Mt. Carmel High School (San Diego)

For other schools with the same name, see Mount Carmel High School.

Mt. Carmel High School (MCHS), a California Distinguished High School in 2005, is located in Rancho Penasquitos, a community of San Diego, California. The school belongs to the Poway Unified School District and its mascot is the Sundevil.

The current principal is Tom McCoy. He was previously a principal in Oxnard, California before joining Mt. Carmel for the 2005-2006 school year.

Mt. Carmel High School is both a California Distinguished School Award winner and a National Blue Ribbon School. Historically the school's main rival has been Poway High School; other major rivals include Westview High School and Rancho Bernardo High School.

History

Mt. Carmel High School was built in 1974, with a few classes first held at the neighboring Black Mountain Middle School while the rest of construction finished.

In 1999, the movie Bring It On filmed on campus, with Mt. Carmel's locker room, weight room, and football scoreboard making it onto the big screen. Also, that same year, Mt. Carmel set a record with the largest high school enrollment in California at the time, with over 3,500 students. Enrollment later diminished as a new high school, Westview High School, was built nearby.

Renovation

The school is currently undergoing a major renovation thanks to funds provided by Prop U and funds approved by district voters. Completion of the "Pardon our Dust"-sloganed renovation is expected to be completed by the spring of 2007 which started in the spring of 2004. The theater at the mount is currently the last main building under construction and will be completed in time for the fall school year '07

The instrumental music department

Mt. Carmel's two-time Grammy award-winning band and orchestra is well-known throughout the country. The school's orchestra and wind ensembles are directed by nationally-recognized director Warren Torns. The school's marching and concert bands are led by Garry McPherson and assistant Danielle Bruce. Most recently, the Marching Sundevils performed for the 3rd time in the rainy 2006 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Performing ensembles consistently receive unanimous superior ratings at music festivals throughout southern California. In 2005, Mount Carmel's Music Department hosted the Holiday Bowl High School Band Competition. This season at the Westview, Poway, and Vista Tournament of Bands, the Marching Sundevils took Grand Sweepstakes over the Rancho Bernardo Royal Regiment. In addition, the Marching Sundevils took home Sweepstakes for General Effect, Auxiliary, and Band in the fieldshow competition of the Arcadia Festival of Bands, finishing in 1st Place Combined (parade and fieldshow) for Band and Auxiliary behind the Rancho Bernardo Royal Regiment.

Athletics

Mt. Carmel competes in the Palomar League against Poway High School, Rancho Bernardo High School, Westview High School, Torrey Pines High School, and La Costa Canyon High School. Mt. Carmel has teams for all California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) sports. The most recent CIF titles captured by Mt. Carmel include 2005 wrestling, 2005 girl's swimming, and 2006 and 2007 girl's basketball.

Newspaper

The school newspaper is the Mt. Carmel SUN, a 12 page broadsheet publication. The SUN is distributed free of charge every three weeks to the student body. It has been the recipient of numerous national awards.

Notable alumni

• Billy Beane, General manager, Oakland A's
• Bobby Lee, actor/comedian, MadTV
• Darren Balsley, Pitching coach, San Diego Padres
• Duke Preston, Football Player, Buffalo Bills
• Eric Anthony, Retired baseball player
• Eric Chavez, Third baseman, Oakland A's
• Eric Munson, Baseball player, Houston Astros
• Johnny Jeter, Pro Wrestler [1]
• Jose "JC" Chavez, Radio personality
• Mark Risley, Emmy winning director
• Robyn Villanueva, Chicago Bulls Luvabull [2]
• Steve Cherundolo, Defender, Hannover 96, U.S. National Team (Soccer)
• April Elizabeth Segovia Hoey, Home Coming Queen and Prom Queen Class of 2007

See also

• Primary and secondary schools in San Diego, California

External links

• Mt. Carmel High School official website.
• Mt. Carmel's Alumni class website.
• The Mt. Carmel drumline site.
• The Sun, Mt. Carmel's student newspaper.
• The Mt. Carmel Band Boosters Website.