Castro Valley High School is located in the unincorporated suburban community of Castro Valley, California, United States. It is a comprehensive public high school for grades 9 to 12. Named a National Exemplary School in 1984-85 and 1988-89, it was a California Distinguished School in 1987-88, 2000-01, and 2009.
It is part of the Castro Valley Unified School District.
Video Castro Valley High School
Academics
As a comprehensive high school, Castro Valley High School provides a wide variety of course offerings, including advanced, honors, and Advanced Placement courses. Advanced, Honors, and AP courses include Advanced Sophomore English, AP Calculus AB and BC, Honors American Literature, AP Statistics, AP English Literature, AP Computer Science, AP United States History, AP Economics, AP Biology, AP European History, Honors Chemistry, AP Studio Art, AP Chemistry, AP Art History, Honors Physics, Honors Chamber Orchestra, AP Environmental Science, Honors American Sign Language, AP Spanish, AP French, AP German, and AP Japanese.
Castro Valley High is the only high school in the United States to offer Honors American Sign Language.
In 2008, CVHS opened a new, state-of-the-art library that includes computer labs, teaching spaces, study areas, periodicals and an updated book collection.
Students receive a variety of awards for their achievements, including Academic Blocks, Renaissance Program, California Scholarship Federation and Departmental Awards from individual faculty members. At graduation students are ranked for Honors (3.5 - 3.74), High Honors (3.75 - 3.99) and Highest Honors (4.0 and above).
During the 2013-14 school year 313 students took the SAT with a mean Critical Reading score of 533, a mean Math score of 568 and a mean Writing score of 529. During the 2013-14 school year, the ACT was taken by 166 students with a mean score of 25.3 on the composite.
Maps Castro Valley High School
Visual arts and performing arts
Castro Valley High School offers an extensive array of visual art courses that allow students to explore interests, improve skills and learn about career options in arts-related fields. Current course offerings feature a variety of hands-on art experiences and include traditional and digital art options.
During the 2005-2006 school year, the Center for the Arts, a state-of-the-art facility that includes a theater, classrooms and an art gallery, was built on the eastern edge of the campus. The theater hosts productions from CVHS drama classes that showcase professional and amateur performances of music and theater.
CVHS also has a music department, offering vocal classes, orchestra, band and jazz band courses. The CVHS choirs are directed by Laryssa Sadoway. The A Cappella choirs and the Madrigals have placed in the Golden State Choral Festival (Northern California). In 2013, the A Cappella choir won fourth place. In 2014, the Madrigals won 4th place. In 2015, both A Cappella and Madrigals placed, with fifth and third respectively.
The bands and orchestras are under the direction of Steven Hendee.
The Olympian
The Olympian is the student-run newspaper of Castro Valley High School, established in 1958.
The newspaper is distributed through mail to subscribers or through newsstands located around various halls on campus.
The Olympian publishes a total of 12 issues each school year, including two special colored issues. Each year also features a "Homecoming Issue," an "April Fools Issue," and the "Senior Issue." All issues feature news pages, opinion pages, feature pages, a sports page, and an A&E pager. The journalism class writes, edits, and proofs each issue along with its online articles by themselves with assistance from adviser, Matt Johanson.
History
This school was first established in 1956 as the Spartans. Therefore, the first issue of the paper created in 1958 was named The Spartan Scroll. Suggestions for a permanent name were requested from the student body, and The Achean was chosen as the official name for the paper. Achean is Latin for "Greece", and it refers to the people of Greece, similar to how the paper represents the students at Castro Valley High School.
After the mascot of CVHS changed, the title of the newspaper changed along with it. Around the late 1970s, the paper adapted the name of The Olympian.
In the 1950s, the paper was produced as an extracurricular called the Press Club. Eventually, the duty was shifted to students enrolled in the journalism class, and in recent years, the class has been offered as a zero period that starts at 7:05 am.
Awards
Demographics
Student enrollment in the 2014-2015 school year was approximately 2,980 students. Their ethnic makeup was:
- 31% Caucasian
- 27% Asian
- 23% Hispanic/Latino
- 8% African American
- 9.7% Two or more races
- 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
- .3% American Indian or Alaska Native
Sister schools
?????????? Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, Japan , Castro Valley High's Japanese Language program has partnered with ?????????? to be sister schools and also send students from Castro Valley High to Japan for cultural exchange programs allowing students to be with a host family and explore Japan.
Notable alumni
- Christopher Andersen, journalist; former editor of Time and People magazines; No. 1 New York Times bestselling author; Class of 1967
- Jeff Beal, Emmy Award-winning composer
- Amy Berg, TV writer and producer
- Mike Bordin, drummer for Faith No More
- Brodie Brazil, Emmy Award-winning reporter for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area/Comcast SportsNet California; San Jose Sharks sideline reporter
- Cliff Burton, former bassist for Metallica
- Jason Castro, catcher for Minnesota Twins, selected tenth overall in 2008 MLB Draft by Houston Astros
- Randall William Cook, three-time Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, 2001-2003; Class of 1969
- Val Diamond, stage performer; starred in Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco, 1979-2009; Class of 1969
- Ryan Fleck, movie director and screenwriter; Half Nelson, Sugar, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Mississippi Grind; Class of 1994.
- Bob LaPoint, professional water skier; five world slalom titles; Class of 1973
- Kris LaPoint, professional water skier; nine-time National Slalom Champion; Class of 1971.
- Luenell, actress in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
- Rachel Maddow, political commentator and television journalist; host of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show
- Jim Martin, former guitarist for Faith No More
- Mark Mastrov, founder of 24 Hour Fitness; partial owner of NBA's Sacramento Kings; Class of c. 1980
- Lourdes Pangelinan, first female director-general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
- Jonas Rivera, producer of Pixar's 2009 movie Up
- Rick Rodriguez, former professional baseball player (Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and San Francisco Giants)
- Marty Schmidt, mountain climber and guide
- Brad Wellman, MLB player 1982-1989, Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants
References
External links
- Official website
- The Olympian
Source of article : Wikipedia
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