Glendale High School is a high school in Glendale, California, United States. The school is part of the Glendale Unified School District.
Contents
History
Glendale High School was founded as Glendale Union High School in 1901 by the residents of the villages of Glendale, La Crescenta, Burbank, Eagle Rock, Ivanhoe, Tropico and West Glendale.
The first classes were held at the Glendale Hotel. The first principal was Mr. Llewellyn Evans and the school had two teachers and 29 students. The next year, a new school building was built at the corner of what is today Brand Boulevard and Broadway.
George Moyse was appointed principal and continued in his role for 35 years until 1937. The school continued to grow rapidly, and the school moved several times, in 1907 to Harvard Street and in 1914 to Maryland Street.
The school continued to grow, as enrollment reached 800 in 1920 and 1,050 in 1921. During the 20's Women Right's activist Ella Lillian Wall Van Leer would help create and manage various Art and Architecture departments. It was decided then to move the Grade 10, 11 and 12 classes to a new campus at the corner of the present-day Broadway and Verdugo Road (Grade 9 students remained at the Maryland Street campus, and were later integrated into area Middle Schools). The school has remained in this location (1440 East Broadway, at the southeast corner of Verdugo) since 1924.
The Class of 1960 was Glendale's largest, with 903 graduates. Crescenta Valley High School opened in September 1960, taking a sizable portion of Glendale's students.
The school suffered extensive damage during spring break on March 22, 1964, when a student who was concerned about his grades set fire to the room in which he thought the grade information was stored. The fire quickly spread throughout the administration building and to adjacent buildings on the campus. The decision was made to reconstruct the campus, leaving the swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts, and football stadium as the only remnants of the old campus.
In the early 1990s, the decision was made by the School Board to reintegrate ninth graders into the Glendale Unified School District high schools (with the exception of Crescenta Valley High School, which had already transitioned to a four-year high school in September 1983). As a result, the 'J' building was constructed in 1994–1995, opening in September 1995.
Dance/Drill Team
Since 1999, the dance/drill team program has won over 50 National Championship titles. The Glendale High School Junior Varsity and Varsity dance/drill team competes annually at the United Spirit Association Nationals competition and starting in the 2018 Season now competes annually at the West Coast Elite Dance Nationals competition. This is held at the Anaheim Convention Center and Long Beach Convention Center, respectively. The Glendale High School dance/drill team consists of more than 80 dancers with ten coaches and a director.
List of USA National Championship titles since 1999:
1999: Co-Ed Dance
2000: Co-Ed Dance, Large All Male
2001: Co-Ed Dance, Small All Male, Large All Male, Championship Small Military
2002: Co-Ed Dance, Large All Male, Championship Small Military, Open Small Lyrical
2003: Co-Ed Dance, Large All Male, Open Medium Military
2004: Co-Ed Dance, Championship Small Military
2005: Co-Ed Dance, Pom, Championship Small Military
2006: Co-Ed Dance, Large All Male
2007: Co-Ed Dance, Large All Male, Championship Large Military, Open Large Military
2008: Co-Ed Dance, Championship Small Military, Open Medium Military
2009: Co-Ed Dance, Championship Small Military, Open Large Military, Championship Large Hip-Hop
2010: Open Small Military
Sport
Glendale High School was among the first schools in Southern California to offer athletic sports, and the school's sport program continues to be a major source of pride. Its two mascots are the Dynamiters for the American football program and the Nitros for all other sports.
The large weights and sizes of the players in the 1924-1925 American football team, with all 11 starting players weighing 170 pounds or more, and with almost all of them six or more feet tall, made them, in the words of the authors of Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne, "a high school phenomenon." That team was directed by coach Normal C. Hayhurst, with University of Southern California student Vic Francy serving as one of the assistants. During that year, the first team to score against them did so in one of the postseason semifinal games.
Fall season (September–November)
American football
Girls' volleyball
Cross country
Girls' tennis
Boys water polo
Winter season (December–February)
Girls' water polo
Boys' basketball
Girls' basketball
Boys' soccer
Girls' soccer
Spring season (March–May)
Golf
Baseball
Softball
Boys' track and field
Girls' track and field
Boys' swimming
Girls' swimming
Boys' tennis
Boys' volleyball
Boys' lacrosse
Girls' lacrosse
Traditions
Oratorical
Every March, the school holds its annual "Oratorical" event. Students from each class (Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12) are judged on:
Discipline
Spirit
Tableau
Speech
The tradition was started in 1910, at a time of heightened interest in public speaking in Southern California. It has continued through the years, demonstrating to the community the pride that students have in the school. The event is judged by a combination of alumni, community members and members of the military. As of 2023, only five classes have ever won all four categories, the classes of 1999, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2023.
Newspaper and yearbook
The school newspaper, the Explosion, was first published in 1917 and has continued to be published semi-quarterly.
The school yearbook, the Stylus, was started in 1909 as a monthly publication. In 1910, it became a quarterly publication, being published each quarter by a different grade level. Later, it became an annual publication.
Pat Navolanic Memorial Award
The Pat Navolanic Memorial Award was established in 1966 in honor of Patrick Navolanic, student body president and Valedictorian of the Class of 1963, who is remembered for being extremely active in school activities, and who died of asphyxiation in December 1965 while studying abroad in France. The award is given to the graduating senior who best exemplifies Navolanic's leadership traits, scholarship skills and athletic prowess, as decided by a council of electors representing all student organizations and sports teams on campus. The winner receives a scholarship in the amount of $2,500 and finalists receive $300. The scholarship money is made possible by a financial endowment, as well as generous donations from students, teachers, alumni and the community.
Demographics
GHS is noted for its diversity. Hispanic/Latino students comprise 33.6% of the student population. Additionally, total minority enrollment is 47%, and 61% of students are economically disadvantaged.
Statistics based on 2022-2023 enrollment
Notable alumni
Frankie Albert – 3-time All-American quarterback at Stanford, member College Football Hall of Fame
Wilma Baker – Disney animator from 1930s to 1990s
Leslie Banning - actress
Kimberly Beck - actress
Duane Bickett – CIF Player of the Year in basketball; all-American linebacker at USC, 12 seasons in NFL
Mike Black - NFL punter
Alyce Canfield - journalist
Mary Costa – actress
Gary Sutherland - former Major League Baseball player
Vic Dana – top 40 singer and popular vocalist of the 1960s
Michael Davis - NFL defensive back
Emilio Delgado – actor, Luis from Sesame Street
Marian Cleeves Diamond - Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Neuroanatomy at University of California, Berkeley, one of the founders of modern neuroscience
Bob Dillinger – .306 career batting average in MLB; led American League 1948 in hits with 207
Yvonne Lime Fedderson (class of 1953) - actress, philanthropist
Afshin Ghotbi – Former manager of the Iran national football team
Leland H. Hartwell - co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine