Acalanes High School
Acalanes High School is a public secondary school located in Lafayette, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, within Contra Costa County. Acalanes was the first of four high schools established in the Acalanes Union High School District. It was built in 1940 on what was then a tomato field, using federal government funds with labor provided by the Works Project Administration, the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency introduced by the Roosevelt administration. Lafayette businessman M.H. Stanley suggested the name "Acalanes", the name of Rancho Acalanes, the Mexican grant from which all land title within the City of Lafayette derives. Rancho Acalanes itself seems to have been named by its Hispanic settlers after the local Native American Bay Miwok tribe called Saklan (Saclan), referred to by Spanish missionaries as Saclanes.[5][6] The first graduating class of 1941 selected the school colors of blue and white. For the school sports mascot, they chose the Don (a Spanish honorary title).
Academics
Acalanes offers a diverse course selection and a number of AP and honors courses. Among the electives offered are sports medicine, digital design, auto mechanics, studio arts from beginning to AP, video production, journalism, drama, photography, Mandarin (Chinese), Spanish, French, chorus, band (four groups), and orchestra.
Acalanes High won the regional competition of the National Science Bowl at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[7] However, the school has consistently lagged behind local high schools Campolindo and Miramonte in more comprehensive rankings based on AP scores and overall academic quality. For 2013, Campolindo High School was ranked 131st in the nation by U.S. News & World Report,[8] Miramonte was ranked 173rd,[9] while Acalanes was ranked 275th.[10]
Athletics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Acalanes_Quad.jpg/220px-Acalanes_Quad.jpg)
California Interscholastic Federation
Football - 2023 Division 3-AA Champions[11]
Girls basketball - 1999 Division 3 Champions[12]
Girls volleyball - 2016 Division 3 Champions[13]
North Coast Section
Football - 2023 NCS IV Champions
Boys basketball - 2007 NCS III Champions
Diablo Foothill Athletic League
Facilities
In 1939, Acalanes was the first school designed by Ernest Kump and became the prototype for what came to be called the "California School", consisting of a complex of rectangular single-story modern buildings in parallel rows separated by gardens, with no hallways. Its openness to the outdoors and ease of expansion were revolutionary at the time, and the format was widely copied.[14]
The campus includes a track, several fields (an astroturf field, a grass field, and a baseball field), a pool, tennis courts, two gyms, weight room, two quads, and a performing arts center. Measure E bonds passed in 2008 provided for the complete renovation of the aquatic facilities, which was completed in the summer of 2011.
Notable alumni
- Espen Baardsen - professional soccer goalkeeper
- Nicki Bluhm - musician
- Alan Chin - artist
- Philip M. Condit - former chairman and CEO of the Boeing Company
- Donna de Varona - Olympian
- Gloria Duffy - former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Special Coordinator for Cooperative Threat Reduction
- Scott Dyleski - convicted of murdering his neighbor, Pamela Vitale, the wife of attorney Daniel Horowitz
- Craig Federighi - Sr. Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple
- Don Ferrarese- Former MLB player (Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals)
- Will Forte - cast member of Saturday Night Live
- Justin Fox (born 1964) - financial journalist, commentator, and writer
- George Prifold Harrison - gold medalist at the 1960 Olympic Games
- Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been - members of the rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Hans-Peter Martin - member of the European Parliament, foreign exchange student
- Joe Millette - former MLB player (Philadelphia Phillies)
- George Lewis Mount - member of the 1976 US Olympic cycling team
- Ann Nelson - American particle physicist
- Nelson Piquet - Brazilian driver, three-time winner of Formula One World Drivers' Championship [15]
- Jewel Roemer - USA Water Polo Women's Senior National Team player[16]
- Dave Stanton - motorcycle racer, former AFM, WERA National Endurance, AMA Pro, and Formula USA champion
- Bret Taylor - chairman of OpenAI, former co-CEO of Salesforce, former chairman of Twitter, Inc.[17]
- Cameron Tuttle - bestselling author of the Bad Girl’s Guide series
- Ross Valory - bassist for the rock band Journey
- Norm Van Brocklin - NFL quarterback
- Evan Wallach - judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Kathryn Werdegar - California Supreme Court Justice
References
- ^ "Acalanes High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ National Center for Education Statistics. "School Detail for Acalanes High". Retrieved September 11, 2022.
- ^ "ACALANES BLUEPRINT". ACALANES BLUEPRINT. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
- ^ "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for Acalanes High". ed.gov. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ Beeler, Madison S. 1955. Saclan. International Journal of American Linguistics 21:201-209.
- ^ Beeler, Madison S. 1959. Saclan Once More. International Journal of American Linguistics 25:67-68.
- ^ "Office of Science". Energy.gov. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
- ^ "National High School Rankings". U.S. News.
- ^ "National High School Rankings". U.S. News.
- ^ "National High School Rankings". U.S. News.
- ^ "State champs! Acalanes storms back to beat Birmingham for 3-AA title". December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "Acalanes Girls Win State Hoops Title". April 2, 1999. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ "CIF girls volleyball: Acalanes claims state title in 5-set thriller". December 3, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Bernard, Lance V. (2007). Architecture and Regional Identity in the San Francisco Bay Area: 1870–1970. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen. pp. 116–18. ISBN 9780773453401.
- ^ "FIA Hall of Fame - Nelson Piquet profile". Retrieved July 24, 2024.
- ^ "Jewel Roemer - Women's Senior National Team - USA Water Polo". Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Thomas, Owen (November 30, 2022). "Salesforce's Marc Benioff is betting $28 billion on Bret Taylor. So who is he?". San Francisco Chronicle.
External links
- School website
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