Piedmont High School (California)

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Piedmont High School
Motto	"Achieve the honorable"
Established	1921
Type	Public secondary
Principal	Randall Booker
Students	873
Grades	9-12
Location	800 Magnolia Avenue Piedmont, California USA
District	Piedmont Unified School District
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Purple and white
Mascot	Highlanders
Yearbook	Clan-O-Log
Newspaper	Piedmont Highlander
Literary magazine	The Highland Piper
Website	Piedmont High School Official Website
View of the front of the school from opposite side of Magnolia Avenue

Piedmont High School should not be confused with Piedmont Hills High School in San Jose, California.

Piedmont High School is a high school located in Piedmont, California, United States.

Piedmont High School is part of the Piedmont Unified School District.

[edit] Background information

Piedmont High School offers ninth through 12th grade. The school motto is "Achieve the honorable." The school maintains rigorous academic standards, and is well known in the area as an excellent school.

A large percentage of students go on to attend higher institutions renowned for their academics, such as the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, Georgetown University, and Stanford University. Of the 2003 graduating class, 92 percent went on to a four-year university and another 6 percent went on to a two-year college. The school newspaper calculated that in the class of 2006, 81 students were accepted by and chose to attend a University of California school. It reported that the average of GPA of 2006's graduating class was 3.47.^[1]

Many families move to Piedmont for the schools once their children reach school-age.^[2] The majority of high school students have lived in Piedmont since elementary school. As in the surrounding cities, only residents of the city can attend school at the district, unless a parent is a district employee.

A bond for the creation of Piedmont High School was passed in 1920, and the school was built in 1921.

[edit] History

Further information: History of Piedmont, California

In September 1922, the Piedmont Unified School District opened the city's first high school. It was funded by a bond passed by voters in 1920. ^[3][4]

Piedmont High School was the last school in California to require uniforms, which disappeared in the 1970s.^[5]

The social scene was once dominated by social clubs, which resembled college sororities and fraternities, but they have since died out.^[6]

[edit] Architecture

The school was built in 1921 in a neoclassical design, part of the same plan that built the Piedmont city's Exedra. Since its design by architect W.H. Weeks^[3], the school has undergone several reconstructions, for reasons such as expansion, earthquake retrofitting, and combatting dry rot.

The center of the campus is "the quad," connecting the Allan Harvey Theatre, the library, the cafeteria and student center, and the amphitheatre.

In 1974, the school was declared unsafe, under state earthquake laws. It was demolished, and three new classroom buildings and a gymnasium were built. The original library, quad, and administration buildings were rehabilitated. ^[7]

Reconstruction in the 1970s reflected the "back-to-nature" look popular at the time, using wood instead of shingles. The school's "breezeway," an open, wide corridor running between the school's main buildings, exemplifies this.

The last construction was an expansion of the gymnasium, during the 2003-2004 school year, to include an entrance room that also displays trophies. The school will undergo more construction in accord with Measure E, which issued $56 million in bonds to reconstruction of school facilities to meet earthquake safety guidelines. ^[8]

[edit] Academics

The amphitheatre is used for outside performances, such as those during lunch. The mural, painted by past AP Art students, was vandalized in 2005 and had to be repainted the AP Art students of that year.

Piedmont High School has a strong academic focus, and it offers a large variety of classes for a school of its size.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Courses

[edit] Advanced Placement

As of 2006-2007, the school offers the following AP courses.^[9]

• AP Biology
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Computer Science
• AP English Literature
• AP Environmental Science
• AP European History
• AP French Language
• AP Music Theory (offered bi-yearly)
• AP Spanish Language
• AP Studio Art 2D
• AP Studio Art 3D
• AP United States History

In addition, honors courses in physics, chemistry, and Mandarin are offered.^[9]

[edit] Creative and performing arts

Art classes come in various fields: music (A Cappella, band, orchestra, AP Music), visual art (2-D art, ceramics, AP Art (2-D or 3-D)), and drama (Acting I through IV).

[edit] Electives

Other electives offered include Clan-O-Log (yearbook) and the Piedmont Highlander (school newspaper); law and society; public speaking; multiple computer classes; and creative writing.

[edit] Foreign language

Spanish, French, and Mandarin are the three foreign languages that are offered, and American Sign Language is offered over the summer. In 2007-2008 an AP Mandarin course will be added. Currently, Mandarin classes range from Mandarin I to Mandarin V (honors). The Mandarin program was added in 1995-1996, when it replaced German.^[10]

[edit] Recent changes

[edit] 2006-2007

An AP European History course was added. The junior-level course honors chemistry was opened to qualifying sophomores.

[edit] 2006-2007

The current Mandarin V (honors) will be replaced by AP Mandarin.^[10]

The science curriculum will change from the system of "Integrated Science" to specific subjects, such as biology. In the old system, student took Integrated Science I as freshmen, Integrated Science II as sophomores, and either chemistry or honors chemistry as juniors. The new system allows incoming freshmen to choose between physical science (for "most students") and biology (for "students showing mastery of PMS science").^[11] The options are shown in detail below:

^[11]

In addition, the ROP-funded journalism, sports medicine, and biotechnology will be added.^[11]

[edit] Graduation requirements

Four years of English are required to graduate, as well as three years of math, and completion of Integrated Science I and II. In addition, all students must take one year of an art class, two years of foreign language, one semester of any computer class, and one semester of social psychology (required sophomore year). Freshmen are required to take physical education unless they are nationally ranked in any sport. Only one semester each sophomore and junior year is required, which can be replaced by one season of a sport.

[edit] Honors society

The Piedmont Highlander is the student-written newspaper, taken as a class. Featured is a stack of newspapers from the 2005-2006 school year.

The school decided to form its own honors society after the 2005-2006 CSF Officers, headed by President Martine Phelan-Roberts, researched the California Scholastic Federation, the honors society to which the school had previously subscribed. The new group, the Piedmont Honors Society, has a GPA cut-off of 3.60. In addition, there is a community service requirement of 15 pre-approved hours for sophomores, 25 for juniors, and 35 for seniors. The class of 2007 is the last class to maintain eligibility and membership with CSF.

[edit] School publications

The school newspaper is the Piedmont Highlander and the yearbook is the Clan-O-Log. Both have existed since the early decades of Piedmont High history, and participants of each publication are involved by taking the offered course. A recently added school publication is the literary magazine The Highland Piper, which is published by the library's Teen Advisory Board.^[12]

[edit] Library

The high school library serves as a reference source and place to study.

The library is part of the building referred to as "the English building," since the majority of the English classrooms are located there, or "the 30s building," because of the classroom numbers. Teachers and students use the library for its large number of books and computers.

In 2005, Pixar donated new computers, which upgraded the school to the Windows XP operating system. The library has enough computers for the average-sized class to use at once. It is a location where students who have "free periods" (unscheduled period in their schedule) often choose to remain, especially if the free period is in between classes.

At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, librarian Susan Stutzman set up the Teen Advisory Board, a group for students to contribute to the library through writing book reviews, recommending purchases, buying books,^[13] decorating the library, organizing library events, and publishing a literary magazine. The literary magazine, The Highland Piper, publishes student original writing, and took its name from the school literary magazine published in the 1930s.^[14]

[edit] Bird Calling Contest

Piedmont High is home to the nationally known^[15] Piedmont Bird Calling Contest. Winners of the contest have been featured on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The contest was started in 1963 by biology teacher Leonard J. Waxdeck.^[15][16]

[edit] Sports

View overlooking Witter Field, which is used by the sports teams of Piedmont High School and Piedmont Middle School.

PHS offers a variety of varsity and junior varsity sports.

The women's basketball team was recently nationally ranked and received much attention, although it remains controversial due to the fact that most of its star players are brought in from outside Piedmont. Its recent, famous basketball stars, Courtney and Ashley Paris, did not attend Piedmont High, but rather its alternative high school, Millennium.

Both the men's and women's cross country teams have placed in the top spots at the Bay Shore Athletic League and North Coast Section races, and have advanced to the state meet for many past years. In 2005, the men's Varsity team accomplished the amazing feat of first place at the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno. They are the second team in the school's history to obtain the title (the women's varsity basketball team had the previous two years), the first men's team, and the only completely home-grown team to do so.

In 2006, the softball team hired Jen Deering as head coach. Deering was a member of the University of California's 2002 national championship team, and she led the Highlanders to the most successful season in their history, with a record of 21-5, before falling to Albany in the NCS Championships. Deering was then hired as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Boston University. In 2007, veteran East Bay coach Kristen Morley was hired to take over the program. Morley was also a member of Cal's national championship team.

PHS uses the Highlander, a kilt-clad Scotsman playing the bagpipes, as its mascot.

[edit] Notable alumni

Robert McNamara graduated in 1933

PHS has produced both nationally and internationally recognizable alumni. Former UCLA Quarterback, and current Baltimore Raven, Drew Olson graduated from Piedmont High. Pro football player turned actor Fred Williamson also was a student; some of his football records still stand there. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was a graduate. Clint Eastwood spent part of his academic career in Piedmont, even serving as the Business Editor of the yearbook, before switching to the schools in neighboring Oakland, California.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Piedmont High School official website
• Piedmont Educational Foundation website
• Piedmont Unified School District Mandarin Program website