Port Angeles High School (PAHS) is a

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, Clallam County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 19,960 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most populous city in t ...

, United States. It is part of the Port Angeles School District. It is the largest high school in the North Olympic Peninsula region. Built in 1953, the facilities are located on 33 acres within a block of Olympic National Park borders. The school has views of the Olympic Mountain Range and the Salish Sea from the campus buildings. The school's mascot is the Roughrider, depicting

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

on a horse in his role as commander of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. The school's colors are green and white.

Academics

In addition to core courses, PAHS offers honors and

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

courses, a full range of traditional vocational courses, four choirs, five bands, four orchestras, and a full range of fine art courses. Junior and senior students have the option of taking courses at nearby

Peninsula College Peninsula College is a public community college in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and offers Bachelor of Applied Science in Management and Behavioral Heal ...

for both high school and college credit. Similarly, a program known as "college in the high school" allows sophomores (second semester only), juniors, and seniors to take classes for both high school and college credit, without actually going to the college building itself. Classes include Astronomy, World History, Calculus, and American Government. It is the only high school in the U.S. that offers

Klallam language Klallam, Clallam, Ns'Klallam or S'klallam (endonym: , ), is a Straits Salishan language historically spoken by the Klallam people at Becher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of ...

courses, due to its proximity to the

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (or Nəxʷsƛ̓áy̓əm ("strong people") in Klallam ) is a federally recognized Native American nation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The tribe is part of the larger Klallam culture, part of the Coa ...

reservation on the Elwha River delta and high number of tribal members who attend the school. Also included is a local funds program for graduating seniors who plan further education. The program typically receives $275,000 but over $900,000 in scholarships when combined with college-offered scholarships and other awards.

Athletics

Football, baseball and soccer games are played at Civic Field, a city-owned stadium about 1.5 miles from the school. The school athletic teams have won various accolades for their performance during sports games. PAHS also offers a variety of seasonal sports: * Fall: cross country, football, girls' soccer, girls' swimming/diving, volleyball, boys' tennis * Winter: boys' basketball, girls' basketball, gymnastics, boys' swimming/diving, wrestling * Spring: baseball, boys' soccer, girls' softball, track, golf, girls' tennis

NJROTC

Port Angeles High School's Navy

Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US mil ...

"Roughrider Company" is a highly decorated unit with approximately 120 cadets. Under the leadership of Marine Maj. Leo Campbell, Ret., the unit achieved a 98 percent on-time graduation rate for cadets with four years in the unit, and has received the Distinguished Unit with Honors Award annually since 2006. The unit won the state championship at the Northwest Drill and Rifle Championships in Tacoma, Washington, on March 14, 2015, among other recognition. It is currently led by Senior Chief Petty Officer R.E Rob Smith, USN (Ret.).

PAHS Performing Arts Center

The school is home to the Port Angeles Performing Arts Center. The 1,150-seat auditorium was constructed in 1958 and significantly remodeled in 1978. In addition to school use, it is the venue for community arts organizations such as the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Sequim City Band, PALOA Musical Theater, Olympic Barbershop, Peninsula Men's Gospel Singers, Arts Northwest, and Ballet Workshop. Notable performances it has hosted include

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

and the internationally acclaimed men's choir

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...

Student media controversy

In 2012, the PAHS student newspaper, the ''Timberline'', came to the center of controversy within the scholastic community when then-Principal Garry Cameron nearly prevented distribution of the newspaper because of the appearance of the letters "G-A-Y" in a word search puzzle. Students claimed that the letters had been featured in the puzzle unintentionally and that Cameron did not have any legitimate basis for restricting distribution. A few pages later in the edition, students had written a story about President Barack Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage in which the word "gay" was used multiple times. Cameron did not object to the use of the word in that story.

References

External links

OSPI school report card 2012-13
{{authority control Port Angeles, Washington Education in Clallam County, Washington Public high schools in Washington (state) High schools in Clallam County, Washington