| Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High | |
|---|---|
| North-Eastern end of High Tech High | |
| Address | |
| 2861 Womble Rd. San Diego, California 92106 |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 2000 |
| School district | San Diego Unified School District |
| Dean | Marcus Bell |
| Head of school | Brett Peterson |
| Faculty | 30 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 527 |
| Athletics | cross country, track & field, soccer, softball,surfing, baseball, golf, basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee,water polo and fencing |
| Website | http://www.hightechhigh.org/ |
Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High Charter School, often referred to as High Tech High (HTH), is a public charter high school in San Diego, California. The school is now one of several schools operated under the High Tech High charter schools umbrella organization.
Contents |
Beginning in 1998, forty public and corporate partners, led by current board chair Gary Jacobs, began meeting to discuss the current state of education in San Diego. Faced with a shortage of workers for the locally strong high tech and biotech industries, the group wondered why the local school system wasn't better able to produce more qualified workers. Having given money to the school district in the past and questioning the return on that investment, these local entrepreneurs decided to open a new high school and christened it High Tech High.[1]
Soon thereafter, long time educator Larry Rosenstock was asked to present to this group about different possible governance structures for the school. He then became the founding principal of the school. Rosenstock is now the C.E.O. of the network of schools.
The school was founded in September 2000 with 200 students and currently educates 527 students.
High Tech High occupies a building on the former Navy Training Center in the Point Loma area, which is now known as Liberty Station. The school states that it has an emphasis on project-based learning (most learning comes from multi-subject projects, rather than the more traditional approach, where teachers talk and students listen), real-world connection, personalization, and having a common intellectual mission (no ability grouping). Together with several of the other HTH schools, the school is called the "High Tech High Village", which most students simply call "The Village".
At the High Tech High schools, the method of teaching is based on “project-based learning”, which means that students are given a project which involves working independently or in groups and doing research to complete it. Some classes have projects where grades from different subjects will be all part of the same project.
Projects the students have worked on include designing a human-powered submarine, genetic manipulation, designing a water treatment plant, and a book on the Harlem Renaissance.
All students complete internships in the junior year. These internships are currently a 3 week immersion experience working full-time at various places such as website companies, biotech firms, non profits, and other schools.
The schools are primarily publicly funded. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed a one time gift of $1000 per student when the school opened and has pledged millions of dollars to build more schools following the model over the next four years. Some are already in operation. Financial support to develop the original HTH also came from Gary Jacobs, son of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs. Jacobs also donated almost 9 million dollars in building space for 3 of the schools in the village.
The school is home to one of twenty-two *FIRST Robotics Competition teams in San Diego County. The school's team, named The Holy Cows is a nationally recognized team. In 2009 The Holy Cows won the highest regional award a team can win, the Regional Chairmans Award. Two of the team's mentors have won Woodie Flowers Finalist Awards, the highest personal recognition in FIRST. In their five year history 90% of the team's alumni have gone on to pursue STEM degrees at such schools as Olin, UC Berkely, Harvey Mudd and Rochester Institute of Technology.
The High Tech High cross country team known as the Storm competes in San Diego CIF sanctioned meets and invitationals. They are the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Frontier League champions.
Current team information, rosters and statistics can be found at Athletic.net.
Archived results and information can be found at San Diego Track Magazine.
Although the school has minimal funding for athletics, a water polo team was started in 2009.
The men's soccer is one of High Tech High's most decorated sports, competing in the Frontier League and winning this league in 2008, 2009, 2010 and making appearances in CIF playoffs all three years. They have yet to make it past the first round.
Despite not being officially affiliated or financed by the HTH system, the High Tech High Ultimate Frisbee team has become a regional powerhouse. During the 2008–09 season, the team was undefeated and went on to win the Aztec Bowl, the Southern California Regional Tournament, and the Slopfest VII Tournament held in Northern California. However, many of the team's most experienced players graduated in 2009, and the 2009–10 team worked hard to replace them. The team folded with the rest of the 2008–2009 players graduating after the 2009–2010 season.
Started in 2010, a men's rugby team competes and has both a Junior Varsity and Vasity team.
The program has had over 600 visitors, including US state Governors Gray Davis (CA), Tom Ridge (PA), Bill Owens (CO), and Senator Joe Lieberman, in its first year alone. Other visitors include Peter Yarrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Eli Broad, Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez, and Bill Richardson. On February 15, 2006, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey made an appearance on their education tour.
The central High Tech High Learning organization (with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) has since opened several middle schools and high schools using the original HTH model: