Westmoor High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Westmoor High School

Westmoor High School, seal
Established 1956
Type Public Secondary
Principal Richard Morosi
Faculty 88 [1]
Students 1,848 [2]
Location 131 Westmoor Avenue, Daly City, California, United States 94015
Campus Suburban
Colors Green, Gold
Mascot Ram
Website http://whs.juhsd.k12.ca.us/

Westmoor High School is an American public high school in Daly City, California that serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the Jefferson Union High School District (JUHSD). It generally serves the residents of Daly City, Pacifica, and Colma.

Contents

[edit] History

Westmoor High School was established in 1956 as the primary high school to serve the new Westlake neighborhood on the west side of Daly City.

In the academic school year of 2004, 2005, and 2006 Westmoor became eligible for California Distinguished School status, but was not awarded the designation. However, in recent years, its California Standardized Test scores have risen year after year, to an 8/10.

Throughout the years, numerous individuals, such as participants in the American Civil Rights Movement and numerous California politicians have visited Westmoor. In 2004, Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry made a campaign stop at Westmoor, speaking publicly in the main gymnasium. [1]

[edit] Campus

Quad
Quad

The original campus building as designed by architect Mario J. Ciampi attracted national acclaim due to its modern design elements. [2] The building was sometimes called the "Glass Palace" due to the extensive use of architectural glass in its design. Ciampi received an honor award from the American Institute of Architects in 1959 for his work on Westmoor. [3] The campus is built on what was previously a pig farm and ranch. [4] [5]

Westmoor's main building was renovated during the 2000-2001 school year which added space but led to the removal of most of its original glass features.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] 2005-2006
  • 1848 students; M/F (50.5/49.5):
Filipino Asian Hispanic White African-American Pacific Islander American Indian
43.5% 26.0% 20.3% 5.6% 4.0% 0.3% 0.3%
  • 88 certificated staff; M/F (47.7/52.3):
White Filipino Asian Hispanic African-American American Indian Pacific Islander
69.3% 13.6% 7.0% 6.8% 1.1% 1.1% 0%

(source: California Department of Education)

[edit] Curriculum

[edit] Courses offered

In addition to offering the standard English, science, social science and mathematics courses, Westmoor offers several Advanced Placement courses: English Language, English Literature, U.S. History, Statistics, Calculus AB and BC, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Spanish, American Government, and Macroeconomics. Westmoor's curriculum includes a variety of art and music programs such as fabric arts, ceramics, draw and paint, art, graphic design, as well as band, chorus, and theater arts. Westmoor's foreign language department offers Spanish, French, and Latin. In addition, Westmoor offers several elective courses in business, computer, and industrial art fields. The AVID program serves to assist students, where they prepare for college and learn funtamental skills that will guide them to academic success.

[edit] Semester grading system

In the 2004-2005 school year, Westmoor and other schools in the Jefferson Union High School District changed the grading periods from four quarters in two semesters per year to simply two semesters. Student progress reports are issued each third of a semester.

[edit] Sustained Silent Reading

Westmoor began the Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) program in 2001. On a normal schedule, a twenty minute period is designated for SSR on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Starting in the 2005 - 2006 school year, this SSR period recurs on a rotating basis at the beginning of the 1st - 6th periods. During SSR, all students and teachers are excluded from classwork, reading textbooks, or writing. [3]

[edit] Extracurricular activities

[edit] Clubs and organizations

Westmoor is home to these following student clubs and organizations:

  • Anime Club: Engages in activities involving the Japanese art form animé. They stage festivals and also attend field trips to animé conventions, such as the annual FanimeCon.
  • Associated Student Body (ASB): Helps to organize many student activities, including rallies and International Foods Days. Its officers are chosen at the end of each year by election. Any student, however, may join the "Zero Period" ASB Meetings, which start at 7am, an hour before regular classes, although due to the high number of students that join, many are cut as the year progresses.
  • Auto Safety
  • Band (Leadership Council)
    The purpose of this class/council is to organize concerts throughout the school year, prepare the marching band (complete with auxiliary guard) for the Fog Fest parade in September, and fundraise for our annual Heritage Festival trip and other band equipment/instruments
  • Block W
  • Burmese Club: Promotes the Burmese Culture and participates in several festivals, such as the Burmese New Year Water Festival.
  • Business Club
  • California Scholarship Federation (CSF): Westmoor's branch of the state-wide California Scholarship Federation. Membership to the club is exclusive to those students who have achieved academic distinction, specifically, those students who maintain a 3.5 GPA and certain grade levels in specific courses, although by no means is CSF inclusive to all students who meet those requirements. CSF members receive a special distinction upon graduation. Westmoor's branch conducts afterschool tutoring sessions, as well as fundraisers for its regular field trips to colleges and universities.
  • Ceramics Team
  • Chess Club: Gathers during lunch to play chess and other board/card games.
  • Class of 2007:
  • Class of 2008:
  • Class of 2009:
  • Class of 2010:

Mainly responsible for organizing class-specific events, such as film showings, rallies, and the senior-year prom. The different class clubs also engage in various "spirit competitions" throughout the year, creating posters and organizing students to dress up for specific "spirit day" motifs.
  • Close-Up (trip): An annual trip to Washington, D.C., to observe the political process. Part of the national Close Up Foundation that organizes the trip.
  • Co-Ed Soccer Club
  • Drama Club
  • Fil-Am

    Club that is to support Filipino American heritage

  • French Club
  • Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
    Part of a national organization. Every year, students from Westmoor compete against other FBLA members at section, state and national levels. FBLA is designed to bring students a glimpse of the business world while having fun at the same time. There are many opportunities for students to network with their peers and interact with business professionals. This club is advised by Nancy Sansot.
  • Future Homemakers of America (FHA-Hero)
  • Leo's Club: Particpates in many community service projects, notably with a [Habitat for Humanity] housing construction project.
  • Mock Trial: Competes in the regional North San Mateo mock trial competition, along with area high schools Burlingame, El Camino, Mills, South San Francisco, and Terra Nova, in which teams of students are presented with a fictional criminal case, and take on roles as attorneys and witnesses on prosecution and defense teams, to try to argue the case.
  • Music Club
  • Muslim Student Association [MSA]
  • Peer Counseling
  • Polynesian Club
  • Recycling Club: Primary function is to gather the recycling bins from teachers' classrooms at the end of the week on Fridays. Also participates in many recycling and cleanup projects around the local area.
  • Roman Club
  • Service Commission
  • Social Activist Youth (SAY)
  • Sojourn: An annual trip to the Old South, to retrace the steps of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Part of the national Sojourn to the Past project.
  • Spanish Club
  • Spirit Squad
  • Swim Team/Club
  • Westmoor High Artistic Talents Club (WHAT)
  • Youth Alive Christian Fellowship (YACF)
  • Youth Elderly Service (YES)

[edit] Athletics

Westmoor also offers a variety of sports, including track, cross-country, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, badminton, and swimming. A notable exception of the athletics program is the lack of a school football team, which was discontinued in the 1990s due to lack of student interest and poor performance.

[edit] International Foods Day

About three times a year, ASB organizes an "International Foods Day", both as an opportunity for students to eat different food outside of the standard cafeteria offerings, and (primarily) as a fundraising event for clubs to sell food. The International Foods Days, or "IFDs", are held during special Friday extended lunch periods, and club members who are selling food are released early from their 4th period classes to help prepare.

[edit] Rally and Spirit Week

Several rallies are held throughout the year, usually on Fridays afterschool in the main gym. The rallies usually consist of numerous acts by both students and teachers, the majority of which involve vocal performances, instrumental performances, dance performances (mostly break-dancing), or a combination of all three. Most rallies also include some sort of contest between the different classes, involving either a dancing act, or a type of game. The rallies are often followed by a scheduled school dance, although these are almost always cancelled due to the lack of ticket sales and interest.

Although many students participate in organizing the rallies, individual rallies usually have an official "sponsor", usually one of the class clubs, or the ASB.

The week preceding the rally on Friday is usually known as "Spirit Week". During this week, and preceding weeks (especially afterschool on the Friday before Spirit Week), the class clubs design various posters, often asserting the superiority of the designers' class, the inferiority of the other classes, or both simultaneously. These posters are taken and placed throughout the schools, often on walls, over windows, and hanging from hallway entrances. Students are also encouraged to participate in motif days, of which there is a different one each day of Spirit Week. Monday through Thursday usually consists of a theme decided by the ASB and the class clubs, such as a "super hero day" (in which students must dress as super heroes) or "OC day" (in which students had to wear clothes related to the television show, The OC). Each Friday is a "class color day", designed to coincide with the day of the rally. Students are encouraged to wear their specific class color (Grey for Freshmen, Yellow for Sophomores, Green for Juniors, and White for Seniors). Both the poster art and individual spirit days are in fact part of a "Spirit Contest" between the classes, who are graded on the quality of the posters and the number of students who participate in each spirit day.

[edit] Tsunami fundraising

In the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, many clubs, led by the AVID class, Muslim Student Association and Social Activist Youth, organized fundraisers to raise money for the victims of the disaster. They were successful in raising over $1000.

[edit] Student journalism

'The Rampage': The Rampage is the official school-sponsored newspaper at Westmoor. It is written and published by the students of the Publications class, which also works on the school yearbook. It is generally regarded as poor in quality, with often generic, incomplete, and bit pieces serving as articles. The Rampage produced its first and only issue of the 2004-2005 school year in October 2004, although it had several more issues planned that were never published before the end of the school year.

[edit] Notable alumni

Westmoor High School
Westmoor High School

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fagan, Kevin (2004). Kerry focuses on economy in visit / In Bay Area, Dem says he'll aid consumers. August 28, 2004 : San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  2. ^ Schools of Tomorrow. TIME Magazine : September 12, 1960. Time Inc. (1960). Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  3. ^ Weinstein, Dave (2005). SIGNATURE STYLE: Mario Ciampi / Works writ bold / Architect believes creative design can change how people live. October 22, 2005 : San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  4. ^ Filion, Ron & Wolfskill, Pamela Storm (2006). San Mateo County Geneaology - Place Names. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  5. ^ Chandler, Samuel (1973). Gateway to the Peninsula-Official History of Daly City, California. 
  6. ^ a b c Westmoor Achievement Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
  7. ^ Hua, Vanessa (2006). SANTA CLARA - Filipinos tune in to star power of Western pop. May 19, 2006 : San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.

[edit] See also

San Mateo County high schools

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Jefferson Union High School District
High schools Jefferson | Oceana | Terra Nova | Westmoor
Continuation schools Thornton High School
Closed schools Serramonte High School
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/e/s/Westmoor_High_School_62e8.html"