San José High School is the second oldest public high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and was founded in 1863. The school mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 is the Bulldog.

In 1985, the school was renamed San Jose Academy as part of the federal magnet schools concept, but on March 25, 2010, it returned to its original name, San José High School. The school has offered the International Baccalaureate program since 1985. Since 1999 the school also has offered the IB Middle Years Program along with its major feeder middle school, Peter Burnett Academy (middle school). In Newsweek magazine's 2005 ranking of United States high schools, San Jose High Academy was ranked 220th.

The campus facility has had several renovations in 2000, 2004, and 2007–present. A new science building opened in March 2009. A new state-of-the-art Career Technology Engineering building was opened for classes in September 2010. The new 13000 square feet (1,207.7 m²) facility houses the Engineering and the Project Lead the Way Program (pre-engineering program). Recently, the school has had an increase of students to over 1200 students, the largest population since the late 1980's.

Big Bone Game

• The football teams of San José High School and Abraham Lincoln High School (San Jose, California)
  Abraham Lincoln High School (San Jose, California)
  Abraham Lincoln High School is a high school in the San Jose Unified School District. It is a magnet school for "Academic, Visual, and Performing Arts". The current principal is Matt Hewitson....
  
   face off at San Jose City College
  San Jose City College
  San Jose City College, founded in 1921, is a community college located in the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.San Jose City College was originally called San Jose Junior College and operated in downtown San Jose, California...
  
   each Thanksgiving in the Big Bone Game. This rivalry game has been held since 1943; it gets its name from San José High School student Bob Schimdt in 1945, who found a large steer leg in his father's butcher shop and declared it the trophy for the winning school.
• The Junior Varsity football teams from both schools hold a Little Bone Game the Thursday prior to the Big Bone Game.

Recent League championships

The girls' basketball team won the League Championship in 2008, in the Spring of 2009 the Boys' Track and Field team took and captured league, and in the fall of 2009 the Girls' Cross Country won league.

Sports

• Baseball
• Basketball (Girls' and Boys')
• Softball
• Football
• Wrestling
• Soccer (Girls' and Boys')
• Girls' Field Hockey
• Badminton
• Track and field
• Cross Country
• Tennis
• Swim
• Volleyball

Building History

Students moved into the current building in 1952 with the first class graduating in 1953. Prior to 1952 San José High School was on San Fernando St. near SJSU. A second building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake with a third building, (Spanish Colonial)l functioning from 1908-1951. The first building was on Santa Clara Street and 7th Street. This site is now home to the new Horace Mann Elementary School. In 1863 the site at Santa Clara St. and 7th housed both Horace Mann and San Jose High.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of San José High School include:

• Irene (Yvonne) Dalis, Class of 1942, Founder of the San Jose Opera.
• Robert Graham (Peña) Artist, Class of 1953-designed FDR Memorial in Washington D.C.
• Don Edwards
  Don Edwards
  William Donlon Edwards is an American politician of the Democratic Party, formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives from California.-Biography:...
  
  , former FBI agent and retired Congressman of California (1963–1995).
• Mike Honda
  Mike Honda
  Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda is an American Democratic Party politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative for , encompassing western San Jose and Silicon Valley...
  
  , Congressman for California's 15th congressional district
  California's 15th congressional district
  California's 15th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers part of Santa Clara County west of San Jose and includes the cities of Los Gatos and Cupertino in Silicon Valley...
  
  .
• Norman Mineta
  Norman Mineta
  Norman Yoshio Mineta, is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration...
  
  , Class of 1949, former San Jose Mayor, Congressman and United States Secretary of Transportation
  United States Secretary of Transportation
  The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fourteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966,...
  
  .
• Rigo Chacon, Newscaster Class of 1961, Founder of Abrazos and Books
• Cung Le, Professional Kickboxer, http://www.cungle.com/
• Debra Figone (De Mattei) class of 1970, San Jose City Manager
• Johnnie C. Smith, Class of 1973, Blues Musician, Founder of J.C. Smith Band
• Shakeel Avadhany, Class of 2005, co-founder and CEO of Levant Power Corporation http://www.levantpower.com