Valencia High School is a public secondary school located in the Santa Clarita, California community of Valencia, California, and part of the William S. Hart Union High School District.
The former principal of Valencia High School is Dr. Paul Priesz. He was named Principal of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators for 2002 and came in 8th place for California's 2004 National High School Principal of the Year . Dr.Paul Priesz is now retired and the new principal of Valencia High School is John Costanzo who was previously the principal of Rio Norte Junior High School .
Valencia High School is ranked in Newsweek's 2012 list of America's Best High Schools. The list is based on six components provided by school administrators: graduation rate (25 percent), college matriculation rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and AP courses offered per student (5 percent).
History
Valencia High School opened on September 9, 1994.
Highlights include:
- 1994-95 - First school year; known as "The Maiden Voyage"; with only 9th and 10th grade students.
- 1997 - First graduation ceremony, held at nearby College of the Canyons. 96-97 was the first school year with all 4 grades in attendance.
- 1998 - Valencia High School received its first full accreditation from WASC.
- 2001 - Dr. Paul A. Priesz was named California Principal of the Year. Valencia High School’s student population reached over 3,500 students.
- 2002 - Dr. Priesz was a finalist for National Principal of the Year. Valencia High School’s API test scores were the highest in the district. The boys’ volleyball program secured the first CIF Championship in the school’s history. Viking Television was presented an international film-making award. Co-Ed Cheer placed first in the state competition.
- 2004 - Valencia High School dedicated Dr. Paul A. Priesz Stadium. Valencia High School received a full accreditation from WASC.
- 2006 - Valencia High School had the largest graduating class in William S. Hart District history. The Valencia boys’ volleyball Team won its 3rd CIF championship. Valencia High School is recognized for its state model School-to-Career program. The Viking softball team won the school’s first official National Championship. The Valencia High School choir was chosen to perform in Carnegie Hall, in New York City.
- 2008 - Valencia High School’s boys’ volleyball team won the National Championship, its 2nd official National Championship in just three years. The school’s softball team went on to clinch another CIF Championship. Valencia High School’s Speech and Debate team won local, state, and national awards. The Valencia High School dance team won a National Championship. This past year marked a number of memorable moments for Valencia High School. For the first time in school history, Valencia scored above 800 on the Academic Performance Index (API). This achievement placed Valencia High School among the top achieving high schools in both the state and the nation. The school’s Mock Trial team won awards at the state level, which advanced them to national competitions.
- 2009 - The Valencia High School choir performed in Italy at St. Peter’s Basilica during a 10-day choral tour. The Valencia High School dance team brought home another National Championship. Circle of Friends, a program of inclusion for special needs and general education peers, was created.
- 2015- The senior class stole the dissected anatomy cats from a classroom and distributed them around the campus. This upset administration very much, although it was hilarious.
Activities
Valencia Television (VTV)
Valencia High School has an award-winning video program. The video program has entered their productions into competitions such as the Student Television Network, (AAHSFF) All American High School Film Festival, (NFFTY) National Film Festival For Talented Youth and the Santa Clarita Film Festival. Eric Hernandez won the Best High School Film Award in 2006 for his film "Living Reflection." The video program also features the daily live-television program, VTV. VTV is an early morning news broadcast to the entire school, updating the school on club information, current events, weather, and sports. In 2007, VTV became a member of the National Student Television Network (STN), and participated in the 2007 tournament at the Disneyland hotel. The VTV team took 3rd place at the tournament. In April 2009 VTV also won first place in the 12 Hour Film Festival, for their short film "Hugh takes a Chance". Their other film, Reading to Jack, written and directed by John Savant, won best high school film at the Santa Clarita film festival. Reading to Jack also won best screenplay at STN 2010, and has been entered into other film festivals. In 2012, VTV won Best Picture at the STN Film Festival for their film "Shakespeare and Tacos", and VTV's Macky Brazina won First Place for Anchoring. In 2016, Kyle Tisdale became the first Production Manager in the history of the program. Later that year, 8 films produced under him screened at AAHSFF (The All American High School Film Festival). In addition, the program began work on an extensive documentary named "The In Word", an exploration of the etymology of the titular "In Word", which features interviews from prominent music industry professionals such as Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Jermaine Jackson, and Kendrick Lamar.
Speech and Debate Team
The speech and debate team have placed in state and national rankings in the 2000s. The team took second place in the 2009 California state championship for Parliamentary Debate. Eric Smith (class of 2008) was one their very notable debaters, along with Zeke Schumacher, Nick Hall, and Dennis Feldman.
Valencia High School Choir
The Valencia High School Choir program consists of 200 students in six separate touring choirs. The VHS Choirs have traveled to Florida, Hawaii, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York, Italy, Dublin, and London. The Concert Choir and Women's Chamber Ensembles have repeatedly achieved the ratings of "Gold Choir" and "Choir of the Festival" and have been invited to the highly prestigious Festival of Gold numerous times. Their student accompanists have won the honored Maestro Awards (Heritage Festival). Each year for the last four years, Valencia has had multiple students accepted into the California All-State Honor Choir. In May 2008, the Women's Choir Dona Bella was awarded Best Overall Choir, the "Esprit Du Cour - Ensemble of the Festival" and given the highest rating in the nine-year history of the San Francisco Music in the Parks. The Dona Bellas received a score of 100 out of 100 from the Contemporary A Cappella Society. In the summer of 2016, the choral program traveled to France and sang in the Notre Dame Cathedral.
In April 2007, the VHS Vocal Jazz placed third in their debut Reno Jazz Festival performance. In April 2008 they won first place in the national Fullerton Jazz Festival in the "Advanced" category, followed by a "Unanimous Superior" rating at the Vocal Jazz Festival in Greeley, Colorado where students in the vocal jazz group Two N' Four were offered $10,000 in college scholarship money for their performance. In 2009, six students from the VHS Choir program comprised the 15 total Californians chosen to participate in the California All-State Jazz Choir. In 2009 Valencia Choir students performed at the CMEA state convention and internationally to Italy where they will perform mass at St. Peter's Basilica, The Vatican, Rome. In 2012 Valencia Choir performed in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, in the Olympic Village, and evensong at Westminster Abbey. In 2013, they performed at Lincoln Center in New York City. Each year, for the last nine years, Valencia Choir has been accepted as one of the honored choirs to perform for the Disney Candlelight Ceremony. Recently, the jazz students performed for the first time at NAMM in 2014. In 2015, Two N' Four won the Reno Jazz Festival and Monterrey Jazz Festival.
Pride of the Vikings Band
The Valencia High school band is known as the "Pride of the Vikings". The marching band has participated in the SCSBOA (Southern California Schools Band and Orchestra Association) championships and won a gold medal in 2013, a bronze medal in 2014, another gold medal in 2015, and a silver medal in 2016. They have been ranked as one of the top "class AAA" bands in Southern California. The marching band receives several awards and recognition yearly, including a personal recognition from the city of Santa Clarita congratulating their performance in the Bands of America Competition in 2009. Both performing groups received a "Superior" rating at the West Ranch High School Festival on March 23, 2011.
Colorguard
The Color Guard performs at home football games and performs at school rallies. They also have competitive seasons both first and second semester of the school year. Within the first semester the team performs with the Valencia High School Marching Band. During the second semester the team takes part in WGASC and WGI competitions in which they perform on their own to recorded music, also known as the winter guard season. In 2007, the Valencia Color guard came in second place in the National Championships during their winter guard season. In 2010 during the field show season, the team won first place at Championships. The Valencia Color guard participated in the WGI World Championships in Dayton Ohio during their winter guard season of 2010.
Junior ROTC
The school is home of the CA-782nd AFJROTC, a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The CA-782 uses military techniques to build a cadet run program where students from three schools in the district meet to develop leadership and physical fitness.
Athletics
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team won 112 consecutive league matches dating back to 2001 before losing 3-1 to Saugus on March 21, 2013. They advanced to the CIF championship game in each season from 2001 to 2006, winning in 2003, 2004, 2006, and most recently in 2008. The Vikings have won CIF in four of the previous six seasons, with a 186-27 record since 2003, posting a school best 35-2 record in 2008.
Valencia Volleyball alumni have been named All-American Volleyball Players and many have received scholarships to play on 7 NCAA Division 1 teams.
Going into the 2008 season, the Vikings were ranked the #1 team in the entire nation by Rivals.com. They finished the season as the #1 team in the nation after defeating Santa Barbara in the CIF-SS DII Championship game, claiming the 4th championship title in the last 6 years. The team won the unofficial national championship in 2006, and the official national title in 2008.
In 2011, The Vikings set the California State mark for most consecutive league victories beating the previous record of 96 held by Loyola High School. The winning streak spanned from 2001- March 21, 2013 (112 games).
Swim Team
In 2014 and 2015 both varsity teams captured first place in the Foothill League. In those same years both teams have finished in the top 10 at the CIF Division 1 Southern Section swim meet, while winning 5 relay and individual titles combined.
Softball Team
Softball team The girls softball team has won eight consecutive foothill league champions. They also have won back to back CIF champions in both 2007 and 2008. The lady Vikings were ranked number one in the nation in 2007 with a record of 32-1.
Athletic Awards
Foothill League Champions
Valencia High School competes in the Foothill League, one of the most competitive leagues in all of California. Other schools in the league are: Hart High School, Canyon High School, Saugus High School, West Ranch High School, and Golden Valley High School (with previous schools being John Burroughs High School of Burbank and Burbank High School.
- Baseball - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017
- Boys Basketball - 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015
- Girls Basketball - 2000, 2001, 2005,2016
- Football - 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
- Boys Golf - 2000, 2002
- Girls Golf - 2004, 2005, 2006
- Boys Soccer - 2016
- Girls Soccer - 2001, 2009
- Softball - 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007*, 2008*, 2009
- Boys Swimming-2014, 2015
- Girls Swimming-2014, 2015, 2017
- Boys Tennis - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
- Girls Tennis - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015
- Boys Track & Field - 2001, 2016
- Boys Volleyball - 2001, 2002, 2003*, 2004*, 2005, 2006*, 2007, 2008*, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015
- Girls Volleyball - 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015
CIF Champions
- Volleyball Boys 2003 â€" Div 2
- Volleyball Boys 2004 â€" Div 2
- Volleyball Boys 2006 â€" Div 2
- Volleyball Boys 2008 - Div 2
- Softball 2007 â€" Div 1
- Softball 2008 - Div 1
- Track & Field Girls - Alyson Drake 2009
- Tennis Girls - 2014
CIF Finalist
- Football 1999
- Football 2001
- Volleyball Boys 2001
- Volleyball Boys 2002
- Boys Golf 2002
- Volleyball Boys 2003
- Soccer Girls 2003
- Football 2004
- Volleyball Boys 2004
- Golf Girls 2004
- Softball 2005
- Girls Golf 2005
- Tennis Girls 2005
- Volleyball Boys 2005
- Volleyball Boys 2006
- Tennis Girls 2006
- Softball 2007
- Tennis Girls 2007
- Volleyball Boys 2008
- Softball 2008
- Track & Field Girls - Alyson Drake 2009
- Volleyball Boys 2015
State Champions
- Softball 2007
- Volleyball Boys 2008
- Track & Field Girls - Alyson Drake 2009
National Champions
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Hip Hop) 2003
- Volleyball Boys (unofficial) 2006
- Softball 2007
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Large Jazz and Character) 2007
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Large Jazz) 2008
- Volleyball Boys 2008
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Large Jazz, Medium Jazz, and Officers) 2009
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Large Jazz and Character) 2010
- Dance Team (USA National Champs in Intermediate and Grand National Champions) 2011
Notable alumni
- Taylor Dooley, star of The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl [1] (Class of 2011)
- Robert Hy Gorman, played Felix in Forever Young and Clark in Leprechaun [2] (Class of 1998)
- Max Homa, professional golfer, 2013 NCAA champion
- Taylor Lautner, star of The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl [3], played Young Blood in Danny Phantom and Jacob Black in the films Twilight, New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Class of 2010)
- Troy Neiman (born 1990), baseball player
- Naya Rivera, best known for her role in the musical comedy television series Glee, as cheerleader Santana Lopez.(Class of 2005)
- Mackenzie Rosman, star of 7th Heaven [4] (Class of 2007)
- Mercedes Scelba-Shorte, runner-up of America's Next Top Model [5] (Class of 2000)
- Ashley Tisdale, from Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and High School Musical [6](Class of 2003)
- Shane Vereen, NFL player for New York Giants, former University of California, Berkeley running back, New England Patriots' 2nd round pick (56th overall) in 2011 NFL Draft, 2014 Super Bowl champion with Patriots (Class of 2007)
- Manuel White, former Washington Redskins NFL running back (Class of 2000)
- Danny Worth, professional baseball player for Detroit Tigers
- Keston Hiura, first round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers
Trivia
- Valencia High School was used as a set for the films Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Bio-Dome, and Pleasantville. It was also used for filming TV series, Sweet Valley High.
- Artist Cold Flamez performed live at the Valencia High School Luau Dance on August 21, 2009
- Artist Kevin Rudolf performed his hit songs “Let It Rock†and “Welcome to the World†live at the Valencia High School Homecoming Dance on October 23, 2009.
- Young Mc - 1990 Grammy Award Artist for "Best Rap Performance" - performed his hit song "Bust a Move" live at the Valencia High School Homecoming Dance on October 14, 2011.
References
**4 http://www.signalscv.com/m/section/36/article/149323/
External links
- Santa Clarita Valley Film Festival
- Valencia High School
