Palmer High School (Colorado)

General William J. Palmer High School, commonly referred to as Palmer High School (PHS), is a public high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship high school of School District 11 and has the oldest International Baccalaureate (IB) program in the area.

Not to be confused with Lewis-Palmer High School or Palmer Ridge High School.

General William J. Palmer High School
Front of Palmer High School
Address
301 North Nevada Avenue

Colorado Springs
,
Colorado
80903

United States
Coordinates38°50′20″N 104°49′12″W
Information
Other namesPalmer High School, Palmer, PHS
Former nameColorado Springs High School
School typePublic high school
MottoA Tradition of Excellence
Established1875 (1875)
School districtColorado Springs 11
CEEB code060288
NCES School ID080306000257[1]
PrincipalLara Disney[2]
Teaching staff89.10 (on a FTE basis)[1]
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,697 (2017–18[1])
Student to teacher ratio19.05[1]
Color(s)Brown and white  
Athletics conferenceCHSAA
MascotTerrors (Eaglebeak)
AccreditationWestern Association of Schools and Colleges
NewspaperThe Lever
YearbookTerror Trail
Feeder schools
  • Holmes Middle School
  • Galileo Middle School
  • Mann Middle School
  • North Middle School
Websitewww.d11.org/palmer

History

Palmer High School is located at 301 North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs. The present building was built by the Works Progress Administration under Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. Originally named Colorado Springs High School, Palmer High School was renamed in 1959 after the city's founder, General William Jackson Palmer. At that date, the city had expanded enough to warrant the building of a second high school, Roy J. Wasson High School.

Eaglebeak

In 1945, a Native American student, Don Willis, designed Eaglebeak, a caricature of a fictitious Indian chieftain, and the school's teams became the Terrors. In 1985 a local political hopeful criticized the mascot as racist, making Palmer one of the first cases of controversy over a Native American mascot in the United States. Despite the fact that the politician, having lost the election, later publicly apologized to the student body and retracted the charge of racism, the damage was done and Eaglebeak was not to return. In the following years, Palmer experimented with a variety of mascots, to include a two-month flirtation with the Tasmanian devil from Warner Brothers, which nearly led to a lawsuit.[3]

In the early 1990s the high school chose an eagle as its mascot, naming it "Eaglebeak", but without the historical background of the original.[3]

Gender-inclusive bathrooms

In 2016 senior Doe Schall, a genderqueer student, along with others from the school's Gay-Straight-Trans Alliance, lobbied school officials for gender-inclusive bathrooms due to the discrimination experienced by transgender students. Palmer was the first high school in Southern Colorado to have gender-inclusive bathrooms.[4][5][6][7]

Extracurricular activities

Mock Trial

Palmer's Mock Trial program won the Southern Colorado Regional Competition in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015; the Colorado State Competition in 2009 and 2013;[8] and took 14th place in the National High School Mock Trial Tournament in 2013.[9]

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Palmer High School include:

References
  1. "Search for Public Schools - PALMER HIGH SCHOOL (080306000257)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  2. "A Message from the Principal / Welcome".
  3. "About Palmer High School". d11.org. Archived from the original on October 19, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  4. Victor Skinner (March 8, 2016). "Colorado school installs 'gender-inclusive' bathroom".
  5. http://www.terrortribe.org/phslever/?p=691%5B%5D
  6. "High school creates gender-inclusive bathroom". KRDO. March 8, 2016.
  7. Dawidowicz, Christina (March 11, 2016). "Palmer High School opens first gender-inclusive restroom in a public school in southern CO". KXRM.
  8. "Media & Press". coloradohighschoolmocktrial.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  9. "2013 Championship Results". nationalmocktrial.org.
  10. Brian Gomez (August 10, 2007). "Armstrong shares the importance of cycling to children at fundraiser". The Gazette.
  11. "Robert L. Gordon III". defense.gov. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015.
  12. "Player Bio: Reggie Jackson". Boston College Official Athletic Site. Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  13. Epstein, Warren (March 4, 2010). "Homegrown: Laura Veirs flirts with acoustic stardom". Colorado Springs Gazette.
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