Hilltop Senior High is a four-year public high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Chula Vista, California

Chula Vista, California

Chula Vista is the second largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fourteenth largest city in the State of California, and the seventy seventh largest city in the U.S....

 and is part of the Sweetwater Union High School District

Sweetwater Union High School District

The Sweetwater Union High School District is a school district headquartered in Chula Vista, California. , the school district is the largest secondary school district in California....

 (SUHSD). The school colors are kelly green, white, and black. The school mascot is the "Lancer". Hilltop boasts the magnet program Foreign Language and Global Studies (FLAGS) as well as the Academies of Hospitality and Tourism (H&T), Information Technology (IT) programs, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), Music Technology, Televideo, and Ballet Folklorico.

For the 2007-2008 school year, former Montgomery Middle School principal Ernesto Zamudio took over as principal for Hilltop High School and replaced the retiring Jerry Rindone(video biography) who had served Hilltop since 1997. Rindone is currently serving as a member of the San Diego County Board of Education

Clubs and Associations

Hilltop has many clubs and associations which include: Best Buddies, Girl's League, Humanities, MEChA

MEChA

M.E.Ch.A. is an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action. The acronym of the organization's name is the Spanish word mecha, which means "fuse"...

, Gay-Straight Alliance, Metal (Music), Marine Science, Step (Dancing)

Step dance

Step dance is the generic term for dance styles where the footwork is the most important part of the dance. Body and arm movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.Step dance is one end of a spectrum of dance styles...

, iCrew, Italian, German, Spanish, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), FIRST Robotics

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

FIRST is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields...

, Interact, Chips and Salsa, etc.

Academics

Hilltop is one of the successful schools in the Sweetwater District in its achievements in Academic League and Academic Decathlon competition. In 2000, Hilltop was the first school south of the Interstate 8 freeway to win the San Diego County Academic Decathlon. The Decathlon team won 3 straight county championships from 2000-2002 and won the county title again in 2009. The Academic League team won the county championship in 2000.
Hilltop was named a California Distinguished School

California Distinguished School

A California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately five percent of California schools are awarded this honor each year following a selection...

 in 2005 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

In the 2006-2007 school year, the graduation rate was 93.3%.

Hilltop has the highest number of AP

Advanced Placement Program

The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...

 courses available to all students and the highest AP pass rate out of the entire SUHSD at 72.8%. Since the 1999-2000 school year, there has been a 25% increase in exams taken , a 7% increase in the overall pass rate, and a 30% increase in the total number of students testing.

Athletics

Hilltop Senior High is a member of the CIF San Diego Section and the Metro Mesa League and competes in the following sports:

Fall: cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, women's volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

, women's tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, women's golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, field hockey

Winter: basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, soccer, wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

, cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

Spring: track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, men's volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 and diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, men's tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, men's golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, lacrosse

Bonita Vista High School

Bonita Vista High School

Bonita Vista High School is a public, four year high school located in the city of Chula Vista, California. Bonita Vista High School is one of the few schools that has both the IB and AP programs. It is part of the Sweetwater Union High School District, and currently has about 2,800 students....

, Chula Vista High School

Chula Vista High School

Chula Vista High School in Chula Vista, California, was founded in 1947. It is part of the Sweetwater Union High School District. The school colors are "spartan" blue and white, and the mascot is Sammy Spartan. CVHS underwent a renovation to several classrooms and received a new ASB building in...

 and Castle Park High School

Castle Park High School

Castle Park High School, established in 1963, is a high school in Chula Vista, California. It offers Advanced Placement classes. Along with Bonita Vista High School, it is one of only two schools in the Sweetwater Unified School District that offers International Baccalaureate classes...

 are rival schools. There is more information available at Hilltop Athletics Website

Demographics

In the 2005-2006 school year, the school's Academic Performance Index

Academic Performance Index

The Academic Performance Index is a measurement of academic performance and progress of individual schools in California, United States. It is one of the main components of the Public Schools Accountability Act passed by the California legislature in 1999...

 place it 698 (base) where 800 is the California state goal with a state rank 5 out of 10.

Notable alumni

Name	| Grad Class	| Category	| Best Known For
Joan D. Vinge Joan D. Vinge Joan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...	1963	Literature Literature Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...	Hugo Award-winning Science Fiction Author of The Snow Queen The Snow Queen (novel) The Snow Queen is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Joan D. Vinge, published in 1980. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1981, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1980.... series
Tom Waits Tom Waits Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...	1968	Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...	American singer-songwriter, composer and actor
Cheryl Cox Cheryl Cox -Biography:Cox, daughter of retired United States Navy Officer, John Willett. Cox, and her husband of 30 years, San Diego County Supervisor and former Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox, have two daughters, Elizabeth and Emmie...	1966	Politics Politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...	Mayor of Chula Vista
John Tschogl	1968	Sports	NBA Basketball Player 1972-1975 with Atlanta and Philadelphia
Tommy Hinzo Tommy Hinzo Thomas Lee Hinzo is a former Major League Baseball second baseman who played for two seasons. He played for the Cleveland Indians for 67 games during the 1987 Cleveland Indians season and 18 games during the 1989 Cleveland Indians season.-References:...	1982	Sports	Major League Baseball Player for Cleveland in 1987 and 1989
Bob Natal Bob Natal Robert Marcel Natal is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He is an alumnus of the University of California, San Diego....	1983	Sports	Major League Baseball Catcher for the Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins 1992-1997
Todd Pratt Todd Pratt Todd Alan Pratt is a former Major League Baseball catcher from 1992-2006. He has primarily served as a back-up catcher for most of his career....	1985	Sports	Major League Baseball player from 1992-2006 primarily with Philadelphia and the New York Mets
Charles Adair	1989	Sports	Professional Soccer Player in the USA from 1993-2003 now a coach with Virginia Tech
José Silva	1991	Sports	Major League Pitcher from 1996-2002 primarily with Pittsburgh Pirates
Sal Gallegos	1994	Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...	Drummer for Some Girls
Dean Lister Dean Lister Dean Richard Lister is an American mixed martial artist and a former King of the Cage champion. He currently fights at the Middleweight division after moving down from the Light Heavyweight class...	1994	Sports	3X Abu Dhabi Combat Club Champion and UFC fighter
Mike Jacobs	1998	Sports	Major League First Baseman since 2005 currently a free agent
Charlotte Mayorkas	2001	Sports	LPGA Golfer, Three-time First Team All-American for UCLA
Desiree Davila Desiree Davila Desiree Nicole Davila is an American long-distance track runner.In the Road Running World Championships 2006 in Debrecen she finished in 43rd place and 2007 in Udine in 34th...	2001	Sports	Professional Long-Distance Track Runner, finished second at the Houston Half Marathon
Jenna Presley Jenna Presley Jenna Presley is an American hardcore pornographic actress from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. She started in the porn industry in 2005.- Biography :...	2005	Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...	Adult Film Star
Ayiiia Elizarraras	2005	Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...	cast member of The Real World: Cancun The Real World: Cancun The Real World: Cancun is the twenty-second season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras document their lives and interpersonal relationships. Cancun, Mexico was...

External links

• Hilltop Senior High website
• Hilltop Senior High Athletics website