Ulysses S. Grant High School opened in September 1924, with 1,191 students.[4] Many of the schools in the Portland Public School district that were built between 1908 and 1932 were designed by architects Floyd Naramore and George Jones. During the early 1920s, so many schools were being built simultaneously in Portland, the district had to hire another architectural firm to design Grant High School, which is in the Classical Revival style by architects Knighton and Howell. In November 1923, the bricklayers working on Grant went on strike after the district tried to cut costs by using a maintenance worker to lay bricks.[5][6]
After the Vanport flood in May 1948, Grant was home to the Vanport Extension Center (now Portland State University) through the summer of that year.[7] Three motion pictures have been filmed at Grant High School: The made-for-TV movie Reunion (1980), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), and Nearing Grace (2005).
Funded by a $482 million bond measure approved in 2012, a two-year modernization and expansion project of Grant High School began in June 2017 and was completed in the summer of 2019. The entire interior of the building was gutted and has been completely rebuilt. The project includes a new two-story common area, a new gymnasium, seismic retrofitting, and additional classroom space.[8]
Exterior of U.S. Grant High School in Portland, Oregon (2019)Aerial view of Grant High School (2023)
Student profile
In the 2022–2023 school year, Grant's student population was 67.9% White, 7.2% Hispanic, 5.5% Black, 3.2% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 14.2% mixed race.[1]
Curriculum
Special programs
Grant High School houses the last installment of the Japanese Immersion Program, a 13-year immersion program, begun at Richmond Elementary and continued at Mt. Tabor Middle School.
Extracurricular activities
Grant's Constitution Team has been the state champion thirteen times (2002, 2004–2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022), and has won the national competition four times (2013, 2015, 2018, 2024).[9][10][11][12]
In 2011, Grant's student newspaper, The Grantonian, was replaced by the 36-page full-color monthly Grant Magazine. In its first year, the magazine won Best In Show at the Oregon Fall Press day.[13] It has also won the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association's Gold Crown award three years in a row, from 2014 through 2016.[14]
Athletics
South end of Grant High School
GHS's mascot is the Grant General, in honor of its namesake General and 18th US President, Ulysses S. Grant.
↑ Polich, Edward L. (1950). A history of Portland's secondary school system with emphasis on the superintendents and the curriculum (Thesis/dissertation). University of Portland. p.97. OCLC232551057.
↑ "Director Attacks School Architect". The Morning Oregonian. November 22, 1923.
↑ Polich, Edward L. (1950). A history of Portland's secondary school system with emphasis on the superintendents and the curriculum (Thesis/dissertation). University of Portland. p.160. OCLC232551057.
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