North Thurston High School

North Thurston High School, located in the North Thurston Public Schools District in Lacey, Washington, is a comprehensive high school which opened in 1955. North Thurston serves a portion of Lacey and northeast Thurston County. The school is accredited by the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The principal is Nick Greenwell.

North Thurston High School
Address
600 Sleater Kinney Rd NE Lacey , Washington 98506 USA
Coordinates	47°03′07″N 122°49′55″W
Information
Type	Public secondary
Motto	Committed to Excellence: Providing every student the academic and life skills necessary to succeed in a diverse world.
Established	1955
Faculty	70
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,504 (2015-16)[1]
Color(s)	Purple and White
Mascot	Ram
Newspaper	Rampage [2]
Yearbook	Rambler
Website	www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/norththurston

Facility

The current North Thurston High School campus was constructed in 1983; South Sound Stadium was added in 1985 and the Auditorium was added in 1995. NTHS' central building easily hit capacity within the first few years after being constructed. A flood of portables were brought in during the mid 80's to handle the student enrollment growth along with the 1993 construction of River Ridge High School. Several portables are still in use to handle the over-capacity demand on the NTHS campus.

The original North Thurston High School campus used to be located on what is now the student parking lot. This campus was constructed in 1954 and torn down in 1984. The old campus hosted Chinook Middle School students during the 1983-1984 year while Chinook's building went through a building remodel. Three original building from the old NTHS campus; NTPS' Bower Learning Center (the old high school library), the auto shop, and the school swimming pool were part of the old high school campus and are still in use. With the exception of the auto shop building, the pool and Bower Learning Center were recently remodeled in 2003.

As of 2011, a re-modernization project to remodel the 27-year-old North Thurston High School building is currently under development by North Thurston Public Schools and awaits funding. The project would take place in various yearly stages with students on campus. Some ideas being considered are a new gymnasium with expanded capacity, expansion of the current commons area into the current gymnasium, increased parking, additional building expansion to replace 27 portables, and modernization and safety upgrades of current classroom, hallway, and unused spaces.

History

On April 27, 2015, a 16-year-old male student at the school fired twice in the crowded high school commons before a teacher, who was a military veteran, grabbed him.[3][4] The Lacey police officer on duty at the school had not been able to fire because students were in his line of fire and the teacher reached the shooter before the officer thought he could get a clear shot at the shooter.[3][5][3] The shooter said he never wanted to hurt any students, but fired his gun only to get the school resource officer to him.

Notable alumni

• Jason Dunn, class of '90, former professional soccer player with 3 caps for the USMNT
• Darcy Fast, class of '65, Former MLB player (Chicago Cubs)
• Gabriel Gudding, class of '84, poet and essayist, translator
• Kasey Keller, class of '88, US National Soccer team goalkeeper in 1990, 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments, former Goalie for Seattle Sounders FC.[6][7] A street near North Thurston is named after him.
• Brian Kendrick, class of '97, Professional wrestler
• Michael Sellers, class of '93, a retired NFL Pro-bowler (2008), formerly with the Washington Redskins
• Gary Wright, class of '64, anti-Vietnam War protester who emigrated to Canada and became mayor of New Denver, British Columbia[8]

Sports

North Thurston High School is a 3A-division member of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. It is a member of the Narrows League, which includes a combination of 4A and 3A schools.

State Championships
Season	Sport	Number of Championships	Year
Spring	Soccer, Boys	1	1990
Winter	Cheerleading	1	2011
Spring	Baseball	1	2002
	Total		3

State Championships, 2nd place:

Baseball - 1976, 1987; Boys Soccer - 1985; Girls Swimming - 1984; Boys Tennis - 1987; Boys Track and Field - 1987; Girls Track and Field - 1994

See also

• River Ridge High School
• Timberline High School

References

1. "North Thurston High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
2. Newspaper page
3. "Washington teacher who stopped shooter's first thought: Get the gun away". Chicago Tribune. Tribune wire reports; AP. April 28, 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
4. "Gunman tackled by teacher after firing shots at Logan Paloma". KOMO-TV. KOMO staff and AP. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
5. Dickson, Amelia (April 29, 2015). "North Thurston High officer aimed his sidearm at school shooting suspect". The Olympian. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
6. Wochnick, Meg (March 23, 2011). "Rams honor Kasey Keller with win". The Olympian. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
7. Wood, Gail (December 23, 2013). "It All Started in Lacey for Seattle Sounders' Kasey Keller". Thurston Talk. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
8. Bartley, Nancy; Lacitis, Erik (2004-02-22). "The Vietnam War: Choices that defined a generation". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2012-11-06.

External links

• North Thurston High School website