High school honors first Black judge on Oregon Supreme Court

Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 26, 2021

Before she became the first African-American appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court — or any court of appeal in the state for that matter — before she won a myriad of awards for her leadership and community service, before she became her high school’s valedictorian despite the school’s initial decision to give the honor to a white student with a lower GPA, Adrienne C. Nelson was a small-town girl from southwest Arkansas with big dreams.

On Monday, Justice Nelson added another accomplishment to her growing list, as she cut the ceremonial ribbon officially opening Adrienne C. Nelson High School in Happy Valley, receiving raucous applause from the roughly 400 community members, students, faculty, friends and family members in attendance to witness the historic moment.

“This is a wonderful day,” Nelson said to the crowd. “I am so grateful. And I am so excited for the students to be able to go to this incredible, incredible school.”

First imagined “well over a decade ago,” according to North Clackamas School District Superintendent Dr. Shay James, plans for the new school were set into motion after voters passed a 2016 constriction bond allowing NCSD to build and renovate several schools, prompting discussions of a new name for the soon-to-be-renovated Rock Creek Middle School.

Nelson’s name was at the top of a list including “James DePreist High School” in honor of an African-American composer who directed the Oregon Symphony for over 20 years and “Wy’East High School” to honor the name given to Mt. Hood by the Multnomah tribe who originally inhabited land in northwest Oregon.

The selection process was not exactly smooth sailing. In May 2018, the board voted 4-3 to reject naming the school after either of the top two choices, Nelson or Depriest, a decision backed by former state representative for Happy Valley.

One year later, when the board voted 5‐2 to name the school after Nelson, over 230 comments — some pleased with the decision, some opposed — amassed under the NCSD Facebook announcement.

Nelson High School’s construction process took roughly two years from to finish. With the school now officially open, course registration will begin on Aug. 23 for the 2021/22 school year commencing in-person in September.

“This is a lot for me to take in, as a little girl from a small town in the Deep South, to now have a school that is going to have students that’s almost half the size of the town that I grew up in,” Nelson said.

“This lets you know that the universe moves people,” she added. “It lets you know that you always need to acknowledge that you’re standing on the shoulders of others, that your ancestors have prayed and sacrificed and died and cried and hoped for you to go forth. So while you are here, you do your part so that you can pass it to the next generation.”

Approximately $97 million was invested into renovating the former building, a project which included adding 16 classrooms, a counseling and career center, a performing arts center, an athletic complex, a health center — “and last but not least, additional parking. It was needed,” James said.

“I can’t wait for you to see this building, because it is just filled with care and love; and the students deserve every bit of this and more,” Nelson said. “I want them to know they are exactly who they’re supposed to be. As they came here, we will pour into them.”

Speakers at the grand-opening event included Nelson High School Principal Greg Harris and NCSD Board Chair of Directors Libra Forde. Guest performers Lilian Yasana and Carlos McNair, members of the NCSD Native Parent Advisory Group, were accompanied by their two children.

The family is affiliated with the Klamath tribe, and performed a cultural acknowledgement with drumming and singing, which Harris said “brings into this space the traditions, histories, lived experiences and stories of the native peoples.”

The ceremony also featured a spoken-word performance by Oregon Poet Laureate Anis Mojgani, who began with the lines:

“Come from something. Come from somewhere. Whether Gurdon, Arkansas or Portland, Oregon. Whether 2,000 neighbors or 2 million, coast or city, cul-de-sac, apartment building, rooftop, parking lot or fur trees quietly singing, come, whether whole or broken, or like most of us, breathing our best somewhere between those two places.”

Nelson High School is currently the only high school in Clackamas County named after a living person.

“Imagine if we honored people all the time for their contributions when they were alive. That’s what this moment is,” Forde said.

“I don’t want to read her bio, because you could Google that, and you could spend weeks reading it… What I’m going to do is tell you how this woman has moved our hearts,” she continued, speaking of Nelson. “She is community walking. She honors all people, all things, all realities for what they are.

“Children will walk underneath her name well beyond all of our existence, well beyond anything that we can ever imagine,” Forde continued. “And there’s no one better that I can think of than Adrienne C. Nelson for them to walk with their head high, their shoulders back and honor community.”