College Park High School (Pleasant Hill, California)

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College Park High School
Address
201 Viking Drive Pleasant Hill, California 94523-1809
Information
School type	Public High school
Founded	1960
Superintendent	Richard Nicoll
Administrator	Student Services Coordinator: Amy Bush
Principal	Barbara Oaks
Vice principal	Steve Nixon
Vice principal	Irene Keenan
Vice principal	Peter Aloo
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2074 (2007-08)
Language	English
Area	Pleasant Hill, California
Color(s)	Purple and white
Mascot	Falcons
Website	http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/collegepark/

Coordinates: 37°57′54″N 122°04′15″W / 37.965°N 122.07083°W / 37.965; -122.07083^[1]

College Park High School is a public distinguished high school located in Pleasant Hill, California, adjacent to Valley View Middle School and Diablo Valley College. It is part of the Mount Diablo Unified School District.

Contents 1 Athletics 1.1 Budget Cuts in Athletics 2 Academics 3 Famous Alumni 4 References

[edit] Athletics

College Park High School Competes in Division I in the the California Interscholastic Federation's (CIF) North Coast Section (NCS).

The 2008-09 School year marked the beginning of the school's return to the Diablo Valley Athletic League (DVAL).

College Park is known for their successful boys and girls cross country teams. Both teams recently won the 2006 North Coast Championships^{[citation needed]}, and placed 15th (boys) and 16th (girls) at the 2006 California State Championships^{[citation needed]}. The football teams rivals are the Alhambra Bulldogs.^[2]

CPHS's Varsity Football Team won the DFAL football championship in 2006. They went 9-1.^[3]

CPHS's Wrestling team recently won their 2nd consecutive DFAL championship, North Coast Section Team and Dual Titles (2006 and 2007).^{[citation needed]} One wrestler, Matt Zonfrello, placed 5th at the state meet,^{[citation needed]} and the CPHS team placed in the top 20 teams.^{[citation needed]}

CPHS also includes other teams like Water Polo which were finalists for NCS in 2007.^{[citation needed]} Other teams include Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Basketball, Lacrosse, and Cycling.

CPHS Varsity Baseball won their first NCS title in 2008.^{[citation needed]} Led by the pitching of Harmen Sidhu and Casey Goonan, they had a great run and became the first 15 seeded team to win the North Coast Section Title.^{[citation needed]}

CPHS Varsity Boys Volleyball team also won the championship in 2008, beating Cal High.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009 the CPHS Wrestling team won the DVAL League Championship.^{[citation needed]} One wrestler, Dylan Phillipy (09) took 4th place in the state tournament in the 130lb weight class.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Budget Cuts in Athletics

The Falcons were, and are currently plagued by perpetual budget cuts from the Mount Diablo Unified School District. The MDUSD has suspended funding towards schools athletic and academic programs. The return of athletics was in question for the DVAL in 2009, but after deliberation and protest, the district allowed For the 2009-10 academic year, student athletes will have to pay for all of their registration, equipment, and transportation for their respective sports as a result of the budget cuts.

[edit] Academics

CPHS is the only school in the district to use the PCM (Pre-College Math) program. As of the 2007-2008 school year, the PCM program will be dropped from the district, stating that only College Park has succeeded in its use of the program.

CPHS has, in recent years, sent students on to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Yale, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Caltech and many other top-ranked colleges and universities.^{[citation needed]}

CPHS has the top ranked Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) program among high schools in the area.^{[citation needed]}

• Shortly after the massacre at Columbine High School, on April 22, 1999, CPHS was evacuated and a bomb squad called in after a package resembling a bomb exploded on school grounds.^[4]. The culprits to that attack were quickly captured with the aid of students in early May of that year^[5]
• CPHS had an incident in June 2004, where members of the student body were found to have created a website that contained stolen test answers and student-posted homework answers.^{[citation needed]} Much of the Junior class was found to have knowledge of the site, which had existed nearly all year long.^{[citation needed]} Two students as well as a teacher went on to appear on the Dr. Phil^{[citation needed]} show as a result of the incident, gaining College Park national attention for the scandal.

• CPHS also gained national media attention in January 2005 when United States Army recruiters turned the school's quad into a lunchtime shooting range. The event was approved by the school's principal, but he had envisioned a different type of event than what took place.^[6]
• CPHS also had an incident in January 2007, where a student was stabbed with a steak knife in a bathroom. The stabber, 17-year-old Christopher Escover, admitted to stabbing the high school student against whom he said he had a grudge, according to police. The incident prompted a 'lockdown' of the school for a couple of hours. He turned himself in to police several days after the attack, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. However, police misconduct during the initial investigation into the stabbing resulted in the city being sued for $2 million by a falsely accused male student.^[7].
• In the beginning of Spring, 2009, over 300 College Park students gathered outside of the school grounds. The reason for this gathering was to protest the budget cuts, which affected the sports deeply. The protest quickly turned into a riot after the mob left the school grounds and headed towards Sunvalley Mall. Multiple stores were vandalized and students were arrested.^[8].

[edit] Famous Alumni

• Meredith Patterson -- Broadway, TV and Film Actress
• Russ Rohlicek -- pitcher for the minor-leagues Iowa Cubs and Huntsville Stars
• [Cori Alexander] - - Women's Professional Soccer Player and Photographer

[edit] References