Mt. Carmel High School (San Diego)

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

Mt. Carmel High School, 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 exact address is 9550 Carmel Mountain Road, San Diego, CA 92129-2799 and the phone number is (858) 484-1180. The current principal is Tom McCoy. He was previously a principal in Oxnard, CA before joining Mt. Carmel for the 2005-2006 school year.

Since 1975, the Sundevils have been of great benefit to the small community where they are located. As an example, Palomar Community College holds more evening classes at MCHS than any other satellite campus in their system. Historically the school's main rival has been Poway High School; other major rivals include the newly created 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, this same year, Mt. Carmel set a record with the largest high school enrollment in California at the time, with over 3,500 students. Enrollent 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 by mid 2007 and was started in the spring of 2004.

Mt. Carmel's renovation began sometime towards the end of Poway's; Poway is the oldest school in the district, and Mt. Carmel second.

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.

Athletics

Mt. Carmel is a Division II school competing 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 and has done exceptionally well in CIF championships. The most recent CIF titles captured by Mt. Carmel include 2005 wrestling, 2005 girl's swimming, and 2006 girl's basketball.

Famous alumni

• Billy Beane, General manager, Oakland A's
• Bobby Lee, actor/comedian, MadTV
• Darren Balsley, Pitching coach, Padres
• Eric Anthony, Retired baseball player
• Eric Chavez, Third baseman, Oakland A's
• Eric Munson, Baseball player, Houston Astros
• Steve Cherundolo, Defender, Hannover 96, U.S. National Team (Soccer)
• Mark Risley Emmy winning director

External links

• Mt. Carmel High School official website.
• Mt. Carmel's Alumniclass website.
• The Mt. Carmel drumline site.