Type Public secondary Grades 9-12 Phone +1 360-596-7000 Colors White, Blue | Principal Matt Grant Mascot Olympia Bear Number of students 1,850 | |
Motto We, the Olympia High School Community, are dedicated to personal excellence and responsible citizenship. Established 1882, 1907 became William Winlock Miller School district Olympia School District 111 Address 1302 North Street SE, Olympia, WA 98501, USA | ||
Olympia High School (OHS), commonly referred to as Oly, is a public high school in the southeast part of Olympia, Washington along the city's border with Tumwater. As the first of two comprehensive high schools in the Olympia School District, it also is one of the oldest public secondary schools in the state of Washington.
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History
Olympia High School opened in 1882 as additional public schooling beyond 1-8 curriculum, and graduated its first class in 1886. OHS shared a few locations with elementary schools before having its own building in 1907, when OHS became officially named William Winlock Miller School [sic], a high school. The 1907 building was built on a square block donated by the widow of pioneer leader William Winlock Miller on ground immediately east of the today's sunken gardens, part of the Washington State Capitol Campus. That building burned in 1918, its Tenino sandstone was salvaged in 1920 to construct the face of the Power House on Capitol Lake, used to heat Washington's permanent capitol campus that proceeded in construction.
The next structure for W.W. Miller High School was built in 1919 between 12th and 13th Streets on Capitol Way because the state had purchased the land near the sunken garden to increase the Capitol grounds. An auditorium, gymnasium, and more classrooms were added to that building in 1926; however, any further expansion on this site was impossible. As the school's capacity needed increasing, 40 acres (160,000 m2) between Carlyon Avenue and North Street were purchased.
Until 1955, Oly drew students from all of Thurston County, WA, except its most southern reaches. But Oly's catchment area split in 1955 with the creation North Thurston High School, then split again in 1961 as Tumwater High School opened, then once again with the spawning of Capital High School in 1975. Today's location of OHS opened in 1961, and underwent a full renovation, completed in the summer of 2000 that enclosed the 9 separate buildings of the 1961 design.
Currently in 2017, Olympia High School provides a variety of "school lunches", the most notable of these meals goes by the name of "Oly-Bear Nuggets". These nuggets, consisting of chicken and oil, are one the most popular school served meals on campus, providing well needed sustenance for the students at OHS.
Information
Olympia High School was recently included in Newsweek's "America's Best High Schools" for 2013—the only Thurston County high school to receive the honor.
Sports
Olympia High School is a 4A-division member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Olympia High School is known for their athletics teams consistently placing in the top 10 for the 4A classification.
State Championships, second place:
Boys' Basketball - 1987, 1998; Girls' Golf - 1997; Girls' Gymnastics - 1998; Girls' Soccer - 1988, 1995; Boys' Swimming - 1958, 1970, 1972; Girls' Swimming - 1989, 1995; Boys' Tennis - 1979, 1982, 1990, 2007; Girls' Tennis - 1982, 1999; Girls' Volleyball - 1981
Clubs
Olympia High School offers a wide variety of clubs.