Fremont High School (Sunnyvale, California)

History

Fremont was originally named West Side Union High School, the first school opened in the West Side Union High School District. In 1923, it opened in rooms of the Sunnyvale Grammar School as the only high school in the Sunnyvale–Cupertino (West Valley) area, and then moved to a temporary building after purchase of the school site in 1923. The school building was designed in 1925 by noted California school architect W. H. Weeks, after the necessary bond referendum passed on the third attempt. On March 27, 1925, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to change the name of the school and district to Fremont Union High School.

In 1969, a late-night fire occurred in the Bell Tower (visible in the photo to right) of the main building but did little damage to the school property, but was severe enough that the 1970 freshman class went to Monta Vista High in Cupertino while the damage was rebuilt. This was also Monta Vista's charter year.

On July 1, 1996, after much controversy, the Fremont Union School Board did away with the original Indian mascot at the request of American Indians, replacing it with the current Firebirds mascot. This change has been embraced by the school population.

Campus

Fremont High School is located at the intersection of Fremont Avenue and Sunnyvale–Saratoga Road. The original buildings are built in a Spanish mission architectural style. The Fremont Union High School District's offices are also located on the school campus.

Demographics

In the 2014-2015 school year, Fremont had a total enrollment of 1,964 students. Asian students comprised 20.7% of the school's student population while Filipino & Pacific Islander students made up 12.1%. Black students made up only 3.1% of the population. Hispanic students were the largest group, representing 44% of the student population with White students the second largest at 26.9% of the student population. Also, there were a small number of American Indian & Alaska Native students, around 0.1% of the student population.

Additionally, 21.1% of the students are English Language Learners and 42.3% are Socio-Economically Disadvantaged.

Extracurriculars

Fremont students participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities ranging from marching band and athletics to various cultural, community service, and general interest clubs like Octagon, Key Club, Culinary Club, LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), the Apple Club, and The Movie Club. The poetry slam team has won numerous awards at spoken word poetry competitions. Fremont High School DECA has a variety of outstanding achievements, having over 2000 hours of community service as a whole for the 09-10 school year (more than all other Fremont clubs combined) and having sent numerous competitors to represent at the international competitive level. Seventy-five percent of those representatives became finalists at those international competitions. The Fremont wrestling team is one of the highest ranking high school wrestling teams in the state, taking 3rd place as a team at California Interscholastic Federation championships in 2014. In 2003–2004 the Fremont varsity cheerleaders took 1st place in every regional competition in which they competed. They then went on to win two United Spirit Association National Championships in Anaheim. They won the title for Small Coed Show Cheer and Coed Partner Stunt.

Fremont's rival, Homestead High School, located in nearby Cupertino is also part of the FUHSD.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Fremont High School include: