San Clemente High School (San Clemente, California)

San Clemente High School is a high school located in southern Orange County, California in the town of San Clemente. Located in a historic beach community famous for its climate and surf, San Clemente High’s current attendance boundaries include the City of San Clemente and portions of Capistrano Beach and San Juan Capistrano. The school has an enrollment of approximately 3,150 students. The school was opened in 1964, making it the oldest High School in South Orange County. The first graduating class was the class of 1965. In 1996, San Clemente High was noted as one of the few remaining “small town” high schools in Southern California. In 1999, the school was nominated as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. In 2004 Newsweek Magazine ranked San Clemente High school number 533 out of the 1,000 best high schools in the United States. In 2007, San Clemente High School was ranked number 471 by the magazine. ^[1] San Clemente's Academic Performance Index for the 2006-2007 school year was 784. This was a drop from the score of 802 the prior school year. The school dropped to the lowest API of CUSD's five comprehensive high schools and was the only one to get a lower score in 2006-07 compared to 2005-06.. The school participates in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, Model United Nations, National Honor Society, California Scholarship Federation (CSF), National Merit Scholars, Early Childhood Education Academy, Business Pathway, Automotive Technology Academy, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program. The school offers the following Advanced Placement (AP) Courses: AP Economics (Macro and Micro), AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, IB Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics B, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP European History, AP Art History, AP Spanish Language IV and V, AP French Language IV, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics The school offers the following IB Courses, organized by IB coordinators Mrs. Kathleen Sigafoos and Mr. Patrick Harris: IB literature, IB Math Studies, IB Math Analysis, Theory of Knowledge (TOK), IB Latin American 20th Century, IB Music, IB Music Appreciation

Departments

The school has an award-winning dance team, waterpolo team, and nationally-ranked athletic teams, which include wrestling, football, boys tennis, boys/girls waterpolo and swimteam, girls soccer, girls basketball, girls volleyball, and girls golf. It's home to an Academic Decathlon team, a MACYs Drama Department, and a music department, which includes Concert Band, Concert Orchestra, Marching Band, Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Pete Jackson. It is ranked in the top 1.3% of High Schools nationwide. Also recently the San Clemente JV cheer sqaud won at a National Competition.

Notable alumni

• Rian Johnson, screenwriter and director. Most of his 2006 film Brick were filmed on and around the school grounds.
• Eric Hester, composer
• Jorge Garcia, actor, LOST
• Tiffany Brissette, actress, Small Wonder
• Tessa Keller, star of MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
• Masafumi Kawaguchi
• Sheryl Cameron, Vice President of Small Business loans, JPMorgan Chase.
• Rachel York, Broadway and film Actress, original name was Rachel Lemanski.
• Elliot Rebolledo, Lead Singer of Hardcore Metal Children OF The Black Star.
• Ryan Sheckler, professional skateboarder.

Gallery

The high school logo

The high school football field

Notes

External links

• new school website
• District's SCHS website