Retrospect
One hundred years for Seaside High School
Staff, students hope to
highlight special occasion
throughout the year
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
All impending school
years carry some sense of
trepidation, excitement or
anticipation for incoming
students, teachers, adminis-
trators and staff. For Seaside
High School, the 2015-16
school year is a milestone,
Principal Sheila Roley said.
The class of 2016 will be
the 100th class to graduate
from Seaside High School.
Throughout the school
year, students and staff look
forward to making a big deal
out of the “100th Class” cele-
bration, Roley said.
“In general, students are
the ones with the really good
ideas,” she said.
She designated Associated
Student Body Senior Class
President Alie Zagata to lead
a team in putting together
a history of the school and
planning activities and events
throughout the year, includ-
ing a community event — to
be determined — next spring.
Students are considering a
time capsule to store memo-
rabilia and messages to future
generations. They are in the
early stages of planning, but
“it’s going to be a big proj-
ect,” Roley said.
About 100 years ago, Sea-
side, Gearhart and Cannon
Beach each had their own
district for elementary stu-
dents, but educators and com-
munity members determined
it would be best to start a high
school run by a separate uni-
¿ed school district with its
own board of directors. In
November 1916, after sev-
eral delays, the communities
dedicated a recently ¿nished
$35,000 Union High School
in Seaside.
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Seaside Museum displays a plaque from the old Seaside
Union High School, erected in 1916. The class of 2016 will
be the 100th class the graduate from the school designed to
serve students from Gearhart, Cannon Beach and Seaside.
“Seaside can well feel
proud of this excellent edu-
cational building, and those
instrumental in the building
of this valuable adjunct to
this great resort can feel high-
ly elated at the result of their
labors,” the Seaside Signal
wrote Nov. 16, 1916.
Another Signal article de-
scribed the new school would
be “bigger in its enrollment”
and “better in its equipment,
broadened till it stands second
to none in the county.”
J.W. Branstator was the
principal at the time. Un-
‘Those instrumental
in the building of this
valuable adjunct to this
great resort can feel
highly elated at the
result of their labors,’
Seaside Signal, Nov. 16, 1916
der his direction, the district
planned to expand its curric-
ulum so the caliber of Union
High School would equal that
of Astoria High School.
Union High School was
located directly west of the
current facility, along what is
now North Holladay Drive.
Some time in the 1950s, the
district constructed a new
building that became the core
of the current high school.
That facility was added
on to in 1962, increasing the
capacity of the school to 600
students. A gymnasium large
enough for two basketball
courts and folding bleachers
was a highlight of the upgrade.
Fast forward to now, as the
school prepares for its 100th
year of serving high school
students in South County.
Roley, Assistant Principal
Jeff Roberts and other staff
members and teachers are
preparing for the arrival of
approximately 450 students
for the 2015-16 school year.
A photo at the Seaside Museum depicts the Union High School built in 1916 that served stu-
dents from Gearhart, Seaside and Cannon Beach.
Freshmen and new stu-
dents will come the Tues-
day after Labor Day, Sept.
8, for a program called Link
Crew. Junior and senior
crew leaders will show the
new students around the
school and put on several
team-building exercises to
help them get acclimated
before the remaining stu-
dents arrive Sept. 9.
“It’s a great transition pro-
gram,” Roley said. Incorpo-
rated about 20 years ago, she
added, it is “one of the most
signi¿cant changes for set-
ting a positive school climate
we’ve ever made.”
Personally, Roley is en-
tering her 30th year as an
educator, and she said the
“excitement and anticipation
has never diminished one bit
for me.”
“I anxiously await the
arrival of the staff and kids
each year,” she said.
Each year, she anticipates
leading the high school into
the future. Educators are nev-
er satis¿ed, she said, because
“they know there is growth
we can continue to make.”
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Seagull Pride • Spring 2015 • Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette • 11