Bell Gardens High School

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Bell Gardens High School

Principal	Victor V. Chavez
Established	1930's
School type	Public
Location	Bell Gardens, California United States
Enrollment	3626
School colors	Cardinal, Maroon, and Gray
Website	School Website

Bell Gardens High School is a High School in Bell Gardens, California. BGHS, located at 6119 Agra Street, Bell Gardens, CA 90201, is part of the Montebello Unified School District. BGHS' mascot is the Lancer. The school colors are cardinal, grey, and maroon. The school was built around the 1930s and 1940s and was primarily white. It serves students from Bell Gardens, Commerce, and parts of Downey. BGHS ranked in at 945 out of the top 1000 High School in America according to Newsweek magazine in 2006. [1]

1 Clubs
2 Athletics
3 Curriculum
4 Demographics
5 Southeast Student Film Festival
6 Student Publications
7 Riots
8 Remodeling
9 Alumni
10 External links

[edit] Clubs

Clubs at BGHS include Lancer Scroll, Charger Yearbook, ASB, Girls' League, CSF, Photo Club, Environmentalist club, HOSA, ELD Club, and many others.

[edit] Athletics

Athletics in BGHS consists of boys' and girls' soccer, cross country, boys' and girls' volleyball, boys' and girls' tennis, boys' and girls' water polo, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, baseball, track, softball, golf, swimming, and football.

[edit] Curriculum

BGHS currently offers an array of courses from general ed courses like English, Math, Science to electives like Art, Web Design, Automobile Technology, Wood Shop, Journalism and Yearbook. BGHS also offers Advance Placement courses for students hoping to earn early university credits. These courses are:

Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
English Language
English Literature
Environmental Science
French Language
Government
Psychology
Spanish Language
Spanish Literature
U.S. History
World History

[edit] Demographics

The school had 3626 students as of the 2004-2005 school year [2].

98% Latino
1% White American
Less than 1% African-American
Less than 1% Filipino American
Less than 1% Asian American
Less than 1% Native American

65% of Bell Gardens students were eligible for free or reduced lunch.

[edit] Southeast Student Film Festival

In 2005, BGHS placed 3rd Overall in the Southeast Student Film Festival in South Gates hosted by Congressman Hector De La Torre.

[edit] Student Publications

The Lancer Scroll and the Charger Yearbook are BGHS's only recurring student run publications. Both publications have been active since the school's conception in the 1940s.

The Lancer Scroll is the school's student run newspaper. It published roughly every month and is the school only vehicle for news and information. The newspaper's advisor is Cal State Northridge graduate Jose Avila. Avila replaced the prior advisor, Smith College Alumna, Rebecca Tomasini.

The paper annually participates a county wide newspaper competition; The ELAJEA Write Offs. During the competition writers in News, Editorial, Sports, Feature, and Cartooning go through a 1 hour press conference with a question and answer period and they are given 1 hour to write an article on the topic. Participants in News Layout are given 2 hours to design a newspaper front page. Photographers are given 2 hours to take pictures and then 45 minutes to choose which ones they want to submit. Placing 10th through 1st in this leads to eligibility in the ELAJEA State Wide competition, which is structured in virtually the same manner.

During the 2005 Competition season, Lancer Scroll celebrated its highest number of reporters who placed in both the ELAJEA County competition and State competition. A number totalling somewhere in between 13-15 winners broke the previous record and still stands today.

The Charger Yearbook is the annual yearbook at BGHS. For the past 22 years the program has been headed by Whittier College graduate Stan Smith, with the exception of the 2004-2005 school year when it was advised by Benjamin McNair. The Charger Yearbook has been recognized by the ASPA as one of the top ten yearbooks in the nation (95-99). It continues to score amongst the first place standings for student produced publications throughout the United States. Countless hours are dedicated by the yearbook staff to ensure accuracy, and layout design. The yearbook stands at 264 pages, with limited color. Yearbook sales range in the 750-800 yearbooks a year. Regionally and nationally the Charger Yearbook staff is a great student publication.

The Phoenix Press Is an independent underground publication that rose up after numerous students and alumni decided to head their own form of student run newspaper in Bell Gardens. The Phoenix Press claims no affiliation at all with BGHS, instead aligning itself with the City of Bell Gardens and its neighboring areas as a whole. The paper publishes bi-weekly and primarily focuses on bringing local and national issues to light through editorials and reviews.

[edit] Riots

In 2001, students at BGHS organized a walk out in reaction to rumors about the placement of Security Cameras in the school's restrooms. The actual sit in lasted for 50 minutes before it became unruly as students began rioting and vandalizing throughout the school. The situation reached the point as students began taking over school owned vehicles and other equipment. After an hour of rioting, administration decided to let students out early in order to avoid further damage.

In the end, the rumor about the cameras turned out to be incorrect. Rumors also spread about authorities pepper spraying, harassing and acting violently against students. These rumors are also incorrect.

[edit] Remodeling

After years and years, of building along with broken promises, BGHS's new three story building was finally opened on December 18th 2005. The building was originally supposed to open in 2001. The buildings progress,however, lagged due to legal action taken by the school and counter legal action taken by the Construction Agency. Asdide from this, the construction company mis-calculated the dimensions and measurements of the buildings foundation. On top of that, class rooms that were supposed to hold 40 students, were wrongly built to hold only 20. The school would eventually get over the legal problems and have the building finished.

In 2005, the school underwent another renovation when the school's field, otherwise known as "Lancer Stadium" got upgraded from a dirt field with grass spots to a synthetic turf field with a rubber track around it that replaced the previous dirt/clay track. The process started during the latter half of the 2004-2005 school year and was completed the following winter.