Clark Magnet High School

Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School
Established September 1998
Type Public magnet secondary
Principal Douglas Dall
Students 1,074
Grades 9–12
Location Glendale, California, USA
Campus Suburban
Colors Green and white
Mascot Panthers

Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School is located at 4747 New York Avenue La Crescenta, California, USA. The school is managed as a part of the Glendale Unified School District.

History

The school was conceived from the recommendations of the "Vision of the Future" Task Force, created by the Glendale Unified School District to investigate overcrowding at the school district's three comprehensive high schools, Glendale High School, Herbert Hoover and Crescenta Valley. The task force recommended a new magnet school be commissioned, to focus on advanced technologies and the physical and earth sciences. To alleviate overcrowding, Clark Magnet High School accepts students from the attendance of all three comprehensive high schools through a lottery system.

The school uses the former campus of Anderson W. Clark Junior High School. It underwent a US$15,000,000 renovation and opened in September, 1998. The school is bolstered by corporate sponsorships.[1]

About 300 students are enrolled each year. The Class of 2013 accepted 325 students out of 607 applicants, or about 54%.

Academics

Lexus Eco Challenge winners

In 2005, it was designated as a California Distinguished School, an honor bestowed by the California Department of Education to the best schools in the public system, and received the California Exemplary Career Technical Education Program Award.[2] In 2005, it had the top Academic Performance Index (API) ranking of any high school in the Glendale Unified School District. In 2006 it became a National Blue Ribbon School. In addition, five students of the school won the 2010-2011 Lexus Eco Challenge Grand Prize for their analysis of toxins present in lobsters.[3]

In 2012, the advanced engineering class launched and recovered a high-altitude balloon. The balloon, PANTHER-1, reached a height of 103,126 feet. Position and temperature data was transmitted through Automatic Packet Reporting System. The flight lasted 140 minutes and the payload was recovered 75 miles from its launch position. Two cameras were on board. One recorded HD footage, but failed about 30 minutes after launch. The other took still images at 20 second intervals during the entire flight.

Sports

A controversy concerns the school's ability to offer interscholastic sports. The California Interscholastic Federation allows Clark students to attend the local high schools in their area of residence to participate in athletics. These local high schools include Glendale High School (Glendale, California), Herbert Hoover High School (Glendale), and Crescenta Valley High School. However, it has repeatedly said that this right would be revoked if Clark were to begin fielding its own interscholastic teams. Clark Magnet, due to restrictions imposed by the geography of the campus, would be unable to field the full spectrum of athletic activities offered by other High Schools in the Glendale area. As such, the decision has been made by the school's administration, thus far, not to pursue the creation of interscholastic teams.

Even though Clark Magnet is not able to have its own interscholastic athletic teams, it does have Intramural sports. These intramural sports allows students to participate in athletic activities such as basketball, flag football, softball, and volleyball. Students form teams with other fellow students and compete for trophies and medals. The school also hosts other informal athletic activities, such as a mountain biking club.

Demographics

Statistics for 2008-2009 school year

Students by grade

Gender and ethnicity

Gender

Ethnicity

Robotics

FIRST Robotics Team 696 (The Circuit Breakers) is based at Clark. Each year since 2001, members have created functional robots in the six-week time period allotted. With the help of several mentors, the team of high school students has competed at FIRST Robotics regionals in Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. In the 2007 season, after taking finalist in the Los Angeles Regional and winning the San Diego Regional, the team attended the international championships in Atlanta, Georgia for the first time in the team's history.

Mentors

The team is supported by mentors who guide the students in the creation of each year's robot. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena, California, has long been a source of mentors for the team. Other mentors come from local community organizations and businesses and provide the team with machining resources and sponsorship. Parents also mentor the team, and provide guidance through their knowledge of construction, machining, design, and strategy. During the 2010 season, mentor Hannah Goldberg was awarded the Woodie Flowers Award at the San Diego Regional. In the 2015 season, David Black, a Team 696 alumnus from 2002 who became the head mentor of the team in 2011 also received the Woodie Flowers Award during the Ventura Regional, presented by Woodie Flowers himself. The Woodie Flowers Award is presented to one outstanding mentor at each FRC competition.

Notable Alumni

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thejournal.com/articles/14191
  2. ↑ http://www.gusd.net/cgi-bin/schools/schools.idc?site_code=9
  3. ↑ http://www.imakenews.com/parkplacelexus/e_article002079585.cfm?x=b11,0,w

External links