Berkley High School

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Berkley High School is a public high school in Berkley, Michigan with a 2005-2006 enrollment of 1,348 students. Berkley High's colors are maroon and blue and the school nickname is the Bears. Berkley is well known for its college prep courses, high standardized test scores, and teachers and administrators. Their athletic teams compete in the Oakland Activities Association (OAA). Their newspaper is The Spectator, which is a member of the High School National Ad Network. The principal is Derrick Lopez.

Berkley High School has been accredited by the Michigan North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement since the 1928-29 school year.^[1]

[edit] Sports

Berkley's athletic teams currently compete in the Oakland Activities Association (OAA) with the exception of the Rugby teams (club) and the Junior Varsity hockey team (Southeast Michigan Prep Hockey League). Paul Yowchuang became the Athletic Director in 2006. Yowchuang proceeds Bob Gershman, who lives in Oak Park and served as athletic director for a number of years. Yowchuang is the former varsity Cross Country coach and currently is still a coach of the varsity Track and Field team as well as a teacher at the high school.

Although the school nickname is "Bears," the boys' and girls' Swimming and Diving teams are known as the "Bearracudas" or "Cudas."^[2] The Bearracuda boys are coached by Berkley alumni Jeremy Landa and Todd Seidl and the divers are coached by long-time faculty member Ron Kinas. The girl Bearracudas' head coach is Berkley alumnus Ashley Seidl (nee Braun) with assistants Todd Seidl and Diane Meitzner. Their basketball court is known as the "Bear's Den", and the student section at basketball games is known as the "Catalpa Crazies". This is because the main entrance to the court and school is on Catalpa Drive, which runs through the middle of the city.

The Berkley football team, soccer teams, and track teams compete at Hurley field located less than a half-mile away from the school. The field was renovated during the spring of 2002 and re-opened with many new facilities at the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year. The field is also used for many other high school tournaments and semi-pro soccer leagues. Next to Hurley Field is Pop Lewis field where the high school baseball games are held along with other community baseball leagues. The softball teams play at the two neighboring fields to Pop Lewis field. The tennis courts are also next to Hurley Field. Berkley Varsity Hockey and JV/Prep Hockey^[3] compete at the Berkley Ice Arena, which is also adjacent to Hurley Field and tennis courts. Cross-country competes at Catalpa Park, which is about a mile from the school and half mile from Hurley field. The golf team competes at Rackham golf course in the neighboring town of Huntington Woods, and the bowling team competes at Hartfield lanes. The rest of the teams compete within the school building or outside (rugby) on other school grounds.