Franklin High School

I’ve transferred to Franklin during my Junior year in high school. And the first two weeks I have attended, I already hate it and wanted to move back immediately. However, sadly, I could not go back to my old high school.
The students here are terrible people. Consistent fights, rumor spreads faster than you can say «hi», nobody here can be trusted and there are bunch of cliques. In the hallways, nobody likes to greet each other or smile at one another, even if you don’t know that person. This school is an easy school. You can skip whenever. (It’s really easy to skip). Everybody skipped at this school and majority of the student body does not prioritize academics.
I got easily influenced on skipping. I have never skipped at my old school. I’ve learned a lot at Cleveland high school. And after a year at Franklin, I can say that I did not learn anything. (Except for math… I guess)
The counselors however, did not put me as a Junior, in her priorities. I needed a science class (chem) and she said it was full but I remembered this girl who got in FHS after me got into a chem class. The teachers are eh… Not a lot of elective options, but i cant blame them. Only one building.
My worst experience ever. Lost a year of learning. Basically ruined my GPA. I have never hated anything more. at FHS i tend to not be as focused and i did not have a support group.

Yes i’m an alum… a proud product of the south seattle environment. This is where i graduated from being an untammed youth to the honor society. then to the University of Washington… then to a CPA .
thx Franklin, its teachers, the other counselors, my friends, and classmates. I got the education of books and streets.
Also we got a crazy good basketball team! NBA products jason terry and aaron brooks, and thousands of d1 scholarship athletes (free education). Proud to be a quaker. My ten year reunion was crazy, gotta luv being from the inner city.

Many great alumni have graduated from Franklin! Jason Terry, Kenny G, and Gary Locke just to name a few. Good school with a variety of cool teachers. The building has a very nice architecture style and structure.

We are actually technically the Earthquakes since the real Quakers de Seattle got a stick up the holy rump and asked the school to change it. Funny that no other school has changed their blatant racist mascots, I won’t name any names…
I tried to get the mascots changed to the Unicorns, that way at football games we could cheer FU to the opposing side. Very quickly vetoed.
Obviously my genius was too much, I ended up doing Running Start and graduated college AND high school. I still have love for Franklin and my Art teacher Ms. Brenner!
C/​O 2000!

c/​o 1997 !!! So many memories at Franklin, the spirit kegs and all.
I did know Jason Terry when he attended. I do remember being pissed off because my Horticulture teacher Mr. Kashner was an asshole, particularly when Jason terry would waltz into class with a paper in tow for Kashner to give him an A on the spot, while us real kids not on the basketball team would work hard for that A paper. He walked in and right out. So I would say that Jason skimmed through high school with good un-​earned grades. LOL.

I know that this review is pretty long. Just consider the list of alumni as extra credit reading.
FHS is currently the oldest high school amongst the twelve high schools in the Seattle School District. FHS first opened its doors in 1912 in Seattle’s Mt. Baker neighborhood and it was designed in the Neoclassical/​Greek Revival style by Seattle School District architect, Edgar Blair. The school was once deemed the most beautiful high school west of the Mississippi and featured at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933.
The other basics:
Mascot: Quakers Annual: Tolo*
Colors: Green and Black Newspaper: Tolo
* = Tolo is a Native American (Kalapuya) word that means: «to win, excel, gain, prevail, earn, control, convince, overcome, subdue, triumph, and succeed.»
Call me a freak, but I did enjoy my years in high school. I know that at times it was awkward, but I generally loved being an actively engaged student at Franklin. May it be the various clubs, athletics and the like; I definitely made the most of it. Oh, I did a lot of studying too! The school curriculum hasn’t changed from I have seen. They still offer many honors, advance placement and humanities classes. I could go on about athletics at Franklin, but that would be a review in itself. Suffice to say, FHS has excelled in sports with numerous city and state championships. One thing I didn’t know is that Franklin has the most players from western Washington to play in the NFL (8). FHS also feature a powerhouse Mock Trial team.
One thing that I do remember about school was the diversity. FHS has always been one of the most racially and ethnically diverse schools in Washington. Former student, and Nobel Prize winner, George Hitchings (’23) said it best in his biography:
«My experiences at Franklin High School in Seattle were notable for another reason. We had a most heterogeneous population, one that blended upper class and minorities including blacks, Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese and first generation Catanians. As a result I lost any self-​consciousness I felt in dealing with people from different cultures and backgrounds.»
I didn’t know what a Catanian was and had to look it up. Catania is a city in Sicily. That makes sense because Rainier Valley, where the school is located, was known as «Garlic Gulch.»
This concludes the formal part of this review. The rest is just extra credit.
The following is just a small sample of distinguished Quaker alumni:
Medicine:
George Hitchings (’23) — Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine. Considered to be the pioneer in the biochemical approach to chemotherapy.
Dr. William Hutchinson (’27) — Cancer research specialist and founder of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Business & Government:
Gary Locke (’68) — Former King County Deputy Prosecutor, King County Executive and two-​term governor of Washington.
Alfred Moen (’34) — Inventor and founder of Moen Faucets.
Everett W. Nordstrom (’19) — Took over his father’s shoe company in 1928 with his two brothers and turned a local company into a national clothing retail empire. Nordstrom is the largest shoe retailer in the United States. The Nordstrom family is also responsible for bringing the NFL to Seattle and were the first owners of the Seahawks.
Victor Steinbrueck (’28) — Architect. Designer of the Space Needle and saved the Pike Place Market from destruction. He was a force for preserving the architectural heritage of Seattle.
Journalism:
Royal Brougham (’12) — Sports writer and former editor of the Seattle Post-​Intelligencer. Some of you may recognize his name because the street that runs between Qwest Field and Safeco Field is named after him.
Emmet Watson (’37) — Columnist that worked for many of Seattle’s newspapers that include the Seattle Star, P-​I and Times. Noted author and champion of Lesser Seattle.
Stephanie Stokes Oliver (’70) — Author, publisher, and former editor of Essence Magazine.
Part 2 of the review also includes photos:
Photos: