Clairemont High School
Clairemont High School is a public high school serving grades 9-12. It is located in the community of Clairemont Mesa, San Diego, California, United States. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. The campus is situated close to the intersection of Balboa Avenue and Clairemont Drive. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Clairemont High School | |
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Address | |
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4150 Ute Drive , California 92117 United States | |
Coordinates | 32°48′33″N 117°12′11″W |
Information | |
Type | Public |
Established | 1958 |
School district | San Diego City Schools |
Principal | Ethan Williams |
Teaching staff | 38.91 (FTE)[1] |
Grades | 9-12 |
Enrollment | 909 (2018-19)[1] |
Student to teacher ratio | 23.36[1] |
Color(s) | Orange Blue White |
Mascot | Chieftain |
Rival | James Madison High School Mission Bay High School Kearny High School |
Yearbook | The Calumet |
Website | Clairemont High School |
History
The school is named after the Clairemont community in which it is located.
When Clairemont opened its doors in 1958, it consisted of no senior class, a junior class (class of 1960) consisting mostly of transfers from Mission Bay High School in nearby Pacific Beach and Kearny High School, and a sophomore class (class of 1961) coming from its neighbor, Marston Junior High. There was no freshman class.
Ritchie Valens, who at the time had two hits on the charts, "La Bamba" and "Donna," played at Clairemont High School's opening.[2]
In 1960, the two school's closest rivals were Kearny High School and Mission Bay High. Their current rivals are crosstown locals Madison High.
Mary Catherine Swanson started the AVID program at Clairemont High in 1980 with 32 students.
Sports
![](../I/Cmont_high_field.jpg.webp)
In 2014 Clairemont's varsity softball team won the CIF Division III title by defeating Brawley 3-0. [3]
Clairemont has a variety of sports teams. The most attended game is football. The last time the football team won CIF was in 1981. The team made the playoffs in 1962, 1991, 1994, 2004, 2006, 2012, and 2019.
Clairemont has a long distance running tradition and won CIF championships in girls' cross country in 2009 and 2010.
Clairemont's mascot is the Chieftain, the school newspaper is The Arrow', and the annual is The Calumet (which is a ceremonial pipe used for special occasions by early native American tribes).
In popular culture
The movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (and the book published first) were inspired by author Cameron Crowe's undercover research at Clairemont High School during the 1978-79 school year.[4]
A track on the band Pierce the Veil's album Selfish Machines is titled "Fast Times at Clairemont High".
Notable alumni
- Barbara Haskell, class of 1964, curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1975–present
- Ken Henderson, Class of 1964 former Major League Baseball player, 1965-1980[5]
- Bob Taylor, class of 1972, luthier and founder of Taylor Guitars
- Luís Alberto Urrea, class of 1973, poet, novelist, and essayist
- Kris Jenner, class of 1973, stars on reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians[6]
- Kelly Ward, class of 1974, actor, played Putzie in the film Grease
- Jennifer Batten, class of 1975, solo guitarist, toured with Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson
- Mike Winters, class of 1976, Major League Baseball umpire, 1990–present
- Mo Gaffney, class of 1976, actress and comedian
- Thomas A. Shannon Jr., class of 1976, Assistant Secretary of State
- Bob Geren, class of 1979, baseball player, former manager of the Oakland Athletics and bench coach of the New York Mets is currently the major league bench coach under Dave Roberts for the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Andy Rathbone, class of 1979, author of a number of ...for Dummies books about Microsoft Windows, as well as other computing books
- Casey Nicholaw, class of 1980, actor, Directed, Choreographed, and performed in multiple musicals
- David Oliver, class of 1980, actor, Another World, A Year in the Life, and 21 Jump Street
- Kristen R. Ghodsee, class of 1988, writer and professor
- Kendra Wilkinson, class of 2003, Playboy model and reality-television personality
- Moala Tautuaa, class of 2008, professional basketball player.
- Kevin Mitchell, baseball player and 1989 National League MVP, San Francisco Giants
- Tony Muser, former Major League Baseball manager.
References
- "Clairemont High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
- San Diego Reader
- MaxPreps Rankings
- IMDB
- Ken Henderson
- Huffington Post article-Kris Jenner