Names Of Pasco's New High Schools Selected

The names for Pasco's two new high schools are now in the books.

The school board last night (10/24) voted to name the district's third comprehensive high school "Harvest View High School". The new Career and College Academy will be named "Orion High School".

The names were chosen after a lengthy process over two months through on online platform.

"We looked for our community to be able to contribute some name suggestions for comprehensive high school #3. I believe we had 165 names that were suggested. For the Career and College Academy, that number was closer to 50." says Seth Johnson, Planning Principal for Orion High School.

A naming committee narrowed the names down to five. The list went to the school board for final approval.

"Our committee took a look at those names through a variety of different lenses, they took into consideration all existing local high schools," Johnson said. "We had some geographic names; we had some thematic names. The committee made the decision that they wanted to stick with the trend already established by using more geographic type names."

Harvest View was selected as the preferred name for the comprehensive high school based on public comments about its uniqueness and tribute to the agriculture industry.

The name "Orion" has a back story. The P-3 Orion aircraft holds historical significance with the city of Pasco.

"The P-3 Orion was an airplane that was frequently flown in and out of the Pasco naval Air Station that was here in Pasco." Johnson added. "But you also have the constellation. Pasco School District has this really nice logo of a student reaching up towards the three stars."

Early this year, Pasco residents voted for a $195.5 million bond measure to build the newly named Harvest High School and newly named Orion High School.