Mountain View High School (Mountain View, California)

For other schools named "Mountain View High School", see Mountain View High School.

Mountain View High School
Location
Mountain View , CA United States
Information
Type	Public
School district	MVLA
Principal	Keith Moody
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1,789 (November 2005)
Campus	Open
Color(s)	Gold and black
Mascot	Spartan
Newspaper	The Oracle
Website	Mountain View High School

Mountain View High School (MVHS or just MV), one of three Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District public high schools, is located in Mountain View, California, at 3535 Truman Ave. Mountain View, CA 94040. MVHS serves a diverse student body of over 1750 students from the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. As of 2008, the student body is 54% White, 22% Asian, 16% Hispanic, 6% other, 2% African-American. In the heart of the Silicon Valley, MVHS' neighbors include technology giants Google, Intuit, AOL, Adobe, Microsoft and NASA-Ames. As a college preparatory high school, MVHS responds to the community’s demand for rigor, relevance and excellence by offering open access to all 23 Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses across the curriculum. The school earned the distinction of California Distinguished High School in 1994 and 2003. In 2000 and 2007, MVHS received a full 6 year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The school sent 92% of its of graduates to post-secondary schools in the graduating class of 2005. Newsweek ranked Mountain View High School as the 224th best high school in the nation in 2007.

MVHS Theater and entrance

History

Before Mountain View High School was created in 1902, students living within the town’s limits would take the train from Castro St. to attend either Palo Alto or Santa Clara High Schools. In August 1902, the town of Mountain View successfully opened their first school on the corners of El Camino & Calderon Streets. The student body at the time was mostly descendents of civil war veterans which gave the idea for its school colors blue & gray and since nation’s mascot is the eagle, it would also become the official mascot of the school. By the dawn of the 1920’s, the high school's student body was increasing to the point where the campus was unable to accommodate anymore students. In 1922, the school district decided to build a whole brand new campus and a new location on Castro St. In 1924, the new campus first opened its doors in late August. By 1933, the opening of Moffat Field would force the school to add new buildings to the campus in order to accommodate both the citizens and military children who would be transferred in & out every year. By the 1950’s, Mountain View Union High School would soon come along another obstacle where the school could no longer accommodate the increasing student body on its campus. In order to fix this issue, the school district added another school, Los Altos High, to the district in the small rural town of Los Altos. By 1961, the district added another school near Grant Street on the corners of Truman & Bryant. This would be named Chester F. Awalt High School until its closure in 1981. By 1980, the Mountain View Union High School began to see a decline in enrollment to where the school would have to be shut down. Mountain View School District (known today as MVLA), decided to shut down the school and sell it back to the city. Awalt High School decided to adopt the name Mountain View, while Los Altos decided to adopt the school colors and mascot. In result, Mountain View became the black & gold Spartans and Los Altos dropped the Knights and became the blue & gray eagles. Mountain View Citizens believe the city has lost its identity due to the closure of the high school and students who currently or have graduated believe the closure of the school was only in for the money.

Awalt High School is on the List of California Schools Closed in the 1970's and 1980's

Classes

Mountain View High School offers a wide variety of classes. In the 2008-2009 additional courses are being supplemented to the course catalog such as, Photography II. This high school also holds an open enrollment policy: anyone may register for any class being offered at the school, regardless of the student's grade. In addition to this Mountain View High School is one of few public high schools to have Chemistry in 9th Grade

Demographics

As of November 2005, the enrollment at Mountain View High School was 1,789. During the 2005-2006 school year, 52% Caucasian, 15% Hispanic, 16% Asian, 3% Filipino, 3% African American, <1% Pacific Islander, <1% American Indian or Alaska Native, 10% multi-racial, and other.

File:MVHS.library.jpg

MVHS Library

Academics

Mountain View High School has the highest possible Academic Performance Index; this is the Californian system for measuring school proficiency. Eighteen students from the class of 2008 were named National Merit Scholar semifinalists. 70% of MVHS students passed their AP exams last year. The classroom student:teacher ratio is 29:1, and there are 95 certified teachers, of which 56% hold advanced degrees. Newsweek ranked Mountain View High School as the 258th best high school in the nation in 2005.

Notable alumni

• Adam Krikorian, UCLA Water Polo head coach, NCAA Champions
• J.D. Nelson, NFL player for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post reporter and 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner
• Charles Huang, co-founder of RedOctane
• Kai Huang, co-founder of RedOctane
• Saul Hudson, very awsome guitarist for GNR

See also

• Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District

External links

• Template:Geolinks-US-buildingscale
• Mountain View High School, official website
• The Oracle, MVHS school newspaper