Schurr High School

Schurr High School
Location
Montebello , California USA
Information
Type	Public Secondary
Established	1971
Principal	Stacey Honda
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	3,352
Color(s)	Green, White, and Gold
Mascot	Sammy the Spartan
Newspaper	Spartan Scroll
Yearbook	Spectrum
Website	Mark Keppel High School

Schurr High School is a secondary school in the Montebello Unified School District, located at 820 North Wilcox Avenue, Montebello, California, 90640. Students attending this school live in the Montebello-Monterey Park area.

History

• The school was previously a junior high school. Because of the growing population of students in the area, the school became a high school in 1971. The first principal of Schurr High School was Walter Wohlheter.
• The Alma Mater is based on the Russian National Hymn and the words were written by music and history/government teacher David A. Lebow (1971-2003).
• The school colors are officially green and white. Contrary to popular belief, gold is an accent color, not a school color.
• Band director, Barry Ulrich (1973–86) [1], composed the official "unofficial" fight song, "Taco Mambo."

Population

Schurr High School was originally built to accommodate 1,700 students. Today, Schurr's population is nearly doubled - 4,000 students. Of those 3,352 students, 1,000 are freshman. School officials expect more students to enroll throughout the school year. In the 2005-2006 school year, Schurr's population totaled 4,726.

Academics

The Department of Education reported Schurr High School's Academic Performance Index (API) rose 47 points in 2005 from 630 to 677 in the 2004-2005 school year. In the following year, the API rose 9 points, totaling to 686. Although it was not large improvement, Schurr High School has the highest API in the Montebello Unified School District, followed by Montebello High School with 645, and Bell Gardens High School with 610.

Advanced Placement classes include:

• American Government
• Art History
• Biology
• Calculus AB
• Calculus BC
• Chemistry
• Economics
• English Language & Composition

• English Literature & Composition
• Physics
• Psychology
• Spanish Language
• Spanish Literature
• Statistics
• U.S. History
• World History

In 2007, Schurr was ranked among Newsweek Magazine's "Top Public High Schools" list for the third time in the school's history at 1093. In 2006, the school was ranked 1018, and in 2003, it was ranked 506.

Also, Schurr has the Spartan speech and debate team, the only competitive academic organization on campus and one with a history of success on both local, state and national levels.

Music Program

• The Mighty Spartan Marching Band has been an award winning band for well over 20 years.
• In 2005, the Band attended SCSBOA Field Band Championships for the first time in the school's history.
• In December 2007, the Mighty Spartan Marching Band won the Division V title at California State Band Championships.
• In 2011 The Spartan Legion was invited to march through Westminster in London's New Year's Day Parade in 2013.

Spartan Scroll

• Schurr High School's nationally recognized student-run newspaper is the Spartan Scroll.
• Among many other recognitions, the publication has been recognized by The Los Angeles Times as one of the best high school publications in Southern California.
• The Spartan Scroll is also a member of the National Scholastic Press Association(NSPA) Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Columbia Student Press Association(CSPA) Gold Medal.
• In 2008, NSPA nominated the Spartan Scroll as a Pacemaker Finalist for the 2007-2008 version of the publication. The Spartan Scroll was also a Pacemaker Finalist in early 2004.
• In April 2010, the Spartan Scroll received 3rd place Best of Show in the category of 13-16 pages at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention at Portland, Oregon.

Spectrum

• The Spectrum yearbook staff was recognized in the state of California for its outstanding packet concept and design in 2009 at Long Beach, California in attending the summer yearbook camp program.

Sports

Schurr also has been known to have a strong football, track and wrestling programs.

Schurr High School sports include:

• Band
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Drill
• Football
• Golf
• Soccer
• Softball

• Swimming
• Tennis
• Track and Field
• Water Polo
• Wrestling
• Volleyball
• Folklorico

• Cheerleading

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Football: Schurr secured its first CIF Football Championship in 1980. The football team recently won the CIF Football Championship again, beating Santa Fe High School Chiefs 40-22 on December 8, 2006 at Cal State Fullerton.

Tennis: Schurr HS Boy's tennis has won four consecutive Almont League Boy's Single's Championship Titles from 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Also, in 2011 Schurr High School Boy's tennis took first and second place in Boy's Singles in the Almont League. Matthew Lin won the Almont League Individuals title for three consecutive years (2010, 2011, 2012).

Wrestling: Under the direction of Coach Mike Garcia the Spartan Wrestling team placed 2nd in CIF in 1993 and 5th in State that same year, producing two California State Wrestling Champions, Sean Kim at 103 lbs and David Wakisaka at 160 lbs. Kim went on to win All American honors by placing 3rd at the Senior High School National Wrestling Championships. In 1997 Schurr placed second in CIF once again under the direction of Coach Joe "Gonzo" Gonzales, a US Olympian and three time World Cup Champion. In 1999 The Spartan Wrestling team produced another All American in Steve Martinez, a California State Runner Up, who under the direction of Coach Henry K. Priest, eventually went on to place 3rd at Senior High School National Wrestling Championships. Another accomplishment of note is that the junior varsity wrestling team secured 20 consecutive undefeated junior varsity league championship from 1980–1999 Recently under the direction of Coach Jay Valencia the Spartan Wrestling team has been able to defend 5 consecutive Almont League championship. (2009-2013)

Renovations

Pool: During the school year of 2010-11, renovations for a pool began. It will be an indoor Olympic sized pool. It will be at the location of where the student park was.

Notable alumni

• Jason Chung (Class of 2003), better known as Nosaj Thing, is a Korean American electronic musician based in Los Angeles County, California. He self-released his first EP Views/Octopus in 2006 and released his debut LP, Drift, on Alpha Pup Records on June 9, 2009.
• Bobby Logan (Class of 1973) is the writer, producer and director of many comedy feature films, including the cult "Exorcist" spoof "Repossessed" starring Leslie Nielson and Linda Blair, and "Meatballs 4" starring Corey Feldman. He has also written, produced and directed many network TV programs, and also wrote for Garry Shandling, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield and Sam Kinison among many others. He is currently producing and directing several network reality series, and is developing on a feature film version of the classic 1960s ABC comedy-western TV series "F TROOP."
• Ada Maris Class of 1975, Movie and Television actress.
• Catherine J. K. Sandoval [2], first Latina Rhodes Scholar (Master's degree in Politics at Oxford University in Oxford, England), graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Law at Santa Clara University.
• Sergio Mora, class of 1997, won the television boxing show, The Contender and is the former WBC Light Middleweight Champion
• Todd Spitzer (Class of 1978) Orange County, California politician
• Daryn Okada (Class of 1978) Cinematographer/ Director of Photography
• Myles Kovacs (Class of 1991) Founder/President of DUB, automotive magazine
• Pablo Castillo (class of 2002)Professional Musician Played bass guitar for Brandy, Beyoncé Knowles, Brian McKnight, Sin Bandera, and Joseph Cabanilla
• Catherine Sandoval (Class of 1980) First Latina Rhodes scholar; professor of law, California Public Utilities Commissioner
• Lorin Sklamberg (Class of 1974) is a member of the Klezmatics and is the winner of a Grammy Award.
• Henry K. Priest (Class of 1988) An actor and producer of film, TV and Live events. Acting debut in the Walt Disney movie SPOONER. Director of the Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles. Mr. Priest produced a film titled "American Identity" which received a standing ovation at the prestigious Festival De Cannes in France. His latest project BEYOND THE MAT was shot at various schools in the Los Angeles area including Schurr High School.
• Rodney Eastman (Class of 1985) Canadian actor best known for playing the role of Joey Crusel in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
• Debbie Kanamoto (Class of 1978) Fitness model
• Ramona Pagel (Class of 1979) American record holder in the Shot Put

External links

• Official Homepage
• Schurr High Spartan Legion
• Schurr Wrestling
• Newsweek Top 1000 Public Schools, 2003