100 Years on the Hill: Octavia E. Butler Magnet Celebrates Its History, Honored Alumni

Octavia E. Butler Magnet, formerly Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy, is a middle school serving students in grades 6-8.

Fondly known by many Pasadena residents as the “school on the hill,” the oft-renamed Octavia E. Butler Magnet, a Pasadena Unified School District middle school, formally celebrated its 100th anniversary on Wednesday with a reunion, tree planting and party at the North Marengo Avenue campus.

The school first opened its campus as Washington Junior High School on February 21, 1924.

“This campus has a history of breaking barriers. It has produced illustrious leaders in science, writing, and athletics,” said Pasadena Unified School District Interim Superintendent Elizabeth J. Blanco, Ed.D.

“Founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jack Parsons and Edward Forman) met here,” said Blanco. “Jackie Robinson, the baseball legend who broke color barriers, went to school here and Octavia E. Butler, the science fiction writer for whom the school is now named, also attended school here.”

On hand for speeches, presentations, and a tree-planting were dozens of alums, along with City Councilmember Tyron Hampton, who attended the school before graduating to John Muir High School.

Now a Dual-Language STEAM Middle School, the campus was formally renamed Octavia E. Butler Magnet in September 2022.

It was renamed after the renowned science fiction author who, ironically, was not a strong student at Washington Junior High School, but was inspired to create some of her earliest novels there.

Butler, raised by her widowed mother, graduated from John Muir High School in 1965, and despite the dual obstacles of poverty and a learning disability went on to become a renowned and highly lauded science fiction author, as well as a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards, two of science fiction writing’s most notable accolades.

Butler also became the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship in 1995. She died in 2006.

On hand for the ceremony were Congresswoman Judy Chu, Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education President Kim Kenne and School Board members Michelle Richardson Bailey, Jennifer Hall Lee, Patrice Marshall McKenzie, and Tina Fredericks.

Following the tree planting, guests were serenaded by the school band as they gathered once again in the newly renovated school library to pore over the collection of photographs, yearbooks, and memorabilia compiled by Head Librarian Natalie Daily.

The anniversary party also featured school tours, music from the school band, and a glee club performance of scenes from the school’s upcoming spring performance of The Little Mermaid.