Benjamin Franklin High School (colloquially Franklin High School) is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is located in central southeast Portland in the South Tabor neighborhood, at the foot of Mt. Tabor.
History
Founded in 1914, Franklin is Portland's fourth high school. 136 students attended the first year. The current brick building, designed by Floyd Naramore, opened in September 1917.
Due to the baby boom and the passing of a $25 million building levy by the school district in 1947, a new addition for arts, industrial arts, and home economics departments was slated. The Franklin football field, also known as "The Bowl", was originally planned out as a walkway towards the school, making the front of the school face towards SE Division Street and the back facing SE Woodward Avenue. The walkway was going to go from Division Street all the way to the school, but a heavy rainstorm one night caused a 20' sinkhole in the spot where the football field is today.
The Bowl was named at one time one of the best places to have a football game.
Between 2015 and 2017, the school was modernized and expanded, with funding from a $482 million bond measure in 2012. The modernization included a new arts center, a new gym, biomedical, and culinary arts building, seismic retrofitting, and a new entrance.
Benjamin Franklin statues
The school contains two statues of Benjamin Franklin, for whom the school is named: a wooden figure hand-carved by a local artist in the 1970s and a larger stone statue near the Franklin Bowl athletic field, affectionately known as Benji. Benji is an honorary graduate of the school, having been fitted for a massive mortar-board cap and tassel by the Class of 1976. The wooden statue had his cane stolen sometime around 2007 by vandals who broke into the school.
Student profile
The student population is 58% White, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, 13% Latino, and 8% African American.
In 2008, 80% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 354 students, 282 graduated, 52 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 15 were still in high school the following year. In 2009, 31% of the students were transfers into the school.
Sports
Franklin's colors are maroon, gray, and white. Their rivals are the Cleveland Warriors. The Marshall Minutemen were also rivals of Franklin before Marshall was closed down in 2011. Many students who attended Marshall became students at Franklin High School during the 2011-2012 school year.
Former University of Oregon track coach and Nike founder Bill Bowerman coached the football team in 1934.
Franklin won the state basketball championships in 1921, 1956 and 1959.
Entertainment
Dr. Giggles (1992) a teenage slasher movie, was filmed on location at Franklin High School.
In December 2015, several videos featuring multiple Franklin students brawling near campus, outside a local Oasis, were posted to Can't Stop Hip Hop World-Wide, garnering thousands of views. Local media coverage and suspensions followed.
Robotics team controversy
In October 2010 the school decided to discontinue its competitive robotics team due to the lack of any school official sanctioning the team, allegedly by locking the team out of their workspace without access to their tools, or the more than $7000 the team had raised to sustain the program. The team had been a part of the school for seven years.
Notable alumni
- Bob Amsberry, actor on The Mickey Mouse Club
- Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse
- Tamara Fazzolari, Miss Oregon 1987
- Vic Gilliam, Oregon State Representative from the 18th District
- Chris Gorsek, Oregon State Representative from the 49th District
- Howard Hobson, head men's basketball coach at the University of Oregon (1936â€"47); led the team to the first NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1939
- Steve "Snapper" Jones, former basketball player in the ABA and NBA; color analyst for Portland Trail Blazers broadcasts
- Jack Landau, Oregon Supreme Court Justice
- Rod Monroe, Oregon State Senator from the 24th District
- Legedu Naanee, former NFL player
- Claire Phillips, spy in the Japanese-occupied Philippines during World War II; recipient of the Medal of Freedom
- Johnnie Ray, singer
- Shoni Schimmel, WNBA player with the Atlanta Dream
- Richard Unis, Oregon Supreme Court Justice
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