Buchanan High School

Dr. Floyd B. Buchanan High School, colloquially called Buchanan High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Clovis Unified School District in Clovis, California. It was founded in 1991 and instructs grades 9-12. Buchanan is part of an expansive educational center, the Buchanan Educational Center, which houses approximately 5,000 students at Garfield Elementary School (K-6), Alta Sierra Intermediate School (7-8), and Buchanan High School with the bulk of the enrollment. The school graduated its first class in the spring of 1995, and is named for Clovis Unified's first district superintendent--who is responsible for the beginnings of the prestigious district--Dr. Floyd B. Buchanan, which makes Buchanan High School the only Clovis Unified high school that doesn't have "Clovis" in its name.

Facilities

Buchanan has a very large campus, it's the largest in all of Clovis High Schools. Buchanan High School is known to be the cleaner high school in all of Clovis and Fresno area, although there have been multiple cases of staph infection connected to their sports teams and gym equipment. With that in said, Buchanan has comprising two two-story buildings joined by the Library, Library Media Center, and the Library Lecture Hall, which house the English, science, mathematics, and social science departments. The school also has a foreign language wing, a business wing, an arts wing (which houses the art department, band room, choir room, dance studio and drama room), a multi-purpose room (usually in the form of a cafeteria, because of this, students are forced to eat outdoors in all weather in the amphitheatre area), two gymnasiums, separate locker rooms, an outdoor swimming pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, and an administration building on the northeast end of the campus. Due to its fast growing enrollment, the issue of parking is fast approaching as more and more sophomores, juniors, and seniors begin driving to school.
Buchanan has many sports facilities including an Olympic-regulation Mondo track that is usually open to the community for jogging as well as a state-of-the-art softball complex which contains five fully-lit and ASA-standard softball diamonds as well as two fully-lit baseball diamonds and one baseball stadium.Fact|date=July 2008 A brand new state-of-the-art weight and training room and a high school football stadium that rivals that of a college stadium-in fact, most of the school's facilities rival many colleges.Fact|date=July 2008 There are several frontage roads that traverse the middle of the center, notably Victory Lane, which has recently been opened to ease the horrendous traffic between 7 and 8 am and 2 and 3 pm when school begins and ends.Fact|date=July 2008

Feeder Patterns

At the start of the 2007-8 school year, when the new Clovis North Educational Center opens, Buchanan's overcrowded enrollment was reduced to the following feeder schools:
*Alta Sierra Intermediate
**Century Elementary
**Dry Creek Elementary
**Garfield Elementary
**Woods Elementary
**Tarpey Elementary

Even after the new boundary changes Buchanan's enrollment will still be very impacted.

Test Scores and Honors

Buchanan High School is a member of the College Board and offers 17 Advanced Placement courses which educate students to take their respective tests (It should be noted that the AP Economics and AP Physics classes educated for all of the economics and physics AP tests.). Buchanan is also accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and is a National Blue Ribbon and California Distinguished School.Fact|date=July 2008 For the 2007-2008 school year, Buchanan High School received a score of 847 Academic Performance Index (API) rating and has a rating of 9 out of 10 at [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ca/736 GreatSchools.net] . The school's mark was exceeded; though even more importantly, rival school Clovis West High earned a lesser score of 845.

Other achievements in the performing arts department include hundreds of awards given to the many choirs, the concert and marching band, the orchestra, and the drama department.Fact|date=July 2008 So far in Clovis Unified history, the Buchanan High School Marching Band is the only high school to be accepted for review to play in nationwide parades such as the Rose Parade and other events.Fact|date=July 2008

Athletics

Buchanan competes in the Central Section of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and has won several titles.Fact|date=July 2008 Its current athletic offerings include Cross Country (Boys and Girls), Volleyball (Boys and Girls), American football, Water Polo (Boys and Girls), Tennis (Boys and Girls), Gymnastics, Golf (Boys and Girls), Basketball (Boys and Girls), Wrestling, Soccer (Boys and Girls), Track, Baseball, Softball, Badminton, and Swimming & Diving (Boys and Girls). Buchanan was awarded "California Athletic High School of the Year" in 05-06.Fact|date=July 2008 The Bears received "Special Mention State School of the Year" by CalHiSports for their athletic success in 07-08.Fact|date=July 2008

Co-Curricular Activities

Buchanan has a very expansive co-curricular program including an award-winning marching band which has won hundreds of awards and trophies in the WBA and Northern California Band Association including an invitation to audition for the Rose Parade in 2008.Fact|date=July 2008 The music program is considered by many to be one of the most comprehensive and disciplined in the Central Vally of California.Fact|date=July 2008 Buchanan H.S., Clovis West H.S., Clovis East H.S., and Clovis H.S. all are considered to have music programs that soar far above the standards and competition of the surrounding area schools.Fact|date=July 2008 Buchanan has also been known for its drum line and color guard and enjoys winter competitions in the SJVCGPR circuit which invites schools from throughout the whole valley and some from other regions of California to compete in a Winter Percussion competition.Fact|date=July 2008 The school's concert band played has also played in Carnegie Hall, as well as taking groups of students to China, Australia, and New Zealand.Fact|date=July 2008 Buchanan's choirs travel extensively and perform all over the country including Florida and New York City. The school also has an award-winning National History Day team, an award-winning robotics team and pep & cheer squads.Fact|date=July 2008 Buchanan has also implemented a groundbreaking new strategy group called the Link Crew that helps to ease the transition for freshman entering from junior high.Fact|date=July 2008

Buchanan has many school-sponsored events such as the Ambiance Fashion Show, in which students model current fashions and donate all of the proceeds to Children's Hospital Central California as well as the Harmony Talent Show which showcases cultural talents and diversity, and the Matt Mueller Memorial Blood Drive, among many other various charities and events.Fact|date=July 2008

In addition, Buchanan High School is also renowned for its nationally recognized Columbia Space Mission, i.e. Columbia Space. This program was started by then AP Calculus BC/Advanced Math Analysis teacher Mr. Esquivel in order to expose students to the wonders of space, as well as to honor the crew members on the Space Shuttle Columbia. In the program, students create an entire mission, from planning experiments to training and selecting astronauts, by themselves. This makes the Columbia Space Mission one of the only student-driven Space simulations in the world, and possibly the only one in the United States. Amongst its many accomplishments, the Columbia Space Mission had a downlink with the International Space Station with Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, making Buchanan High School amongst one of only a select few locations, including world-renowned museums and libraries, to host a downlink this year and the only high school to do so.

Controversy

Buchanan High School, like many other Clovis Unified High Schools, has been often accused of promoting a conformist culture among its students.Fact|date=July 2008 Lacking the major social problems that most high schools in the region faceFact|date=July 2008, the administration has turned to areas such as dress code to strictly enforce. One of the major criticisms of this remains the argument that students are not allowed to fairly express themselves through their personal appearance.Fact|date=July 2008 Buchanan High remains a bit of a phenomenon due to its suburban and middle-upper class location thus allowing the school freedoms not usually enjoyed by other high schools.Fact|date=July 2008

Casualties

Buchanan High gained national media attention in recent years with the deaths of Tony Butterfield, Nathan Hubbard, Jared Hubbard, Jeremiah Baro and Nick Eischen, all Buchanan graduates, the latter to be the 6th death in Operation Iraqi Freedom suffered by Buchanan. In honor of all of Buchanan's fallen soldiers, the nationally-recognized Buchanan Leadership class, as part of a school improvement project, created a memorial garden with donations from the community. A plaque for each fallen soldier commemorates their sacrifices.

Rowen Walter, also a Buchanan High School Graduate,died in Iraq.

Notable Alumni

Buchanan High School has has several notable alumni, mostly athletes. These include: Kevin Chappell, a UCLA golfer, 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Individual Champion, the Jack Nicklaus Collegiate Player of the Year, and recipient of the Arnold Palmer Award, Jason Donald and Rick Merlo members of the 2008 USA Baseball Team to the Beijing Summer Olympics and the 2008 USA Water Polo Team to the Beijing Summer Olympics, respectively. Also, Matt Giordano, a safety of the Indianapolis Colts is a former student of BHS.

Notes

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/story/755269.html
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/aug/HQ_08157_ISS_Educ_Downlink.html

External links

* http://www.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/bhs/