The school was founded as Eugene High School around 1900, and was located at Willamette Street and West 11th Avenue in a brick building that later served as Eugene's city hall. The Eugene school district in 1915 built a new high school on a one-block site on West 17th Avenue between Lincoln and Charnelton Streets.[5]
By 1943, the Eugene School District had outgrown the cramped old high school, and voters approved a bond measure to build a new facility. World War II and other factors delayed construction for a decade, but the current building at 400 E. 19th Avenue was completed and occupied in September 1953. The old high school then served as Woodrow Wilson Junior High School until 1967 (the previous Wilson building was converted to Lincoln Elementary School in 1953).
In the fall of 1957, Eugene High was renamed South Eugene High School, when North Eugene High School opened in the River Road area north of the city.[6]
In April 2018, after more than 90 years as the Axemen, the name of the school mascot was officially changed to The Axe.[7]
In 1983, South Eugene High School was honored in the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States.[8]
In 2008, 89% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 410 students, 363 graduated, 40 dropped out, and seven were still in high school the following year.[9][10]
In 2010, a student at the school was honored as a Presidential Scholar, one of three from Oregon.[15] A student at the school won the Intel Science Talent Search in 2009 after another South Eugene student placed third in 2007; other students have been named finalists or semifinalists in recent years.[16][17]
South Eugene High School hosts a branch of the Eugene International High School, which offers International Baccalaureate courses as well as the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The main campus of South Eugene High School offers numerous Advanced Placement courses as well as honors courses.
The school has many athletic teams (men's and women's ultimate frisbee, volleyball, football, lacrosse, cheerleading, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, men's and women's golf, men's and women's tennis, men’s and women’s swimming, softball, baseball, cross country and track and field) and other student activities, such as band, choir, theater, orchestra and visual arts, as well as various student clubs.[19]
South Eugene High School also offers a wide variety of clubs and programs. These include Speech and Debate, Alpine and Nordic Ski teams, National Honor Society, Rowing Club, Red Cross Club, Rotary Interact, Black Student Union, Feminist Union, Figure of Speech, Jewish Student Union, Habitat for Humanity, Key Club, Latino Student Union, Model United Nations, Mock Trial, Gender & Sexuality Alliance, South Eugene Robotics Team (First Robotics Competition Team 2521), and the Yiddish Club.[20]
On May 3 of 2023, the first of a series of bomb threats were made against the school. This happened again on May 10, May 16, and May 24. Following an investigation that involved both the Eugene PD and the FBI, it was determined that two students had been paying someone to call in the threats.[26] No further information has been released and no threats have since been made.
