Adrian C. Wilcox High School

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Adrian C. Wilcox School

Enter to learn go forth to serve
Established	1961
School type	Public
Grades	9-12
Principal	Tab Taber
Location	Santa Clara, California, United States America
Students	2500
Faculty	210
Athletics	250
Colors	Black and Gold
Mascot	Charlie the Charger
Website	www.wilcoxhs.com

Adrian C. Wilcox High School is a public school located in Santa Clara, California. It is one of four high schools serving those living within the boundaries of the Santa Clara Unified School District. The school is named after Adrian C. Wilcox, who served on the Santa Clara Union High School Board of Trustees for over 30 years. Wilcox was first accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in 1966 and is accredited through 2009. In April 2005, Wilcox officially became a California Distinguished School.

1 History
2 Student life
3 Academics
4 Athletics
5 Notable alumni

[edit] History

Construction of the school began in the late 1950s, with the school opening its doors in the fall of 1961 to what would become its first graduating class, the class of 1964.

The school saw a total of six students (either students at the time or alumni) killed in action during the Vietnam War.

In 2001, head custodian Joe Miller (who, ironically, is not a Wilcox graduate) undertook an ambitious project to honor the school's past. The idea came about when Miller located several panoramic class pictures while clearing out a dusty cabinet. As a result of this discovery, he decided to make a wall consisting of the pictures of every graduating class in school history. After successfully tracking down the nine pictures not in the cabinet (by way of e-mails and telephone calls to past students), the Alumni Wall was completed and dedicated on 7 November 2003. Now, the panoramic photo of each subsequent graduating class is added to the wall, which is housed on walls on the inside of the school's main building, just outside the main offices.

In February 2005, the Mission City Center for the Performing Arts, a building constructed adjacent to the school and across from Calabazas Creek, opened.

[edit] Student life

The school year typically begins in late August or early September, consists of 180 school days, and usually ends on the third Friday of June.

The school newspaper is known as The Scribe and usually publishes eight issues per year.

The school yearbook is known as The Phoenix.

Extra-curricular groups include a marching band (known as the Black and Gold Regime), orchestra, drill team (Chargerettes), a step squad (Untouchables), cheerleaders (Spirit Squad), a theater troupe (Wilcox Stage Company), Color guard, a dance team, a debate team and a choir.

The newest addition is a group of A Cappella singers, naturally known as A Cappella (though they are also referred to as the Dairy Queens, or DQ's for short).

Each class is also designated a class color. The current colors are:

Class of	Year	Class Color
2007	Seniors	Blue
2008	Juniors	Green
2009	Sophomores	Yellow
2010	Freshmen	Red

A way for the students to display class spirit and unity, the colors are mainly used for the annual battle of the classes, known as Fantastics. Held in March, all classes compete against each other in various physical contests (such as a tug of war). The competitors wear shirts with the color of their class.

The colors are on a four-year rotation, with the color of the graduating seniors being handed off to the upcoming year's freshmen. The class of 2006 was red, and the class of 2010 will be red.

[edit] Academics

The school requires a student to obtain a minimum of 230 credits in a wide range of subjects before being allowed to graduate. Each semester of a class is worth 5 credits, with two semesters per school year. Credits are earned by achieving an A, B, C or D letter grade, with F's receiving no credits. The exceptions are teacher's assistant (TA) periods, in which the student enrolled as the TA earns only 2.5 credits per semester. In this case, credits are earned on a simple pass/fail system. The graduation requirements are:

Subject	Credits Required to Graduate	Additional notes
English	40
Mathematics	20	Algebra I required
Social Sciences	30	Civics, Economics required
Science	20
Foreign Language	10
Fine/Practical Arts	15
Physical Education	25	Includes requirement to take quarter of Health
Electives	70	Classes that don't fit above categories or exceed requirements count as electives (i.e., a second year of a foreign language)
Community Service	20 hours	Requires written essay(s) describing what was done

In 2005 Wilcox shifted from an unweighted to a weighted GPA system, offering extra points for students that take Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

Currently, Wilcox offers the following AP courses: Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, European History, French Language, Macroeconomics, Spanish Language, Statistics, Studio Art, United States Government and Politics, and United States History. Additionally, Wilcox recently added Japanese Language and Culture and Physics B to the course roster for the 2006-2007 school year.

While, on average, standardized test scores have always been considerably in the midrange, Wilcox has made significant strides in terms of their Academic Performance Index scores.

[edit] Athletics

Wilcox competes in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL), a league which is split into two divisions: De Anza and El Camino. Division assignments are based on the previous year's records, and it depends on the sport as to which division is considered the upper division and which is considered the lower division. The SCVAL is part of the Central Coast Section (CCS), the governing body for high school sports in the area.

Sports offered at Wilcox include:

Fall: Football, cross-country, water polo, tennis (girls), volleyball (girls)
Winter: Basketball, soccer, wrestling
Spring: Track and field, baseball, softball, swimming, diving, golf, badminton, tennis (boys), volleyball (boys)

Wilcox is probably best known for their baseball team, which claimed three CCS titles in a five-year span at the beginning of the 21st century. The team's first championship came in 2000, as they claimed the CCS Division II title with a win over Soquel High School. Division I titles followed in 2002 and 2004, with triumphs over Serra High School and Palo Alto High School (a fellow member of the SCVAL), respectively. The team was the Division I runner-up in 1998 and 2003, losing in the title game to Serra High and Archbishop Mitty High School, respectively.

In 2002, they finished #5 in the state (USA Today), placing 16th in USA Today's and 12th in Baseball America's end-of-season national high school rankings. In 2004, they finished with a #2 state ranking from Cal Hi-Sports and USA Today (behind undefeated Chatsworth High School), finishing 14th in the USA Today national poll.

The team also won 10 consecutive league titles from 1995 to 2004 as part of the De Anza Division of the SCVAL. The streak was broken in 2005 when the Chargers finished just behind rival Los Gatos High School.

The Chargers received unwanted notoriety in the fall of 2003, when it was revealed that a reserve on the football team had forged signatures on a document so he could retain his academic eligibility (at least a 2.0 GPA). At the time, the football team boasted a 6-1-1 record. Because the reserve had participated in six of those eight games, the team forfeited those games (five victories and one tie), and their record plummeted to 1-7. Administrators and football coach Woody Freitas were praised for immediately reporting the incident to CCS officials, knowing full well the consequences of that action.