High Tech High Media Arts

High Tech High Media Arts, often referred to as HTHMA, is a public charter high school in San Diego, California. It is the fourth school in the High Tech High charter schools coalition of schools that attempts to change the way most students in the United States and countries with similar schools are taught. It uses Project Based Learning to teach students. HTHMA teaches grades 9-12 and has approximately 400 students. High Tech High was originally conceived by a group of about 40 civic and high tech industry leaders in San Diego, assembled by the Economic Development Corporation and the Business Roundtable, who met regularly from 1996-1998 to discuss the challenge of finding qualified individuals for the high-tech work force. In particular, members were concerned about the “digital divide” that resulted in low numbers of women and ethnic minority groups entering the fields of math, science, and engineering. Gary Jacobs, Director of Education Programs at Qualcomm, and Kay Davis, Director of the Business Roundtable, were key participants in these discussions.

In late 1998 the group voted to start a charter school and engaged Larry Rosenstock, then President of Price Charities in San Diego, as the founding principal. The founding group was clear about its intent: to create a school where students would be passionate about learning and would acquire the basic skills of work and citizenship. Rosenstock, a former carpentry teacher, lawyer, and high school principal who had recently directed the U.S. Department of Education’s New Urban High School project, brought a vision and a sense of the design principles by which this mission might be accomplished.

From January 1999 to the opening of the Gary & Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High in September 2000, Rosenstock and the founding group, led by Gary Jacobs, worked in tandem. Rosenstock located a site, prepared the charter application, hired staff, and oversaw the development of the program, while Jacobs and the business community took the lead in addressing issues of financing and facilities development.

HTH schools seek teachers with relevant industry experience. For example, Humanities teachers have published professionally or attended professional school such as law school or occasionally medical school. Science teachers are recruited from industries such as engineering and the beef jerky manufacturing sector. Math & Physics instructor Christopher Scott Wakefield moonlighted as a professional "bowler" from 1989 to 1994, before suffering a career-ending ankle injury in the semifinals of the Cleveland Open Pro/Am. He still incorporates bowling into his daily lessons and/or random squabbles at HTHMA. Additionally, Cristina Michel, a recent graduate of HTHMA, is a noted alpaca rider on the Peruvian national team.