Established in the fall of 1964, La Reina High School & Middle School is a private, independent Catholic college preparatory high school and middle school for young women in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame of Coesfeld and governed by a Board of Trustees. La Reina incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) organization in 2007; it is financially independent and does not receive financial support from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Western Catholic Education Association.
La Reina High School & Middle School currently serves 450 students in grades 6 through 12 and is recognized in the community as an academic powerhouse. Average class size is 60. Students complete a college preparatory curriculum that is aligned with the standards for admission to the University of California. Of those who applied, the class of 2018 had a 100% acceptance rate to colleges and universities across the United States.
History
La Reina High School is a private Catholic college preparatory junior and senior high school for girls sponsored by the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame, founded in 1850 in Coesfeld, Germany. The Christian education of youth has always been the Congregation's principal apostolic activity.
La Reina was established in the fall of 1964. The school campus is situated on a 40-acre (160,000 m2) parcel of land. The three original buildings were completed between 1964-1967. James Francis Cardinal McIntyre dedicated La Reina on October 15, 1967. The multipurpose building, now consisting of an auditorium-gym, cafeteria, five classrooms, a mock trial room, a computer lab, and nine offices was built in 1986. This building completed the campus, increasing the maximum enrollment from 400 to approximately 620.
La Reina opened a junior high division in the fall of 1973. Junior high students begin a college preparatory curriculum and can take high school courses in foreign language and mathematics.
In 1984, the graduation requirements were revised to reflect the standards for admission to the University of California.
Among a variety of co-curricular activities available are the athletic, Mock Trial, robotics, Academic Decathlon, and Speech & Debate programs. Since 1990, the school's Mock Trial team has won the county competition twenty times, taking the California state championship in 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Their winning streak, spanning from 2011 to 2013, makes La Reina the first team to win the California state championship for three consecutive years in a row. In 2011 and 2012, La Reina's Mock Trial team became the first repeat World Champions after winning the Empire Mock Trial Invitational Tournament in New York City, a highly selective tournament that invites primarily state and national champions from countries all over the world. In 2013, La Reina High School placed second in the nation at the National High School Mock Trial Competition held in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Speech and debate has also been highly successful. In 1987, Jehan Abdel-Gawad won the California State Championship in Original Advocacy, and in 2017, Alanna Cronk won the California State Championship in Original Oratory. In 2015, Elizabeth Pavlath qualified to the NDCA tournament in Lincoln Douglas debate. In 2016, Andrea Chow was in the top 8 Lincoln Douglas debaters at the California State Championship. Emily Aguilar and Elleora Svoboda have both qualified multiple times to Catholic Nationals.
La Reina is National Blue Ribbon school. In addition, La Reina is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and by the Western Catholic Educational Association and holds membership in the National Catholic Education Association.[3]
La Reina has a "sister school" relationship with Crespi Carmelite High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Encino, CA.
In addition to the 100% college acceptance rate, La Reina has an AP pass rate of 91% and $11 million in college scholarships were awarded to the class of 2019.
