Bakersfield.com: Kern County news, events, classifieds, shopping, & search

RSS Feed   Print Story   E-mail Story        

Rebel yell: South High turns 50! Join us as we look back

The Bakersfield Californian | Monday, Sep 24 2007 3:00 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 7:59 AM

South High is celebrating its 50th anniversary Saturday. The celebration is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes the homecoming game, a lunch, tents for each decade and a performance by the choie and some of the alumni musicians.

Tickets are $35. They will be available at the door or any Vallitix location. For information, call 831-3680. The Web site is southhigh50th.org.

South High in a nutshell

• Enrollment: 2,015 students.

•One hundred ten certificated staff members and 112 classified staff.

•Demographics are 62.8 percent Hispanic, 14.6 percent African American, 14.2 percent Caucasian, 6.3 percent Asian and 2.1 percent others which include American Indian, Pacific Islander and Filipino.

•Two prestigious California Partnership Academies, Criminal Justice (CJA) and Industrial Technology and Engineering (MS3)

•Army JROTC received the Distinguished Honor Unit Award for the past six years

•State of the art weight room which is the largest in Kern County

Alma Mater:

“All hail, all ye Rebels, all hail to old South High

“The blue and gray is waving our praises to the sky

“Like knights of old, our warriors bold

“We’ll fight on to victory

“All hail, all ye Rebels, all hail to old South High.”

Fun facts

• 4th school in the nation and only one in the district to teach Russian.

• Leader in the district in instructional technology. Recognized by Tom Brokaw on “NBC Nightly News” segment as national leader in this area.

• First Criminal Justice Academy in California. Now used as national model.

• When South High was built, nearby Union Avenue was Highway 99, the major thoroughfare from L.A. to Fresno.

• It was the height of the Cold War and the walls of the school were built of heavy cement, not stucco.

• It was Grant Jensen's idea to create the bowl stadium from the dirt excavated during the building of the school. It remains the only school bowl in the KHSD.

• South was the last school built with two gyms.

• The average age of the first faculty was 27.

• Poodle skirts were the rage, but spaghetti straps were a no-no.

• Government classes were called Senior Problems.

• Unlike other schools at the time, the school song was an original written by Ken Fahsbender, the first band director. It wasn’t just a parody of known college songs.

• The first time that South beat BHS in football came at a game at the Drillers’ stadium. It was their homecoming, and Frank Gifford was being honored. — Source: Elaine Jamison, former South High principal