From Mike Daniels Santa Rosa High School, Sonoma County’s second oldest (Petaluma High is one year older), can truly boast of a storied past and present. Now in its 140th year, the Home of the Panthers is set to share those stories with the Santa Rosa community in a free-admission open house birthday bash on Sunday, March 30. Yes, everyone is invited. An established city by the mid 1870s, Santa Rosa quickly understood the need for a high school. So, in 1875, SRHS opened its educational doors on the second floor of the John C. Fremont School on Fourth Street. Fremont Park and the Cancer Survivors Plaza occupy the site today. As high school education became both popular and necessary, the school on Fourth burst with scholarly bodies. An 1893 bond issue to build a new high school on Humboldt Street provided a campus for the older students, but in 1921 that building was consumed by fire. Campus-less students attended classes in donated and rented space around downtown Santa Rosa until the Mendocino campus was ready in 1925. In 1878 SRHS graduated its first class. The ten were members of Santa Rosa’s earliest families: three Cranes, two Smiths, one Hahman, one Geary, an Overton, a Ware and a McNabb. Some other notable alumni include Clement Young, who became California’s governor, an 1886 graduate. Ray Clar, later California’s State Forester, graduated in 1922. Nominated twice for an Oscar and twice for an Emmy because of his makeup skills, Dan Striepeke graduated in 1948. Two significant non-graduates include Believe It or Not Robert Ripley and NFL Hall of Famer Ernie Nevers. Ripley would have appreciated 1966 grad Randall Wise’s invention of contact lenses for chickens. Intended to calm the hens so they’d eat less and lay more, the idea never hatched. SRHS has maintained quality academic, vocational and extracurricular programs throughout its history. Some examples: SRHS was named a California Distinguished School and received the Career Technical Education award in 2011. Its ArtQuest program is a Golden Bell winner. The agriculture program has produced a number of national contest winners as did the social science department. The faculty likewise has always excelled. Special education instructor Ron Reichmuth received Sonoma State University’s Jack London Award; welding instructor Tom Gutsch, Jr. earned Program of the Year honors from the California Industrial Technical Education Association; the Sonoma County Office of Education named wood shop teacher Ron Desideri its Career Technology Education teacher for 2013; social science instructor Dave Franzman was the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year for 2012—just to highlight a few. To celebrate all this and more, the SRHS Student-Teacher-Parent (STP) organization has laid plans to fill the afternoon of March 30 from 1 to 4 with activities and programs. The library will showcase academic programs and its holdings of books authored by SRHS alumni. The ag program will sell hot dogs, drinks, popcorn, cotton candy and shaved ice. It will shear sheep, display carnivorous plants and guide dogs and open its greenhouse. There’ll be cows, there’ll be piglets, there’ll be jam making. With connection to UC Davis, the Vet Tech program will participate as will floriculture. The History Club will present a number of diorama-type displays of local and SRHS history. Chamber Singers will open the day with song and the Pep Band will fill the air with music. Spirit gear and t-shirts will be available. There’ll be campus tours and the SRHS Foundation will have a table of information. The public is invited to join in the afternoon of festivities. Please mark your calendar. Admission is free. Come and celebrate!
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 03:32:05 +0000
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