President Woodrow Wilson High School,, is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. In 2006, the school was one of seven in Oregon ranked among America's 1,200 best high schools by Newsweek. In 2008, Wilson was voted 37th out of all the public high schools in the state.HistoryWilson High School was built in 1954, after a ballot measure was passed in 1945 providing $5,000,000 to improve Portland's school system. Population was growing explosively, so emphasis was put on economy and ease of building, instead of on architectural style as was the norm in the earlier school buildings. Wilson High School, which was designed by the firm Edmundson and Kochendoerfer, used the technique of lift-slab construction to speed up construction. Wilson was the first building in the Northwest to use that technique.On June 18, 2003, an arsonist damaged the school. Two students were arrested in connection with the fire and several others in the Portland area.Student profileThe student population is 76% White, 8% Latino, 6% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 5% African American. About 85% of students live within the school boundaries, the highest percentage in the district. In 2009, 10% of Wilson's students transferred into the school.AcademicsIn 2008, 87% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 343 students, 299 graduated, 29 dropped out, eight received a modified diploma, and seven were still in high school the following year.
