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Gretchen Whitney High School

Established	1976
Type	Public Secondary
Principal	Patricia Hager
Students	1,020
Grades	7-12
Location	16800 Shoemaker Avenue, Cerritos, California, USA 90703
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Brown █, White █, and Gold █
Mascot	Wildcat
Newspaper	Aspects
Website	Whitney High Website

Gretchen A. Whitney High School, often simply abbreviated as Whitney High School (WHS), is a public school serving grades 7-12. It is in the ABC Unified School District. It has an enrollment of 1,065 and its current principal is Ms. Patricia Hager.^[1]

History

Whitney High School was founded on September 25, 1976 (under the name Gretchen A. Whitney Learning Center) as a community academic learning center. Whitney HS is the brainchild of former ABC superintendent Charles Hutchison, who originally envisioned Whitney to be a vocational school. Unfortunately, Whitney had a shaky beginning and was forced to pursue a new direction as an academic prep school. As a tribute to Hutchison, the current cafeteria is named the Hutch.

In 1997, half of Whitney’s parking lot was purchased by a housing contractor to build a gated community adjacent to Whitney. In exchange, Whitney received funds to construct the long-awaited gymnasium.

Whitney High received some media attention after a lockdown following the discovery of stolen bank notes from a just-robbed nearby bank in the parking lot. On December 1, 2003, at around 4:15pm, several bank robbers entered the campus after hiding out in a nearby home. In an attempt to evade the police, they began to move toward the students, hoping to hide amongst the crowd. Several staff members blocked the entrance to Whitney and former teacher Chris Williams, as well as the SIAs (Student Intervention Assistants) successfully tackled two of the suspects.

Academics

Whitney High School admits its students based on their performance on the state exams and a special writing test administered in the sixth grade. This high school is open to any applicants entering seventh to twelfth grade in the ABC Unified School District. This allows Whitney High School to admit HI students willing to strive for excellence from other middle schools and high schools.

On September 25, 1991, President George H. W. Bush recognized Whitney as one of the best high schools in the United States, presenting its principal, Dr. Pauline B. Ferris, with the Department of Education's National Recognition Award as a Blue Ribbon School.^[2] Whitney is 1 of only 19 secondary schools to win this award twice, winning it twice in four years. Whitney is also 1 of the 3 Blue Ribbon Lighthouse Schools Charter Members.^[3]

Whitney has been honored with the California Distinguished School title six times: 1986,^[4] 1990,^[5] 1992,^[6] 1996,^[7] 2003,^[8] and 2007.^[9]

President George W. Bush's brother Neil, co-founder of an educational software company, has visited the campus several times, as he put it, "because of the respect the staff has for students. I’ve never seen anything like it. Every school should be this way."^[10] Mr. Bush has received some criticism for a comment about calculus he made during a 2002 visit to the campus, in which he stated that students shouldn't be "forced to study something a kid thinks is terribly useless and obscure." The comment was widely repeated as though Bush had said simply that "calculus was useless".^[11]

In 2005, the Associated Press rated Whitney High the best high school in California,^[12] based on its Academic Performance Index (API) score. Whitney's SAT scores are nearly one hundred points higher than the second place public school in California. Furthermore, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) rated Whitney's Advanced Placement Physics and Calculus BC programs as the best in the world based on the number of students enrolled in the classes compared to the number that pass the Advanced Placement (AP) test.

Whitney High has been featured in a special report done by Fox News in 2005. The report on mentoring featured Whitney's "Big Buddy/Little Buddy" system. Furthermore, CBS News's "Weekend Journal" also reported on Whitney, focusing on the public high school's incredible academic achievements.

More recently, Whitney High School has been featured in Newsweek’s "America’s Best High School" edition, dated May 8, 2006. Whitney was not included in the top 100 high schools because "so many of [Whitney's] students score well above average on the SAT and ACT". However, Newsweek did include Whitney in "The Public Elites" section, and labeled Whitney as "a comprehensive school for high performers".^[13] Newsweek again recognized Whitney in the May 23, 2007 "America’s Best High School" edition. Similar to the 2006 edition, Whitney was included as 1 of the 19 "The Public Elite" high schools and was labeled as an "award-winning school with special emphasis on college admissions".

The passing rate for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for Whitney students is 100%. Also, 22% of the senior class are honored as National Merit Semi-Finalists. Whitney received a six-year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in 2004.^[14]

In 2008, Whitney High School was recognized as a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.

Business Week declared Whitney as having the "Best Overall Academic Performance" in 2009 for California. ^[15]

U.S. News & World Report ranked Whitney High School as the #12 high school in the nation in the November 30, 2007 edition.^[16] Whitney was ranked #10 in the December 15, 2008 edition.^[17] Whitney was ranked the 3rd best high school in America for 2010 in the December 10, 2009 edition.^[18]

Extracurriculars

Clubs

Whitney High is home to 47 clubs. Several of these clubs are representations of the numerous ethnic backgrounds and cultures present at Whitney. Some include Club Kaibigan(Filipino club), Latino Club, Chinese Club, Korean Club, Ebony Element, Kokoro Kara, Viet Club and Shanti Club. However these clubs do not require having their respective ethnic background to join.

Some educational clubs participate in various competitions in the United States or internationally (Spaceset and Robotics Club). Others are involved in discussions and activities of their subject (Physics Club, History and Geography Club, Math Club, MedEx Club)

Some clubs at Whitney are part of larger networks of clubs. Junior State of America (grades 9-12) is a politics-oriented organization that is part of the nationwide Junior State of America organization. Students attend conventions in which they participate in debates about national issues. Key Club (grades 9-12) and Builders Club (grades 7-8) are part of the larger Kiwanis Family. These clubs do community services to the local area with other Key Clubs. Red Cross Club (grades 7-12) is part of the Greater Long Beach Chapter. The club provides community services and disaster trainings such as CPR Trainings and Water Safety Classes to the school and the community.

The rest of the clubs consist of recreational activities (ex. Guitar Club, Racket Club, Chess Club, Club Flash, Mahjong Club, and Playing for A Cause). These clubs are open to anyone with interest in the subject.

The partial list of Whitney clubs can be found here (please note that several clubs are no longer active and others have not been added).

Athletics

The "undefeated" football team

Whitney High athletics league status is CIF Division IV and the mascot is the Whitney Wildcat.

Whitney does not have a football team. A running joke among Whitney students is that the nonexistent football team is "undefeated in the league."

Publications

WHS's 2005 Yearbook

• WINN – Whitney’s official broadcast network, which broadcasts weekly every Thursday or Friday.
• Kaleidoscope – Whitney’s annual yearbook.

Activities

• Associated Student Body (ASB) - ASB consists of about 40 students that are elected by the student body during a school-wide election in the spring. ASB is in charge of putting on school dances, assemblies, and other activities throughout the entire school year.
• Big Buddy/Little Buddy - Older participating students (10-12th grade) are paired with the younger participants (7-9th grade). These pairs get to know one another through activities throughout the entire year, such as a costume contest on Halloween.
• Royal Regiment Marching Band & Colorguard - The school marching band and colorguard (for grades 9-12) participates in various marching band reviews during the fall. They are also annually invited to perform at Disneyland. The band has also participated in festivals outside of California, such as the Annual Strawberry Festival in West Virginia and band reviews in Disneyworld.
• Model United Nations (MUN) - Model United Nations is an example of a debate organization at WHS. Recently upgraded to a four-year program from club status for purposes of competition, WHSMUN has gone on to win several awards for its performances at conferences such as the West Coast Invitational, Mission Viejo, and UCLA MUN. The school also hosts a MUN conference every May which has grown popular due to its nature as a specialized conference.

Other events

• Winter Formal - Held at various locations, this formal dance is put on by ASB.
• Senior Prom - Traditionally organized by the Junior class "Prom Club", both the Junior and Senior classes are permitted to attend.
• Talent Show - Previously held at Knott's Berry Farm, Whitney's talent show has been relocated to La Mirada Performing Arts Theatre (as of 2006). It showcases a variety of cultural performances created by Whitney club members, as well as other individual and group talents. Tryouts are required.
• Homecoming Game - The boys and girls basketball teams in collaboration with the schools ASB put together an event for the alumni to come back and enjoy whitney basketball. The game is usually against an academy league opponent, and is followed by an alumni social which includes snacks and drinks for the alumni. The games are themed and have had previous themes such as "there is no place like homecoming", "Egyptian War" and many more. At half time of the boys varsity basketball game, the new homecoming queen is announced as the whole school votes for the years senior queen.
• Student Showcase - A "mini-Talent Show" in a sense, the Student Showcase is a lunchtime show of performances ranging from bands to magic tricks. Famous appearances include former band Forever Wings Fold and rising rap artist DeLon. Most acts are in a three minute time limit, but it has been shown to go over sometimes.
• School Plays - Previous plays included Grease, Annie, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, and others.
• International Day - Classes ends early at 11:30, with the rest of the day dedicated to multi-cultural performances and food provided by Whitney clubs.
• Western Day - Lunch is an hour long affair with the school "sheriffs" that arrest others for "crimes" using "warrants" that are bought, filled out and turned in by students.
• Faculty Follies - An hour long lunch show that features the staff either making fools of themselves or showing off their talents through skits, songs, and dances. All profits go towards paying for senior scholarships.
• Senior Prank - A school sanctioned and supervised event that allows the graduating senior class to disrupt school by setting up pranks overnight. Common pranks have included moving all the desks to other locations (usually the roof, "junior pit", or hallways), rearranging the movable walls into a maze, and placing alarm clocks on top of the ceiling panels set to go off during class time. Pranks are usually rather elaborate, since faculty open up the school to the senior class and a large number of the seniors show up to help with the setup. The only rules are that the students are not allowed to damage any property in the course of the prank and not engage in illegal pranks (i.e., setting off the fire alarm or false bomb threats). The next morning after the prank, the seniors usually help clean-up the messes they had made. One Whitney legend has the class of 1986 stacking all the lunch tables to form a pyramid when looking over campus from the top was higher than the flag pole.

It's Finally Friday

"It's Finally Friday" (a.k.a. "IFF") is a televised show broadcasted over the school's television network every Friday. IFF premiered in September 2003 and aired until June 2005. The show was canceled for the 2005 – 2006 school year due to the difficulty of creating a new episode every week. However, IFF was renewed for the 2006 – 2007 school year due to support from both the teachers and students. The new season featured a new format: a bimonthly show featuring serialized comedy and dramatic short-films. In late 2008, it made 2 appearances, for Halloween and Christmas, in which filming the Halloween show involved multiple pranks throughout the school. Recently, however, IFF has been on a hiatus since February. This is due to the number of other obligations that the creators have to deal with.

In the years before the 05 – 06 cancellation, IFF was a short 10 minute show used to publicize school events. After the return of IFF, the show was extended to accommodate several two or three minute episodes of student-run shows. The school's Contemporary Media class tapes and edits the shows, employing students from drama class as actors/actresses.

The title is a reference to a weekly tradition of former computer science teacher Del Kelly, in which he danced to a song sang by his class every Friday, the lyrics of which are roughly as follows: "It's finally Friday / I'm free again / Got my motor running for a wild weekend!" The song typically ended with a guttural sound, as well as a neat elbow trick.

Statistics

Student Enrollment by Ethnic Group^{[citation needed]}

• Student to Teacher Ratio: 29:1
• Academic Performance Index (API): 988 (2009)
• Average SAT Reasoning Test Score (1600 Scale): 1327
• Teachers with Full Credentials: 95%

Alma Mater

School of Dreams

Whitney High is the subject of School of Dreams, a book written by the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Edward Humes^[20] and published in September 2003 . Humes spent the 2001-2002 school year at Whitney teaching a writing workshop, and used his case study of Whitney High to bring national attention to the pressures endured by the students of America's selective schools. It has been somewhat criticized by the students and staff members themselves that the book labels some stereotypes on the students, such as excessive coffee drinking.

Neither the hardback cover photo nor the paperback cover photo are pictures of Whitney.

Notable Alumni

Kul Wadhwa, Class of 1990 - Wikimedia Foundation's Head of Business Development

Notes and references

Further reading

• Humes, Edward (2003). School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School. Harcourt. ISBN 0151007039. 

External links

• Official web site
• BestWhitneyHigh.com
• ABC Unified School District's home page
• Whitney High School in Cerritos, California
• Whitney High page at BlueRibbonSchools.com
• Whitney Independent Broadcast Network (WINN) home page
• Newsweek America's Best High Schools
• Coordinates: 33°52′45″N 118°03′19″W / 33.87911°N 118.05520°W / 33.87911; -118.05520