Mission San Jose High School

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Mission San Jose High School
File:Msjhs pic.gif
Location
Map
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94539

United States
Information
TypePublic
Established1964
PrincipalStuart Kew
Faculty200
Enrollmentapprox. 2100
Color(s)Green, White
MascotWarriors
Information(510) 657-3600
Websitehttp://www.msjhs.org
Mission San Jose High School students on their way to class.

Mission San Jose High School (MSJHS or just MSJ), one of five Fremont, California, USA public high schools, was opened in 1964. The school, located in the district of Mission San Jose, is known for strong academics, sending 95% of its graduates to post-secondary schools.[1]

Campus

Overcrowding

The school has over 2,000 students, which exceeds its design capacity, leading to overcrowding and other problems. Fremont's population has grown from less than 50,000 when the school was built in 1964 to well over 200,000 today. Almost every school in the city has space issues stemming from this population explosion (four of the five high schools in the district have at least 1,500 students), but Mission has been among the most impacted. Even after a significant redistricting by the Fremont Unified School District in the late 1990's, which reassigned much of the Warm Springs area students (mostly from Weibel Elementary School) from Mission to Irvington High School, Mission's enrollment is once again about the same as it was before. A contributing factor is the increased development within the Mission attendance area.

Students

Academics

Mission San Jose students perform well in various state and national tests. The school holds the highest position in the California public high school rankings (not including magnet schools) with an API (Academic Performance Index) of 927 in 2007.[1] A less cited ranking by Newsweek places the school 140th in the United States.[2] The school claims many achievements and honors, among high number (near the top of Bay Area schools) of students earning National Merit Scholarships.[citation needed] The school was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 1987 and 1996.

Mission San Jose also has an outstanding AP program, as shown by its high percentages of students with passing scores of 3 or above. Among large public high schools, Mission has the highest passing rate for both AP Statistics and AP French.[3]

In November 2007, U.S. News and World Report ranked Mission San Jose as the 49th best high school in the nation.[4]

Extracurricular activities

Academic competition

Mission San Jose High School's bell tower

In 2006, Mission San Jose took second at the first Bay Area Regional Science Olympiad. In its first year of Science Olympiad competition, Mission advanced to the 2006 NorCal State Championships at which it placed 7th. In 2007, it took 1st at the regional level and 2nd at the state level.

Mission San Jose also participates in various quiz bowl tournaments around the Bay Area, as well as the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and National Science Bowl. MSJ often qualifies for the national tournaments of both the Ocean Sciences Bowl and the Science Bowl by winning its regional competitions. In 2007, MSJ qualified for both national competitions, placing in the top 16 out of 64 in NSB and 10th out of 25 in NOSB. Due to the fact that these two 2007 national competitions were on the weekend of 28 April, the two teams could not have any overlap of students. However, in 2008, Mission San Jose's Science Bowl team lost to Monte Vista High School at the regional competition, placing third behind Albany High School and Monte Vista, failing to advance to the national competition. However, in that same year, Mission San Jose's National Ocean Science Bowl Team placed first at the regional competition, advancing to the National Competition at Seward, Alaska [[5]].

Mission San Jose's Lincoln-Douglas Debate team (also known as OHSODEF) is a nationally renowned program - in 2004-2005, the team was ranked first in the country.[6] Notable accomplishments for the team include winning the National Tournament of Champions in 2003 and closing out (having two debaters meet in the final round of) the 2004 Fall Classic tournament at the Greenhill School.[7]

Mission San Jose has consistently sent strong teams to the BASIC WonderCup Challenge. MSJ has won the Challenge 4 out of the 6 years the Challenge has existed; three of those wins were in a row (2004-2006).[8] However, MSJ only managed to get 2nd in 2007, losing to Albany High School.

In both 2006 and 2007, Mission San Jose had 14 USA Biology Olympiad semifinalists, 635% higher than the national average by numbers of semifinalists and 350% higher by the ratio of semifinalists to participants (those who did not qualify). In both years, one student advanced to the National finals, an intense 14-day training camp at George Mason University that decides the 4-member USA IBO team.

Mission San Jose's math team has consistently scored among the top in the nation on the American Mathematics Competition, AIME, and USAMO tests. In 2006, Mission San Jose's team produced 2 USAMO qualifiers. In 2005, one student was invited to participate in MOSP. Furthermore, the team won 1st place in the California Math League in 2006, edging out rival Lynbrook High School by one point.[9]

Mission San Jose's Go team has also taken first place at the California High School Go Championships 3 years in a row, beating out Piedmont High School and Monta Vista High School. The chess team has taken 2nd place in the Northern California Chess Championship for three years straight. In 2005, the team tied for 1st at the CalNorthYouthChess regionals.

Athletics

Student activities

Mission San Jose High School building.

Mission has numerous different clubs organized by students. They cover a variety of categories, including board games, sports, volunteering, languages, publications, and academics.

Student Activities are directed by the Associated Student Body, or ASB, comprised of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Activities Coordinator. Elections (with votes from the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) are held annually to determine the new officers for the following school year. ASB Council Meetings meet every Wednesday at lunch to approve checks, pass new clubs, and discuss important announcements. The ASB officers are in the Leadership 2 class, headed by the Student Activities Director, a faculty member of MSJ.

The two major student publications are the Smoke Signal, a formal newspaper which is printed every three weeks, and the Costanoan, the school's full-color yearbook. A lesser known student literary magazine, the Phoenix, also is published by the Phoenix club once a year.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Mission San Jose High School include:

References

  1. ^ Mission San Jose High School :: Fremont, California
  2. ^ Interview with Bill Jager, AP Calculus BC teacher.

External links

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