Sunset High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Beaverton, Oregon, United States. The school currently offers the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

. It opened in 1959 and is the second oldest of the six high schools in the

Beaverton School District The Beaverton School District is a school district in and around Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It serves students throughout Beaverton, Hillsboro, Aloha, and unincorporated neighborhoods of Portland, OR. The Beaverton Elementary School Distri ...

. Sunset's athletic teams are known as the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

History

The school opened in January 1959, initially with freshman and sophomore students only, adding juniors in the fall and its first senior class in September 1960. Senator

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

spoke at a student-organized mock

Democratic Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

held at Sunset High School on May 17, 1968, less than three weeks before his assassination on June 5.

Location

Sunset High School is located in the predominantly

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

known as Cedar Mill. Although it has always had a Portland street address, it has never actually been within the city of Portland proper. From 1959 to 1999, the school property was unincorporated land in Washington County, but in 1999 the Sunset High School grounds (including the adjacent swimming pool) were annexed by the city of Beaverton. Nevertheless, as of 2022 the school's mailing address remains a "Portland" address, as is the case for almost all of Cedar Mill.

Demographics

As of 2020–21, 52.6% of students are white, 10.2% Hispanic or Latino, 26.7% Asian, 1.1% African American, 0.4% Native Hawaiian/

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 8.7% two or more races. The 2020–21 enrollment was 2,026.

Academics

In 1983, Sunset High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States.Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982–1983 Through 1999–2002
(PDF). In 2008, 84% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 498 students, 409 graduated, 59 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 25 were still in high school in 2009.

State titles

State championships (

Oregon School Activities Association The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) is a non-profit, board-governed organization that regulates high school athletics and competitive activities via athletic conferences in the U.S. state of Oregon, providing equitable competition amo ...

) won by Sunset High School: * Football: 1975, 1976 * Basketball (boys): 1975, 1987 *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

: 1965, 1994 * Cross country (boys): 1980, 1982, 1984 * Cross country (girls): 1976, 1984, 1988, 1989, 2013, 2015 * Dance/Drill: 2014 * Golf (boys): 1986, 1990, 1993, 1994 *

Speech and Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

: 2021 * Soccer (boys): 1985 (tie) * Soccer (girls): 1990 * Swimming (boys): 1965, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 * Swimming (girls): 1983, 1984, 1985, 1994, 2017, 2018 * Track and field (boys): 1994, 2011 * Track and field (girls): 1977, 1978 * Tennis (boys): 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982 * Tennis (girls): 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1990, 2019

Notable alumni

Brenda Bakke Brenda Jean Bakke (born May 15, 1963) is an American actress and real estate broker. She is best known for her roles in 1990s films '' Hot Shots! Part Deux'', '' Gunmen'', '' Demon Knight'', '' Under Siege 2: Dark Territory'', and '' L.A. Confi ...

, actress *

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an award-winning American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album ''Impressions''. He was also nominated in ...

, jazz trumpeter * Brady Clark,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player * Caspar Corbeau, Dutch-American swimmer * Tom Drougas, professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former player * Andrew Gregor, former professional soccer player * Stephanie Kaza, professor emeritus of environment and natural resources * Phil Keisling, Oregon Secretary of State *

Patrick Lachman Patrick "Pat" Lachman (born in 1970) is an American heavy metal guitarist and vocalist. Biography Portland, Oregon native Lachman was a short-lived member of Dr. Mastermind, featuring former Wild Dogs vocalist Matt McCourt, before joining his ...

, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist * Susan M. Leeson, attorney and former judge * Landen Lucas, professional basketball player * Drew Martin, collegiate and professional basketball player * Patrick O'Hearn, musician, composer * E. Werner Reschke, businessman and politician *

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is best known for his comics journalism, in particular in the books '' Palestine'' (1996) and '' Footnotes in Gaza'' (2009), on Israeli–Palestinian rela ...

, comics artist and journalist *

Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on the Netflix series '' Another ...

, actress *

Garrett Sim Garrett Timothy Sim (born July 10, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez for the French Pro A. College career Sim came to the University of Oregon from Sunset High School, where he posted 23 points a ...

, basketball player *

Royal Skousen Royal Jon Skousen (; born August 5, 1945) is a retired professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he is editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. He is "the leading expert on the textual history of th ...

, professor of linguistics and English * Randall Sullivan, author and journalist * Courtney Taylor, singer-songwriter *

Tommy Thayer Thomas Cunningham Thayer (born November 7, 1960) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the American hard rock band Kiss. He was also lead guitarist for the band Black 'n Blue. Early life Thomas Cu ...

, rock guitarist,

KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

Aaron Woods Aaron Woods (born 13 March 1991) is an Australian rugby league forward who plays for the St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. He previously captained Wests Tigers and played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Cronulla-Sutherland Sha ...

, professional football player

References

External links

* * {{authority control Education in Beaverton, Oregon High schools in Washington County, Oregon International Baccalaureate schools in Oregon Educational institutions established in 1959 Buildings and structures in Beaverton, Oregon Public high schools in Oregon 1959 establishments in Oregon Beaverton School District Cedar Mill, Oregon