Catalina High School (Tucson)
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| Catalina High School |
|
| Established | January 1957 |
| Type | Public secondary (U.S.) |
| Principal | Mr. Dan Bailey |
| Faculty | N/A |
| Students | 1,607 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | 3645 East Pima Street Tucson, Arizona, USA 85716 |
| Oversight | Tucson Unified School District |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Royal blue and white |
| Mascot | Trojans |
| Website | [1] |
Catalina High School (also known as Catalina Magnet High School) is a public high school, located on the North Side of Tucson, Arizona. Catalina is a magnet high school (drawing students from the entire school district) in Tucson Unified School District and serves over 1,600 students in grades 9-12. The school name originates from the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The school mascot is the Trojan, and the school colors are royal blue and white.
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[edit] Notable awards and recognition
Division champs: baseball, basketball; National Merit Scholar winner, 1st place in the Arizona State Math Contest, Division A, Level II; DECA 1st place award; Winner of the National Scholastics Hall of Fame for " The Trumpeteer", our newspaper produced by the students of Catalina High School since opening in 1957 [2].
[edit] Academics
Catalina is under accreditation by the North Central Association.
[edit] Athletics
Catalina presently competes in the Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A Kino Conference, Division I.
[edit] School history
With only one high school (Tucson High), the TUSD school board began discussion of building a second high school in the district in 1953 to meet the population growth of Tucson. In January 1957, the partially completed campus facilitated a full student body. Additional classrooms, shower and locker facilities and a science wing were added later, with 10-cent levy funds and federal aid under Public Law 815. The school presently has 65 regular classrooms and the 8-classroom science wing. R.T. Gridley was the first principal of Catalina, and the first graduating class was in May 1957.
It would not be until 1959 that the original plans for the school were completed. In the 1960s Catalina was known as the Country Club School for the higher income students who attended Catalina from Tucson's North Side and the Catalina Foothills. Shortly following the establishment of Catalina, many other high schools opened in the more affluent suburbs of Tucson, including Sahuaro, Rincon, and Canyon del Oro [3].
Catalina was named under a new TUSD school board policy of naming high schools after local mountain ranges. Catalina was built as a state-of-the art school, costing $2,496,619, to which were added extra classrooms, locker and shower facilities and a science wing, totaling 73 regular classrooms. The school was initially controversial, with critics dubbing Catalina Disneyland, as the architecture was viewed as lavishly modern and expensive. Catalina, which had been designed for 1,500 students, opened with an enrollment of 2,000. Prior to the completion of the buildings, students had attended Tucson High on double-session, with Catalina students attending the afternoon session [4].
When Pueblo and Catalina High Schools were on the planning boards in 1953, TUSD School Board member Delbert L. Secrist wanted to name them "Abraham Lincoln" and "George Washington" respectively. His fellow board members didn't go along with the idea.
Catalina was designed by Scholer, Sakeller & Fuller, r Architects, and was built by J. J. Craviolini and ; L. C. Anderson[5].
[edit] Notable alumni
- Kate Walsh (actor): (1986), Dr. Addison Montgomery on the television series Grey's Anatomy
