Concord High School (Concord, California)

This article is about Concord High School in Concord, California. For others of a similar name, see Concord High School (disambiguation).

Concord High School
File:CHSlogo.png Concord High School Minutemen Logo
Home of the Minutemen
Address
4200 Concord Boulevard Concord, California 94521-1059
Information
School type	Public High school
Founded	1966
Superintendent	Steven Lawrence
Administrator	Student Services Coordinators: Julene MacKinnon, Barnaby Gloger
Principal	Gary McAdam
Vice principal	Hugh Bursch
Vice principal	Megan Thomas
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	1610  (2007-08)
Language	English
Area	144,373 sq ft (13,412.7 m2).
Color(s)	Green and Gold
Mascot	Minutemen
Website	http://www.mdusd.k12.ca.us/concord/

Concord High School is located at 4200 Concord Blvd. in Concord, California, near El Dorado Middle School and Westwood Elementary. As of 2009, the current principal is Dr. Gary McAdam. The school educates nearly 1700 students, and it continues to grow. It is one of the six high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. Concord High School was constructed in 1966 and currently provides 144,373 square feet (13,412.7 m²) of area in permanent structure, including about 70 classrooms, a library, and other structures.

Athletics

Fall

• Football
• Spirit Squad (co-ed)
• Tennis (Girls)
• Volleyball (Girls)
• Water Polo
• Cross Country
• Marching Band
• Auxiliaries
• Golf (Girls)

Winter

• Basketball
• Soccer
• Wrestling
• Winterguard
• Winter percussion

Spring

• Baseball
• Bowling
• Golf (Boys)
• Softball
• Swimming
• Tennis (Boys)
• Track & Field
• Volleyball (Boys)
• Auxiliaries (Training Clinics)

Field of Dreams

The vision of the Field of Dreams Project is to renovate existing, build new, and maintain facilities that will benefit all indoor and outdoor athletic programs and fine arts programs. Field of Dreams led the way for:

• The brand new Concord High football stadium. Opened in autumn 2006, the new stadium features brand new lights, grass, scoreboard, bigger and better bleachers, fencing, goal posts, and renovations and building of stadium bleachers. The Homecoming game of 2006 was the first ever game in the history of Concord High to be played on Concord's own field under its own lights^{[citation needed]}.
• Over the summer of 2006, many improvements were made to the Concord High Gymnasium^{[citation needed]}, including new flooring with artwork and new lighting.
• Concord received brand new tennis courts as a result of a $500,000 project funded by Measure A and Proposition 55^{[citation needed]}. They are currently in use.
• Baseball field improvements, including scoreboard, fencing, wind screen, and many more improvements are being planned^{[citation needed]}.
• Renovated softball field^{[citation needed]} with new scoreboard, fencing, etc.

Minutemen Soccer Program

The Concord High School has an active soccer program. The women's program made it two consecutive years to the North Coast Sections finals in 2005 (defeated by Bishop O'dowd High School) and 2006 (defeated by Campolindo High School). In the 2008 season, the team made it to the NCS playoffs^{[citation needed]} but were eliminated by Las Lomas High School in the quarterfinals.

Minutemen Swimming Program

Brett Lowe made All American 100 breaststroke time with a time of 58.07 seconds^{[citation needed]}.

The 1977 and 1978 teams won the Northern California Championships.

The 1978 boys swim team finished with a third ranking in the United States.

Academics

Concord High offers many course choices to its students, including over 18 AP/Honors courses^{[citation needed]}. Concord offers many foreign languages including Spanish, French, German, and American Sign Language, but due to budget cuts, German and American Sign Language were discontinued.^{[citation needed]}. The school also features a great band program with six different bands. Ladies First, the award-winning^{[citation needed]} advanced women's singing group, is also located at Concord High. Fine Arts classes at Concord include Art, Ceramics, Photography, Creative Writing, Film Study, Video Production, Foods, Drama, Concert Choir, Show Choir, Ladies First, Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Stage Band, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Marching Band^{[citation needed]}. The journalism class currently does not produce any publication due to a lack of participation in the course. But when it did produce, the school newspaper was named "The Patriot". Concord High, in partnership with the Contra Costa County Office of Education and their ROP classes, also has an award winning Robotics Class.

CHS Academy

The CHS Academy is a Health and Human Services California Partnership Academy located on the Concord High School Campus and available for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. Academy students take their core class with the same classmates for the entire school year, but also take some classes with the general Concord High School student population. Students in the Academy form close relationships with each other and with their teachers throughout their years in the program.

Academy curriculum focuses on preparing students for life after high school with an emphasis on the health and human services fields such as medicine, psychology, and social work. Academy Students are automatically enrolled in special elective courses to compliment the focus of the Academy. Sophomores take Career Transitions which focuses on exploring interests and various career fields in the health sector. Juniors take Psychology within the Academy, and in addition to regular classes, attend a Career Explorations class at Diablo Valley College in the spring. Seniors take Sociology, with a focus on looking at modern society in regards to a variety of topics; from homelessness and health issues, to dissecting advertisements in the media. In addition, students in the Academy attend many field trips throughout the year including trips to many local colleges such as UC Davis, Berkeley, the Art Academy, San Francisco state. Students in the Academy also organize the yearly Diversity Conference, blood drives, and donations drives.

The Academy Co-directors are Niko Villars and Mathew Ryan. Other Academy teachers include Jeremy Eklund and John Ballard.

Drama

The drama department at Concord High has greatly improved over the last few years under the direction of Paul Crissey and, notably, was the very first high school in the country to perform the play Zoot Suit. Different levels of drama classes are offered; however, auditions for the productions put on throughout the year are open to all of the school's students. The drama department does three productions a year.

Fall Productions

The fall production is typically a two-act play directed by Crissey and performed in the drama room, typically performed anytime between November to December. Recent productions have been Love, Sex, and the I.R.S, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Animal Farm.

The One-Acts

The One-Acts are a series of four to eight one-act plays that are performed after the school's winter break. The one act plays are an opportunity for students to write and/or direct their own play, excluding the purely-freshman one-act play Crissey directs each year.

Spring Productions

The spring production is generally a musical, directed by Crissey, and performed in the school's multi-use room. Recent productions include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in 2011 and Guys and Dolls in 2010. Notably, the school's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee featured a live score, performed by students in the music department.

Music

Concord High Instrumental Music is an award winning program including Concord High's Marching Band, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemle, Orchestra and Stage Band as well as Percussion, Winter Percussion, Auxiliaries and Winter Guard. The marching band has taken part in the Oakland Holiday Parade, The Broadway Parade of lights and the Hollywood Parade in Pasedena and have competed in various Reviews throughout the area. The Jass Ensemble Has performed At the Todos Santos Tree lighting for the past five years and performs locally at community events such as the yearly fundraiser A night of Jazz" and "Casino night" arount March and April. In 2009, the band program went to the Seattle Music Heritage Festival and took sweepstakes placing first in the jazz band category and first and second in the wind ensemble categories.The Concord High Instrumental Program has gone on several performing trips to Washington DC, Disneyland and Hawaii.

Notable alumni

• Carlos Alazraqui - voice actor; currently plays Deputy Garcia on Reno 911!
• Tom Candiotti - professional baseball player
• Bonnie-Jill Laflin - ex NBA/NFL cheerleader/Model/Actress
• Dave Barr (American football) - professional football player; QB for the University of California
• Jon Weisberg - Ex-bassist of the band From First to Last
• Kurious - Former Adult Actress
• Rick "Boomer" Reger - Professional Mixed Martial Artist; Fighting with Team FightKore & Combat fitness

References

Messy Marv (Rapper)

External links

• Concord High School Official Website
• CHS Athletic Boosters
• CHS Varsity Soccer
• CHS Human Services Academy Blog
• CHS Instrumental Music