History
On December 10, 1920, Major Joseph P. Nourse, who had been actively engaged in educational work in the city for many years, became the first principal of Galileo High School. Throughout the summer, carpenters were busy converting the Red Cross Building, located on Fulton Street near the Civic Center. On August 1, 1921, Galileo High School welcomed its student body into the remodeled facilities. The ceremony of "breaking ground" for the new building occurred on November 4, 1921 ' Dedication of the Van Ness Building took place on March 30, 1924. At the same time, plans were underway for a new wing which would double the capacity of the school.
Back in the 1920s, the Galileo High School building was considered an outstanding example of modern architecture. Planned with the idea of housing one of the best educational institutions in the country, it was equipped to offer the highest type of academic curriculum in addition to training in commercial and technical branches.
During the 1970s, Galileo went through an extensive seismic retrofit where most, if not all, student facilities were moved across the street onto Fort Mason. Before the seismic retrofit, there were rumors that the Galileo campus would permanently be moved onto the Fort Mason site. Though the student population, then, did not indicate whether the move and larger facilities would be justified, the land that Galileo sits on was quite valuable, which could have made the move plausible. It can not be said whether this rumor is true, but can only be verified with the staff and faculty who worked at the school during that time.
Since school year 1995-96, Galileo has transformed itself to the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology. The new program provides students with career pathways and academies. These include the Galileo Health Academy, the Academy of Information Technology (AoIT), Biotechnology Pathway, and the Environmental Science Pathway. In 2006-2007, the Publications Pathway was introduced and new for 2007-2008 are the addition of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism (AoHT) and Digital Photography Pathway. The Chinese Immersion Program is now discontinued.
On September 25, 2007, while some construction workers were digging the courtyard, they found a time capsule which was thought to be lost forever by the Class of 1982. It was uncovered that day, but was filled with water, as well as a yearbook, a frisbee, a Rubik's Cube, and a Mighty Lion T-Shirt. It was buried shortly after the class of '82 graduated, then, 10 years ago, a search for the time capsule spanning every single square foot of the courtyard turned up nothing. The time capsule is currently stored in one of the closets in the building.
On October 31, 2007, the courtyard reopened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the ASB officers, followed by a celebration and a contest. The courtyard didn't fully open until sometime in November, as there was still more maintenance work that had to be done on the courtyard.
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