Background and History
Prior to the school's establishment in 1937, Pearland students had to attend secondary school in Webster. The first graduating class in 1938 included valedictorian was Beatrice Woods who would become Beatrice Woods Theriot after marrying Melvin Theriot.
The original Pearland School, opened in 1937, had a staff of about 25 people and served 100 students on Grand Boulevard. That building is now the Pearland branch of Alvin Community College.
In 1953, the campus moved to Galveston Avenue, and the Grand Boulevard school became Pearland Elementary (later C.J. Harris Elementary). In 1991, high school moved again, to Main Street (SH 35). The Galveston Avenue property is now the Education Support Center (administration), Pearland Jr. High West, and Sablatura Middle School.
The school's mascot is the Oiler Rig or "Oiler". In contrast to the local legend, the mascot was not inspired by the Houston Oilers professional football team (the school was established 25 years before the team). Instead it is a tribute to an important sector of the local and regional economy. Several local businesses in Pearland are related to the oil industry, including a helicopter service that ferries people to nearby off-shore oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
The school achieved prominence for its academics and size in the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, it was classified as a 5-A school with well over 4,000 students.
Read more about this topic: Pearland High School
Famous quotes containing the words background and, background and/or history:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)