| Las Plumas High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 2380 Las Plumas Ave South Oroville Oroville, California Butte, 95966 |
|
| Information | |
| Motto | Home of the Thunderbirds |
| School district | Oroville Union High School District |
| Principal | Daniel Ramos |
| Asst. Principal | Darin Williams |
| Number of students | 2,931 students (2009-10) |
| Campus type | Suburban |
| School Colour(s) | Red, White, and Blue |
| Fight song | Thunderbird Fight Song |
| Mascot | Thunderbird |
| Rival | Oroville High School |
| Newspaper | The Las Plumas Times |
| Yearbook | Legend |
| Website | http://lphs.ouhsd.org |
Las Plumas High School (abbreviated L.P.) is located in the north valley in Oroville, California about seventy miles north of Sacramento, California. The school was established in 1964. Its main sports rival is Oroville High School. The school song used to be AC/DC's "Thunderstruck", but was later changed to the Thunderbird Fight Song.[1]
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The school is situated north of the small farming community of Palermo, located just south of Oroville. Both Table Mountain, and the Sutter Buttes can be seen from the school, as well as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The school has a large, spread out campus that is dominated by open fields in the southern part. In the center of the campus is the quad, where most of the school's activity takes place. The quad is regularly decorated by several clubs, and is maintained by many student organizations, most notable the FFA, who planted many of the quad's flower beds and maintain the new saplings.
The 2008–2009 student population was broken down as follows: 5% American Indian, 16% Asian (mostly Hmong), 12% Hispanic, 4% Black, and 64% White. The ratio of males/females was 52%/48%, and the graduation rate was 81%. For that school year the school had 73 classroom teachers and the ratio of teachers to students was 1:19.[2]
Thirty-six clubs are listed at the school's official website. Those listed include the following: Academic Decathlon, Anime Club, Art Club, ASB, Asian Club, Auto Club, AVID, BSU, California Scholarship Federation, Conflict Manager, Diversified Occupations, Diversity Club, Environmental Club, FBLA, FFA, FHA-HERO, Freshman Class, Friday Night Live, GATE, Gay-Straight Alliance, Gamerz Club, Key Club, Interact Club, Junior Class, Legend Yearbook, Link Crew, MECHA, MESA, Native American Club, NJROTC, Senior Class, Snowboard/Ski club, Sophomore Class.
Las Plumas High has maintained a mock trial team since 1993, and has competed at the state level 14 years. Two different years students were recognized by the Constitution Rights Foundation with outstanding achievement awards at the state level - Benjamin Rodgers for outstanding pretrial in 2005, and Gary Ferdinand for outstanding prosecution witness in 2010.[3]
The school's journalism class also maintains a school newspaper, called the Las Plumas Times, that distributes to their school, as well as several businesses around Oroville, and even some in Marysville, including the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts.
The Las Plumas/Oroville Alliance Marching band is the biggest source of prestige for the Oroville Unified High School District, having consistently placed among the top ten bands in California during the duration of it being under the direction of director Jeff Stratton. In the fall of 2008, the band (called LPO) won nine sweepstakes awards, almost breaking the record for the school. The same school year, the band room's renovation was completed, allowing room for the hundreds of trophies and plaques accumulated over the years. Some of LPO's biggest consistent rivals include Fairfield High School, Armijo, Golden Valley, and Franklin. In the fall of 2009, the Las Plumas/Oroville Alliance marching band was named the third-best in the state by the California Band Directors Association. Normally, the band is judged by members of the Northern California Band Association.
Butte Community College offers comprehensive programs in many fields as well as a college connection program for current seniors. California State University Chico, a four-year university, that offers a full spectrum of curricula, is about a 25-minute drive from the city of Oroville. Furthermore, Oroville is about three hours from the cultural centers of San Francisco and the Bay Area and just about two hours from Reno, Tahoe and Sacramento.
Football, Girls' Volleyball, Boys Basketball, Girls' Basketball, Girls' Softball, Baseball, Boys' Soccer, Girls' Soccer, Wrestling, Boys and Girls' Track and Field, Boys and Girls' Cross Country, Girls' Tennis, Boys' Tennis, Golf. Las Plumas High School's premiere sports are football, basketball, and baseball. The football team is notorious in the community for being excessively unskilled, cited with the fact that crosstown rival Oroville High has held the bell since 2002. The 2011 Football Season looks to change the previous trend with the addition of new coaches on all levels, Varsity Coach: A.J. Cahee, J.V. Head Coach: Doug Holder, and Frosh Head Coach: Tony Reyna. The Las Plumas team has still performed better than Oroville's teams overall, especially considering that the rival team has won only five games since the '07 season. The track and cross country teams have been solid having several state participants over the years.
On October 22, 2010, the Las Plumas varsity team beat the Oroville Tigers 17 to 14. This victory is the first Bell Game victory since 2002, and the first regular season victory since 2007.
The Link Crew program connects upper classmen with freshmen students Link Leaders help freshmen improve student study skills and beneficial academic habits. Activities including tailgate parties and movie nights help freshmen to become more involved in high school life.
The Safe School Ambassadors are students trained to identify potential problems on campus dealing with bullying and mistreatment.
Conflict Managers are students who have been trained to act as a neutral third party to help settle disputes between other students.
On Respect Days up to 100 hundred students are taken out of class for the day and placed together in groups of mixed races, genders, and social affiliations to promote respect for others who are different. Las Plumas High School did not observe Respect Days in the 2009–2010 school year, but may hold more in the future.
The true origins of the Las Plumas Fight song is a mystery. It was created decades ago and fell into disuse, until it was revived by the Associated Student Body in 2008. The song goes as follows:
Fly high you T-birds
Fly up to the sun
Down we go to victory
Now we've got them on the run!
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Soar to the heavens
Send aloft our cry
We will defeat them
We will beat them
Thunderbirds will conquer all!
The Greg Wright Incident refers to a lockdown which took place on September 28, 2007. The lockdown was due to student, Greg Wright who brought a gun to school and held the Drama Class hostage, in the band room. The attack wasn't directed at the Drama Class, but at a rival student who was not on campus at the time. After about 2½ hours, he released the hostages and was taken into custody by Oroville police, and the students were taken to a church across from the school, where they were picked up by their parents.[4]