Galileo Academy of Science and Technology

SFHStaxobox
seal_

motto="Eppure si muove"
(Italian: "And yet it moves")
establishment=1921
campus=Urban
principal=Vicki Pesek
location= [http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=37.804165~-122.423779&style=o&lvl=1&scene=1146241&sp=adr.Galileo%20High%20School%20%28school%29%2c%20San%20Francisco%2c%20California%2c%20United%20States 1150 Francisco Street]
San Francisco, California
faculty=~100
enrollment=~2300
teams=Galileo Lions
website= [http://www.galileoweb.org Galileo Web]

Galileo Academy of Science and Technology (formerly Galileo High School) is a public secondary school located in San Francisco's Russian Hill and Marina District neighborhoods. The school is a part of the San Francisco Unified School District.

About Galileo

*Galileo Academy of Science & Technology is located in the historic north end of San Francisco, and was originally built in 1921.

*Galileo currently has a staff of more than 120 and serves more than 2,400 students.

*The lion is the official mascot of Galileo. In Latin, Galileo means "Gallic Lion." Thus, in sports and other inter-school activities the team members are known as the Galileo Lions.

*The official school colors are Purple and Gold, although gold was replaced by orange for a period of time.

*The school is commonly known as just "Gal"

*Galileo also has its internal Television Network - G-House TV, which is broadcast by students of the Academy of Information Technology (AoIT). [ [http://www.galileosf.net/machtayaoit Academy of Information Technology] ]

*It is the only Bay Area school with its own observatory which is currently not in use nor under plans for renovation at the moment.

*Galileo is "California's blogging high school." [ [http://thejournal.com/articles/17616_3 Why Blog? : December 2005 : THE Journal ] ]

*Galileo received the 2005 California Distinguished School Award along with the 2005 CTE Award - one of the very few schools that were awarded this.

*The school motto is "Eppure si muove." Italian for "And yet it moves." As the story goes, Galileo was told to deny his scientific findings that the earth moved, or be punished - so he did as he was ordered. But on his way out he mumbled to himself, "And yet it moves."

*Galileo is notable for its rollcall of alumni who achieved fame in their own right. Figures include Joe DiMaggio; NFL wide receiver, Bobby Shaw; "Chinese Playground" author, Bill Lee and movie star, Barbara Bouchet.

*One Galileo alumni, however, achieved notoriety – O.J. Simpson

chedule

Galileo has two regular hour schedules with 7-minute passing period (Monday and Friday at 3:10PM), one early-leave day with 7-minute passing period (Tuesday at 1:00PM, staff until 3:10PM), and two block period days with homeroom and 7-minute passing periods (Wednesdays with 1st, 3rd, and 5th periods; Thursday with 2nd, 4th, and 6th periods and dismiss at 3:10PM).Please note the passing period has been extended from five minutes to seven minutes to aid people so that they can get to the bungalows over at the football field.

History

On December 10, 1920, Major Joseph P. Nourse, who had been actively engaged in educational work in the city for many years, became the first principal of Galileo High School. Throughout the summer, carpenters were busy converting the Red Cross Building, located on Fulton Street near the Civic Center. On August 1, 1921, Galileo High School welcomed its student body into the remodeled facilities. The ceremony of "breaking ground" for the new building occurred on November 4, 1921 ' Dedication of the Van Ness Building took place on March 30, 1924. At the same time, plans were underway for a new wing which would double the capacity of the school.

Back in the 1920s, the Galileo High School building was considered an outstanding example of modern architecture. Planned with the idea of housing one of the best educational institutions in the country, it was equipped to offer the highest type of academic curriculum in addition to training in commercial and technical branches.

During the 1970s, Galileo went through an extensive seismic retrofit where most, if not all, student facilities were moved across the street onto Fort Mason. Before the seismic retrofit, there were rumors that the Galileo campus would permanently be moved onto the Fort Mason site. Though the student population, then, did not indicate whether the move and larger facilities would be justified, the land that Galileo sits on was quite valuable, which could have made the move plausible. It can not be said whether this rumor is true, but can only be verified with the staff and faculty who worked at the school during that time.

Since school year 1995-96, Galileo has transformed itself to the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology. The new program provides students with career pathways and academies. These include the Galileo Health Academy, the Academy of Information Technology (AoIT), Biotechnology Pathway, and the Environmental Science Pathway. In 2006-2007, the Publications Pathway was introduced and new for 2007-2008 are the addition of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism (AoHT) and Digital Photography Pathway. The Chinese Immersion Program is now discontinued.

On September 25, 2007, while some construction workers were digging the courtyard, they found a time capsule which was thought to be lost forever by the Class of 1982. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/26/BAHGSE1IQ.DTL&hw=Galileo+High&sn=001&sc=1000 S.F. Galileo High students uncover soggy memories from class of '82.] ] It was uncovered that day, but was filled with water, as well as a yearbook, a frisbee, a Rubik's Cube, and a Mighty Lion T-Shirt. It was buried shortly after the class of '82 graduated, then, 10 years ago, a search for the time capsule spanning every single square foot of the courtyard turned up nothing. The time capsule is currently stored in one of the closets in the building.

On October 31, 2007, the courtyard reopened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the ASB officers, followed by a celebration and a contest. The courtyard will not fully open until sometime in November, as there are still more maintenance work that needs to be done on the courtyard.

Location

[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1150+Francisco+St,+San+Francisco,+California&spn=0.018819,0.035306&hl=en The school is located at 1150 Francisco Street, San Francisco, CA] ( [http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=37.804165~-122.423779&style=o&lvl=1&scene=1146241&sp=adr.Galileo%20High%20School%20%28school%29%2c%20San%20Francisco%2c%20California%2c%20United%20States Aerial View] )

Galileo is located in the Marina district with nearby bus stops including the 19, 28, 30, 47, 49, and more. Less than half of the students reside near the schoolFact|date=March 2007, but school buses and special 10-Townsend, 30-Stockton and the 47-Van Ness buses are provided by the district for transportation and the Municipal Railway. The 20-Columbus and the 19-Polk also serve nearby, but have no special runs.

Facility

Internal Features

*4-story Western Wing
*5-story Eastern Wing
*Observatory (not freely accessible)
*6 Computer Labs
*Schoolwide surveillance
*2 Gymnasiums
*2 Basketball courts
*Football Field (only half of the field is usable due to construction)

External Features

* Courtyard
* Bay Street Tunnel

Football

Largely due to the fame of former football player and actor O.J. Simpson, Galileo was well known for its football team. Galileo's arch enemy is reputed to be the Eagles of George Washington High School, though the Cardinals of Lowell High School have been a rising challenge.

The football field that dominates the second block of Galileo was formerly named in honor of O.J. Simpson. However, after Simpson's infamous trial in 1995, the football field was subsequently renamed to George White Field. The two twin apartment buildings that face the northern side of the football field are the Fontana buildings. The design of the twin buildings were actually built to echo and magnify the sounds of the football games.

Galileo's Football has gone undefeated three times in the school's history in 1988 the Lions defeated McAteer High School becoming the first football team in San Francisco History to go 12 - 0. The second time was in 1990 and the third was in 2002 when the Lions defeated the Washington Eagles.

Reputation

Galileo was previously known for its bad reputation with low test scores and criminal events occurring in school, but in more recent years it has become one of the most improved school in San Francisco (see Academic Performance Index below). Since the installation of surveillance cameras in 2005, criminal acts at Galileo have declined as a serious issue. Math scores remain one of Galileo's best academic strengths. Galileo's reputation is rising due to its academics, its technology inside the school, and assignment of many incoming freshmen from high-standing middle schools. It has risen to become one of the better schools in the SFUSD.

Notable alumni

* Joe DiMaggio, baseball star, who attended in the early 1930s, class of 1932
* Dario Lodigiani baseball star, class of 1934
* Gino Cimoli, baseball star, class of 1947
* Nini Tornay, baseball star, class of 1947
* Barbara Bouchet, the famous movie star, attended the school in the late 1950s and early 1960s, class of 1962
* Jose Simon, comedian, founder of San Francisco's annual Comedy Day celebration, and Latin rock musician, class of 1962 [Editors (April 23, 2008) [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/23/BA55109VTB.DTL "Jose Simon - founder of Comedy Day in S.F., Latin Rock Pioneer."] San Francisco Chronicle.]
* O. J. Simpson, football star, class of 1965
* Bill Lee, author, class of 1972
* Norman Fong, pastor, class of 1978
* Bobby Shaw, NFL wide receiver, class of 1993
* Andre Nickatina, Famous Bay Area rap artist, class of 1993
* Howard Bach, 2005 Badminton World Championship (Gold Medal), class of 1997

JROTC

Galileo's Army JROTC Battalion is an Honor Unit with Distinction in San Francisco's JROTC Brigade.

Instructors:

*SAI: SFC S.Hardee

Galileo's JROTC has many award winning teams such as:

Fall 2006
*Color Guard (CG) - 1st
*Guidon - 1st
*Squad Drill - 2nd
*Individual Drill Down (IDD) - 3rd
*Drum Corps (DC) - 3rd
*Fall Competition Overall - 1st

Spring 2007
*Flag/Silent Drill Team (SDT) - 3rd
*Drill Platoon (DP) - 2nd
*Exhibition Drill Team (GDT) - 1st
*Raiders - 3rd
*Spring Drill Competition Overall - 1st

Fall 2007
*Color Guard (CG) - 3rd
*Guidon - 1st
*Squad Drill - 3rd
*Individual Drill Down (IDD) -
*Drum Corps (DC) - 1st
*Fall Competition Overall - 1st

Spring 2008
*Flag/Silent Drill Team (SDT) - 4th
*Drill Platoon (DP) - 3rd
*Exhibition Drill team (GDT) -3rd
*Raiders - DNP
*Spring Drill Competition Overall - 4th

The Galileo JROTC is seen often in various parades such as Columbus, Veterans, Lunar, etc. and competes every year in two major SFUSD Brigade Competitions; Fall and Spring Competition.

Academic Performance Index (API)

Comparison By Years (Galileo)

The Academic Performance Index of Galileo High School has since been steadily improving and in the last two years it has risen to become one of the top schools in San Francisco in terms of API scores.

*` [ [http://orb.sfusd.edu/profile/prfl-559.htm SFUSD Profile 2007-08: Galileo HS ] ]

References

ee also

*San Francisco County high schools

Related links

* [http://www.galileoweb.org Galileo Academy Website]
* [http://www.galileosports.com Galileo Sports Website]
* [http://www.galileoalumni.org Galileo Alumni Association]