Indio High School

Indio High School
Location
81750 Avenue 46, Indio, CA 92201
Coordinates	33°42′47″N 116°14′25″W / 33.71306°N 116.24028°W / 33.71306; -116.24028Coordinates: 33°42′47″N 116°14′25″W / 33.71306°N 116.24028°W / 33.71306; -116.24028
Information
Type	Public
Established	1952
Principal	Rudy Ramirez
Enrollment	2,403
Color(s)	Blue/Red/White
Mascot	Rajah
Information	(760)775-3550
Website	www.ihsrajahs.com

A typical day at Indio High School.

Indio High School is a public high school for grades 9–12. It is located in Indio, California and has a current enrollment of about 2,403 students.^[1] Its mascot is a Rajah (a king or prince in India). The school is part of the Desert Sands Unified School District. Indio High School has one of the largest student pupil populations of any California high school. ^{[citation needed]} It once had a 60-square-mile (160 km²) school boundary area until 1985, but still serves all of Indio, as well parts of La Quinta and accepts intradistrict waivers for Coachella residents. Its feeder schools are Indio Middle School and Jefferson Middle School, which are both located in the city.

History

Indio High School was founded in 1958. Which makes it the third oldest high school in the Coachella Valley. The school newspaper is called Sandscripts.^[2] School graduates continuing their education at college has recently improved to 75 percent in 2006, up from 23 percent in 1995 .^[3] It was the only high school for DSUSD students in the 9th to 12th grade level, until Palm Desert High School opened its doors in 1985/86 and then La Quinta High School in 1994/95 which has a large share of Indio residents who can attend there by school district policy. A new high school, Shadow Hills in the northern half of Indio will decrease the number of students in the 2009/10 school year.^[4] In the 2009/10 school year Desert Sands was decided whether to close the school, at the end of the 2009/10 school year, due to low Standardized Test scores, but that year the scores went up dramatically and instead voted to renovate the school, which was approved. The School was featured in a video for success 101, a course for freshman entering high school to help them transition for middle to high school, freshman student, faculty, and teachers of the 2010/11 school year where followed all school year to see how the class has helped them.^[5] For the 2011/12 school year the school moved from a six-period day schedule to a eight-period A/B Block schedule. This was done to give the student's more electives and also so they have more opportunities to get more credits. On May 1, 2013 at 8:52, there was a fire at the boy's locker room coach office. Firefighter's took out the fire in about a half an hour later.^{[6] [citation needed]} In December of 2013, a student at the high school was confirmed to be a victim of tuberculosis (TB) infection; out of an abundance of caution, all students will be tested before they return from winter break on January 6, 2014, though officials do not believe at the moment that there will be a wider outbreak.^[7]

Renovation

The school has begun renovations in late 2011. Phase I of III started in September.^[8] Phase I officially began on January 28, 2013; which includes a new gym, new performance arts center, science and business center, and a new administration building. The new student parking lot with the new Ed White Memorial Stadium entrance/concession stand will be done by late August in time for the 2013/14 school year. The new Gym will be ready for the 2013/14 high school basketball season. The new student parking lot was partially open (100 parking spots) for the 2013 graduation.

Clubs and Groups

Athletics

Indio High School is in the Desert Valley League which includes Cathedral City, Coachella Valley, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Palm Springs.

Indio High School has won 14 CIF Championships: ^[9]

Notable alumni

• Cameron Crowe, writer and director
• Rigoberto González, writer
• Vanessa Marcil, actress
• Oscar Lua, football player
• Tony Reagins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim General Manager
• Marco Sanchez, actor
• Ed White, football player
• Tom Martin, writer
• Guy Baker, U.S. Olympic Waterpolo Coach,^[10][11]
• Jack Blades, musician
• Debi Derryberry, voice actress
• Josh Homme, musician and record producer

Indio High School in popular culture

Indio High School has been mentioned in the lyrics of songs and has been featured in music videos.

The Desert Sessions song "Winners" contains an audio sample of a man reading out the names from Indio High School. The names listed in the song "Winners" were real Indio High School students. The song "Interpretive Reading," on the same album as "Winners", features a choir singing the school's alma mater song in the background.

There was a hip-hop single titled "Indio Rydaz" on YouTube released by Lil' Tweety, an Indio High School alumni from the class of 2004. ^{[citation needed]}

The musician Michael Aguilar took a photograph of clouds at Indio High School for the cover of his debut album.

In 2012 it was in the inspiration for the rap song "Rajah City" on YouTube by Ray Ray, an Indio High School Alumni from the class of 2012.

References