Sunny Hills High School

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Sunny Hills High School
Established 1959
Type Public
Principal Judy Fancher
Faculty 95
Students 2,577
Location Fullerton, California, United States
Campus Suburban
Colors Black and gold
Athletics 15 sports

Sunny Hills High School (SHHS) is a public high school located in Fullerton, California, USA. Established in 1959, it is part of the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

The campus, consisting mostly of single-story open plan buildings, is situated on 42 acres (170,000 m2) in western Fullerton; the quality of public schools in the area has contributed to its relative affluence.[1] SHHS has been an International Baccalaureate World School since 1987, and hosts the largest IB program in California. It has been recognized three times as a California Distinguished School, in 1988, 1994, and 2009, and recognized as one of the top high schools in the United States in March 30, 1998, March 13, 2000, and June 2003 issues of Newsweek magazine.[2] At 284 in the magazine's latest (2007) rankings of public high schools, Sunny Hills remains in the top 1 percent of schools in the country.[3]

Contents

[edit] Enrollment

Enrollment: Using 2009 SHHS records, Sunny Hills High School serves 3210 students—2019 (49.7%) males and 1151 (50.3%) females. Approximately 98 percent of the students come from within the FJUHS District. The ethnic population has remained fairly consistent over the last five years: 61.6% Asian(mostly consisting of Chinese/Korean students), 23.5% White, 9.8% Hispanic, 2% African-American, about 3% Native American, Filipino(mostly) and Pacific Islander(Samoan/Chamorro/etc.), and about 0.01% Indonesians. After the Financial crisis starting from the year of 2007, there is a trend of decreasing Asian-American students enrollment while the enrollment of Hispanic and Whites has slightly increased.

[edit] Conservatory of the Fine Arts

Sunny Hills boasts active performing and visual arts departments complete with a large variety of offerings in Instrumental Music, Vocal Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Dance. Starting in the 2010-2011 school year, Sunny Hills will be home to the new Conservatory of Fine Arts (COFA). The conservatory provides students a 4-year pathway focusing on their chosen arts program.

The Instrumental Music Department houses a complete offering of ensembles which includes orchestra, marching band, symphonic band, concert band, percussion ensemble, jazz band, color guard and winter guard. These award winning ensembles are active throughout Southern California in competitions and festivals.

The Vocal Music Department has a long standing tradition of excellence. The vocal music department offers a full range of courses including women's chorus, men's chorus, women's ensemble and vocal ensemble. The music department also offers a guitar class where students learn music theory and a variety of musical genres through guitar performance.

The Theatre Department offers a comprehensive program that includes Drama I, Drama II, IB Theatre, and Play Production Management. Sunny Hills Theatre is highly active throughout Southern California and enjoys a full schedule of productions throughout the school year. They have won the CETA state competition 6 times and are proud to offer the new comedy improvisation team, "Funny Hillz."

Every spring, these three forces combine to put on the highly regarded musical production. This year's production will be The Wiz, and will show from March 10th - 13th, 2010.

Visit www.sunnyhills.net for more information.

[edit] 2009-2010 Clubs

  • Accolade (Newspaper)
  • American Red Cross
  • Amnesty International
  • Alzheimers Association
  • Future Business Leaders of America
  • Indian Student Association
  • Interact Club (part of Rotary Club)
  • Samuel Olsen aid
  • Aid for the Benefit of Children
  • American Cancer Society
  • Anime Club
  • Bayanihan Filipino Club
  • California Scholarship Federation
  • Chinese Club
  • Computer Club
  • Cultural Club
  • Eco Club
  • Fashion Club
  • Fellowship of Christian Athletes
  • French Club
  • Friday Night Live
  • For Uniting Social Ethnicities
  • Future Farmers of America*
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Harry Potter Club
  • Help Our Community Club
  • Helios (Yearbook)
  • Indian Student Association
  • Interact Club
  • Junior Statesmen of America
  • Key Club
  • Knights Club
  • Korean Culture Club
  • Korean For Fun Club
  • Latin Club
  • Leo Club
  • Math Team
  • Music Appreciation Club
  • Muslim Club
  • National Honor Society
  • Orange County Academic Decathlon
  • Pause for Paws
  • Peer Assistance Leadership
  • RFL (Raising Future Leaders)
  • Sexy Asians Club
  • Spanish Club
  • Sugar 'n Spice
  • Warm Wraps
  • Wushu Club
  • Youth Alive (Christian Club)
  • Peer Conflict Management
  • Gay Straight Alliance

[edit] Notable alumni

Question book-new.svg
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

[edit] Business partnerships

  • Almer SAT
  • DriversED.com
  • ProwlNights Media
  • Sunny Hills Foundation for Education
  • International Baccalaureate
  • Thales/ Raytheon Systems (Fullerton)
  • AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
  • National PTSA

[edit] Notoriety

On June 1, 1995, 1988 Teacher of the Year at Sunny Hills High School, Janet Greene, allegedly tried to kill her former lover Loretta Coller and another woman after breaking into the former lover's Glendora residence and firing at both women while they chatted in the kitchen. Coller died from complications from the gunshot wounds. Coller had been the drama teacher of Sunny Hills High for nearly twenty years. Coller was recovering from loss of her first lover, Diane, from cancer when Greene befriended her. [3]

In December 1992, a group of 5 Sunny Hills students led by ringleader and honor student Robert Chan, the son of a noted physician, planned and carried out the murder of Foothill High School student Stuart Tay. When the full extent of several students' involvement in criminal activity became known, the local Asian community was shocked. This is related to one student of Asian heritage refusing to pass for a number of other Asian students in order to maximize the group's SAT exam scores. The events, people, and circumstances of the murder inspired Justin Lin's 2002 film Better Luck Tomorrow. [4]

In 2004 Portuguese language teacher, Herald Soares' daughter, Lori Hacking (aka: Lori Kay Soares-Hacking) was murdered by her husband Mark Hacking in Salt Lake City, Utah. This event made national headlines due to many unusual lies Mark Hacking created regarding the case. Herald Soares, as well as his ex-wife Thelma Soares( Lori's mother), have both been on staff at the high school. Herald's present wife Jana Johnson Soares, who is thirty years his junior, did her student teaching at Sunny Hills High in 1984-85.

In 2005, a Sunny Hills student was involved in the accidental death of a younger student at Russel D. Parks Junior High.

On January 6, 2008, graduate, David Ragsdale, was arrested for firing six rounds of ammunition into his wife, Kristy Ragsdale. David was a four-year student of Herald Soares' Portuguese Language program. The alleged murder of Kristy Ragsdale ironically also took place in Utah, in a parking lot of a Lehi, LDS (Mormon) Church. The Soares family is also of the LDS Faith. Ragsdale was also a basketball star for the high school and was coached by Gregory Abbott (below). Also due to the murder of his daughter, Herald Soares legislated and helped to see passed in Utah, Lori's Law. As a result, if Ragsdale is found guilty, a former student of Soares will be among the first to receive a minimum of fifteen years as opposed to the previous minimum of only five years. (note Ragsdale plead guilty on 26 Nov 2008 - see: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4910105 )

On May 27, 2008, history teacher and a cross-country coach Gregory Abbott was arrested, charged with possession of a weapon on a school campus and possession of narcotics for sale. According to Fullerton Police, Abbott was arrested following an anonymous call at 10 A.M. the same day, in which the caller claimed "he had purchased drugs from a person he believed to be a teacher at Sunny Hills." While conducting a search of Abbott's car, police found an unloaded shotgun, some prescription drugs and a small amount of marijuana packaged for sale. [5] Abbott was booked into Fullerton City Jail and was released after posting $25,000 bond. After further investigation, the Fullerton Police Department determined that Abbott had been the victim of a set-up by his estranged wife Devon Abbott and an unidentified male accomplice.[6]

On June 6, 2008, at approximately 6:30 am, just weeks after the incident with Gregory Abbot, a note was found taped to a door, stating that there were bombs on campus. The Fullerton Police Department was dispatched to investigate. Meanwhile, students gathered in the Agriculture Department parking lot. After the all clear was given at 8 AM, school continued as usual. The cause of the incident and whether it was a prank or real is still under investigation.

On November 14, 2009, at approximately 10:30 AM, a restroom was set on fire. Since there were classrooms above the restroom, students were to evacuate the second floor. The Fullerton Police Department cleared the situation and classes resumed at approximately 11:00 AM.

On May 11, 2009, class of 2008, Miles Andrew Christensen was found dead after a drunk driving accident with fellow classmate and friend Jared Nobel Berggren. The accident happened eastbound of Coyote Hills off Gilbert in Fullerton, and Christensen, along with another passenger Jacquelyn Ardalan, who attended Troy High School were ejected from the truck after having the roof torn off by a tree, according to authorities. Berggren now faces up to 13 years in prison, with $200,000 bail, on two counts of vehicular manslaughter.

On June 6, 2009, exactly one year after the bomb threat incident in 2008, another one similar to the one that took place last year occurred again at approximately 6:30 AM ('coincidentally' on the day of the school's Physics Boat Races) . And again, the Fullerton Police Department was dispatched to the school to ensure the safety of the students. Students waited outside as the Fullerton Police Department searched the school for any possible threat. Afterwards, the police allowed the students and faculty to resume their classes.

[edit] School rivalries

Sunny Hills' main rival in both Academics and Athletics has been Troy High School, which is also part of the FJUHSD. Throughout the two school's history, Sunny Hills has enjoyed an overall academic ranking advantage up until the 2000s. Sunny Hills is currently revamping its International Baccalaureate program in order to meet new, more stringent IB guidelines. In 2006, the school also implemented engineering classes for the first time. In the past eight years, Sunny Hills and Troy have also been strong rivals in Swimming, Water Polo, Basketball, and Tennis just to include a few. Troy, since 2000, has been gaining a significant Asian population much like Sunny Hills.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dodero, Tony, "In Fullerton hills, life slows to a trot," Los Angeles Times August 29, 2004.
  2. ^ Fullerton Joint Union High School District, Sunny Hills High School Profile
  3. ^ Newsweek, Americas Top Public High Schools 2007
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ News: Set-up teacher: ‘It turned out better than I thought' | teacher, fullerton - OCRegister.com

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Hills_High_School"