Gunn High School

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Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox school Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Established in Template:Start date and age, Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent from 1950 to 1961. In 1964, the Palo Alto Unified School District announced that it would name the district's third high school after him. The Class of 1966 was the first class to graduate from Gunn High School.<ref name="profile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1992, the school was honored as a California Distinguished School.

1,713 students attended the school in the 2023–2024 school year.<ref name="studentdemographics2023"/>

History

The land under Gunn High School was purchased in 1963 by the school district from Stanford University for $358,641 (Template:Inflation), under the condition that it could not be sold to another entity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The land was originally part of Stanford's campus, but it was deeded to the Palo Alto Unified School District in 1964 for the construction of Gunn High School. Gunn High School opened in August 1964 with an initial enrollment of 600 students, comprising 300 sophomores and 300 juniors. It was named after Henry Gunn, the superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District from 1950 to 1961. Students were drawn from Fletcher Middle School and from the other two PAUSD high schools then open—Palo Alto High and Cubberley High.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 974-seat auditorium was named in 1965 after Karl Spangenberg, a recently deceased school district trustee.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The school held its first football game in 1965, with Cubberley High.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 1966 class was first to graduate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gunn High School received national attention in 2009 after four of its students died of suicide over a span of seven months.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Over the period of 2006–2016, the school's suicide rate was four to five times higher than the national average.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017, a senior student died of suicide.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2024, a 16-year-old girl who was a student at the school, died of suicide.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the past decade, attempts have been made to improve the psychological health of students attending the school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Rosinsuicides" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Academics

Gunn offers 29 Advanced Placement (AP) classes and 16 Honors classes which are included in the weighted Grade Point Average (GPA).<ref name="schoolreport2024">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2023, 846 students took 2504 AP tests. 95.1% scored 3 or higher, and 52.8% scored a grade of 5.<ref name="schoolreport2024"/> Gunn no longer ranks students, but ranking was previously recorded by decile.<ref name="Gunn High School School Profile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hanna Rosin wrote in a 2015 The Atlantic article that due to the emphasis on academics and competition between students, Gunn became "an extreme distillation of what parents in the meritocratic elite expect from a school." Around that time, families clamored to buy houses in Gunn's attendance boundary so their children could attend the school.<ref name=RosinHannaSuicide>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to Rosin, after a spate of suicide deaths of Gunn students in the 2010s, parents began to worry about whether the competitive atmosphere was harming students' mental well-being.<ref name="Rosinsuicides">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mathematics

Gunn offers a wide selection of mathematics courses ranging from Algebra to AP Calculus BC. There are often three tracks of each subject offered: one at the college-prep level, another at the Advanced level, and one at the Honors level. Students who have completed the AP Calculus pathway before their senior year also have the opportunity to take Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra as a dual enrollment pathway in partnership with Foothill College. There are also two mathematics electives at Gunn: Applied Math H and AP Statistics, available to juniors and seniors.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The math circle is one of the largest clubs on the Gunn High School campus, and its corresponding math team has participated in many competitions. Each year, the school has about 30 American Invitational Mathematics Examination qualifiers. After placing 15th nationally in 4 different tournaments during the 2020–21 school year, the 2021–22 math team won HMMT November and placed 4th in the Berkeley Math Tournament.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2023, in the context of controversial changes proposed for California's math curriculum,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a group of 25 students spoke out at a Palo Alto school board meeting, urging for PAUSD to implement more fluid math lanes, offer multivariable calculus during the school day, and more. They emphasized the importance of math classes meeting the needs of all students.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

PLTW

Gunn is a host to Project Lead the Way (PLTW), an organization that promotes STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. Courses from this program include Digital Electronics and Introduction to Engineering Design, as well as Principles of Engineering.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Statistics

Demographics

2023–2024<ref name=studentdemographics2023>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1,713 students: 936 Male ({{#expr:936/17.13 round 1}}%), 775 Female ({{#expr:775/17.13 round 1}}%), 2 Non-binary ({{#expr:2/17.13 round 1}}%),
Asian White Hispanic or Latino Two or more races African American Filipino Pacific Islander Native American or Alaska Native Unreported
785 496 210 180 22 14 4 2 0
{{#expr:785/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:496/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:210/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:180/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:22/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:14/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:4/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:2/17.13 round 1}}% {{#expr:0/17.13 round 1}}%

Template:As of, according to Hanna Rosin, 74% of Gunn's student body has one or more parents with a master's degree or higher, or other graduate-level degree.<ref name=Rosinsuicides/>

Standardized testing

In 2022, students received an average ACT score of 29.2, above the state average of 23.3, and an average SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score of 682 and Math score of 709, above the national and international average of 506 and 493 respectively.<ref name="schoolreport2024"/>

2013 Academic Performance Index
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Growth in the API from 2009 to 2013
915 917 2

Student groups

Spangenberg Theater
Spangenberg Theater

Robotics team

In 2012, the Robotics Team won the National FRC Championship Excellence in Design Award (3D Animation) sponsored by Autodesk. GRT is the only team that has won a total of three Animation awards in the history of FIRST.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Notable alumni

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  • Lisa Hanawalt, production designer and producer on BoJack Horseman
  • Chris Hart, class of 2002 – American-Born Black Japanese Pop Singer/Songwriter/Producer<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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References

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