San Francisco University High School

Facilities and campus

The school is made up of five buildings, commonly referred to as Upper, Middle, Lower, South, and California campuses.

Upper Campus is the oldest and most historic part of campus. It was designed by Julia Morgan and built in 1917 to house Katherine Delmar Burke School, a girls' school, from the early part of the 20th century until 1975, when the building was sold to the newly created University High School. It houses the History and English Departments, College Counseling offices, and administrative offices. Middle Campus, connected to Upper Campus by a bridge, houses the school library; a 400-seat theater; the student center and cafeteria; state-of-the-art science labs; music rooms, including an electronic music recording room; and the Summerbridge program, UHS's pioneer program to help talented students from local public middle schools obtain the resources they might not have access to in their current schools. Lower Campus is home to the Math and Science Departments. It also holds the fitness center, changing rooms, gym, and athletic offices. Indoor sports are played at the gym, while field sports are mainly played at the nearby Paul Goode Field athletic complex. South Campus, which opened in the 2006–2007 school year, is the home of the Foreign Language Department and the Art Department. Additionally, South Campus contains a language lab, a large photography studio and darkroom, and art studios. California Campus is the most recent development, and it contains a new gym, a cafeteria, and new science labs and math rooms.

Incidents

The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake resulted in significant damage to the Bay Area region, and several parts of the UHS campus were affected by the incident, primarily the Upper Campus. The building suffered moderate damage to its windows and experienced a roof collapse. A year-long reconstruction effort in 1990 resulted in an improved Upper Campus with earthquake support.{{cite report |access-date=21 January 2026

There was an investigation in 2021 into improper conduct between adults and students at the high school, involving, in particular, a former girls’ soccer coach.

Notable alumni

Writers

• Ethan Canin, author
• Ben Casnocha, author
• Vendela Vida, author

Athletes

• Tyler Walker, MLB baseball player, San Francisco Giants
• Eileen Gu, Olympic freestyle skier and gold medalist

Artists and musicians

• Tauba Auerbach, artist
• Slater Bradley, video artist
• Ari Gold, filmmaker, actor, musician
• Hollis, musician
• John Morris, actor
• Nicky Sanders, musician (Steep Canyon Rangers)
• Sol Sender, graphic designer
• Deke Sharon, a cappella musician, producer
• Olivia Somerlyn, musician
• Maury Sterling, actor
• George Watsky, musician, poet, internet phenom
• Erin Cressida Wilson, playwright, screenwriter, author
• Ali Wong, comedian
• Basil Twist, puppeteer

Business

• Peter Saraf, film producer
• Robert Reffkin, co-founder and CEO of Compass, Inc.
• Adam Pritzker, co-founder of General Assembly, member of the Pritzker family
• Jennifer Dulski, founder and CEO of Rising Team, previously president and COO at Change.org and product leader at Google and Meta Platforms
• Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal
• Teddy Solomon, Co-Founder and CEO of Fizz

Politics

• Daniel Lurie, mayor of San Francisco

References

References

1. "Mission, Vision & Values".
2. "Paul Goode Field". San Francisco University High School.
3. "UHS California Street Campus - San Francisco University High School".
4. Matthias Gafni. (2021-04-09). "EXCLUSIVE: She exposed decades of alleged sexual abuse at elite Bay Area high schools. Now, she's speaking out".
5. Barmann, Jay. (29 August 2019). "Law Firm Investigates Possible Sexual Misconduct At SF's University High School Going Back Decades".
6. (11 July 2007). "Three Things to Unlearn from School".
7. Vincentelli, Elisabeth. (23 November 2016). "From 'Pitch Perfect' to Broadway, He's Vocal About A Cappella". [[The New York Times]].
8. "Alumni Changemakers - San Francisco University High School".