Acalanes High School
| Acalanes High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
|
1200 Pleasant Hill Road Lafayette, California 94549 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 37°54′17″N 122°05′54″W / 37.90481°N 122.09842°WCoordinates: 37°54′17″N 122°05′54″W / 37.90481°N 122.09842°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1940 |
| School district | Acalanes Union High School District |
| Principal | Travis Bell |
| Teaching staff | 67.40 (FTE) |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 1,390 (2013-14) |
| Student to teacher ratio | 20.62 |
| Color(s) | Royal blue and white |
| Athletics conference | California Interscholastic Federation, North Coast Section; Diablo Foothill Athletic League |
| Nickname | Dons |
| Newspaper | Blueprint |
| Yearbook | AKLAN |
| Website | School website |
Acalanes High School is a public secondary school located in Lafayette, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, within Contra Costa County. Acalanes was the first of four high schools established in the Acalanes Union High School District. It was built in 1940 on what was then a tomato field. The school was built using Federal government funds with labor provided by the Works Project Administration, the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency introduced by the Roosevelt administration. Lafayette businessman M.H. Stanley suggested the name "Acalanes", the name of the Mexican grant from which all land title within the City of Lafayette derives. Rancho Acalanes itself seems to have been named by its Hispanic settlers after the local Native American Bay Miwok tribe called Saclan, referred to by Spanish missionaries as Saclanes. The first graduating class of 1941 selected the school colors of blue and white. For the school sports mascot, they chose the Don (a Spanish honorary title).
Acalanes offers a diverse course selection and a number of AP and honors courses. Among the electives offered are sports medicine, digital design, automechanics, graphic arts, video production, journalism, drama, photography, Mandarin (Chinese), Spanish, French, chorus, band (four groups), and orchestra.
Acalanes academic clubs regularly participate in Bay Area quiz bowl tournaments, including BAAL (Bay Area Academic League). Acalanes also offers Model UN and Academic Decathlon as extracurricular activities. The Acalanes Academic Decathlon team won first place in the Contra Costa regional meet in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. They took first place in Division III at the 2009 California state competition.
Acalanes High demonstrated its scientific excellence in 2008, winning the regional competition of the National Science Bowl at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Acalanes finished second in the same competition in 2009. However, the school has consistently lagged behind local high schools Campolindo and Miramonte in more comprehensive rankings based on AP scores and overall academic quality. For 2013, Campolindo High School was ranked 131st in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, Miramonte was ranked 173rd, while Acalanes was ranked 275th.
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