Acalanes High School
Encyclopedia
Acalanes High School was the first of several high schools in the Acalanes Union High School District
in Lafayette, California
. It was built in 1940 on what was then a tomato field. The school was built with federal money through the work of the Works Project Administration through the Roosevelt administration
. Lafayette businessman M.H. Stanley suggested the name "Acalanes," likely after a local Native American Bay Miwok
tribe called Saclan, referred to by Spanish missionaries as "Saclanes". The first graduating class of 1941 selected the school colors of blue and white and the mascot, the Don (a Spanish honorary title).
Acalanes academic clubs regularly participate in Bay Area quiz bowl tournaments, including BAAL (Bay Area Academic League). Acalanes also offers Model UN and Academic Decathlon as extracurricular activities. The Acalanes Academic Decathlon team recently won (first place) in the Contra Costa regional meet in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. They took first place in Division III at the 2009 California state competition.
Acalanes established itself as the premier scientific school in the Lamorinda community in 2008, winning the regional science bowl competition at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
. Acalanes finished second in the same competition in 2009.
Acalanes students Blake Marggraff and Matthew Feddersen won the top award (the $75000 Gordon E. Moore award) at Intel's 2011 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for their project, a potential new low-cost cancer treatment using tin particles. Marggraff and Feddersen were members of the class of 2011.
- North Coast Section
- Diablo Foothill Athletic League
The yearbook is the AKLAN. The leadership class runs a student body website, asbdons.org, and issues a monthly communications video with skits announcing upcoming events. On November 13, 2006, a special video was shown as a kick-off to Acalanes diversity week, and featured a short film, Silhouettes, directed by an Acalanes student. Also screened was the documentary, Invisible Children. Popular events during the school year include games, rallies, and weekly activities sponsored by the leadership class. The drama department puts on two plays each year, along with a yearly musical, a collaboration between the chorus and band departments. There are various chorus and band concerts throughout the year.
Acalanes Union High School District
Acalanes Union High School District is a public high school district in southwest/central Contra Costa County in California. It currently has four schools: Acalanes High School in Lafayette, Campolindo High School in Moraga, Las Lomas High School in...
in Lafayette, California
Lafayette, California
Lafayette is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 23,893. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero of the American Revolutionary War...
. It was built in 1940 on what was then a tomato field. The school was built with federal money through the work of the Works Project Administration through the Roosevelt administration
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. Lafayette businessman M.H. Stanley suggested the name "Acalanes," likely after a local Native American Bay Miwok
Bay Miwok
The Bay Miwok were a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who lived in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating population decline, and lost their language as they...
tribe called Saclan, referred to by Spanish missionaries as "Saclanes". The first graduating class of 1941 selected the school colors of blue and white and the mascot, the Don (a Spanish honorary title).
Academics
Acalanes offers a diverse course selection and a number of AP and Honors courses. Among the electives offered are sports medicine, digital design, automechanics, graphic arts, video production, journalism, drama, photography, Mandarin (Chinese), Spanish, French, chorus, band (4 groups), and orchestra.Acalanes academic clubs regularly participate in Bay Area quiz bowl tournaments, including BAAL (Bay Area Academic League). Acalanes also offers Model UN and Academic Decathlon as extracurricular activities. The Acalanes Academic Decathlon team recently won (first place) in the Contra Costa regional meet in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. They took first place in Division III at the 2009 California state competition.
Acalanes established itself as the premier scientific school in the Lamorinda community in 2008, winning the regional science bowl competition at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus...
. Acalanes finished second in the same competition in 2009.
Acalanes students Blake Marggraff and Matthew Feddersen won the top award (the $75000 Gordon E. Moore award) at Intel's 2011 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for their project, a potential new low-cost cancer treatment using tin particles. Marggraff and Feddersen were members of the class of 2011.
Athletics
California Interscholastic FederationCalifornia Interscholastic Federation
The California Interscholastic Federation is the governing body for high school sports in the state of California. It mirrors similar governing bodies in other states; however, it differs from some of the others in that it covers most high schools in the state of California, both public and...
- North Coast Section
North Coast Section
The North Coast Section is a part of the California Interscholastic Federation, governing the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, up along the northern coast of the state of California, from Fremont in the south to Crescent City in the north. It also governs the private schools in the...
- Diablo Foothill Athletic League
- Athletic Director - Randall Takahashi
- Head Football Coach - Mike Ivankovich
- Mens Basketball Coach - Darrell Hirashima Jr
- Women's Basketball Coach - [open position]
- Head XC Coach - Manny Myers
- Head Track and Field Coach - John Crain
- Mens Soccer Coach - Paul Curtis
- Women's Soccer Coach - Tom Ginocchio
- Women's Volleyball Head Coach - Steve Siegmann
- Men's Baseball Head Coach- Justin Santich-Hughes
- Men's Lacrosse Head Coach - Brent Ringwood
- Women's Lacrosse Head Coach - Kelly Jasso
- Cheerleading Head Coach - Natalie Centurioni
- Head Wrestling Coach - Bob Chance
- Head Varsity Women's/Men's Tennis Coach - Brad Reiser
School Life
The award-winning school paper, Blueprint, runs 8 issues each year, publishing approximately every three weeks. Blueprint recently won the American Scholastic Press Association's (ASPA) "Most Outstanding High School Newspaper for 2009" for a student body population of 1001-1700.The yearbook is the AKLAN. The leadership class runs a student body website, asbdons.org, and issues a monthly communications video with skits announcing upcoming events. On November 13, 2006, a special video was shown as a kick-off to Acalanes diversity week, and featured a short film, Silhouettes, directed by an Acalanes student. Also screened was the documentary, Invisible Children. Popular events during the school year include games, rallies, and weekly activities sponsored by the leadership class. The drama department puts on two plays each year, along with a yearly musical, a collaboration between the chorus and band departments. There are various chorus and band concerts throughout the year.
Facilities
Students are issued half-height lockers. The school's library is open from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM daily, with the exception of an 8:40 AM opening on Wednesdays. The campus includes a track, several fields(an astro-turf field, a grass field, and a baseball field), a pool, tennis courts, two gyms, weight room, two quads, and a state-of-the-art performing arts center. Measure E bonds passed in 2008 provided for the complete renovation of the aquatic facilities, which was completed in the summer of 2011.Media coverage
- Acalanes was in the news in 2006 because of the incarcerationIncarcerationIncarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
of Scott DyleskiScott DyleskiScott Edgar Dyleski was convicted of murdering his neighbor, Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent attorney Daniel Horowitz. He received the maximum penalty allowed by the law, life in prison without parole. As a juvenile at the time of the murder he did not qualify for the death penalty...
, the teenager convicted in the murder of Pamela Vitale. - In 1998, 'N Sync'N SyncN Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
performed for the students of Acalanes. - The school made national headlines in 1994 when it proposed a ban on the Rush LimbaughRush LimbaughRush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
Club after an invitation to its namesake to speak on campus. The board of trustees later voted to allow the club. - In 1982, the Dead KennedysDead KennedysDead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
performed for the students of Acalanes. - In 2011, John Kirkland (an Acalanes student) was featured in the Contra Costa Times.
Notable alumni
- Norm Van BrocklinNorm Van BrocklinNorman Mack "Norm" Van Brocklin , nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football player and coach. He was also a first rate punter in college and in the NFL...
- Football Hall of Fame NFL quarterback, Class of 1941 - Philip M. ConditPhilip M. ConditPhilip Murray Condit is an American businessman who was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Boeing company from 1996 to 2003.-Education :...
- Former chairman and CEO of Boeing Corporation, Class of 1959 - Will ForteWill ForteOrville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte , is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002–2010 and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber.-Early life:Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of...
- Actor, writer, comedian, cast member of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Class of 1988 - Peter Hayes – member of the rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle ClubBlack Rebel Motorcycle ClubBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T...
, Class of 1994 - Ross ValoryRoss ValoryRoss Lamont Valory is Journey's noted bass player. He and Neal Schon are the only original members of the band still performing with the group. Aside from his termination from the group during the Raised on Radio album sessions in 1986, Ross has played on all of Journey's albums...
- Bassist for the rock band JourneyJourney (band)Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
, Class of 1967 - Hans-Peter MartinHans-Peter MartinHans-Peter Martin is an Austrian journalist and politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1999.Born in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Martin worked for the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel...
- Member of the European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, Foreign Exchange Student, Class of 1974 - George Lewis MountGeorge MountGeorge Lewis Mount is an American former professional cyclist. Mount was sixth at the 1976 Montreal Olympics road race which launched his professional career and propelled the US into post-war international cycling.American riders were among the world's best at the end of the 19th and the start of...
- Member of the 1976 US Olympic cycling team, Class of 1973 - George Prifold HarrisonGeorge Harrison (swimmer)George Harrison was an American swimmer and olympic champion. He competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he received a gold medal in 4 × 200 m freestyle relay...
- Gold Medalist of 1960, Class of 1957
History
- In the early 1970s the high school had it's own TV Show called "Acalanes Review". It aired on Channel 6 Moraga, CaliforniaMoraga, CaliforniaMoraga is a suburban incorporated town located in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named in honor of Joaquin Moraga, whose grandfather was José Joaquin Moraga, second in command to Juan Bautista de Anza...
. - On November 15, 1982 the Acalanes Radio Club launched a student run radio station called KCEQ. They broadcasted on 100.5 FM over-the-air and 101.7 FM on cable. The station lasted until the end of the 1993-1994 school year.
External links
- http://www.acalanes.k12.ca.us/ahs
- http://www.acalanesboosters.com/
- http://www.asbdons.org
- Google Maps
- Silhouettes
- Invisible Children