North Medford High School

Public school in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon, United States
    [2]Athletics conferenceOSAA Southwest Conference 6A-6MascotBlack Tornado[2]Team nameNorth Medford Black TornadoRivalSouth Medford High SchoolNewspaperTornado TimesWebsiteOfficial website

North Medford High School is a public high school in Medford, Oregon, United States. It is part of Medford School District, and its nickname is the Black Tornado. The school enrolls 1,750 students.[3]

History

Originally the City of Medford had a single high school, Medford High School, constructed in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the school district expanded, constructing a new high school on the opposite side of the city. Rather than develop this into an independent school, the district kept Medford High School as the lone school, with students attending at the two different locations. The current campus of NMHS was the newly constructed "Medford Senior High School", with grades 11 and 12 attending while grades 9 and 10 went to Medford Mid High School, which later became South Medford High School (SMHS) and ultimately Central Medford High School. (SMHS has since moved into a new building). This was set in place to primarily to allow Medford to compete athletically with larger school districts such as Portland Public Schools of Portland. At this time the city would have been placed in smaller athletic (then 2A) divisions if the district would have been divided into two secondary schools.

Aerial image of North Medford High School in July 2010

During the 1960s and 70s, Medford commonly put forth many state championship athletic teams in the Oregon then 3A division. However, in 1986, Medford High School was finally split into the two current high schools. Both now house around 2,000 students, similar to the number of students Medford High School collectively held in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Medford's current principal is Allen Barber.[4]

Campus development

North Medford was built in 1967 and has been remodeled and has had additions added starting in 1973 through 1981 and again in 1992. In 2007, the City of Medford passed a bond for district wide school renovations, including a complete renovation of North Medford with remodeled auditorium, administrative space, and a new library.[5] The project was completed in early 2011.

The school campus includes 226,712 square feet (21,062.2 m2) of occupied building space with 64 classrooms, and is located on a large 61.1-acre (24.7 ha) campus, most of which is used for sports and recreation. Both North and South Medford High School share a common football stadium, Spiegelberg Stadium.

Academics

Graduation rates per school year[6]

Year % Graduation # 4-year cohort total # 4-year cohort adjusted # Graduated # Drop-outs # 5th year # Modified diploma
2013–14 76% 445 407 311 48 33 1
2014–15 84% 439 388 324 34 23 8
2015–16 84% 412 369 309 36 14 12
2016–17 90% 430 381 344 19 2 14
2017–18 91% 475 423 385 20 5 29

Four-year cohort total is determined by the number of students initially in that class. Four-year cohort adjusted is representative of those students that did not transfer out of state, country, to private or homeschooling, or otherwise are deceased.

North Medford High School offers 17 Advanced Placement (AP) classes and opportunities for college credit through Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University.[7][8]

Awards

North Medford consistently places highly among schools in contention for the OSAA's Oregonian Cup, a trophy awarded each year to the school that best exemplifies excellence in academics, activities, and athletics. The school ranked in the top 10 annually from the 2002–2003 school year to the 2008–2009 school year, winning the trophy in 2003–2004.[9]

The school was also recognized in 2000 by the Grammy Foundation for excellence in music education, being named a Grammy Signature School.[10]

Sports

The North Medford Black Tornado participate in Oregon's 6A Southwest Conference.[4] The school's colors are red and black.[4] Prior to Oregon's shift from four classification level to six levels, North Medford was part of the Southern Oregon Conference (SOC) at level 4A.

State championships

Team Championships

Sport Years
Baseball 1960, 1984, 2007, 2014
Boys Basketball 1924, 1929, 1960
Football 1944, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1977, 1985, 1993
Boys Golf 1951, 1952, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982
Softball 1984, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017
Girls Tennis 1964, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2001
Boys Tennis 1955, 1964
Boys Track and Field 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964

Athletes from North Medford have won many individual state championships as well, with most in the era of the 1940s through the 1970s.

Individual Championships:
Sport Event Years
Cross County Boys 5k 2008, 2009
Golf Girls Individual Play 2001
Boys Individual Play 1951, 1952, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1982, 2005
Tennis Girls Singles 2001
Doubles 1964, 1966, 2001, 2003
Boys Singles 1955, 1973
Doubles 1960, 1963, 1995, 2007, 2008, 2009
Track and Field Girls 300m Hurdles 2013, 2015
High Jump 2014
Javelin 1981
Long Jump 1978, 1979
Shot Put 2017, 2019
Boys 100m 2015, 2016
110m High Hurdles 1980
200m 2016
300m hurdles 1997
800m 2011
1500m 2010
3000m 2010
Discus 2001, 2004
Javelin 1946, 1951, 1953, 1955
High Jump 1939, 1940, 1941, 1953, 1966
Long Jump 1956, 1957, 2018
Pole Vault 1941, 1950, 1973, 1974
Shot Put 1953, 1957, 1959, 1983
Wrestling Girls 110 lbs 2018
115 lbs 2019
Boys 170 lbs 2015, 2016
195 lbs 2014
Events no longer contested
Swimming Girls 50-yard Freestyle 1980
100-yard Breaststroke 1975
100-yard Freestyle 1980
200-yard Medley Relay 1980
Boys 100-yard Freestyle 1962, 1963, 1964
200-yard Freestyle 1963
200-yard Individual Medley 1962
Diving 1962, 1963, 1964
Track and Field Girls 1 mile Run 1972
440-yard Relay 1966
Boys 100-yard Dash 1942, 1948, 1964
220-yard Dash 1949, 1964
440-yard Dash 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1948, 1961
880-yard Dash 1947, 1956
120-yard High Hurdles 1941, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1970, 1973, 1974
180-yard Low Hurdles 1951, 1956
200-yard Low Hurdles 1947, 1949, 1950
330-yard Intermediate Hurdles 1974
440-yard Relay 1970
880-yard Relay 1943, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953
1 mile Relay 1973, 1974
Wrestling Boys 115 lbs 1969, 1974
123 lbs 1964, 1965
130 lbs 1975
136 lbs 1962
141 lbs 1961
148 lbs 1969
191 lbs 1961
275 lbs 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c "North Medford High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "North Medford High School". Oregon School Activities Association. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  3. ^ "General Information / About North Medford". www.medford.k12.or.us. Medford School District. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "OSAA - Error".
  5. ^ http://medfordschoolbond.org/NMH.htm
  6. ^ "Oregon Department of Education : Cohort Graduation Rate : Students : State of Oregon". www.oregon.gov. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  7. ^ "AP Information". North Medford High School. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  8. ^ "Early College". Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  9. ^ "OSAA – Awards".
  10. ^ "Home". grammyintheschools.com.
  11. ^ Henry, Kris (July 16, 2010). "A Perfect Fit in Medford". Mail Tribune. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  12. ^ "Lisa Rinna". IMDb. Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  13. ^ Murray, Chris (April 7, 2013). "Late-bloomer Shipley brings arsenal of pitches to mound, which puts him on the edge of history: Projected top-15 pick in the June's MLB draft has mid-90s fastball and major-league changeup". RGJ.com. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
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