The official web site of the Lowell Alumni Association

Campus Factoids:

Honors and advanced placement classes have been offered at Lowell since 1961.
Lowell has undergone four name changes. Union Grammar School (1856), San Francisco High School (1858), Boys High School (1864), and Lowell High School(1894)
Lowell currently occupies the site of the once proposed Southwest High School.
Lowell's 2nd floor science wing was originally intended to hold shop classes.
From 1962 until the mid 1970's, Lowell was a three-year High School, having temporarily lost its 9th grade.
There are currently 243 computers on the Lowell campus located inside 95 internet enabled classrooms.
This semester, Lowell is offering 15 honors courses (with a total of 53 sections) and 22 Advanced Placement courses (with a total of 71 sections)
As of 2003, Lowell High School no longer ranks its students by grade point average.

Historical Factoids:

In 1986, the University of California at Berkeley hosted a Lowell Day in recognition of the long partnership between the two schools.
In 1969, principal Barton Knowles instituted the Lowell Plan and with it, the 20 interval modular class system still in use today.
The current 25 acre site of the Lowell campus cost 5 million dollars to build and develop when it opened in 1962.
The first attempts at self-scheduling began in the 1950's when students had to scramble to get their desired teachers to sign them in.
In 1943, after students raised $300,000 for the war effort, a new B-17 Flying Fortress was launched with the words 'THE LOWELL' written on its side.
Fifty thousand people attended the 1928 Turkey Day game between Lowell and Polytechnic at Kezar Stadium. (Lowell won 8-6)
In 1925, students, alumni, and the PTA prevented Lowell from becoming a regular district school by moving to the present location of Washington High School.
Having survived the 1906 earthquake, the old Lowell site on Sutter Street was temporarily used as a police station, courthouse, and jail.

Academic Factoids:

In 1962, the nature of Lowell's academic philosophies were discussed and debated in Time Magazine.
In 1962, the San Francisco School Board voted 6 to 1 to maintain Lowell in its new building as a strictly academic, non-districted high school.
Lowell High School's rigorous academic admissions policies have been at the center of public debate since the mid sixties.
An attempt to convert Lowell into a district school was defeated in 1961. Lowell's academic all-city status was later upheld in Federal Court.

College Factoids:

Lowell remains the largest feeder school to the University of California system. Forty six percent of the class of 2002 were headed to a UC campus
Recent Lowell Graduates can be found at over 186 Colleges and Universities around the world.
99% of Lowell students enrolled in college following graduation. 46% went to a UC campus, and 15% went to a CSU campus.

Population Factoids:

Lowell's current 'three bands' admissions policy has increased the number of acceptance offers extended to African American and Latino students.
The student body is 55% Chinese; 17% Non-Hispanic Whites; 5% Filipino; 4% Hispanic; 2% African-American; 2% Korean; 1% Japanese; 12% Other Non-White; 2% Decline to State.
There are currently 2576 students on the Lowell campus with a 97.6% daily attendance rate.
22% of the student body comes from socioeconomically disadvantaged homes and are eligible for either free or reduced lunch benefits.
Approximately forty percent of students live in homes where English is not the primary spoken language.
Girls outnumber boys at Lowell by the ratio of 13 to 10 (56.7% girls and 43.3% boys)
There are more than 60 different clubs and student organizations on the Lowell campus.

Performance Factoids:

Lowell is one of only 31 schools to have been named three times as a National Blue Ribbon School.
In 2002, Lowell was ranked 6th nationally in total AP exams given when 954 students took 2,021 exams.
The student paper, The Lowell, has been ranked among the top ten student newspapers in America by the National Scholastic Press Association.
Seventy-one members of Lowell's Symphonic Band performed to a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall in 2001.
A record 719 students each received a $1,000 Governor's Scholarship that can be applied towards their college education.
Lowell ranked ranked first in the bay area and second in the state based on the Academic Performance Index.
Lowell is undefeated in the annual SF Academic Decathalon since its inception in 1988.
Lowell has the oldest Forensic Society training programs in the United States.
Fifteen percent of the graduating senior class of 2003 earned a weighted GPA above 4.00.
The average SAT score among Lowell's senior class was 1236. (593 Verbal and 643 Math)

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