Gahr High School

Richard Gahr High School, often simply known as Gahr High School, is a public high school in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9-12. Gahr High is part of the ABC Unified School District.

Though it has a comparatively small student population at around 1,900, Gahr is known as a very ethnically diverse campus, (located in "the most ethnically diverse place in America", according to a California State University, Northridge study,^[1] as Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Filipino Americans and African Americans together constitute a large majority at more than 70%.^[2] The school's graduation rate is also 16% higher than the county average.^[3]

History

Gahr High School was completed in 1965 as the first high school in both the newly unified ABC Unified School District, and the recently incorporated City of Dairy Valley (the city would be renamed to its current state two years later).^[4] Indeed, the originally proposed name for the school was "Dairy Valley High School". The school was officially named after Richard Gahr, who had served as the school district's Superintendent. During the 1970s, as the student population in Cerritos rapidly grew, Cerritos High School was created for district expansion, and during its construction the latter used part of the Gahr campus.

In 2006 Gahr High School was invited to apply to be a California Distinguished School, and early in 2007, it was readily inspected. Now it has "California Distinguished School" to add to its resume.

Statistics

On campus in June 2007

Student population racial makeup (2006)

California Standardized Testing Rankings for 2006

Data reported are the percent of students achieving at the Proficient or Advanced level (meeting or exceeding the state standards).

^[5]

Expenditure per student for 2002-2003

Data reported in dollars per student is as follows:

Notable alumni

• Bret Barberie (1985) - Major League Baseball player (1991–1996)
• Morris Chestnut (1986) - actor (boyz in the hood)
• Mack, Shane (1981) - Major League Baseball player (1990–1994)
• Kris Medlen (2003) - MLB pitcher for the Atlanta Braves ^{[6] [7]}
• Tom Nieto (1978) - Major League Baseball player (1984–1990)
• Broderick Thompson (1978) - NFL player (1984, 1986 -1996)
• Al Osuna (1983) - Major League Baseball player (1990–1994, 1996)
• Nicolle Payne (1994) - UCLA water polo goalie; Silver medalist in 2000 Sydney Olympics; Bronze medalist in 2004 Athens Olympics.
• Steve Shak (1996) - Pro Soccer player and first round draft pick of MLS Superdraft in 2000, played for the NY Metro-Stars and the Colorado Rapids.
• Jim Zorn (1971) - Seattle Seahawks Quarterback (1976–1987); Head Coach of the Washington Redskins (2008–2009).
• Casper Ware (2008) - NCAA basketball player for the Long Beach State 49ers.
• Louis Sung (2008) - NCAA track and field athlete for the University of Dallas.^[8]

References

External links

• Official web site
• Gahr Marching Gladiators web site
• Gahr High School Athletics
• Gahr High page at Greatschools.net
• School Wise Press school profile

33°52′29″N 118°05′50″W / 33.874696°N 118.097087°W / 33.874696; -118.097087Coordinates: 33°52′29″N 118°05′50″W / 33.874696°N 118.097087°W / 33.874696; -118.097087