People-watching at Summit High School is a different beast. In a blur of a passing period, students rush to their next class sporting vintage purses, clothing from designer brands and jewelry that I could sell my kidney for. In the parking lot, Porsches, BMWs and Audis are not a rare occurrence, furthering the reputation Summit has carried for years.
Since the day it opened in September, 2001, Summit has been deemed the rich kid school, a reputation closely connected to its location on the Bend’s West side. As development grew towards the west and wealth expanded into untouched areas, the school mirrored that growth. The visibility of expensive houses, high-end dining and constant expansion all shape how other people and even students themselves view the school as a whole.
The first few years of Summit’s existence, it was building its athletics up from scratch, losing virtually everything when it came to sports. However, once the school found its footing, Summit became a championship-winning team with over 100 state titles. The hard work and determination that students put into these sports showed up to others as a personal funding by students’ parents, which hence birthed the “daddy’s money” cheer we hear today.
Students at other high schools have built outside opinions on Summit’s reputation. These reputations took hold through rumors, selective stories and limited interactions, which messed with the reality of what Summit is actually like.
“I think sporting events play a big role in my opinion [of Summit] because of their funding for sports and how nice of facilities they are,” said Redmond High junior Brady Hadfield.
Summit undeniably has well-maintained and high quality athletics facilities supported by student fundraising. However, these facilities should not overshadow the effort Summit’s student athletes put into their training and practices.
“I know that we work very hard at our fundraising,” said head track coach and teacher Dave Turnbull, who has worked at Summit since its founding. “[But] money doesn’t win championships. Hard work does.”
Outsiders are not seeing the full picture of Summit’s student body. Just like every public school, Summit has layers when it comes to financial backgrounds. There are students who live in the Highlands and Tetherow, but there are some who commute daily from the East side to attend the school. Summit doesn’t have just one socioeconomic background, but many different financial situations.
“The location of any school has different average annual incomes. It’s just that Summit’s seems to have a lot of opinions from other schools,” said sophomore Olivia Swanson, who lives on the East side of Bend.
Along with being known for its money, Summit has a reputation of being a “druggie” school, with many middle school families hesitant to send their kids to the school for this reason.
Since 2023, our Student Resource Officer (SRO), Dan Koehnke, has handled eight Minor in Possessions (MIP) at Summit, about two per year. In comparison, there have been eight MIP’s at Caldera in this school year alone. Summit’s reputation is not based on real statistics.
After working at multiple different high schools, Koehnke has picked up on the attitudes of Summit students.
“The kids and how they act and the respect they have for the adults in the building is amazing,” said Koehnke. “I think that it’s kids trying their best, and there’s genuinely some wonderful kids here.”
Whether exaggerated or true, Summit’s reputation continues and the question still stands: Is this “rich kid” stigma a reflection of reality or a misconstrued label that’s stuck overtime?
