History
Some milestones in the history of Washington Steam Multilingual Academy (and PUSD)
1924: George Washington Junior high school opened with 500 students and 25 faculty members.
1926: Jack Parsons, one of the principal founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, attended Washington Junior High School
1935: Jackie Robinson attended Washington Junior High School
1962: Octavia E. Butler graduation from Washington Junior High School
1970: Pasadena public schools were desegregated by federal court order
1975: Washington Junior High had been closed due to falling enrollment in the district after desegregation with an alternative school and a chiropractic school using the campus during the closure
1985: School reopens as Washington Middle School on the elementary campus
1986: Washington Middle School reopens on the upper campus on 1505 N. Marengo Ave.
2003: Pasadena Education Network formed with a focus on providing information about the Pasadena public schools and connecting families interested in learning more about their options
2012: Washington Middle School was changed to Washington STEAM Magnet Academy
2013: Pasadena Unified was awarded $3.1 Million Magnet Program Grant by U.S. Department of Education to fund magnet programs at 4 schools, including Washington STEAM Magnet Academy (WSMA).
2018: The U.S. Department of Education awarded an additional magnet grant to implement a Dual-Language Immersion Program (DLIP) at WSMA, renamed as Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy.
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an African-American science fiction author. She was a multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards and, in 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Butler was born in Pasadena, California. She attended Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy for junior high school. Her work exemplifies an integration of science and the arts that we strive to provide for our students. In the spring of 2020, the school's library officially became the Octavia E. Butler Library, a dedication that highlights the accomplishments of our illustrious alumna and the importance of reading and writing in the lives of our students
2022: Our school is officially renamed after alumna Octavia E.Butler.
Quotes
"Through hardship to the stars" -- motto of Jack Parsons and his friend from Washington Junior High School, Ed Forman
"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." -- Jackie Robinson
"I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being." -- Jackie Robinson
"My love of writing is an outgrowth of my love of reading. Both helped me to escape boredom, to perform thought experiments, and to deal with the daily news. I can create a world that makes more sense than this one." -- Octavia E. Butler
"Why aren’t there more SF Black writers? There aren’t because there aren’t. What we don’t see, we assume can’t be. What a destructive assumption." -- Octavia E. Butler
"I didn’t make up the problems. All I did was look around at the problems we’re neglecting now and give them about 30 years to grow into full-fledged disasters." -- Octavia E. Butler
"I mean there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers–at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be." -- Octavia E. Butler