Mission San Jose High School

Mission San Jose High School
Address
41717 Palm Ave. Fremont , California 94539 United States
Coordinates	37°32′40″N 121°56′0″W
Information
Type	Public
Opened	1964
School district	Fremont Unified School District
CEEB code	050970
Principal	Sandra Prairie
Faculty	200
Grades	9 – 12
Enrollment	2,169 students (08-09)
• Grade 9	539 Freshmen
• Grade 10	545 Sophomores
• Grade 11	548 Juniors
• Grade 12	537 Seniors
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Green, Black, and White
Mascot	Mission Man
Team name	Warriors
USNWR ranking	36th (2009)
Newspaper	The Smoke Signal
Yearbook	Costanoan
Feeder schools	Hopkins Junior High School
Information	(510) 657-3600
Website	www.msjhs.org

Mission San Jose High School (abbreviated MSJHS or MSJ), is a public, co-educational, four-year secondary school located in the Mission San Jose district of Fremont, California, USA. It was founded in 1964 and is known for its strong academics, sending 93% of its graduates to post-secondary schools.

Academics

On December 9, 2009, U.S. News and World Report ranked Mission San Jose High as the 36th best high school in the United States.

Mission San Jose has a strong AP program, as demonstrated by the high percentage of students earning passing scores of 3 or above on AP exams. Among large public high schools, Mission has the highest passing rate for both AP Statistics and AP French.

Mission San Jose students also perform well in other state and national tests. The school holds an API (Academic Performance Index) of 931 in 2008. A ranking by Newsweek places the school 140th in the United States.. Recently, Mission was named the 36th best high school in the United States by US News. The school claims many other achievements and honors, among them the high number of students earning National Merit Scholarships. The school was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 1987, 1996, and 2008. In addition, 76% of the students are on the honor roll with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and students' SAT scores are in the top 5% of the nation.In 2010 Mission San Jose High School was ranked the 36th best academic school in the nation, 4th best public high school in the nation and the 2nd best public high school for academics in California.

Extracurricular activities

Academic competitions

Research Symposiums

In 2009, Mission finally had its first ever Intel STS finalist. In 2008, Mission sent two students to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, as they had won Grand Prize at the local San Francisco Bay Area Science Fair. In addition, Mission students have been participating in many other research symposiums, such as the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

Quiz Bowl-style Tournaments

Students have participated in various quiz bowl tournaments, often qualifying for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and National Science Bowl. From 2003 to 2005, MSJ placed in the top 3 at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (runner-up in 2003, champion in 2004, and third place in 2005). In 2005, MSJ achieved its best-ever showing at the National Science Bowl, finishing runner-up to the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Also, later that year, they placed 5th overall.

In 2007, MSJ also made solid showings in both national competitions, placing in the top 16 out of 64 in NSB and 10th out of 25 in NOSB. 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 and 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 and placing second behind Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.

In 2009, Mission San Jose's Ocean Science Bowl team finished fourth in nationals, and its Science Bowl team finished in the top 12 at nationals. Mission San Jose has also sent teams to the HSNCT, the quizbowl national championship. In 2009, they sent two teams to the HSNCT, their A team placing 11th and their B team placing 43rd, out of nearly 200 teams that went to the event.

In 2010, despite missing all of their seniors, Mission San Jose's Quiz Bowl Team A took 11th place nationally. Team B made a strong appearance as well, but did not place.

Speech and Debate

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. 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.[1] However, since the Speech and Debate club was suspended in the 2007-2009 school year, many of the school's debaters have left the school team.

Local (Bay Area) Competitions

In 2006, Mission San Jose took only 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. In 2008, Mission sent 2 teams to the Bay Area Regional Science Olympiad, capturing 1st and 4th place, and at states, the A team captured 4th place, losing out to 3rd place by only 1 point. In 2009, Mission sent 3 teams to the Bay Area Regional, capturing 1st, 5th, and 6th.

Mission San Jose has consistently sent strong teams to the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium 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).[2] MSJ managed to get 2nd in 2007 and 2008, losing to Albany High School.

The school's robotics club has seen some recent successes, with a FIRST Tech Challenge team taking first place at a local regional event. A FIRST Robotics team was organized at the school in 2008 and won an outreach award, and has since grown to include students from other schools in the district.

National Olympiads

When in its prime 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. In 2007 and 2008, Mission settled for second place, whereas in 2009, the team tied for first place with a perfect score with three other schools. [3]

In 2008, Mission San Jose High School had a student qualify for the United States National Physics Olympiad, and in 2009, 2 students, including a sophomore, qualified. Those 2 students later moved on to compete for the US at the International Physics Olympiad, where they both received gold.

Go Tournaments

Mission San Jose's Go team has taken first place at the California High School Go Championships 3 years in a row (2005–2007), beating out Piedmont High School and Monta Vista High School. In 2008, the MSJ go club sent a team of 4 to compete in the ING National School Tournament and won 1st place in the Open Division to become the national champions. In 2009, the club won 2nd place in the Division B Tournament.

Chess Tournaments

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. In 2000, the team took 1st at the State Scholastic Championship.

Athletics

Mission San Jose High School's old bell tower, which was replaced with a less prominent structure similar in design after a section of one of the legs began to deteriorate.

Mission San Jose High School belongs to the Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL), which comprises the five high schools in Fremont as well as James Logan High School and Newark Memorial High School, the only high schools in Union City and Newark, respectively. The MVAL is a league of the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.

Sports at which Mission high-school typically excels at includes badminton (2004-2009 NCS champions), tennis (2004 & 2009 NCS champions), and swimming (League champions for over 26 consecutive years). The Boy's Tennis team became a dominant force in MVAL surrendering only 6 individual matches during the 2008 season, and 4 during the 2009 season. In 2008, the (ninth-seeded) boy's team upset the #1 seeded team Redwood Giants (Larkspur); equally as impressive, the 2008 girl's team (seventh-seeded) upset the San Ramon Valley High School team (second-seed).

In 2009, the Boy's team headed to the NorCal Championships after upsetting both the #2 seeded team from Redwood, but also defeating #1 powerhouse Monte Vista in a rousing come from behind victory at Logan High School. Monte Vista lead 3-1, with MSJ winning the final four sets that were in play, to win 4-3, capping an NCS Championship. The following fall, the girl's team set an impressive record as well, with an undefeated 84-0 league individual record, 1st place in the MVAL team tournament, 1st and 3rd place in the MVAL singles tournament, and a clean doubles sweep in the MVAL doubles tournament. The previously number two seeded 2009 Girl's Tennis Team went on to the NorCal Championships after they placed first in Division 1 NCS, upsetting the number one seed, Foothill High School, at Golden Gate Park.

In recent years the Mission water polo team has come out very strong. In the 2008 season, the Water Polo team has won the MVAL Tournament.

Mission's volleyball program has increased in strength in recent years. In 2009, the Mission Girl's Volleyball team, composed of 9 juniors and 3 sophomores, won the MVAL league championship with a 11-1 record, losing only to Logan High School. In the 2009-2010 season, Mission Girls Volleyball headed up to second round North Coast Sectionals. In 2009, the Mission Boy's Volleyball team seized the MVAL league championship with a 12-0 season and scored 2nd place in Division 1 NCS. In the 2009-2010 season, MSJ Boys Volleyball went up to North Coast Sectionals first round.

Mission San Jose has also traditionally fielded a strong wrestling program, often placing at the top of the team standings in the North Coast Section Tournament. Mission hosts its own tournament towards the end of the season, generally considered to be the toughest wrestling tournament in the North Coast Section, and is often seen as a predecessor to the standings of the NCS tournament for each weight class.

Historically, Mission San Jose High School has been known for its strong football teams. In the 1978 football season, the team was the first in MVAL history to win the North Coast Section 4A Varsity Football Championship going undefeated 12-0. They were coached by Jim Randall and led by the record breaking running back Michael Carnell, who rushed for a record 2,364 yards and 44 [4] touchdowns in one season. The Warriors also produced former SF 49er and Super Bowl XXIX Champion Gary Plummer. Weaver, Mike (1987-12-09). "Ex-Mission star tries to break into NFL". San Jose Mercury News * The Weekly. pp. 14 -. Staff, Writer (1977-11-07). "Faces In The Crowd / Mike Carnell". Sports Illustrated. p. 93.

However, in recent years the performance of Mission's football teams has fallen. In 2002, the team was disbanded due to lack of interest, but was reformed the following year and in 2005, it won their homecoming game. In the recent 2008 football season, the freshman football team won its first game in 4 years. The game was won against Santa Theresa High School by a score of 7-6. Now, the JV team of 2010, the same team that won against Santa Theresa High School, is looking somewhat promising. The 2009 Freshman football team beat Irvington High School 32-0, but only during preseason.

Mission's Winter Guard team recently won Champion status in the 2006 Novice Division competition against fifteen other Guard Units at Del Oro. The baseball program enjoyed a run of success in the late '80s through the mid '90s, but has seen a lack of interest recently. Johnny Abrego, Greg Moore, and Bobby Hill are former Mission San Jose baseball players who have enjoyed professional success. Abrego and Hill played a number of years within the Chicago Cubs organization, while Moore played with the Anaheim Angels and Colorado Rockies.

More recently, however, the freshman (class of '13) football and baseball teams have consistently placed high in their leagues. The freshman football team has placed an outstanding record against other teams in the Tri-Valley district, despite their mercurial loss of 45-0 against American High. Nonetheless, the baseball team is receiving praise for placing top in many of its respective games, with an amenable 17-2 seasonal record.

The school colors are green and white and the mascot is the warrior. Its logo was the Mission Peak (a mountain easily visible from campus) until recently when a new warrior logo was designed and implemented by student vote. The school's previous logo was a feathered arrow, but this was changed in the mid-1990s in response to controversies surrounding the use of Native American mascots and symbols by American schools. Currently, the school designates the "Mission Man" as a mascot.

Student activities

Mission San Jose High School building.

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

Student Activities are directed by the Associated Student Body, or ASB, Council, composed 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. The ASB Council meets every Wednesday at lunch to approve checks, pass new clubs, and discuss important announcements.

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

Students

Demographics

As of the 2005-2006 school year, 75% of the students were Asian American, 20% were European American, and 5% were other races.

Campus

Mission San Jose High School students on their way to class.

Campus Design

Mission has a somewhat unique and spacious campus design. Built in the 1960s, the campus was designed for about 1,600 to 1,800 students and has eight wings and a main office. B-wing classrooms are typically for the math and social science department, and the C-wing is primarily for the science department. The main auditorium, C-120, is part of the C-wing. The English and fine arts departments are located in the E-wing.

The G-wing includes the large and small gyms, the boys and girls locker rooms, swimming pool, and weight training room. Likewise, L-wing is the library section. Located just across from the main office, it also includes the copy center and other rooms.

The drama and foreign language classes are found in the M-wing. N-wing classrooms typically hold the freshman classes (i.e. health, geography, etc.), but the culinary arts classroom, foreign language classrooms, and some English classes are found there.

The P-wing is composed entirely of portable buildings. As of 2009, it includes 13 portables. It is likely that more portables will be added later on, to accommodate the increasing population.

Overcrowding

The school has over 2,000 students, exceeding its design capacity and resulting in overcrowding and many other major 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 1990s, which reassigned much of the Warm Springs area students (mostly from Weibel Elementary School, causing significant unrest in the community) from Mission to Irvington High School, Mission's enrollment is once again at about 2000.

In the 2008-2009 school year, construction was started on the school to make new classrooms and a new cafeteria. MSJHS was proposed to become a closed-campus school beginning with the school year 2009-2010; however, due to limited funding as well as statewide and district budget cuts, this is likely to be indefinitely postponed. Furthermore, to accommodate the increase in the student body population, beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, proposals have been made to eliminate small freshmen classes, increase the student-teacher ratio for general classes to 35:1, and increase the student-teacher ratio for PE classes to 50:1.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Mission San Jose High School include:

• Johnny Abrego, former Major League Baseball pitcher. (Class of 1981)
• Consuelo Maria Callahan, Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Judge. (Class of 1968)
• Natali Del Conte, Host of CNET Loaded. (Class of 1996)
• Scott Fisher, former National Basketball League MVP player and coach. (Class of 1981)
• Don Hertzfeldt, Academy Award nominated animator. (Class of 1994)
• Lev Kirshner, San Diego State University men's soccer coach. (Class of 1987)
• Joe Krakoski, former NFL linebacker. (Class of 1981)
• Justin Bieber, NFL placekicker, Free agent. (Class of 2002)
• Gary Plummer, former NFL linebacker. (Class of 1978)
• Dina Ruiz-Eastwood, Television personality and wife of Clint Eastwood. (Class of 1983)
• Kevin Sakuda, Defender/Midfielder of Montreal Impact. (Class of 1998)
• Kevin Tan, 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist for men's team gymnastics. (Class of 2000)
• Kevin Wing, Emmy Award-winning Bay Area television journalist (Class of 1981)
• Louise Wu, Miss Teen Chinatown 2001, Miss Chinatown USA 2006, Miss Asian America 2007-2008. (Class of 2001)
• Kristi Yamaguchi, Olympic Figure Skating gold medalist, Champion of Dancing with the Stars season 6. (Class of 1989)

External links

• Mission San Jose High School website
• ASB Website and Student Portal
• Missionpedia - The Unofficial Mission Wiki
• Costanoan yearbook website
• Phoenix art & literary magazine website
• The Smoke Signal newspaper website