Gunn High School

Gunn High School

Established	1964
School type	Public
Grades	9-12
Principal	Noreen Likins
Location	Palo Alto, California, United States
Enrollment	1900
Website	http://gunn.pausd.org/

Gunn High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California. The school is named after Henry M. Gunn (1898-1988), who served as the Palo Alto superintendent from 1950-1961. During his tenure he saw the Palo Alto Unified School District expand from 5,500 students to 14,000. He also oversaw the expansion of 17 new schools, and is credited with the establishment of De Anza College and Silent Foothill College, two local community colleges. In 1964, the Palo Alto Unified School District announced it would name its third high school after him. The first graduating class was the Class of 1966. The school is also home to the Spangenberg Theatre.

The mascot of the school is Timmy the Titan. The student newspaper is The Oracle, part of the High School National Ad Network.

Academic reputation

Gunn High School is well known for achieving outstanding academic results. ^{[citation needed]} Newsweek ranked Gunn 53rd in the United States in 2003,^[1] 70th out of America's top 1,000 high schools in 2005,^[2] and 79th out of 1,200 in 2006.^[3]

The average SAT score for Gunn seniors hovers around 1350-1400 on the former 1600 scale (1367 in 2003, 1349 in 2004, 1391 in 2005).^[4]

Education in mathematics and computer science is particularly strong. In 2004, 5 students qualified for the USAMO out of around 250 nationally, and during the 2004-2005 school year 5 out of the approximately 35 American students in the Gold Division of the USACO were from Gunn.

Senior Pranks

In 2007, a student wearing a cardboard mask came into a classroom and threw eggs at a teacher. The mask resembled a spartan helm, much like the ones seen in the film 300[[1]]

In the spring of 2005, the school purchased a digital announcement board that was posted in front of the entrance to the school parking lot on Arastradero Road. A couple of students managed to dial in to the announcement board and put up a message reading "Heavy traffic ahead, detour" complete with a large, friendly arrow pointing in to the parking lot. Of course, the parking lot only had one entrance, so any drivers who actually followed its advice were forced to wander the gargantuan parking lot before realizing the only way out was the way they came in.

The day before the first day of class in fall 1994 a group of seniors spent the night in the quad. During the day, they filled the quad with sand and built a moat around it. The moat was more flimsy than planned and had to be reinforced with automobiles pulled up to it, somewhat detracting from the effect. Technically not a prank, the idea was submitted by the previous year's junior class council and was approved by the administration. It was also chaperoned by volunteer faculty and parents who kept mostly to themselves in a nearby building. Alcohol consumption was widespread at the event and yearbook photos depicting the carousing had fruit superimposed over any visible beer cans.

In the Spring of 1995 a couple of students acquired a master key to the classrooms and organized a large group of students to come in the middle of the night to remove all the desks from the rooms. The next day the quad had been stacked three desks high and most students took lessons on the floor. The administration simply ordered the desks to be returned to class by the end of the day.

On June 8, 1994, an incorrectly concocted smoke bomb designed by three students was planted in an already gutted and inactive water fountain on the high school quad, spewing during the lunch break a great fireball of molten sugar and fertilizer on the quad, injuring 18 students.^[5]^[6]^[7] One of the more titillating aspects of the story included a drawing by one of the three students, published in the yearbook, that depicted an atom bomb explosion. The yearbook had been published before the incident took place.

Previously that year, bricks had been pried out of the surface of the elevated "Quad" (the main courtyard in the school) and replaced with cement, spelling "1994." This prank backfired, as the school administration then took the money needed to replace the bricks from the class of 1994's party fund.

In 1992, students, presumably from the senior class, entered the school's library, removed all the books and placed them in stacks in the exterior courtyard area of the Quad. In the same incident, much of the library's furniture was hoisted onto the roof of the building. Some students were amused by the ambitious prank, while school administrators immediately reacted with harsh condemnation. A considerable number of the library books used in the prank were damaged, as a consequence of having been roughly handled. The prank was widely viewed as retribution by the senior class for the cancellation of an annual skit show called "Senior Frolics."

In 1988 some students hijacked the school's public address system and for a period of a few hours broadcast various humorous recordings and rock music. School administrators were initially unable to turn off the recordings and many classes were disrupted. Some teachers went as far to rip the wires out of the speakers in their classroom, leaving a number of classrooms that, for years afterward, were unable to hear morning announcements. Many teachers just took their students outside and had their students do independent study on the grass. The prank was picked up by local news and became a minor news item. This prank was repeated near the end of the 2002-2003 school year.

At some point in the late 1980s, pranksters filled the enclosed "Batcave" area with water and stole a number of carp from a local hotel. The carp were then placed in the flooded Batcave. Perhaps unanticipated by the pranksters, the carp then died en masse, creating a rather fearsome stench.

Issues

Traffic has always been a persistent problem each year for Gunn High School. With only one vehicle entrance to the main parking lot and drop off areas, backups occur on a daily basis starting about a half hour before and after classes. Gunn High School is also located along the Charleston-Arastradero corridor in south Palo Alto. The 2.3 mile roadway serves 11 schools and is lined with private residences, commercial uses and non-profits. In April 2003, the city initiated a Charleston-Arastradero Corridor Plan to address vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and to enhance the residential character of the corridor. In January 2004, the city council approved the plan for a trial demonstration. During the summer of 2006 construction crews finished work on the Gunn High School entrance. City workers constructed a dedicated right turn lane into the school and installed new traffic lights with sensors. An additional left turn lane out of the school was also added to improve traffic flow.

To promote alternative forms of transit to Gunn High School the school administration sells subsidized student bus passes, offers discount priority parking for carpools, and rewards bicyclists with food and gifts through the Pedal-for-Prizes program. Using money from the general fund the City of Palo Alto offers the free Crosstown Community Shuttle that links Gunn High School to the neighborhoods of south Palo Alto and Midtown.

In 2005, Gunn's award-winning Gunn Robotics Team withdrew from regional competitions due to internal problems. Two students filed restraining orders against two other students during the six-week build period; as a result, the program was shut down. The 05-06 GRT team was reformed and is again active in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Gunn High School include:

Zoe Lofgren, Class of 1966 — elected 7 times to the United States House of Representatives
Bruce Handy, Class of 1976 - author, writer; Vanity Fair editor, Time contributor
Stanley Jordan, Class of 1977 — Jazz guitarist
Ann Packer, Class of 1977 - author
George Packer, Class of 1978 - author
Stephan Jenkins, Class of 1983 - lead singer for Third Eye Blind
Jessica Yu, Class of 1983 — director of Oscar-winning short documentary Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien
Steve Almond, Class of 1984 - author
Rick Porras, Class of 1984 — co-Producer on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
Matt Flynn, Class of 1988 — Drummer, Grammy Award winning drummer of Maroon 5, as well as former drummer of the The_B-52's
Shemar Moore, Class of 1988 — actor, formerly of the NBC soap opera The Young and the Restless
Anne Wojcicki, Class of 1991 - Wife of Google founder Sergey Brin
Mehdi Ballouchy, Class of 2002 - Pro Soccer Player

Trivia

The host of Stanford Chinese School, the only major Chinese school in the area that teaches Simplified Chinese.
Hosts many talent shows and stage performances from nearby schools in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Los Altos.

External links

References

^ Mathews, Jay (2003-05-24). 2003 List: The Top High Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools. Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
^ The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools. Newsweek (2005-05-16). Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
^ The Complete List: 1,200 Top U.S. Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools. Newsweek (2006-05-23). Archived from the original on 2006-10-17. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
^ Gunn High School's School Accountability Report Card, Page 15. http://www.pausd.org/community/about/downloads/SARC/HenryGunn.pdf
^ http://consumerlawpage.com/article/explode.shtml
^ http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=1304
^ http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2003/2003_01_15.atschool15.html

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Donate to Wikimedia