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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

The Paly Voice

Palo Alto Senior High School, commonly referred to locally as "Paly", is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two high schools in the district, the other being across town: Gunn High School, with which Paly has a rivalry.

Palo Alto High School was originally established as a private school in 1894. The school was later established as a public school four years later, and a new campus was built in 1918. The school's property is adjacent to Stanford University, who provided the land for the school.

The school admits roughly 500 students each year and features various extracurriculars, including a variety of student-led publications, glassblowing, robotics, and a theater program. It is a two-time National Blue Ribbon School.

History

Palo Alto Senior High School initially opened in 1894 as a private school. At the time of its opening, the school consisted of 24 students to 3 teachers. The school would later become a public school in 1918. Classes were initially held in the Channing Avenue Grammar School; a three-room high school was later built using funds from a trustee. An expanded campus began construction in 1917 and finished construction by December 1918.

Demographics

2021–22

  • 2,010 students: 1,042 Male (51.8%), 968 Female (48.2%)
White Asian Hispanic Two or More Races African American Pacific Islander Filipino American Indian

or Alaska Native

Not Reported
423 389 132 80 15 8 8 3 0
41.7% 34.7% 12.9% 7.6% 1.3% 0.7% 0.7% 0.3% 0%

2015–16

  • 1,994 students: 982 Male (49.6%), 1004 Female (50.4%)
White Asian Hispanic Two or More Races African American Pacific Islander Filipino American Indian Not Reported
976 602 187 109 66 21 20 13 0
48.9% 30.2% 9.4% 5.5% 3.3% 1.1% 1% 0.7% 0%

Standardized testing

Advanced Placement (AP) Testing for 2018–19
AP Test Taking Students: 908
1 2 3 4 5
20 85 280 583 1140
ACT Scores for 2018–19
ACT Test Taking Students: 231
English Average Reading Average Math Average Science Average
28 28 28 28
SAT Scores for 2014–2015
Critical Reading Average Math Average Writing Average
Palo Alto High 627 657 624
District 634 671 634
Statewide 489 500 484
2013 Academic Performance Index
2009 Base API 2013 Growth API Growth in the API from 2009 to 2013
901 905 4

Student media

In October 2014, a new Media Arts Center (MAC) was unveiled at Paly. The MAC is the hub of journalism at Palo Alto High School.

Year-round student publications

These publications have a dedicated class associated with them.

  • The Campanile is the high school's newspaper. It prints 24 broadsheet pages once every three weeks. The Campanile has been in the National Scholastic Press Association Hall of Fame since 2004, and has also won four Pacemaker awards as well as a West regional award for editorial excellence from Time.
  • C Magazine is the high school Arts and Culture Magazine. C Magazine has won a Gold Crown award from Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2015 and 2016.
  • Verde is Paly's school magazine publication, founded in 1999. It is published five times each year and available online. Verde has won Pacemaker and Gold Crown awards for scholastic journalism, including the 2005 Gold Crown award in the Newspaper category. In 2006 Verde won the Best in Show at National Journalism Convention held in San Francisco. In 2008 Verde was one of four newsmagazines awarded the Pacemaker award from the National Scholastic Press Association. In 2023, Verde was named Best in Show in the Newsmagazine category for schools with 1,800 or more students.
  • Viking is Paly's sports magazine publication, published five times each year and available online. Founded in 2007, Viking was the first publication at the high school level to solely cover athletics in the country. It won the National Scholastic Press Association's Student Journalist Impact Award in 2008.
  • The Paly Voice, launched in 2003, is Paly's online news source. It features searchable archives of all other Paly publications as well as exclusive online content. In the spring of 2005, the site won both the People's Voice and Overall Webby Award in the "Student" category.
  • InFocus is Paly's broadcast TV news program. Founded in 1998, it airs daily during school.
  • Madrono, the Palo Alto High School yearbook founded around 1918, has won numerous awards; one of the most prestigious being a gold medalist for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. It will publish its 103rd issue in 2022.

Additional student publications

These publications are clubs but do not have a dedicated class.

  • Proof is Paly's arts and entertainment magazine. It was first published second semester of the 2009–10 school year.
  • Agora is Paly's foreign affairs magazine. First published in 2012, it is the first high school foreign affairs publication in the country. It publishes once a semester.
  • Littera is Paly's club literary magazine. The club was created in the fall of 2018. It publishes an online issue every semester.

Athletics

Titles won by teams from Palo Alto High School range from CIF State Championships in Boys Varsity Basketball in 1993 and 2006, a football Division I state championship in 2010, volleyball Division I state championships in 2010 and 2011, to CCS Championships in Football in 1995, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2022, and 2023 and countless CCS titles in other sports. In 2010, both the Boys and Girls Lacrosse teams won the inaugural Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Championships.

Paly has 25 varsity teams, including football, swimming, as well as badminton, softball, basketball, track and field/cross country running, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, volleyball, water polo, field hockey, ice hockey, and wrestling teams. Since 2023, former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck, drafted first overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL draft and four-time NFL Pro Bowler, has served as an assistant coach to Paly's football team. The school is also home to several athletic clubs, including an Ultimate Frisbee Club.

Notable alumni

See also

References

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