Cabrillo High School (Lompoc, California)

Cabrillo High School serves students of Vandenberg Village, the city of Lompoc, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, on the California Central Coast.

History

The school was founded in 1965 by the Lompoc Unified School District. Built to serve the residents of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Vandenberg Village, and the northern Lompoc Valley, Cabrillo answered the sudden population boom during the late 1950s and 1960s, a result of the booming space program at Vandenberg. Named for the early Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the school board of Lompoc chose the Conquistador to be the mascot of the new high school in the early 1960s, with the black and gold of the first Spanish Californian flags as the school colors. In 2007 the California Department of Education awarded Cabrillo as one of the winners for a California Distinguished School Award, as well as 171 other schools in California.

Administration

The first school year on campus was 1965–66, with Camillo Wilde as the principal. Wilde would leave during the second school year to assume the position of Lompoc Unified School District Superintendent, and he was succeeded by assistant principal Robert Bickford, who would serve until the late 1970s. Wilde would return for a second stint as principal in 1978. There have been six principals since Wilde's retiring in the mid 1980s: Dr. Debra Bradley (1986–1993), Mr. John Lemon (1993–1999), Mr. Jeff Carlovsky (1999–2003), Dr. Fred Manzo (2003–2005), Ms. Betty McCallum (2005–2008), Mrs. Lore Desmond (2008–present). The current vice principals are Schel Brown, and Jeff Wagonseller

Sports

Cabrillo High School has won 13 CIF SS championships in 8 sports, including boys' basketball (1979), boys' cross country (2004), boys' track & field (1983, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991), boys' water polo (1976, 1996), girls' track & field (1986), softball (1976, 1985), wrestling (1988), and women's water polo (2007). Cabrillo High has seen much success in aquatics, with a combined 62 league titles in boys' swimming (17 titles), boys' water polo (28 titles), girls' swimming (9 titles), and girls' water polo (8 titles).

Notable alumni

• Michael Coe was a 2006 graduate and a track and field star. He led the boys cross country team to CIF all four years he attended and even to state in 2004 and 2005. He took second at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 2005, while taking first in the Boston Indoor games in 2006.
• Colin Hacker was a 2006 graduate and a track & field/cross country standout. He helped the team earn four consecutive league championships, Santa Barbara county championships, and state championship appearances. Individually he led the 2004 squad to the first CIF-SS cross country team championship in school history. Hacker and Coe also led the team to two consecutive runner-up finishes at the California state cross country Championships. These performances mark the highest team finishes in any sport in Cabrillo history. Upon graduating, Hacker continued his career at the University of California, Irvine. At UCI he won the 2011 Big West Conference 1500 meter title. He currently holds the 5th fastest mark in UCI history in that event. His collegiate resume also includes two California/Nevada 1500m titles, three consecutive NCAA appearances at 1500m, and an academic-All-American certificate.
• Danny Duffy was a 2007 graduate and was a 3rd Round pick of the Kansas City Royals on his graduation day. Duffy currently pitches for the Kansas City Royals.
• Gabe Lopez is a singer/songwriter/producer in the Los Angeles area who has produced and written for American Idol finalists Jim Verraros and Angela Peel, as well as international stars Triniti and Tyler Hilton. Lopez' debut album was released in 2006.
• George Porter a 1985 graduate held the National Record in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles for 22 years (still #3 all time).^[1]
• Duane Solomon Track and Field athlete
• Dr. William Nelson, a 1972 graduate, is a professor of Old Testament at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he has taught for the past 25 years. Dr. Nelson has served as chaplain for the United States Air Force Reserves since 1993. He has published several entries in the Oxford Companion to the Bible, co-edited an anthology of ancient Near Eastern texts, and is currently working on a commentary on Daniel for the New International Biblical Commentary series.^[2]

References