California High School

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California High School
Location
San Ramon, California
Information
Superintendent Robert Kessler
Principal Mark Corti
Enrollment

2300+
Type Public
Athletics conference East Bay Athletic League
Team name The Fighting Grizzlies
Color(s) Black and Orange          
Newspaper The Californian
Established 1973
Homepage http://www.chs.srvusd.k12.ca.us/

California High School (commonly referred to as Cal High) is a public school located in San Ramon, California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its mascot is a Grizzly bear. The school's newspaper is The Californian which is published monthly. The majority of students at California High School graduate to continue their education at upper education institutes[citation needed]. A large amount of graduating Cal High students are accepted each year to top colleges (notably UC Berkeley and UCLA)[citation needed].

Cal High operates on a block schedule, unlike other schools in the district, which means classes are 100 minutes long and 90 minutes on Mondays. Students meet Tuesdays through Fridays for 30 minutes of SSR (Silent Sustained Reading), which is to become "Tutorial", a time for reading, studying, helping others with classwork, and making up tests, for the 2008-2009 school year. The average Cal High student has a total of 6 classes, those who wish to partake in an extra "A-period" class have 7 classes. (Three classes per school day, odd numbered classes one day and even numbered classes the next. A-period classes meet every day, early in the morning, for 50 minutes, 45 minutes on Mondays.) [1]

Cal High's sports rivals are Monte Vista High School and San Ramon Valley High School, both located in Danville, California.

Contents

[edit] Campus

Cal has an All-weather track with an Aquatic Center, including multi-use athletic stadium and fields (Football, Soccer, Lacrosse, Track and Field). Outside, there are six tennis courts, Outdoor Volleyball and Basketball Hard courts, an Outdoor roller hockey rink, four baseball/softball fields including baseball/softball stadium, and an indoor gym and stadium. In 2004, a new addition was a two-story ten classroom building. In 2006, a main building (67 classrooms) and new library were built. In 2007, a new careers and technology building and new student Quad were added. Construction will add a new Performing Arts theater, music conservatory, new Fine and Applied Art building (9 classrooms), Counseling building, auxiliary gym, counseling office, career center, and administration building. Cal has a large student and faculty parking, but demand outstrips available space. [2]

[edit] Notable Faculty

William Everett Pence - Biology teacher who assisted students with discovering the chromosomes of three cancer-related genes. The discovery was made using equipment bought in part with Mr. Pence's 1999 California Teacher of the Year endowment. [3]

[edit] Notable alumni

  • Matt Kugizaki - Notable statistician from Step Up 2
  • David Liu - Entrepreneur and founder of gOS, the operating system of the well-publicized $199 Everex gPC (massively sold at Walmart.)
  • Derek Lux - Actor/Performer in San Francisco's Beach Blanket Babylon.
  • Vincent Martorano - 2008 Republican Congressional candidate for U.S. House (Maryland).
  • Tim Pagnotta (1977-), Singer, guitarist, songwriter for pop-punk band Sugarcult.
  • Colby Buzzell (1977-), Soldier, Author, My War: Killing Time in Iraq[4].


[edit] Awards and recognition

During the 2006-07 school year, California High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education[5], the highest award an American school can receive.[6][7]

California High School is ranked #983 in the top 1,200 US High Schools by Newsweek.[8] In 2005, Cal High was a California Distinguished School.[9]

[edit] Gallery

Memorial Sign

The science building

The foreign language building

The library and main building

[edit] References

  1. ^ California High School Official Site
  2. ^ http://www.chs.srvusd.k12.ca.us/CHSHOMEPAGE/facilities.html — California High School website: "Facilities"
  3. ^ http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/ct/honoreesall.asp — California Dept. of Education - 1990-2006 California Teacher of the Year
  4. ^ http://www.amazon.com/My-War-Killing-Time-Iraq/dp/0399153276 — My War: Killing Time in Iraq
  5. ^ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 2003 through 2006 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.
  6. ^ 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."
  7. ^ 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."
  8. ^ Newsweek rankings of the top US high schools. MSNBC (2006-05-23). Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
  9. ^ Message From Principal. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.

[edit] External links