Irvine High School (Irvine, California)

Infobox School
name= Irvine High School
established= 1975


imagesize=
motto=
motto_translation=
streetaddress= 4321 Walnut Ave
city= Irvine
state= CA
zipcode= 92620
email=
url= [http://www.irvinehigh.org www.irvinehigh.org]
schoolnumber=
schoolboard= Irvine Unified School District
superintendent= Dr. Gwen Gross
trustee=
principal= Monica Colunga
viceprincipal= Samantha Doss, Harry Meader, Keith Tuominen
schooltype= Public Secondary
grades= 9-12
language= English
area=
mascot= Vaquero
teamname=
colors= colorbox|forestgreen|width=64 colorbox|skyblue|width=64 Green and Light Blue
newspaper= El Vaquero
yearbook= Citadel
television= iTV
founded=
enrollment = 1,828
faculty = 76.6 (on FTE basis)
ratio = 23.9
enrollment_as_of= 2005-06

Irvine High School is a public high school located in the city of Irvine in Orange County, California, as part of the Irvine Unified School District.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,828 students and 76.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 23.9. [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3409210&ID=340921000568 Irvine High School] , National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 17, 2007.]

Awards and recognition

During the 1988-89 school year, Irvine High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education [ [http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1290241.php "Irvine: Blue ribbon schools"] , "Orange County Register", September 28, 2006. Accessed December 18, 2007.] [ [http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF)] , United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.] , the highest award an American school can receive. [ [http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17475750&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6 CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department] , "Journal Inquirer", November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."] [Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; "The Washington Post". September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."]

It was named a California Distinguished School by the California State Board of Education in both 1988 and 2007. [ [http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/sr/cs/ap/distingcounty.asp?county=30&submit1=Submit Distinguished School Awards: Award Winners for Orange County] , California State Board of Education. Accessed December 17, 2007.]

Additionally, in 2000 and again in 2006, the Accrediting Commission for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges awarded Irvine High a full six-year term of accreditation under the Pursuing Excellence format.

Irvine High School has also been named a Grammy “Signature Gold” for its instrumental and choral music departments.

One of four comprehensive high schools in the Irvine Unified School District, IHS supports a student enrollment of approximately 1,800.

History

Soon after it opened in 1970, University High School, the first high school in Irvine, began to get too crowded from the influx of residents moving to Irvine's fast-developing housing tracts. The school district had already planned for a second high school to be built on what was then the extreme north side of the city across Walnut Avenue from the Greentree residential tract which was completed in 1973. Dr. Dean Waldfogel was chosen to be the first principal of Irvine High School; Waldfogel selected his faculty of a dozen teachers from a large number of applicants. The fledgling organization accepted its first class of 300 freshmen in September, 1975. Because the high school's buildings were still under construction and not ready for occupation, the new high school was housed in extra classrooms and portable buildings at Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, sharing facilities such as sports, music and the library with the younger students there. The new Irvine High School campus opened its doors in September, 1976, taking in as sophomores the former class of "Rancho" ninth graders as well as a new class of freshmen. Each successive year added another class of freshmen and in September, 1978, the high school finally had all four classes of students. Construction continued on campus during this time, with the theater and the main gym becoming available in 1977 and the aquatic center and football-track field in 1978. The first class graduated in June, 1979.

The campus itself is notable for its architecture. It was designed in the Brutalist architecture style and built largely of tilt up concrete slabs featuring distinctive cast geometric inlays. The shapes and angles of floorplans and design motifs were based on the hexagon. The initial layout of the Humanities building envisioned two or three teachers and their respective students sharing a single open plan hexagonal room, but this quickly proved too distracting. Portable office dividers were placed in a line to define classroom boundaries, but noise was still a problem. After two years of such conditions, walls were erected to close off the large, open hexagons.

The school has developed an acronym of values:
*Integrity: firm adherence to a code of moral values; honesty; incorruptibility.
*Honor Yourself & Others: a keen sense of ethical conduct toward one's self and to the whole community.
*Social Responsibility: acting with empathy and concern towards family, school and the global community.

Noteworthy alumni

*Eric Anderson (1972-), musical theatre actor
*Amanda Beard (1981-), U.S. Olympic Women's swimmer. [Klein, Sarah A. [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/16987261.html?dids=16987261:16987261&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+15%2C+1996&author=SARAH+A.+KLEIN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Conquering+Heroine%3B+Amanda+Beard+Welcomed+Back+After+Olympic+Trial+Swim+Wins&pqatl=google "Conquering Heroine; Amanda Beard Welcomed Back After Olympic Trial Swim Wins"] , "Los Angeles Times", March 15, 1996. Accessed January 15, 2008. "A sign hastily written on notebook paper and held behind Olympic Swim Team member Amanda Beard's back on Thursday said it all: Amanda Beard is Cool. Even though she's just a freshman at Irvine High School and is only 14, she's cool, calm and collected about her two first-place finishes in the Olympic trials. And she's super-cool in the minds of her classmates."]
*Jack DeSena (1987-), Actor on "All That" and ""
*Bob Hamelin (1967-), former Major League Baseball player. [ [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/Bob-Hamelin.shtml Bob Hamelin] , The Baseball Cube. Accessed December 17, 2007.]
*Don Jeffcoat (1975-), Actor/Host of Nickelodeon's "Wild and Crazy Kids"
*Dustin Kensrue (1980-), vocalist/guitar with Thrice
*Jason Lezak (1975-), U.S. Men's Olympic swimmer
*Chris Mandeville, former National Football League player
*Beverly Oden, U.S. Olympic Women's volleyball player
*Elaina Oden, U.S. Olympic Women's volleyball player
*Kim Oden, U.S. Olympic Women's volleyball player
*Jason Peoples, Winner on television show "Average Joe"
*Jimmy Raye, former National Football League player, Front Office
*Teppei Teranishi, guitar with Thrice

References

External links

* [http://www.irvinehigh.org/ Irvine High School website]