Los Alamitos High School

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Los Alamitos High School
Dieu Et Mon Droit
Location
Los Alamitos, California, United States of America
Information
Type Free public
Established 1967
School district Los Alamitos Unified School District (part of the Anaheim Union High School District, 1967–1980)
Principal Dr. Grant Litfin
Number of students 3,245 (2010–2011)[1]
Color(s) Red, white, blue, gold
Mascot Griffin (named Gunther and Gretchen)
Website LAHS School website

Los Alamitos High School (also known as Los Al) is a public school for grades 9 to 12 located in Los Alamitos, California, and also serving the city of Seal Beach and the community of Rossmoor. It is the only traditional high school in the Los Alamitos Unified School District; the far smaller Laurel High School serves as a continuation school and as the district office site.[2] Both Oak Middle School and McAuliffe Middle School feed into Los Alamitos High.

Contents

History

In its very first year, classes were held at Pine Junior High School (now McAuliffe Middle), and only sophomores attended. The following year saw the school move into its new campus whose buildings were specifically designed for Los Al's unique flexible scheduling program (and the addition of juniors, followed by seniors the next year). During its first two years, Los Alamitos High School had a complete flexible schedule program. Student submitted hand-written multi-part daily schedules during their scheduling class. This allowed them to choose from scheduled sessions of their classes for flexible periods of time, depending on the needs of the teachers and students. In the third year, it changed to a computer scheduling program to provide more administrative accountability for the students' whereabouts. This version of flexible scheduling used then-current computer technology to generate daily class schedules based on each instructor's lesson plans. Students would report each morning to their "scheduling class" to receive their daily schedule – broken into a series of "modules". Each teacher would select the needed number of fifteen minute modules to allow for that day's instruction, whether it be a test, a lecture, a lab, etc. In their scheduling class, students could rearrange or fill open modules from the "October" schedule, a listing of available classes. This allowed serious students to make the best use of their schedule to attend classes in a sequence that made more sense for that day.

Los Al's unique flexible scheduling was replaced with a traditional school schedule in 1977 after it was discovered that less disciplined students were abusing the system. For those more dedicated students who leveraged the school's unique scheduling to their advantage, Los Al produced an extraordinary number of early graduates, who went on to succeed in the best universities.

Beginning in Fall 1987, the Orange County High School of the Arts was resident on its campus, but its success and growth led it to move to a bigger campus in Santa Ana in 2001.

Los Alamitos is also known for their fierce rivalry with Esperanza High School.

Principals of Los Alamitos High School:

  • 1967–1968 Wilbur Wheaton
  • 1968–1970 William McKee
  • 1970–1976 Dale Schroeder
  • 1976–1979 Mary Franks
  • 1979–1980 Dale Hughes
  • 1980–1985 (Dr.) Rudy Castruita
  • 1985–1998 Carol Hart
  • 1998 (Int.) Sherry Kropp
  • 1998–2000 Dr. Rebecca Shore
  • 2000 (Int.) Kelly Godfrey
  • 2000–2006 Dan Brooks
  • 2006–2009 Kelly Godfrey
  • 2009– Dr. Grant Litfin[3]

Administration 2011-2012[4]

  • Principal: Dr. Grant Litfin
  • Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics: Melissa Miller
  • Assistant Principal of Curriculum: Dr. Gregg Stone
  • Assistant Principal of Student Services: Phil Bowen
  • Dean of Students: Caroline Hall
  • Activities Director: Jason Farvour
  • Boys' Athletic Director: Richard Smith
  • Girls' Athletic Director: Christopher Vlasic

Extracurricular activities

Athletic programs

Los Al is known for its success in many Varsity sports. The boys Varsity Football team won a CIF Southern Section Div. 3 title in 1991, and Division II titles in 1992 and 1993 (the latter a shared title with Esperanza) and won a Division I championship in 2002, and reached the finals and semi-finals on numerous other occasions, most recently in 2004.[5] The Boys water polo team was also CIF-SS Division II champions in Fall 1999, and 2004 and were CIF-SS Masters champions in 2007.

The boy's Los Al Tennis team won the CIF SS Division I Championship in 2001. Considering the level of competition in tennis in Southern California, this was a most notable accomplishment. It was in CIF Division I semi-finals in 1999 and 2000. From 1995 through 2001 it had a league record of 69–1, an overall record of 128–18 and produced 16 All-Orange County selections. Additionally, 55 players were honored as scholar athletes and went on to play at college level. The team received recognition from the Mayors of the cities of Los Alamitos and Seal Beach for its contribution to positive publicity.

The girl's volleyball team were CIF Southern Section Division IA champions in 2002 and 2004, and won CIF Division I State championships in 2003 2005, and 2006.

Girls soccer won CIF section titles in 1996 (Div. II), 1997 (Div. I) and 2005 (Div. I). The last team was also named the No. 1 team in the nation by Student Sports Magazine. Another indicator of the success of the program was that in 2007 there were 17 Los Al alumni girls playing NCAA Division I soccer.

The Griffin Varsity Boys soccer team won CIF-Southern Section titles in 1991 and 2002. Alums Mike Munoz (2001) and Jonathan Bornstein (2002) have both made MLS rosters (Galaxy and Chivas USA) and Bornstein was not only the MLS 2007 Rookie of the Year but is currently on the US Men's Nationa,l team roster.

The boys Basketball team won CIF Division IA and IAA championships in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Los Al Basketball great Ali Ton holds the assist record at Davidson College

The Los Alamitos High School marching band/entertainment unit took sweepstakes in their division for the first time in 2006, after going undefeated all season. The unit has an award-winning drumline as well as Colorguard.

The LAHS Surf Team took second place over all in ISF State Championships in 2009. Boys Shortboard finished with second place, bodyboard placed third and Girls Longboard finished as State Champions. Los Al finished in third place in 2008 and First place in 2007 and 2006.

In their fourth season of competition, the LAHS Girls Lacrosse team was the undefeated CIF Division I Orange County and Southern Section Champions in 2009 and 2010. Los Al finished the season ranked #4 in the state of California.

LAHS Boys Golf – They have won back to back league championships while setting course records at difficult golf courses. In a win over Newport Harbor this year, the team set the lowest team score there in 7 years.

The Los Alamitos High School Vocal Music Program

The Los Alamitos High School Vocal Music Program boasts five choir groups under the direction of Mr. Moellenkamp (MK)

Winning Choreography possible by: Heather Hoppus (Choreographer) and students hard work!

  • Xtreme : The men's show choir. 1st place champions for 2 consecutive years at SoCal Invitational in San Diego. (2008–2010) Fame LA National Champions
  • Sound FX : The advanced mixed show choir. National Grand Champions in Nashville at the Show Choir Nationals Competition (2010)
  • Soundtrax : The advanced women's show choir. National Grand Champions in Nashville at the Show Choir Nationals Competition (2010)
  • Xpressions : The advanced mixed concert choir which specializes in classical music.
  • Axcent : The beginning women's show choir. 1st place Champions at SoCal Invitational in San Diego, winning about 40 points above the other schools

CIF teams

Note: This list does not include sports which are currently clubs and thus not officially recognized in CIF.

Other school group programs

Academic Accolades

  • United States Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School – 1990, 1994, 1998 (Special Honors in Art Education for 1998)[6]
  • California Department of Education California Distinguished School – 1988, 1994, 1998, 2009[6]
  • California School Boards Association Golden Bell Awards – 1998 (Griffins with a Mission), 2005 (Contemporary Media in the Arts)[6]

Notable alumni

Actors
Sports
Music
Others
Notable Criminals
  • Mikhail Markhasev – Murderer of Bill Cosby's son Ennis Cosby[7]
  • Jeremy Strohmeyer – Murdered 7 year old Sherrice Iverson at the Primmadonna Resort and Casino in Primm, Nevada[8]
  • Daniel Wozniak – Accused of killing and dismembering Samuel Herr, then luring Juri Kibuishi to the victim's apartment, murdering her and making it look as if she had been raped. He was to be married on Friday, May 28, 2010 but is spending time in jail. If convicted, he faces a life sentence without possibility of parole due to the premediated nature of the crimes.[9]
  • Terry Shields- Former Los Alamitos Unified School District bus driver convicted of child molestation and sentenced to 151 years to life in prison.[10]

Bands

References

  1. ^ From the California Department of Education (http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Enrollment/GradeEnr.aspx?cChoice=DistEnrGr2&cYear=2010-11&cSelect=3073924--LOS%20ALAMITOS%20UNIFIED&TheCounty=&cLevel=District&cTopic=Enrollment&myTimeFrame=S&cType=ALL&cGender=B)
  2. ^ http://www.losal.org/lhs/site/default.asp
  3. ^ http://www.losal.org/1463101114192717217/lib/1463101114192717217/Agenda_06-23-09.pdf
  4. ^ http://losal.schoolwires.com/1464201418296143/site/default.asp?1464Nav=%7C&NodeID=122
  5. ^ http://www.localsports.biz/golosal/fb/2007-History.pdf
  6. ^ a b c http://www.losal.org/146310117165917537/site/default.asp
  7. ^ AYRES Jr, B. DRUMMOND (1997-03-15). "Suspect in Cosby Killing 'a Kid Really Hard Beyond His Years'". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/15/us/suspect-in-cosby-killing-a-kid-really-hard-beyond-his-years.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
  8. ^ http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/dsp/specialReports_pc_carden_detail.htm?reportID={58690C5D-9FD8-476F-9581-96E47D2C3EF3}
  9. ^ Esquivel, Paloma; Goffard, Christopher (2010-05-29). "Actor is held in the slaying of a Costa Mesa man, 26, and his tutor". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-costa-mesa-killings-20100529-25,0,2031562.story?page=2. 
  10. ^ http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-bus-molester,0,3387372.story
 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

External links

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