Bakersfield High School

Campus

The school has been in the same location since its inception, though most of the buildings have been reconstructed. The 1952 Kern County earthquake precipitated a great deal of reconstruction.

It hosts several buildings, each with multiple floors. One of its most prominent buildings is Harvey Auditorium, which houses a main theater and one little theater, in addition to a number of classrooms. It serves as a venue for the local arts community. There are two Industrial Arts buildings, which house both a functioning automotive garage along with a wood shop and weight room and fitness center. With a student population just over 2,800, it has the largest student body on one of the smallest campuses (25 acres) in the Kern High School District.

Notable alumni

Tradition

At BHS another long-standing tradition has been community service. Throughout its history BHS students have contributed countless amounts of money, food and clothing to the poor, have given up tens of thousands of hours to cleaning up their community, and even started a new environmentally friendly electronics waste recycling committee run by the BHS Virtual Business Team. This "E-waste" recycling club is the first of its kind in the Kern High School District.

Sports

The BHS Drillers have been competing in football since 1896. The Drillers hold the California state records for most state football titles (8), and the most section championships (36), commonly called valley titles for being within the San Joaquin Valley. In 2013 Bakersfield High won the CIF Division I State title over Loomis-Del Oro played at the Home Depot Center at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. Bakersfield High has the most wins in California high school football history, running neck and neck with Long Beach Poly at a close number two. Bakersfield has 737 wins as of the end of the 2013 season, Long Beach Poly has 734. It clinched its 700th win, the first team in California to do so, on October 23, 2009, in that season's Homecoming game. The most recognized Driller alum is Frank Gifford, who played college football both at Bakersfield College and the University of Southern California, and pro football with the New York Giants. Gifford is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was a part of the legendary Monday Night Football broadcasting team with "Dandy Don" Meredith and Howard Cosell during the 1970s and 80's on ABC television. The Drillers have called Griffith Field their home field since 1923. The field features a monolithic concrete structure for home seating on the western home side with the Drillers locker rooms inside it. The field is unusual in that the visiting eastern bleachers are located on the grass inside the dirt practice track. The bleachers run from end zone to end zone with the front row only about 12-feet away from the sideline with nothing separating the fans from the field. Griffith Field can seat approximately 8,000 spectators. Griffith Field is scheduled to undergo a massive renovation project to be completed in time for the 2016 season.

In 1906 Bakersfield High joined a large number of high schools and colleges across the nation and played under the Rugby Football Union rules instead of American Football due to the large amount of nationwide deaths playing football in the 1905 season.

The Bakersfield High football tradition was the basis of the movie The Best of Times starring Kurt Russell and Robin Williams. The story is based on an actual football game in the mid-1970s between mighty Bakersfield High and the small ill-respected Kern County oil town Taft High Wildcats.

The school has also enjoyed success beyond the gridiron, including six state championships in track and field—amazingly without having an official track to practice on—and two state championships in wrestling. The wrestling team's 2002 championship squad set state records for points, champions, placers, and finalists.

The school also won the Southern CIF in 2013.

Awards and achievements

Bakersfield High School has a long-standing tradition of excellence which can be viewed on the KHSD website: "First place in Kern County Academic Decathlon for the last 6 out of 7 years and a top 15 placing at the state level the past three years, Visual Arts Department first program in California to receive Exemplary Program Award in all nine areas possible, Scholarships and grants awarded to last year’s graduates totaled over $1.2 million and included 43 Gold Seal recipients, Oldest continually produced school newspaper in the district, which won 1st place, "Best of Show," at state and national Journalism competitions. Elected to National Hall of Fame 2001 and has consistently earned NSPA All-American honors since 1991, 76% passage rate on all Advanced Placement tests which is the highest passage rate in the KHSD and well above state and national averages, and Valley Championship Forensics Team 6 out of the last 7 years in a row. Three national qualifiers and 13 state qualifiers." This year, the Bakersfield high school forensics squad won the district tournament.

Another notable achievement came from the BHS Virtual Business Team, the Source, who took first in the National's Competition for their business plan, and second in the World Competition for their website in 2009. On October 23, 2009 the Driller Football Team experienced their 700th win in their long history.