Mission Viejo High School

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Mission Viejo High School
School type Public
Established 1966
District Saddleback Valley Unified School District
Grades 9-12
Principal Pablo the Diablo
Faculty 99
Students 2,724
Colors Red and gold
Mascot Miss. McDowell
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.

Contents

[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 Comparative Government 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 particular 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

The high school has a well-established Model United Nations program. MVHS MUN annually hosts one of the most popular high school conferences across Southern California. This program was originally started in 1978 by Mrs. Susan Charlton, along with a handful of students. This group laid the foundation for what later became the largest high school run conference.

[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. This was due to Coach Bob Johnson's many lapses in sportsmanlike conduct. The CIF punished Mission Viejo for doctoring footballs in the CIF Championship. They were forced to play on the road for one season, and to have Coach Johnson and his unethical staff take classes in sportsmanship.[11]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.[12] 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.[13]

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. Unfortunately, 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.

[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 signatures, 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 beginning of the school years. These skills include, but are not limited to, flexibility, endurance, and tone qualities. As the school year progresses, music difficulty becomes increasingly more difficult, thus motivating students to acquire more skills of music. 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. Those highly competent enough can audition, and if they qualify they can go into wind ensemble.

[edit] Marching band

The school's marching band, as part of the Western Band Association, 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. Their program coordinator and music arranger is Jim Wunderlich.

With over 150 members, the marching band one of the largest marching bands in the state of California.

[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. This class 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, also called Ensembles-independent study. This is another type of jazz band, but requires a little more paperwork than just music.

[edit] Student Statistics

  • American Indian/ Alaskan: 15
  • Asians: 218
  • Black: 62
  • Hispanic: 462
  • White: 2,133


  • Males: 1,440
  • Females: 1,444
  • Unknown: 1

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ It's a Blue Ribbon day for six Orange County schools - EDUCATION: Two have won the nation's top honor before., The Orange County Register, February 9, 1996
  2. ^ Mission Viejo, Trabuco Hills highs BLUE, The Orange County Register, May 31, 2002, "The Blue Ribbon award is the third that Mission Viejo High School has received in its 35-year history. Mission Viejo received Blue Ribbons in 1988 and 1996."
  3. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), accessed May 11, 2006
  4. ^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  5. ^ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  6. ^ Schools take state honors, The Orange County Register, April 13, 2001, "Two Mission Viejo high schools were named California Distinguished Schools this week. It was the first recognition for 15-year-old Trabuco Hills High School and third time around for Mission Viejo High School."
  7. ^ Distinguished School Awards: Award Winners for Orange County, accessed December 2, 2006
  8. ^ International Baccalaureate Organization: Mission Viejo High School, accessed December 2, 2006
  9. ^ "The Blue Directory of Schools: Search Details - Mission Viejo High School, accessed December 2, 2006
  10. ^ Mission Viejo High School Facts: Accreditation, accessed December 2, 2006
  11. ^ "Mission%20Viejo%20Football")&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no CIF maintains punishment of Mission Viejo, Orange County Register, May 29, 2003
  12. ^ Super 25 football rankings, USA Today, December 20, 2004
  13. ^ Final 2005 Super 25 football rankings, USA Today, December 20, 2005
  14. ^ Mission Viejo High band wins state title, The Orange County Register, November 28, 2003, "Mission Viejo High School Marching Band and Color Guard competed with 25 bands to win the Western Band Association State Championship in Fresno on Saturday. It is the first time in six years that the school band, which practices 14 hours a week, won the title."
    • "The 150-member band also won High Percussion and High General Effect awards. It's the third consecutive year the drum line has won the High Percussion award"
  15. ^ Friendship, competition motivates USC QBs to perform, The Stanford Daily, August 17, 2006
  16. ^ USC's Powdrell pulls his weight, and then some, The Orange County Register, September 8, 2006
  17. ^ Soldier's travels end in Iraq: Mission Viejo family mourns after son is killed in an attack on a National Guard support unit., The Orange County Register, November 10, 2004, "He graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1994..."

Julie Foudy-US womens soccer player, won 2 Olympic gold medals Mark O'Meara - PGA Golfer, class of 1975

[edit] External links

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