Pioneer High School (San Jose, California)

Pioneer High School
Location
San Jose, CA United States
Coordinates	37°14′51″N 121°52′58″W / 37.2474°N 121.88289°W / 37.2474; -121.88289Coordinates: 37°14′51″N 121°52′58″W / 37.2474°N 121.88289°W / 37.2474; -121.88289
Information
Type	Public secondary
Established	1960
Locale	San Jose Unified School District
Mission Statement	Opening minds Serving the community. Enriching lives.
School Colors	Blue      White      Black (secondary)
Grades	9-12
Number of students	1559
School color(s)	Blue, White & Black
Athletics	Multiple
Mascot	Mustangs
Website	pioneerhigh.org

Pioneer High School is a public high school located in the Blossom Valley district of San Jose, California. It is one of six high schools in the San Jose Unified School District, and is a science magnet school with an interdisciplinary focus on community service and service learning. It was nominated for California Distinguished School awards in 2008, 2006, 2000, and 1996.^[1]

Academics

Pioneer High School is a California Public High School, and therefore has to abide by rules and regulations set forth by the California State Government. Each student has a certain amount of unit requirements under different categories that they must complete in order to graduate. There are a number of accelerated and Advanced Placement classes students can choose from, as well as mock trial and radio broadcasting extra-curricular activities that they can choose to be involved in. The yearbook was a semi-finalist in the year 2006, and in the 2006-2007 school year the yearbook was chosen as the national sample.

Pioneer High School has received 4 California Distinguished School awards (1996,2000, 2006, and 2008), has been awarded the Santa Clara County Top Ten High School award, and has been listed in The Mercury News as a National Service Learning Leader School from 1998-2006. The school's Academic Performance index in 2007 was 801/1000, putting it in the top 20% of schools and classifying it under the "Very High Performing School" category. Pioneer has never failed to achieve the growth goals expected of them under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Service Learning Focus

Pioneer High School focuses on community service and service learning as part of its mission statement. To support this focus, the school requires all sophomore students to participate in a "Sophomore Project", a venture that demands a minimum of 30 hours of community service related to a world problem, in the span of a school year. In most cases, students exceed this amount, sometimes even exceeding a hundred hours, in which case they are presented a Presidential Award for Service.^[2] Many students claim that the Sophomore Project assignment is the most challenging part of attending Pioneer High School.

During their Senior year, students are again given the opportunity to participate in a service learning project when they are introduced to the "Senior Exhibition" assignment. Students may complete multiple hours of personal or community work in order to obtain extra credits. The Senior Exhibition project is not mandatory, but students that complete it are rewarded a graduation cord.^[3]

Athletics

A Pioneer football player running the ball.

Pioneer Mustangs Athletics are generally known for being a strong force within the BVAL league of the Central Coast Section. The Athletic Department, headed by Joe Berticevich, has experienced much success over the past decade. Perhaps the sport Pioneer is most known for is its football team. Pioneer football has achieved multiple winning seasons in the Mount Hamilton division of BVAL over the past decade, and continually competes with private schools of a much higher caliber.^[4] The Mustangs biggest rivals are the Leland Chargers.

Demographics

Pioneer's racial demographics are^[5]

• White(49%)
• Hispanic (30%)
• Asian (12%)
• Black (3%)
• Native American (3%)
• Other (3%)

Notable alumni

• Rob Becker — Playwright (Defending the Caveman).^[6]
• Steve Finn — Philanthropist and former mayor of Los Altos Hills.^[7][8]
• Count Five — 1960's rock band.^[9][10]
• Bryan Kramer — Author and CEO of PureMatter.
• Melanie Martinez — Television and stage actress.
• David E. Osborne — (1966–1969) Author of Reinventing Government and The Coming. Senior advisor in the Clinton administration.^[11][12][13]
• Kevin Pollak — Actor, impressionist, game show host, and comedian.
• Dave Righetti — (1974–1976) Professional baseball player and coach.
• Steve Righetti — (1973–1976) Professional baseball player.^[14]

References

External links

• Official Website
• School Profile