Laguna Hills High School

Laguna Hills High School
Address
25401 Paseo de Valencia Laguna Hills, California, 92653 United States
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Hawks Soar Above the Rest
Established	1978
School district	Saddleback Valley Unified School District
Principal	Brian L. Ferguson
Faculty	80
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1,698
Color(s)	Brown and Gold
Mascot	Hawk
Information	(949) 770-5447
Website	Laguna Hills High School

Laguna Hills High School is a public high school located in Laguna Hills, California which serves the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. The school has the smallest student enrollment of the district’s four schools at approximately 1,700 students. The mascot for Laguna Hills is the Hawk, and the official colors are brown and gold. 220 credits are required to graduate from Laguna Hills High School. 89% of LHHS grads are accepted at 2 or 4-year colleges

The innovative programs include the Golden-Bell Award Winning Two-Way Language Immersion Program;^[1] AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination); a four-year Model United Nations program; an interdisciplinary senior humanities program; the renowned International Baccalaurate (IB) program; and a two-period Virtual Enterprise business program.

Recent renovations to the school have brought a new football stadium and second gym, and new science building, a redone theater and library, a new multipurpose room in the center of campus, a new food services building, expansion of the ceramics and arts room, a new video productions class and a massive 4,500 sq ft (420 m²) weight room. Upcoming projects will focus on the locker rooms and the remaining classrooms.

Awards and recognition

LHHS has historically had the highest API scores of the four comprehensive high schools in SVUSD, and had a score of 838 in 2007, 17 points higher than the next highest school and scored 854 in 2008,^[2] one of the top scores in the county^[3]
In Newsweek's list of the top 1,300 high schools, Laguna Hills placed 613 which places it within the top 3% of schools nationwide^[4]
LHHS has been named a National Blue Ribbon School and a California Distinguished School on multiple occasions^[5]

Academics

International Baccalaureate

The International Baccalaureate program at Laguna Hills High School has historically had the highest pass rate for full diploma candidates of the high schools offering the diploma program in SVUSD. In 2007 26 students graduated as full diploma candidates. Competitive and successful Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs have a tradition of engaging honors students in curriculum designed to help them succeed in these rigorous exams.

Performing arts

Laguna Hills High School hosts 5 instrumental music groups including a Symphonic Band, Marching Band, Drumline, String Orchestra, Jazz Ensembles and also their Color guard under the direction of Andrew Julian.
Award winning Nationally ranked Chamber, Treble, and Concert Choirs.

ComedySportz

ComedySportz has become an integral part of the school's drama department as well as student activities. In only its second year, the troupe placed 2nd at the Fullerton Drama Festival under Theater Games.

Model United Nations (MUN)

The LHHSMUN program is headed by campus MUN advisor, Carri Geiger. The secretary-general for the '12-13 school year is Roohi Kumar. The LHHSMUN conference is held every February. It recently held its 21st annual conference on February 20, 2013. The MUN program is campus -wide, as students are permitted to join MUN as part of a class (9th and 10th grades). During 11th and 12th grade, MUN is taken as an elective. It is important to maintain in mind that MUN can be joined and left any year, but leaving in one year and joining in a different year, other than the consecutive, will cause the student to lose whatever standing (novice (first-year) or advanced (2nd year +)) he had and be demoted to novice.

Key Club

Under the supervision of Greg Roberts, Laguna Hills Key Club is one of the largest and the most active club on campus. As of November 2009, there are over 100 active and participating members. Members regularly meet in the Theater every Monday at lunch.

Athletics

LHHS sponsors 17 different varsity sports. Football, Wrestling, Softball, Baseball, Boys and Girls Basketball, Cross Country and Track & Field won the Pacific Coast League championship. Girls Basketball and Wrestling both won CIF titles. Work on the school's new stadium was finished in August 2007 so that games can be played at LHHS rather than in the stadium at nearby Mission Viejo High School. Each student must have completed four semesters of physical education before they graduate.

Wrestling

25 Consecutive league championships^[6]
In 2007 the program won 2 CIF titles (CIF duals and CIF individuals), 2006 CIF Champion; won the 2005 CIF Championship as well, 3 out of the last 5 years with the other two seasons recognized as CIF runners-up.^[7]
Won both the Dual Meet CIF title and the CIF individual title again in 2008
5 wrestlers advanced to the state meet in 2008

Football

6 consecutive league championships ('05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10) to go with 7 previous titles^[8]
CIF titles in 1991, 1997 & 2008
1998 Season had 6 victories vacated by CIF Southern Section. The coaching staff and the athletic director at the time allowed for a transfer player to participate in the 1998 season without filing the proper transfer paper work with the CIF office. This lead to that team going 2-8 on a season where they were predict to be repeat CIF winners.

Girls' basketball

1997 California State Champions
2012 Southern California Champions
2000 CIF Southern Section Champions

- Megan Aaker CIF MVP

2007 CIF Southern Section Champions

- Lauren Engeln CIF MVP

2008 CIF Southern Section Champions

- Lauren Engeln CIF MVP

2012 CIF Southern Section Champions

-Celia Marfone CIF MVP

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Champions
2011, 2012 South Coast League Champions

Soccer

Both the boys and girls team won Pacific Coast League titles on all 3 levels. In 1990, The boys advanced and won the CIF Southern Section Finals defeating Orange High School. The boys have also advanced to the CIF quarterfinal and the girls to the CIF semifinals in 2008. In 2010 the boys advanced to the CIF semifinals while girls made it to the quarterfinals^[9]

Softball

Recent alums Brittany Lastrapes and Rosey Neill played in the NCAA tournament. Elisa Victa made it to Super Regionals. Brittany for the University of Arizona, Rosey for Stanford, and Elisa for North Dakota State. In 2008 the girls repeated as Pacific Coast League champions and made it to the semifinals of CIF ^[10] In 2009 a third straight title was won, and in 2010 the team won it again to make it four in a row.^[10]

Waterpolo

Under the leadership of longtime coach Blake Corbin, LHHS has excelled in its aquatics programs.

Notable alumni

Bre Blair, Actress
Chad Carvin, Olympic swimmer
Tayyiba Haneef, Olympic indoor volleyball silver medalist
Steven Ho, Martial Artist and Stuntman
Eric Reed, Professional soccer player
Natalie Gregory, Child Actress
Aloe Blacc, Singer and Rapper
Rob Refsnyder, professional baseball player
Tara Dakides, Professional Snow Boarder
John Lamb, Minor League Baseball player (drafted in 2008 by Kansas City Royals)