holder in high jump from 1941-1953, class of 1937
- Rink Babka, Olympic discus thrower, class of 1954
- Jon Huntsman, billionaire founder of Huntsman Corporation, class of 1955
- Joan Baez, folk singer, class of 1958
- Grace Slick, rock singer, class of 1958
- Joe Simitian, California State Assemblyman (2000-2004); California State Senator (2004-), class of ?
- Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator, Oregon, class of 1967
- John Markoff, reporter, New York Times, class of 1967
- Tad Williams, author of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Otherland, and Shadowmarch Science Fiction/Fantasy series, class of 1975
- Dave Schultz, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion wrestler, class of 1977
- Mark Schultz, Olympic and World Champion wrestler, class of 1978
- Rob Minkoff, director (The Lion King, etc), class of 1980
- Kirk Wise, Film Director, (Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame), class of 1981
- Jim Harbaugh, football player and Stanford University football coach, class of 1982
- Dave Feldman, Sportscaster WTTG-TV (FOX) Washington DC, class of 1983
- Bill Pidto, ESPN Anchor, class of 1983
- Whitfield Crane, Lead Singer - Ugly Kid Joe, class of 1986
- Ron "Money B" Brooks, Rapper - Digital Underground class of 1987?
- Ted Turkington, Baseball Coach, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, class of 1991
- James Franco, actor, class of 1996
- Luke Paquin, guitarist - Hot Hot Heat, class of 1996
- The Donnas, rock band (Brett Anderson, Maya Ford, Allison Robertson, and Torry Castellano), class of 1997
- Timi Wusu, Stanford Football, Oakland Raiders, class of 2001
- Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, [[Blues Singer/Organist], Grateful Dead, did not graduate
- Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead
[edit] Notable Visitors
- Walter Mondale, Former U.S. Vice President, 2006
- David M. Kennedy, Historian and author of The American Pageant, 2006
- Mary Tillman, Mother of the late American football player and soldier Pat Tillman, 2006
- Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education, 2006
- Annette Bening, American Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress, 2006
Sources: The Paly Voice at http://voice.paly.net
- Steve Young, Football Player for the San Francisco 49er's, 2004.
[edit] Trivia
- On the episode "The Keg" of That 70's Show, two jocks at Eric's high school wear letterman jackets identical to those issued by Palo Alto High School: they have green "P" letters and "Vikings" written across the back. It is one of the first five episodes of That 70's Show.
[edit] See also
- Gunn High School, Palo Alto's other high school
- Cubberley High School, Palo Alto's now-defunct third high school
[edit] External links
- Palo Alto High School official website
- Paly Voice, online journalism publication of Palo Alto High School
- Paly Alumni website
- Paly Theater website
- Newsweek's 2006 Rankings of the 1200 Best High Schools
- Paly Robotics website
- Paly Athletics website
[edit] Notes
- ^ Jeffries, Kimberly and Laila Ouhamou, researchers. [1]
- ^ a b Chana Karlin-Neumann. Mock Trial Team Dominates County, Campanile, 7 March, 2005.
- ^ Erik Krasner-Karpen. Mock Trial qualifies for States, Campanile, 9 March, 2007.
- ^ Taylor Whitfield. Mock trial represents county in State Finals, Voice, 21 March, 2005.
- ^ Marek, Grant. "There's More to the Big Game than 'the Play': Rivalry has Storied Tradition of Pranks, Acts of School Pride," Daily Californian, 17 November, 2001. [2]
- ^ a b c Cook, Gavin. "Pranks brighten, blemish Paly environment," Campanile, 2 June, 2005. [3]
- ^ Blakely, Participant, Class of '91
