North Medford High School


North Medford High School is a public high school in Medford, Oregon, United States. It is part of Medford School District. Its nickname is the Black Tornado. The school enrolls 1,750 students.
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History

Originally the City of Medford had a single high school, Medford High School, constructed in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the school district expanded, constructing a new high school on the opposite side of the city. Rather than develop this into an independent school, the district kept Medford High School as the lone school, with students attending at the two different locations. The current campus of NMHS was the newly constructed "Medford Senior High School", with grades 11 and 12 attending while grades 9 and 10 went to Medford Mid High School, which later became South Medford High School and ultimately Central Medford High School.. This was set in place to primarily to allow Medford to compete athletically with larger school districts such as Portland Public Schools of Portland. At this time the city would have been placed in smaller athletic divisions if the district had been divided into two secondary schools.
During the 1960s and 70s, Medford commonly put forth many state championship athletic teams in the Oregon then 3A division. However, in 1986, Medford High School was finally split into the two current high schools. Both now house around 2,000 students, similar to the number of students Medford High School collectively held in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Medford's current principal is Allen Barber.

Campus development

North Medford was built in 1965. It has been remodeled and has had additions, starting in 1973 through 1981, and again in 1992. In 2007, the City of Medford passed a bond for district wide school renovations, including a complete renovation of North Medford with remodeled auditorium, administrative space, and a new library. The project was completed in early 2011. In 2025, the school gym's roof collapsed under 700,000 lbs of snow. In its stead, a building called "The Field House" has been constructed, and came into use on the 10th of October, 2025.
The school campus includes of occupied building space with 64 classrooms. It is located on a large campus, most of which is used for sports and recreation. Both North and South Medford High School share a common football stadium, Spiegelberg Stadium.

Academics

Graduation rates per school year
Year% graduation4-year cohort total4-year cohort adjustedGraduatedDrop-outs5th yearModified diploma
2013–1476%44540731148331
2014–1584%43938832434238
2015–1684%412369309361412
2016–1790%43038134419214
2017–1891%47542338520529

Four-year cohort total is determined by the number of students initially in that class. Four-year cohort adjusted is representative of those students that did not transfer out of state, country, to private or homeschooling, or otherwise are deceased.
North Medford High School offers 17 Advanced Placement classes and opportunities for college credit through Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University.

Awards

North Medford consistently places highly among schools in contention for the OSAA's Oregonian Cup, a trophy awarded each year to the school that best exemplifies excellence in academics, activities, and athletics. The school ranked in the top 10 annually from the 2002–2003 school year to the 2008–2009 school year, winning the trophy in 2003–2004.
The school was also recognized in 2000 by the Grammy Foundation for excellence in music education, being named a Grammy Signature School.

Sports

The North Medford Black Tornado participate in Oregon's 6A Southwest Conference. The school's colors are red and black. Prior to Oregon's shift from four classification level to six levels, North Medford was part of the Southern Oregon Conference at level 4A.

State championships

Team championships
SportYears
Baseball1960, 1984, 2007, 2014
Boys' basketball1924, 1929, 1960
Football1928, 1944, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1977, 1985, 1993
Boys' golf1951, 1952, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982
Softball1984, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017
Girls' tennis1964, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2001
Boys' tennis1955, 1964
Boys' track and field1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964

  • Oregon did not have an official state high-school football playoff until 1940.
Athletes from North Medford have won many individual state championships as well, with most occurring in the 1940s through the 1970s.

Notable alumni