Laguna Beach High School

Laguna Beach High School is a 4-year public high school located in Laguna Beach, California. It is the only high school in the Laguna Beach Unified School District. It was established in 1934 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and as well as being recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2006.

History

Prior to 1889 no high school existed in Orange County. That year Santa Ana started adding post-eight grade courses to their regular instructional program. By 1892, the Santa Ana High School was formally accredited by the University of California as the county’s first high school. Fullerton was established in 1893, Anaheim in 1898. Still, high school education was not required in California until state legislation in 1919 that mandated that all elementary school districts affiliate with a high school district by September, 1921. Rather than join Santa Ana, the Laguna School District joined with four other elementary school districts to form the Tustin Union High School District. This new high school was located on the site of the current Tustin High School more than 20 miles from Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach finally established a separate high school district in 1933 and on Tuesday, September 11, 1934, Laguna Beach High School opened with an enrollment of 157 students in a new wing constructed as part of the existing Laguna Elementary School facility [1928] . In 1935, the K-5 portion of the school was relocated to a new school built across Park Avenue. North Gym opened in 1935, the 1st floor of the high school Library building opened in 1954 and the 2nd floor Science rooms were added in 1960. Dugger Gym and Guyer Field were added in 1962 and Administration was constructed in 1964 on the site of the old 1908 2-room schoolhouse. Major renovations occurred in 1993 with new classrooms, pool and a facelift. Another major remodel and expansion occurred in 2003-05.

In the past years, 4-year enrollment has varied from a high of 1,103 in 1980-81 to a low of 638 students in 1989-90.

Athletics

Laguna teams were called "The Artists" until recently, when “The Breakers” was adopted by the high school. Laguna Beach already had a reputation as an art colony even before the establishing of the Festival of Arts 1932 and the famous Pageant of the Masters 1935. Civic pride with Laguna’s art community culminated in a student body vote on June 4, 1936 to change the nickname to “Artists” after only 19 months as the Breakers. In 2003, the student body voted to return to the “Breakers” nickname. The Breakers compete in the Orange Coast League in the CIF Southern Section.

Laguna Beach has never had great success in football. The team won the Orange Coast League title in 2006, their first league title in decades, but fell to the bottom of the league in 2007. The football program actually won a lower division football title in 1946. They have amassed an overall record of 303-363-17.

Despite their struggles on the gridiron, Laguna Beach has been successful in other sports.

Boys soccer won CIF-SS titles in 1997, 1998, and 2002. Girls' tennis has amassed 11 Southern Section championships. They had early success in boy's basketball, winning Southern Section titles in 1953 and 1962. In 2004, the Breakers' boys cross country team won the state championship, their first since 1989.

The Laguna Beach location is conducive to success in volleyball, as evidenced by the school winning multiple CIF-SS championships in the sport. The boy's team reached the top in 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983. From 1981 to 1983, the squad had a 69-game winning streak, the longest in CIF-SS history. The Boys are 339-54 in 36 seasons of league play and 72-29 in Section playoffs. Girl's volleyball won titles in 1976, 1991, 1996, 2006 and 2007. The Girls are also 311-40 in 34 seasons of CIF sponsored league play and 84-29 in Section playoffs.

MTV

In 2004, MTV created a reality television show titled , which has aired on MTV for 3 seasons. The show follows the lives of several young Laguna Beach residents as they finish high school and begin the next chapter of their lives. It had a very successful first two seasons and became the second highest rated MTV show. It made regular teenagers Stephen Colletti, Kristin Cavallari, and Lauren Conrad into celebrities. The show was famous for basic high school pranks and living the good life. However, in its third season, the cast from the first two seasons were replaced. Because of negative audience reactions to the new cast, the ratings significantly fell during the show's third season. After the third season flopped, the location of the show changed from Laguna Beach High School to Newport Harbor, a city near Laguna Beach. The show held an entirely new cast and its ratings were higher than the third season of Laguna Beach but not nearly as high as seasons 1 or 2.

Notable Students

*Taylor Hawkins- Drummer for rock band The Foo Fighters
*Kristin Cavallari,starred in the MTV reality show
*Lauren Conrad, starred in the MTV reality show and has her own show, The Hills (TV series). She also has her own clothing line called "The Lauren Conrad Collection".
*Breanna Conrad, starred in MTV reality show . Breanna also has her own clothing line called "Breanna Couture".
*Stephen Colletti, starred in the MTV reality show and also made appearances in One Tree Hill (TV series).
*Multiple members of the cast of MTV's "Laguna Beach"
*Tom Morey - inventor of the modern foam body board "Morey Boogie Board".
*John Pitts - 1st Round NFL draft choice Buffalo Bills 1967 NFL-AFL Draft - NFL player 1967-1975
*Clancy Oliver - NFL player 1969-1973
*Damon Berryhill - Major League Baseball player
*Dain Blanton - Olympian 2000 Gold Medal Beach Volleyball
*Scott Fortune- Olympian 1988 Gold Medal Indoor Volleyball, 1992 Bronze Medal Indoor Volleyball, 1996 Indoor Volleyball
*Dusty Dvorak - Olympian 1984 Gold Medal Indoor Volleyball
*Linda Robertson Hanley - Olympian 1996 Beach Volleyball
*Alicia Leigh Willis- actress
*Joe Francis Producer
*Adam Johnson Volleyball player
*Rick Leach Tennis Pro 1990 Wimbledon Doubles Champion
*Dick Davis - Former head basketball coach UC Irvine , San Diego State
*Colt Brennan NFL Quarterback Washington Redskins
*James Patrick Stewart (actor-All my children)

External links

* [http://www.lagunabeachschools.org/LBHS/ Laguna Beach High School Homepage]