El Diamante High School

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**El Diamante High School**
Go Miners!

Established	2002
School type	Public
District	Visalia Unified School District
Grades	9-12
Principal	Drew Sorensen
Students	Approximately 1,700
Athletics	basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, track, water polo, wrestling
Colors	hunter green, blue and white
Mascot	Miner Ed
Location	5100 West Whitendale Avenue Visalia, CA 93277
Information	Phone: (559) 730-3501 Fax: 735-3579
Website	El Diamante web site

El Diamante High School is a high school in Visalia, California. It was established in 2002 as Visalia's fourth comprehensive high school. It has only had one graduating class thus far and has already statistically been the most proficient school in the Visalia Unified School District in several district-wide exams.

1 History
2 Campus
3 Curriculum
4 Students
5 See Also
6 External Links
7 References

[edit] History

While only having been built in 2002, El Diamante has already started several traditions, such as Senior Sunrise, an annual morning party during which any senior may attend. It has also adopted traditions from other schools, such as the simultaneously frowned-upon and rejoiced Senior Ditch Day. The graduating of 2006, which was El Diamante's first, combined efforts to construct an area on campus dedicated to seniors, known as the senior court.

[edit] Campus

Since El Diamante is a new school, its architectural design is modern, innovative and unique. For example, the library's roof has an unusual angle and the upper portion of the north, east, and south sides are tiled glass. The same unique structure can be found in other buildings, like the cafeteria and the gym.

[edit] Curriculum

El Diamante is different in the fact that it has innovative classes that offer experiences that can let them explore and expand their knowledge. These classes are rare or non-existent in the rest of the Central Valley. Several of these classes are listed below.

[edit] Graphic Arts

This class is headed by art teacher Mr. Watamura and computer teacher Mr. Harrell. Graphic Arts is a culmination of art and computer graphics (as the name implies). The two teachers' classes have been merged into one, creating a class that helps teach students mainly about Adobe Photoshop and its workings. In the class, the students complete assignments that provide gateways to what professional graphic artists are able to create. These assignments are, but not limited to: jewel case designs, postcards, business cards, digitally recreating a photograph, creating posters and more. It is currently running its second year and has so far been a successful class that has helped expand the learning area.

[edit] Business Enterprise

Business Enterprise is a collaboration of three teachers, Mr. Harrell, Mrs. McKee and Mr. Sill. It began in Fall 2006 and is the only school county-wide to offer it. Most schools have a virtual business in which each participating student manages their own virtual company, selling a set quota of products per day and having a preset quota of expenditures per day. El Diamante's Business Enterprise class, headed by Mrs. McKee, is a real business, specializing in t-shirt sales, sports programs and the school's new online web store. Still in early development, it has only conducted business locally, but is in the process of branching out further.

[edit] Video Department

The video department, headed by Mr. Sill, contains three classes, Introduction to Video, Advanced Media Broadcasting and Digital Film Production. What makes El Diamante's video department unique is the fact that students have access to equipment which is more advanced than most other schools in the Central Valley.