page_title: Hillsboro High School (Oregon)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hillsboro High School (Oregon) / History
caption_attribution_description: J.B. Thomas Jr. High in Hillsboro, Oregon
context_page_description: Hillsboro High School is a public high school in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States, and is the oldest high school in the Hillsboro School District. The current campus was built beginning in 1969. Prior to this, the first campus opened in 1913 at 3rd Avenue and Grant Street; the second campus, built in 1928, was located downtown at 6th Avenue and Lincoln Street, where J.B. Thomas Middle School stood until 2009. Currently 1,195 students attend the school in grades 9–12. The official school colors are blue and white with red and black as accents, and the mascot is the Spartan.
  The athletics and activities of the school compete in category 5A's Northwest Oregon Conference under the Oregon School Activities Association.
  Alumni include professional soccer player Tiffeny Milbrett, hall of fame coach Ad Rutschman, and former professional baseball players Bob Beall and Scott Brow.
  Hillsboro High's most recent team state championship came in 2017 for boys' swimming.
  As of 2016, the school's graduation rate was 79%.
context_section_description: In September 1908, tenth grade was added to the Hillsboro school district, with classes held on the top floor of the school. Eleventh and twelfth grades were soon added, and in June 1911 the first students to complete four years of high school graduated. This class totaled five students, consisting of four girls and one boy. In September 1911, the school added manual training and domestic science courses to the curriculum. That same year, voters approved of a $50,000 bond measure to pay for constructing a high school building, with construction completed in 1913 at a cost of $40,000 for the three story building. In 1913, the school graduated eight students. A gymnasium was built beginning in 1915. The school grew in size, with the 1920 graduating class totally 36 students, the largest number up to that time. As early as the 1910s, "Hilhi" was used as a colloquial name for the school; the 1917 annual yearbook featured the title "The Hilhi" on its cover.
  In 1929, a new high school building was completed, with additional buildings and the wings added in later years. Located near downtown Hillsboro, at NE Sixth Avenue and Lincoln Street, the site became a junior high once the current campus was built beginning in 1969. In 1970, the new senior high school campus opened on 48 acres (190,000 m²) on the south side of Hillsboro, with enrollment of the high school district reaching 3,621 students that year. Students complained that the new layout that consisted of classrooms spread out over the campus instead of a single central building was a poor choice for Oregon’s rainy and cold winters.
  The school has been remodeled several times since opening in 1969. The first time was around 1980, when some minor updates such as the covered walkways were added. During the summer of 1999 the school received further updates. Blue and beige paint replaced the old brown colors on the buildings, the commons area was built adjacent to the cafeteria, a new auditorium was constructed, a new building was built to house technology related classes, and the main office was remodeled. After the expansion Hilhi had a total of 256,652 square feet (23,843.8 m²) of space spread out among eleven single-story buildings on campus. During the summer of 2008 the locker rooms were remodeled, improving the lighting, showers, and bathrooms. Future plans included the replacement of aging HVAC units and controls by 2011.
  In 2003, the school, along with all schools in the district, made national news when 17 days of classes were cut from the school year, which allowed students to begin summer break in May, due to budget cuts to education in Oregon.
  Teacher Don Domes won the Software Association of Oregon Foundation's Oregon Technology Educator of Year in 2004.
  Since 2006 the school has participated in the MIT-Lemelson InvenTeam program. Through the program, the school has received a $10,000 grant for a team of students to invent a self-installable heads-up display for automotive use and a $4,000 grant to invent an industrial sized robotic vacuum/floor cleaning system.
  The former campus near downtown was demolished in 2009.
  In the fall of 2015, the school became the first in the district to implement a mariachi band program into the curriculum.
caption: The former campus served as Thomas Jr. High/Middle School from 1969 until it was demolished in 2009.
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