Mid-Pen was founded in 1979 by Phil Bliss and Herman Ohme after Cubberley High School in Palo Alto was closed due to budget cuts.

[1] The two-story structure features a large patio, grassy playing field, a gym, art studio, science labs and wireless technology.

Mid-Peninsula employs a no-cut policy for all team sports (however, individual playing time is determined by attendance, performance and attitude).

One of the highlights of the school's baseball roster included Jimmy Barefield, a 6-foot-5 pitcher and infielder from Redwood City who “was on the fast to becoming a poster boy for troubled youth,” when he arrived at Mid-Pen and became a standout player in 1999.

[7] In 2011, a San Francisco Chronicle article reported that the school's once marginal athletic department had matured and was a contender for its first Central Coast championship.

The reason was in part due to basketball standout Lydell Cardwell, a 6-foot-2 senior wing who was averaging more than 25 points a game.