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Los Alamitos High School

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Coordinates: 33°48′41″N 118°04′17″W / 33.81141°N 118.07127°W / 33.81141; -118.07127
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Los Alamitos High School
Address
Map
3591 W Cerritos Ave

Los Alamitos
,
California 90720
Coordinates33°48′41″N 118°04′17″W / 33.81141°N 118.07127°W / 33.81141; -118.07127
Information
TypePublic high school
Established1967
School districtLos Alamitos Unified School District
PrincipalGregg Stone
Grades9 - 12
Number of students3,055 (2022-23)[1]
Color(s)  Blue
  White
  Red
  Gold
Athletics conferenceCIF Southern Section
Sunset League
MascotGriffin
WebsiteLAHS School website

Los Alamitos High School (also known as Los Al) is a public school for grades 9 to 12 located in Los Alamitos, California, and also serving the city of Seal Beach and the community of Rossmoor. It is the only traditional high school in the Los Alamitos Unified School District; the far smaller Laurel High School serves as a continuation school and as the district office site.[2] Both Oak Middle School and McAuliffe Middle School feed into Los Alamitos High.

History

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In its very first year, classes were held at Pine Junior High School (now McAuliffe Middle), and only sophomores attended. The following year saw the school move into its new campus whose buildings were specifically designed for Los Al's unique flexible scheduling program (and the addition of juniors, followed by seniors the next year). During its first two years, Los Alamitos High School had a complete flexible schedule program. Student submitted hand-written multi-part daily schedules during their scheduling class. This allowed them to choose from scheduled sessions of their classes for flexible periods of time, depending on the needs of the teachers and students. In the third year, it changed to a computer scheduling program to provide more administrative accountability for the students' whereabouts. This version of flexible scheduling used then-current computer technology to generate daily class schedules based on each instructor's lesson plans. Students would report each morning to their "scheduling class" to receive their daily schedule – broken into a series of "modules". Each teacher would select the needed number of fifteen-minute modules to allow for that day's instruction, whether it be a test, a lecture, a lab, etc. In their scheduling class, students could rearrange or fill open modules from the "October" schedule, a listing of available classes. This allowed serious students to make the best use of their schedule to attend classes in a sequence that made more sense for that day.

Los Al's unique flexible scheduling was replaced with a traditional school schedule in 1977 after it was discovered that less disciplined students were abusing the system. For those more dedicated students who leveraged the school's unique scheduling to their advantage, Los Al produced an extraordinary number of early graduates, who went on to succeed in the best universities.

Beginning in fall 1987, the Orange County High School of the Arts was resident on its campus, but its success and growth led it to move to a bigger campus in Santa Ana in 2001.

Principals of Los Alamitos High School

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No Tenure Name
01. 1967–1968 Wilbur Wheaton
02. 1968–1970 William McKee
03. 1970–1976 Dale Schroeder
04. 1976–1979 Mary Franks
05. 1979–1980 Dale Hughes
06. 1980–1985 Rudy Castruita
07. 1985–1998 Carol Hart
Int 1998 Sherry Kropp
08. 1998–1999 Rebecca Shore
Int 2000 Kelly Godfrey
09. 2000–2006 Daniel Brooks
10. 2006–2009 Kelly Godfrey
11. 2009–2012 Grant Litfin
12. 2012–2015 Joshua Arnold
13. 2015–2018 Brandon Martinez
14. 2018–2019 Gregg Stone
15. 2019–2020 Chris Vlasic
Int 2020–2021 Gregg Stone
16. 2021– Christiana Kraus

Extracurricular activities

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Athletic programs

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Los Al is known for its success in many Varsity sports. The boys' Varsity Football team won a CIF Southern Section Div. 3 title in 1991, and Division II titles in 1992 and 1993 (the latter a shared title with Esperanza) and won a Division I championship in 2002, and reached the finals and semi-finals on numerous other occasions, most recently in 2004.[3] The Boys' water polo team was also CIF-SS Division II champions in fall 1999, and 2004 and were CIF-SS Masters champions in 2007.

The boys' Los Al Tennis team won the CIF SS Division I Championship in 2001 and again in 2015. After the 2015 season, multiple publications listen the Griffins as the best high school tennis team in the nation. Considering the level of competition in tennis in Southern California, this was a most notable accomplishment. It was in CIF Division I semi-finals in 1999 and 2000. From 1995 through 2001 it had a league record of 69–1, an overall record of 128–18 and produced 16 All-Orange County selections. Additionally, 55 players were honored as scholar athletes and went on to play at college level. The team received recognition from the Mayors of the cities of Los Alamitos and Seal Beach for its contribution to positive publicity.

The girls' volleyball team has won a number of CIF local and state championships. It was CIF Southern Section Division IA champions in 2002, 2004, and 2013 and won CIF Division I State championships in 2003, 2005, and 2006, and came in second 2013. In 2018, the team won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship and lost in the quarterfinals in the CIF Division 1 State Championships.

Girls' soccer won CIF section titles in 1996 (Div. II), 1997 (Div. I) and 2005 (Div. I). The last team was also named the No. 1 team in the nation by Student Sports Magazine. Another indicator of the success of the program was that in 2007 there were 17 Los Al alumni girls playing NCAA Division I soccer.

The Griffin Varsity Boys' soccer team won CIF-Southern Section titles in 1991 and 2002. Alums Mike Munoz (2001) and Jonathan Bornstein (2002) have both made MLS rosters (Galaxy and Chivas USA) and Bornstein was not only the MLS 2007 Rookie of the Year but is currently on the US Men's National team roster.

The boys' Basketball team won CIF Division IA and IAA championships in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Los Al Basketball great Ali Ton holds the assist record at Davidson College

The Los Alamitos High School Marching Band has competed in circuits such as Western Band Association (WBA) and Marching Band Open Series (MBOS). In 2009 and 2010 they placed 1st in the WBA 3A division as well as the combined 1A/2A/3A Finals, and in 2011 and 2012 the unit placed 3rd in the WBA 3A division. In 2013 they placed 2nd in the WBA 3A division, 3rd in the combined 1A/2A/3A Finals, 1st in the MBOS Black Opal division, and 7th in the combined MBOS Finals. The unit also has an award-winning drumline and color guard.

The LAHS Surf Team took second place over all in ISF State Championships in 2009. Boys' Shortboard finished with second place, bodyboard placed third and Girls' Longboard finished as State Champions. Los Al finished in third place in 2008 and First place in 2007 and 2006.

In their fourth season of competition, the LAHS Girls' Lacrosse team was the undefeated CIF Division I Orange County and Southern Section Champions in 2009 and 2010. Los Al finished the season ranked #4 in the state of California.

LAHS Boys' Golf – They have won back to back league championships while setting course records at difficult golf courses. In a win over Newport Harbor this year, the team set the lowest team score there in 7 years.

CIF teams

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Note: This list does not include sports which are currently clubs and thus not officially recognized in CIF.

Show Choir

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The Los Alamitos choir program is one of the largest and most successful choir programs in the nation. Since David Moellenkamp took over as director of the program in 2009, Los Alamitos show choirs have been named Grand Champions more than 175 times at various regional and national competitions. Los Al currently has seven choirs: six competitive show choirs and a concert choir: Sound FX (advanced mixed choir), Soundtrax (advanced treble choir), Connexion (intermediate mixed choir), Xquisite (intermediate treble choir), Xtreme (tenor/bass choir), Axcent (novice treble choir), and Xpressions (concert choir).[4]

Sound FX is one of the most dominant show choir programs in history, having been named Grand Champions at 14 National competitions, including Show Choir Nationals (2010,[3] 2014,[5] 2016,[6] 2019,[7] and 2022[8]), Fame Show Choir National Finals (2015,[9] 2016,[10] and 2017[11]), Heart of America - New York City (2023[12]), Heart of America - Orlando (2018[13]), Fame New York (2015[14]), Fame Orlando (2013[15]), and Fame Hollywood (2012[16]). Despite competing in the extremely difficult southern California show choir circuit along with two of the best show choir programs in the country (John Burroughs High School and Burbank High School), Sound FX went undefeated in the 2018, 2020 and 2023 competition seasons. Sound FX has recorded and performed with numerous famous artists, including Barry Manilow, Patti Lupone, Kristin Chenoweth, Journey, Foreigner,[17] and Major Parkinson.[18]

Soundtrax, which has been co-directed by Moana Dherlin since 2015, has been named Grand Champions at 11 National competitions, including Show Choir Nationals (2010,[19] 2014,[20] 2016,[21] 2019,[22] and 2022[23]), Fame Show Choir National Finals (2012,[24] 2015,[25] 2016,[26] and 2017[27]), and Fame New York (2015[28]). Soundtrax went undefeated in the 2019, 2020, and 2022 competition seasons.

Notable recent alumni of the Los Alamitos show choir program include actress Jenna Lea Rosen[29] and recording artist and American Idol contestant Sophia Wackerman.[30]

Other school group programs

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Academic accolades

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  • United States Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School – 1990, 1994, 1998 (Special Honors in Art Education for 1998)[31]
  • California Department of Education California Distinguished School – 1988, 1994, 1998, 2009[31]
  • California School Boards Association Golden Bell Awards – 1998 (Griffins with a Mission), 2005 (Contemporary Media in the Arts)[31]
  • California Gold Ribbon School – 2016[31]

Notable alumni

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Actors

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Sports

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Music

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Notable criminals

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  • Mikhail Markhasev - Murdered Ennis Cosby, the 27 year old son of Bill Cosby, during a robbery.[8]
  • Jeremy Strohmeyer – Murdered 7 year old Sherrice Iverson at the Primadonna Resort and Casino in Primm, Nevada[23]
  • Daniel Wozniak - Murdered his neighbor and friend, Samuel Eliezer "Sam" Herr and Herr's friend, Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, as part of a plan to frame Herr for Kibuishi’s murder and steal his savings. [24]

References

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  1. ^ "Los Alamitos High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  2. ^ "Laurel High School / Overview". Losal.org. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  3. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2009-09-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Los Alamitos Choir - Our Choirs". www.losalamitoschoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  5. ^ a b "Los Angeles-area prospects for MLB draft". Los Angeles Daily News. June 4, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Mike Patterson. "New York Giants: Mike Patterson". Giants.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  7. ^ a b BISHOP, CHAD. "A closer look at WKU coaching candidate Mike Sanford". www.wbko.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  8. ^ a b Berry, Steve; Goldman, Abigail (12 July 1998). "SPECIAL REPORT * Mikail Markhasev's life was full of bad choices. A close look at Ennis Cosby's slayer reveals . . . : A Slide From Honor Student to Killer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  9. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2015". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  10. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2016". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  11. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2017". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  12. ^ "SCC: Heart of America New York City 2023". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  13. ^ "SCC: Heart of America Orlando 2018". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  14. ^ "SCC: FAME New York 2015". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  15. ^ "SCC: FAME Orlando (#2) 2013". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  16. ^ "SCC: FAME Hollywood 2012". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  17. ^ TV, Los Al (2019-09-11). "Champion Los Al High Choir Again Takes the Stage at Hollywood Bowl with Barry Manilow". Los Al 360. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  18. ^ Solitary Home - The Hollywood Tapes, 2020-04-24, retrieved 2024-02-29
  19. ^ a b "Jason Lewis". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  20. ^ a b Tom VanHaaren (January 6, 2024). "Ex-USC QB Malachi Nelson, No. 1 recruit in '23, picks Boise St". Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  21. ^ a b "Senior pitcher Jacob Nix looking to lead talented Los Alamitos baseball". presstelegram.com. 25 March 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Sanford and Son: Part Two". WNKY 40 News. 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  23. ^ a b "Lost Teens". Drudgereportarchives.com. June 9, 1997. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  24. ^ a b "Daniel Wozniak case: Full story of California double murder investigated on '20/20′". August 19, 2016. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  25. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2015". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  26. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2016". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  27. ^ "SCC: FAME Show Choir National Finals 2017". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  28. ^ "SCC: FAME New York 2015". www.showchoir.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  29. ^ "Jenna Lea Rosen | Music Department, Actress, Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  30. ^ TV, Los Al (2020-03-07). "Former Griffin Show Choir standout Sophia Wackerman kills it on American Idol tryout". Los Al 360. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  31. ^ a b c d "School Recognitions". Los Alamitos Unified School District.
  32. ^ Somlo, David Nicholas (2022-07-20). "Los Al Unified alumni band going strong sixteen years and counting | Sun Newspapers". www.sunnews.org. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
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