North Thurston High School | |
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Location | |
Lacey, Washington USA |
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Coordinates | 47°03′07″N 122°49′55″W / 47.05194°N 122.83194°WCoordinates: 47°03′07″N 122°49′55″W / 47.05194°N 122.83194°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 | 1428 |
Color(s) | Purple and White |
Mascot | Ram |
Newspaper | Rampage |
Yearbook | Rambler |
Website | www |
North Thurston High School, located in the North Thurston Public Schools District in Lacey, Washington, is a comprehensive high school which first 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 Steve Rood.
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.
On April 27, 2015, around 7:20 a.m. (Pacific Time Zone) in Lacey, Washington a 16-year-old male student at the school fired two bullets from a .357 Magnum in the crowded high school commons before AP Government teacher Brady Olson grabbed and immobilized him. The Lacey police officer on duty at the school, Ed McClanahan, told KCPQ-TV that he had not been able to fire because "about a dozen" students were in his line of fire, and that Olson reached the shooter just before he thought he could get a clear shot at him. According to McClanahan, Olson "not only tackled him, but suplexed him onto the ground," enabling McClanahan to make the arrest. "It was pretty impressive," McClanahan said. Olson, who teaches advanced placement government and civics, had served several years in the military to earn money for college.