Aliso Niguel High School

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Aliso Niguel High School
Image:Aliso Niguel logo.gif
Location
28000 Wolverine Way
Aliso Viejo,
California, United States
Information
School district Capistrano Unified School District
Principal Charles Salter
Enrollment

4,317 (as of 2006)
Type Public high school
Grades 9-12
Campus Suburban
Motto Home of the Wolverines
Mascot Wolverine
Color(s)                Black, Teal, White
Newspaper The Growling Wolverine
Established 1993
Homepage http://www.alisoniguel.com/
Aliso Niguel High School located in Aliso Viejo, California
Aliso Niguel High School located in Aliso Viejo, California

Aliso Niguel High School is a four-year public school in Aliso Viejo, California, United States. It is a part of the Capistrano Unified School District, founded in the fall of 1993. Its relatively large enrollment of over 3,000 students is drawn from the nearby communities of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. This school has also been credited to being a Blue Ribbon School, California Distinguished School, and New American High School.

Contents

[edit] History

Founded in the year 1993, it is located on a creek bed near Aliso Creek, which is a creek that connects to the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach. Aliso Niguel was the fourth high school that opened within the Capistrano Unified School District, and was considered to be one of the fastest growing schools.[1]


Although the high school started small (with about 1,400 students) in their first year, the high school grew rapidly over the years, and it still continues to grow in the present day. Currently the school has 22 portable classrooms on this southern parking lot adding to 22,080 square feet. The main permanent buildings have 200,000 square feet forming a grand total of 222, 080 square feet on the campus, making Aliso the largest school in the district.

[edit] Academics

[edit] Advanced Program and Honors courses

The school offers Advanced Placement and Accelerated Courses at all high school grade levels. [2]

[edit] Advanced Program courses

Aliso Niguel offers Advanced Placement Program (AP) classes in AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics B, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language, AP United States Government and Politics and AP United States History. While AP French Language is not offered in this 07-08 year, it will be offered again in the 08-09 year.

[edit] Advanced Program testing

In the month of May, all students taking AP classes are required to take Advance Program (AP) testing, with the exception of AP Studio Art (which they will instead create their year-long portfolio assessment). AP testing will shows the student's proficiency of knowledge in a particular AP class, and the testing can also determine whether they can receive college credit by scoring on a 5-point scale of at least a 3 (5 being "extremely well qualified" to 1 being "no recommendation"). Typical AP tests consist of multiple-choice questions with free response and/or document based questions (DBQs).

[edit] Honor courses

Honor courses are very similar to Advanced Program classes as it has the same type of qualifications. The differences are that there is no AP testing and those classes do not have summer homework.

[edit] California High School Exit Exam

The California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) is required by all students for graduation for the classes of 2006 and beyond. Students will start taking it in their sophomore (10th grade) year. If individuals fail to pass, they must retake it once every following school year until they pass on all materials of the exam. Otherwise, they will not earn a high school diploma, and there will be no exceptions. [3]

The exam consists of Algebra 1 and materials covered in English II or English II Accelerated classes.

2005 Results: After taking the CAHSEE, Aliso Niguel scored within the top 90% of all schools in the state that serve 9-12th grades. 90% of all students that took the English Language Arts passed. 91% passed in the Math section.

[edit] Graduation credits and college prep courses

A minimum of 220 graduation credits is needed to graduate high school, as part of the Capistrano Unified School District's requirements. 70 of those credits are required from elective classes. All students earn 5 points of graduation credits for each semester for each class with a passing grade of "D" or better. [4]

For the student graduation years of 2008 and beyond, there is a minimum level that is needed to be fulfilled in order to allow the student to graduate. The requirements are as follows: 40 credits (4 years) of college preparatory English, 20 credits (2 years) of Mathematics, 20 credits of Science (10 credits biological, 10 credits physical), 30 credits (3 years) Social Science, 10 credits (1 year) of Fine Arts electives, 20 credits of Physical Education electives (1 semester must be taken in freshmen year), 5 credits (1 semester) of Health. For individuals who did not score "normal grade level" (a RIT score of 228 or above) on their 8th grade Standardized Spring CORE Reading Test, they must take Reading Improvement (5 credits) or Reading Workshop (10 credits), depending on their RIT score, in their 9th grade year in high school.

For the Class of 2007 and previous classes, students were required to fulfill the graduation requirements above and take the Career Education and Computer Applications (C.E.C.A.) course in order for the student to graduate. It is strongly recommended for students of the Class of 2008 and beyond.

In addition, all students must pass the California High School Exit Exam beginning in their sophomore (10th grade) year in order to graduate.

[edit] Athletics

Aliso Niguel's sports teams are known as the Wolverines. Most of them compete in the South Coast League, in the highest divisions of the California Interscholastic Federation's Southern Section. From 1998 to 2005, they were members of the Sea View League. Before that, the Pacific Coast League.

The high school's football & track stadium was upgraded with artificial turf football and a 9-lane all-weather track in late 2006.

[edit] Basketball

The Wolverines boy's team won the Southern Section I-A title in 2005.

[edit] Guys Cross Country

The cross country team is directed by John Walsh, a cross country coach and a biology teacher/two-time ironman finisher/superman. The team competes in races that are three miles long, and has made it to CIF prelims in both 2006 and 2007. They finished second only to Dana Hills High School (state winners) in the south coast league.

[edit] Girls Cross Country

Aliso Girls Cross Country team is hard working, and dedicated; the Freshmen-Sophmore team finished first in their league.

[edit] Football

In 1996, their third year of existence, the Wolverine football team went 14-0, winning the Pacific Coast League, and then the Southern Section Division VIII championship, defeating Pacifica High School in the title game.

[edit] Pep squad

Both cheer squads (Varsity and Junior Varsity) have won national and international titles. 2005 Season: The Aliso Varsity cheer team won the USA first place national title.

2006 Season: The varsity cheer team won second at USA and the JV cheer team won first. In the 2006-2007 season the Varsity cheer team took home first place in every competition except for one in their division (small varsity coed level 5); including the USA national title grand champions.

2007 Season: The varsity cheer team received seven first place victories along with one second place title. Almost undefeated, the team received first at USA Nationals(Small Co-Ed Level 5), and first place on the international level in Hawai.

2008 season: The JV and varsity cheer teams received 1st and 2nd places at all competitions during this season. Both JV and Varisty also received 1st place at the National Competition: "King of the Bleachers".

[edit] Soccer

The girl's team won the CIF-SS Division I Championship in 2001

2006 Season: In the season, both the girl's and boy's soccer teams advanced to CIF. The boy's team, ranking first in South Coast League, made it one game farther in the playoffs than the girls team. The boys team then lost 1-0 to Milikan, one of the highest ranked teams in the state. 2007-2008 Season The boys were South Coast League champions, while the girls finished second. The boys team lost in their second game of CIF play. The girls lost, in quadruple overtime, in the semifinals to Long Beach Wilson High School, who went on to be state champions.

[edit] Tennis

The tennis team at Aliso Niguel High School won a first place victory in 1997, the school also reached first place in 1998 and the latest significant finishing for the school was second place in 2000. The school's victories are on the Pacific Coast League.

[edit] Volleyball

Aliso Niguel has a volleyball program with Varsity and Junior Varsity teams.

[edit] Wrestling

This school hosts a high school wrestling team for all high school grade levels.[5] The team made it to the CIF regional duals. They also had 3 wrestlers make it to the Masters tournament in the 06-07 season. In the 07-08 season, the Wolverines finished in a tie for third in the South Coast League, led by Senior Cameron Hoff who finished first in CIF.

[edit] Swimming

This school hosts a high school swim team for all grade levels.

[edit] Performing arts

[edit] Bands

The high school band consists of instruments in the brass, woodwind, and percussion families: trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, French horn, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, flute, xylophone, bass drum, snare drum, and chimes.

[edit] Concert band

Starting in the 2007-2008 school year, the concert band is the starting point in the band program for incoming students. Students may take marching band as a dual enrollment in their schedule for physical education credits needed to graduate high school.

[edit] Symphonic band

Also starting in the 2007-2008 school year, the symphonic band was created. It is a intermediate level band which performs various pieces of music from many types of backgrounds. Students may take marching band as a dual enrollment in their schedule for physical education credits needed to graduate high school.

[edit] Wind ensemble

The wind ensemble is the most advanced and the highest level class in all of the band classes. Wind ensemble students may also take marching band as a dual enrollment in their schedule for physical education credits needed to graduate high school.

[edit] Marching band

The Aliso Niguel Marching Band is a representative class that rehearses outdoors. As part of the Western Band Association, they perform in four marching competitions and participate in the WBA finals. They also perform in the Laguna Niguel Holiday Parade in the second Saturday in the month of December every year.[6]

2005 Season: The marching band performed in competitions held at Northern Arizona University (located in Flagstaff, Arizona), Mission Viejo High School, Riverside Community College and Trabuco Hills High School. In the WBA finals (which was held in Lakewood in the Los Angeles area), the marching band won 2nd place in the class AAA division.[citation needed]

2006 Season: The marching band performed and won sweepstakes awards in local field show competitions at Newport Harbor High School, Valley View High School, Mission Viejo High School and Trabuco Hills High School. In the WBA finals (which was held in Fresno, California), they won 4th place in the class AAA division. The band won 1st place in percussion in the class AAA division finals. Also, the Color Guard won 1st place during prelims, and they beat the World Class guard, Beyer.[citation needed]

2007 Season: The marching band performed in competitions held at Orange Coast College, Mission Viejo High School, Mission Hills High School and Trabuco Hills High School. The WBA finals was hosted in the Southern California area. The preliminaries took place in Los Angeles Pierce College and the finals was in East Los Angeles College. The band won third place in the WBA finals with a score of 91.3 out of 100.

[edit] Orchestra

Aliso Niguel hosts a orchestra program. The class consists of string instruments: cello, violin, viola, and double bass.[7]

The orchestra performs for many local communities. They have also created a mass performance with the Aliso Niguel band program adding up to a total of at least 200 players combined. Their mass performances are usually held in their large gymnasium.

[edit] Choir

There are four choir classes at Aliso Niguel. The four classes are A Cappella, Madrigals, Men's Ensemble, and Women's Ensemble.[8]

Two of the choir classes, Men's Ensemble and Women's Ensemble, are open for all students to join. The second most advanced choir is the Bella Cantore, which is an auditioned choir for women. The most advanced choir is Madrigals, the school's chamber choir.

The advanced Madrigals and Bella Cantore choirs were invited to perform in Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2007. They toured New York and also sang in St. Paul's Chapel. Both choirs regularly perform at festivals in nearby universities, including the University of Redlands, Chapman University, the Soka University of America, California State University, Long Beach and UCSB. They perform in four concerts of their own each year and in the choral department's Coffeehouse Cabaret.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Dance ban

In September 2006, the principal canceled the remainder of all school dances in response to students "freak dancing" and arriving drunk to the first dance of the year.[9] Salter stated that he would bring back dances if, and only if, students and parents could cooperate and develop a solution to "the problem." This story made headlines in regional news and appeared on many dancing-related websites.

The story gained widespread, national attention later that month when the school's annual Homecoming Dance was banned. [10]

The dance ban was covered by the BBC, NPR and the national news program Geraldo at Large.

The principal later reinstated the dances with explicit rules. The first dance under the new rules was the Winter Formal of February 2007. Although students are upset over losing their Homecoming dance, many are relieved that the ban has been lifted and hope that this will not happen again. [11]

[edit] Vandalism

On June 17, 2007, Charles Salter reported school vandalism that occurred in the middle of the previous night. Ten trees near the football field were completely or partially cut down, costing the school district $10,000 to rehabilitate the situation.[citation needed]

[edit] Assembly cancellation

On October 19, 2007, Charles Salter ordered an immediate cancellation to one of two assemblies in the school's gym. Some students threw eggs, tortillas, and crickets toward other specatators. In response, proctors called an immediate evacuation of the gym and to have students return to their classes. [12]

[edit] School closure

On Thursday, October 25, 2007, and Friday, October 26, 2007, the Capistrano Unified School District issued a closure of its schools, including Aliso Niguel, due to poor air quality that was caused by the California wildfires of October 2007. [13]

[edit] Clubs

  • Associated Student Body (or ASB) is one of the largest and longest-running clubs on campus at Aliso Niguel High School. This club is made of about forty (40) people who have been appointed and elected to their positions.
  • California Scholarship Federation (or CSF) is another club that looks highly upon those who have a minimum of 3.6 GPA, while completing a given amount of community service to the surrounding area.
  • National Honor Society (or NHS) is also a long-running club that looks highly upon those who have a minimum of 3.8 GPA.

[edit] Student ethnicity

Ethnicity This School State Average
White, not Hispanic 70% 31%
Asian 10% 8%
Hispanic or Latino 9% 47%
Multiple or No Response 5% 2%
African American, not Hispanic 3% 8%
Filipino 2% 3%
Pacific Islander <1% <1%
American Indian or Alaska Native <1% <1%

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ School Summary
  2. ^ Collegeboard AP, Bulletin for AP Students and Parents, 2006-07
  3. ^ 460 seniors graduate without diplomas The Orange County Register, June 22, 2007
  4. ^ Aliso Niguel High School 2007-08 Cirriculum Guide
  5. ^ Wolverine Wrestling
  6. ^ Laguna Niguel Holiday Parade, a program partnered with the Toys for Tots
  7. ^ Orchestra Schedule of Events
  8. ^ Choral Music
  9. ^ Change in dance moves called for, The Orange County Register, September 21, 2006
  10. ^ Homecoming dance gets boot, The Orange County Register, September 29, 2006
  11. ^ Ban on Dances Lifted
  12. ^ Viewing Listserv Message Retrieved on October 22, 2007
  13. ^ All CUSD Schools closed Thursday, October 25, 2007 due to the poor air quality conditions caused by the Southern California Fires.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 33°33′40.7″N, 117°43′11″W

Current arenas in the American Basketball Association Red Conference
Northwest Division Southwest Division Central Division South Division
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