Clackamas High School

Clackamas High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Happy Valley, Oregon, United States. It shares its property with Rock Creek Middle School, sharing amenities like the football field and tennis courts.

History
Clackamas High School itself was established in 1957 at a building in South Milwaukie, Oregon. Though, with its ever-expanding attendance area, CHS outgrew its small building. In 2002, the larger, modernized building was opened and the old building was converted into a middle school. This building was also next to the (now closed) Sunrise Middle School, which was absorbed and became an extra building after its closure in 2011.

Starting in the early-mid 2010s, families began to make gripes about overcrowding at CHS. The inclusion of the east campus building helped, but with Happy Valley's rapid expansion, the school had well over 2,000 students, when the building only reasonably had the capacity for 1,800. In 2016, a bond was passed that provided the money needed for a new high school. In 2019, the construction of this school begun, converting a local middle school to a high school.

In 2021, construction on Adrienne C. Nelson High School completed. Half of Clackamas High School's students were transferred to this school. The two schools became athletic rivals. Following this construction, the east campus building was converted back into a middle school, now being the only feeder school.

Along with the construction of the new high school, renovations were made to Clackamas High School. This redid some life skills classrooms in the building, as well as security additions, some improvements to the football field, and the addition of a brand new health center. The Clackamas High School SBHC provides cost-free checkups, mental healthcare, and services like dentistry and therapy.

On November 2, 2023 at 9:00am, a bomb threat was made to the school through an anonymous confession Instagram page. Both Clackamas High and Rock Creek Middle were evacuated following these threats. These threats were later proven to be jokes and classes resumed at around 10:30am.

Building and campus
Clackamas High School campus lies on 69 acre with a small wetland nearby. The building itself has 269354 sqft of floor space and is much larger than the older school. It has four classroom hallways on two floors, a commons area, an arts wing, and an athletic wing, centered on an administrative ring in the middle of the school.

The classroom hallways are mostly on the north end of the school with 100 and 200 halls on the east side, and 300 and 420 halls on the west. The commons area is on the north side of the administrative offices, at the entrance to 100 and 200 halls, and is primarily used for dining and some multi-purpose use. The arts wing of the school is centered on the schools' auditorium and contains rooms for art classes, choir classes, and band classes, as well as a wood shop, a stage shop, and changing and makeup rooms. The athletic wing contains a large gym, a smaller upper gym, locker rooms, a wrestling room, and a weight training room. The administrative ring, located in the center of the school, contains the main office, the bookkeeper's office, the attendance office, the student management office, the schools' career and vocation center, the athletic office, and the counseling office, all centered on a small courtyard.

This building has served as a model for other high schools and has been designated a green building. Clackamas High School was built in 2002 to a design by Portland's Boora Architects and was the first high school in the country to be certified LEED Silver. Clackamas High became one of the first "solar schools" in Oregon with the installation of 2 kW solar panels on the roof in 2003. The School was also a winner of the DesignShare Recognized Value Award in 2003.

Academics
In 1984, Clackamas High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States.

As of 2005, 72.5% of 10th grade students at Clackamas High School met or exceeded overall state standards for learning, compared to 53.5% of the rest of the state. In addition, 80% are ESL students and 90% are Latino.

In 2008, 92% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 589 students, 502 graduated, 69 dropped out, four received a modified diploma, and 14 were still in high school the following year.

Nate Muñoz is the current principal of Clackamas High School since July 2020.

Awards and honors
In October 2005, Clackamas High was named KATU's "Super School of the Month."

In 1997, Clackamas High biology teacher Ford Morishita won the Oregon Teacher of the Year award, for his approach to teaching biology and the performance of his students.

Notable alumni

 * Debby Applegate – historian and biographer
 * Alexandra Botez – chess player
 * Cazzey Louis Cereghino – actor, singer, and novelist
 * Lisa Fletcher – television news journalist
 * Lynn Snodgrass – politician, former Oregon State Speaker of the House
 * Cheryl Sorensen – basketball coach
 * Ben Wetzler – baseball player
 * Hailey Kilgore – Broadway actress and singer
 * Cole Turner – American football player