Sunny Hills High School

Sunny Hills High School
Established 1959
Type Public
Principal Allen Witten
Faculty 95
Students 2,410
Location Fullerton, California, United States
Campus Suburban
Colors Black and Gold
Athletics 15 sports

Sunny Hills High School (SHHS) is a public high school located in Fullerton, California, USA. Established in 1959, it is part of the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

The campus, consisting mostly of single-story open plan buildings, is situated on 42 acres (170,000 m2) in western Fullerton.[1] SHHS has been an International Baccalaureate World School since 1987, and hosts the largest IB program in California. It has been recognized three times as a California Distinguished School, in 1988, 1994, and 2009, and recognized as one of the top high schools in the United States in the March 30, 1998, March 13, 2000, and June 2003 issues of Newsweek magazine. Sunny Hills High School was also presented the prestigious National Blue Ribbon School Award in 2012.[2] At 284 in the magazine's latest (2007) rankings of public high schools, Sunny Hills remains in the top 0.1 percent of schools in the country. Sunny Hills High School continues to promote academic excellence in all subject areas while also emphasizing diversity on campus.[3] The school contains the Sunny Hills Performing Arts Center, a notable venue in Orange County for classical performances.

Programs

COFA (Conservatory Of Fine Arts)

COFA is a program that provides students a three or four-year pathway or plan focusing on their chosen arts program. Students can apply and enroll for one of the following pathways: instrumental music, choral music, theatre, visual arts or dance. There is also an interdisciplinary pathway for students who would like to have exposure to all of the arts disciplines. In addition to taking classes in their area of study, students must also attend three COFA events per year that are outside of their own courses (i.e., a dance student could attend a theatre performance, band/orchestra concert and choral concert). Students are responsible for keeping evidence of the events they attend. By March 15 of their senior year, students must submit an application to the COFA staff, showing completion of all program requirements. Upon successful completion of the program, COFA students are eligible to receive a "Laureate with Distinction' award and a COFA stole to wear at graduation. COFA is a unique program because it not only gives students a rigorous arts curriculum, but it encourages students to gain knowledge and appreciation for all of the arts programs school-wide.[4]

EPIC (Engineering Pathways through Innovation and Change)

EPIC (Engineering Pathways through Innovation and Change) is an innovative, project-based engineering program that acts as an educational thread, weaving through each level of the high school curriculum and culminating in a capstone activity. Regardless of the pathway chosen (College Preparatory, Honors/Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate), all students will have the opportunity to design, build, test and produce creatively inspired solutions to traditional and abstract engineering problems. Through this model, students will be exposed to design-build competitions, engineering summer programs, industry internships, California State University Fullerton (CSUF) introduction to engineering classes, and local/national engineering projects in addition to their current high school curriculum and the core engineering classes. At the conclusion of the program, students will have received a one-of-a-kind educational experience leading to future successes within the disciplines of engineering.

Upon graduation, all EPIC students successfully meeting the engineering program requirements will receive special distinction at graduation and on their high school diploma. Moreover, EPIC graduates will have developed essential qualities to become successful engineering students and future problem solvers.[5]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Dodero, Tony, "In Fullerton hills, life slows to a trot," Los Angeles Times August 29, 2004.
  2. ↑ Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Sunny Hills High School Profile
  3. ↑ Newsweek, Americas Top Public High Schools 2007
  4. ↑ http://cofa.sunnyhillsart.net/about.html
  5. ↑ http://sunnyhills.net/apps/pages/?uREC_ID=139297&type=d
  6. ↑ Ponsi, Lou (October 6, 2012). "Fullerton to name field after Gary Carter". The Orange County Register. p. Local 5. Retrieved October 6, 2012.

Kathryn Bigelow, Academy Award-winning film director (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker, Point Break, Near Dark)

External links

Coordinates: 33°53′02″N 117°57′14″W / 33.884°N 117.954°W