Students, parents, staff and community work as a team to provide a safe, equitable, and creative learning environment devoted to excellence, in which students become accountable, self-directed, lifelong learners prepared to be productive members of society.

Thorp School District prides itself in having a highly qualified teaching staff, low turnover, and small class sizes that produce well-rounded students with high test scores. We have Nationally Board Certified and CWU Fellows teachers on staff. Thorp students enjoy excellent academic rigor while at the same time exploring pathways during project-based learning that will lead to life-long success.​

We have just updated our Strategic Plan for 2019-21. Our school motto, “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow”, guided our strategic planning. Key elements of the plan include professional development for staff to keep up to date on high standards for students, updating our technology in the areas of safety and classroom technology, increasing parent and community involvement, continuing to protect the fiscal health of the district.​

Students this year traveled to the Woodland Park Zoo, salmon hatchery on the Yakima River, Ashland Shakespeare Festival, Silverwood Egg Drop, Suncadia, Lazy F Ranch camp, swim lessons in Ellensburg, Mount Rainier, area tech schools and colleges, and a host of other enriching experiences. If your child is looking for academic rigor, one on one attention, and project-based learning, then Thorp is your new home.​

Thorp has P-12 grades and will start a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway this year for 7th-12th grade students. Courses include Construction Technology, Ag Mechanics, Ag Power and Technology, Accounting, Web Design, Career Choices, and Digital Communications.​

This year Thorp will begin the plans to implement a “Farm to School” initiative with a working farm on the school grounds. Groundbreaking will be in the spring of 2020.

Thorp taxpayers passed a Capital Projects Levy that will help fund the “Farm to School” infrastructure by remodeling the shop and computer lab, building a greenhouse, and remodeling the kitchen in the brick building. Thorp will also have an FFA and FBLA Chapter next year for 7th-12th grade students to extend their learning.

These are exciting times for Thorp students as they will be able to extend their learning beyond the classroom and learn woodworking, electronics (robotics), welding, accounting, and other skills that will be useful in life.

We invite you to drop by and see what Thorp has to offer!

To become a recognized educational leader preparing all students to achieve their greatest potential.

Students, parents, staff and community work as a team to provide a safe, equitable, and creative learning environment devoted to excellence, in which students become accountable, self-directed, life-long learners prepared to be productive members of society.

1. Our first responsibility is to provide all students with a superior education that challenges, nurtures, and cultivates the unique potential of every child.

2. A highly skilled and caring staff is the foundation of our successful school.

3. Our facilities and technology must reflect the high value we place on education.

4. Students, staff, parents, and community members are partners, all having personal responsibilities in the educational process.

5. Honesty, integrity, respect, and open communication build trust.

6. Quality education requires sound fiscal management and is worth the investment.

Established in 1895, Thorp’s first school was housed in a small structure that was razed in 1912 and replaced by a two-story school house erected by John Newman and Glen Mason. During the early years there were eight grades and three years of high school, but only two years were accredited. The first day of school in this building was September 12, 1912, with 15 pupils. The first principal was Amos Foster. It housed all district pupils until a new elementary school was erected, after which it served as the town’s high school.

In 1936, the new elementary school was built for $41,000 during the depths of the Great Depression using WPA funds. The finely crafted brick Colonial Revival structure was designed by noted architect John W. Maloney, and has served the school district continuously since its construction. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 as a significant example of American rural education. The building currently provides additional classroom space for educational activities.

The old high school was demolished in 1958, and replaced with a modern structure in the same location.

Voters in the district approved a multi-million dollar bond measure for school construction in February, 1989, by a margin of nearly 80%. The bonds were used to renovate and expand the 1958 school building with the addition of three new classroom wings, a gymnasium, a large commons area and administrative offices. Inaugurated in 1990, the building now houses Thorp High School and Thorp Junior High in one wing, with elementary pupils occupying an adjacent classroom wing.

Thorp High School’s mascot was originally the Red Devil, a now controversial slang term relating to Native Americans, however a vote of the student body in 1921 changed the mascot to the Tiger, while the school colors remained red and black. Thorp High School competes as a 1B member of the North Central Washington “B” League.

The high school yearbook, the Hialitza, was first produced in 1922, and, although it has experienced some recent interruptions, has been published annually by the town’s high school students to chronicle the events of each school term. The name of the publication is attributed to the Chinook language:

When an Indian traveling through a mountainous country reaches the top of a mountain he unconsciously stretches forth his hand and says Hialitza which when translated means a panoramic view or great sight. The name stands for the great outdoors and that which lies beyond in the distance. So this record is symbolic of the Seniors who now look back over their four years in High School as in a panoramic view and into the future years they see only a haze in the distance. Thus upon reading this publication one looks upon a panoramic view of the Students and Student Activities of Thorp High School.