South Albany High School is a public high school located in Albany, Oregon, United States.Built in 1970, South Albany occupies the largest facility in the Greater Albany Public School District, encompassing more than 167000sqft of classrooms and other facilities.The school's motto is "Rebel PRIDE", for "Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Discipline, and Excellence".SportsThe South Albany sports program had a history of not ranking high in its conference and division. However, in 2004, the cheerleading program placed second against 5A and 6A teams at state competition, as well as winning all pre-state competitions. The school also had six All-Americans, three Les Schwab Bowl participants, and qualified for nationals. The football, soccer, dance and cheerleading programs have all gone to either district playoffs/championships or state championships in recent years. In 2016, the cheerleading program qualified and competed at the National High School Cheerleading Competition. The dance team, the Southern Belles, have placed in the 5A OSAA Dance and Drill State Championship for quite a few years in a row.AcademicsIn 2008, 75% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 308 students, 231 graduated, 42 dropped out, and 13 received a modified diploma, and 22 were still in high school the following year.April Fire's DayOn April 1, 2015, students and parents woke up to a news story that sounded like an April Fools' Day joke. Classes were cancelled for the following days due to a large fire that had destroyed the school's choir room, cooking class rooms, band room and cafeteria, but school was resumed the following week. By 7 am, snorkel water cannons were being used to prevent the four-alarm fire from spreading to the rest of the school. The man who had set the fire, Zachary Lee Burghart, was convicted a few months later for arson after pleading guilty.
