Mission Viejo High School
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| Established | 1966 |
|---|---|
| School type | Public |
| District | Saddleback Valley Unified School District |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Principal | Marilyn McDowell |
| Faculty | 99 |
| Students | 2,724 |
| Colors | Red and gold |
| Mascot | Diablos |
| Location | 25025 Chrisanta Drive Mission Viejo, CA |
| Information | (949) 837-7722 |
| Website | www.svusd.k12.ca.us/Schools/MVHS/ |
Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. Almost 3,000 students attended during the 2005-06 school year. The school has served the area since 1966. Its mascot is Pablo the Diablo and its colors are red and gold. 230 credits are required to graduate Mission Viejo High School.
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[edit] Awards and recognition
Mission Viejo High School has been awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education on three separate occasions, in 1988-89, 1994-96[1] and 2001-02[2][3], the highest award an American school can receive.[4][5]
Mission Viejo High School has been recognized three times as a California Distinguished School, in 1988, 1994 and 2001.[6][7]
[edit] Academics
[edit] International Baccalaureate
Mission Viejo has been a International Baccalaureate school since July 1985. This program, taught to 132 students, is for academically talented and highly motivated students sponsored and administered by the I.B. Organization. Those students who meet the I.B. requirements would be eligible for the International Baccalaureate Diploma. This school received 57 diplomas in the 2005-2006 school year.[8]
[edit] Advanced Placement and Honors courses
The school offers Advanced Placement and Honor Courses at all grade levels. Advanced Placement Program (AP) classes are offered in AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language and Composition, AP French Language, AP European History, AP German Language, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics B, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP United States Government and Politics and AP United States History.
These classes are designed for a student who is doing well on his/her subject, and wants a little more challenge on that subject. These courses require certain specifications and requirements in order to get into a desired AP class. All AP classes require more work than regular classes, along with more frequent tests, more units to cover, and more assignments to be completed. They are all college-prep classes along with many other classes, and some of them can even help students earn college credits if they qualified for them.
Honors courses are very similar to Advanced Placement classes as it has the same type of qualifications.
[edit] Model United Nations
Mission Viejo High School has a well-established Model United Nations program. MVHS MUN annually hosts one of the most popular high school conferences, and is considered a top competitive team at conferences all across Southern California.
[edit] Accreditation
Mission Viejo High School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges[9] The school received its most recent 6-year renewal of its full accreditation in the 2004-05 school year.[10]
[edit] Sports
[edit] Football
The school has fielded one of the best football records in the country, and at one time in 2005 being ranked as high as number 2 in the nation by USA Today. The school finished the 2004 season ranked third in the nation by USA Today, one of only ten schools that appeared on the paper's Top 25 the entire season.[11] In the fall of 2005, however, they finished with a 12-1 record and were ranked 20th in the country by USA Today, due to their loss against Hart High School.[12]
Recently, the Football program has come under fire by a number of students that accuse it of taking too much of the school's time and money. Due to its past success, the school has contributed ever-larger amounts of resources to the program. However, due to a number of recent losses, the school is starting to move away from football, which is largely seen as a declining power on the stage of school affairs. In effect, a return to normalcy is being established.
[edit] Cricket
Establishing one of the first cricket organizations in Orange County, Mission Viejo High School is pioneer in developing the sport of cricket in the county. The school cricket team challenges other high school teams in Orange County, and its members are diligently working to expand the sport to other high schools in the county. Currently, cricket is played at Mission Viejo High School through Mission Viejo High School Cricket Club.
[edit] Bands
[edit] Wind ensemble
The wind ensemble is the most advanced class in all of Mission Viejo High School's band and orchestra classes. These students learn sophisticated understanding of music such as rhythms, key signautres, accents, and terminology. These students represented their high school and nicely reflected their entire band program by having such prestigious performances to various audiences. The students in wind ensemble may also enroll in marching band for P.E. credits that are needed to graduate.
[edit] Concert band
The concert band, also known as the symphonic band, is another type of band class for the students who have intermediate experience with their instrument. They learn the basic skills of music during the begining of the school years. These skills include, but are not limited to, flexibility, endurance, and tone qualities. As time passes by, music difficulty becomes increasingly more difficult, thus motivating students to acquire more skills of music. Those highly competent enough can make it into wind ensemble. They perform various pieces of music from many types of backgrounds. Along with wind ensemble, the concert band may also enroll in marching band for P.E. credits needed to graduate.
[edit] Marching band
The school's marching band is a military-like band that usually rehearses outdoors, performs in parades, festivals, and of course, creates their own marching show. Marching band takes place in the first semester of the school year. The band ranges from freshmen to senior students. They have professional instructors in their marching band as well as their entire music program.
Program Coordinator & Music Arranger: Jim Wunderlich
Visual Caption Head: Don Lawrence
Marching Instructors: Ryan Bergquist, Ted Kuehnert, Rich Buckner
Brass Instructors: Chris Rountree, Travis Larson
Percussion Directors: Mike Jackson, Jim Wunderlich
Percussion Staff: Jenny Jackson, Jared Andrews, Lauryn Bremner, Bryan Nungaray, Eileen Chen
Their marching band is over 150 members, and is concluded one of the largest marching bands in the state of California.
In 1998 and 2003, the marching band were the WBA State Champions.
Additionally, the drumline is very successful, winning High Percussion at WBA State Championships in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003[13], 2004 and 2006. Both the drumline and color guard compete in WGI.
In 2006, the marching band won 2nd place in the WBA State Finals in their 5A Class.
[edit] Jazz ensemble
Along with the marching band, the Mission Viejo High School jazz ensemble is one of the most entertaining bands of all in Mission Viejo High school. Jazz ensemble takes place in the second semester of the school year. Many students eager to join this type of band had to audition music of the highest caliber on their instrument. The band plays a variety of music including swing, latin, modern and many "big band" standards. Most of this kind of music helps students approach college level music in its complexity.
Those who cannot take Jazz Ensemble, but still wish to try out some jazz music, can take Jazz combo, or also called Ensembles-independent study. This is another type of jazz band, but requires a little more paperwork than just music.
[edit] Miscellaneous
[edit] Parking permits
The new parking permit rules came in effect during late August 2006. Permits will be required to park there from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from September through June on school days. It will help ease up the parking crunch in the neighborhood during school hours.
[edit] Other schools
The four sister high schools of Mission Viejo High School in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District are:
[edit] Notable alumni
- Mark Sanchez, college football quarterback attending the University of Southern California.[14]
- Ryan Powdrell, American football fullback graduate of the University of Southern California awaiting the 2007 NFL Draft.[15]
- Tran Quoc Binh, the first U.S. Army Vietnamese-American killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Iraq.[16]
