Quartz Hill High School
Encyclopedia
| Name | Quartz Hill High School |
| Address | 6040 West Avenue L |
| Location | Quartz Hill, California |
| Established | 1964 |
| Community | Suburban |
| Type | Public |
| Principal | Kreitz |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Accreditation | Western Association of Schools and Colleges |
| Mascot | The Rebel |
| Colors | Blue and Gold |
| Newspaper | The Ubiquity |
| Yearbook | The Cavalier |
| Website | http://www.qhhs.org |
Quartz Hill High School is a public, co-educational
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located in Quartz Hill, California
Quartz Hill, California
Quartz Hill is a census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 10,912 at the 2010 census, up from 9,890 at the 2000 census. The name is also shared with the neighboring district areas of its border cities, Palmdale, and Lancaster...
. Founded in 1964, it is the third oldest comprehensive high school in the Antelope Valley Union High School District
Antelope Valley Union High School District
The Antelope Valley Union High School District is located in the Antelope Valley area of California, in northern Los Angeles County....
.
Campus
The basic layout of Quartz Hill High School's 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) campusCampus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
is a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
surrounded by several quads
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
and athletic buildings, a design that is typical of high schools in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. The school's campus was originally designed for 1,800 students, but over two times that number are currently enrolled. In the school year 2008-2009, there is a reported number of over 3000 students now attending the school, some even foreign exchange students.
From the summer of 2003 to the fall of 2004, Quartz Hill High School's campus underwent a $15 million modernization that updated the majority of the school's classrooms.
Student body
Quartz Hill High School consists of approximately 3,200 students, and the school's population is growing. Most of the school's students live in Quartz HillQuartz Hill, California
Quartz Hill is a census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 10,912 at the 2010 census, up from 9,890 at the 2000 census. The name is also shared with the neighboring district areas of its border cities, Palmdale, and Lancaster...
, Palmdale
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is a city located in the center of northern Los Angeles County, California, United States.Palmdale was the first community within the Antelope Valley to incorporate as a city on August 24, 1962; 47 years later, voters approved creating a charter city in November, 2009. Palmdale is...
and Lancaster
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
, cities in the Antelope Valley
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley in California, United States, is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert...
of northern Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
.
- American Indian: 0.8%
- Pacific Islander: 0.03%
- Filipino: 1.8%
- Asian: 3.2%
- African American: 8.4%
- Hispanic: 15.3%
- White: 70.21%
Academics
Quartz Hill High School is one of 65 high schools in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, which began at the school in 1998. Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
classes are also available in nearly all academic departments.
Activities
Activities at Quartz Hill High School include- Associated Student Body (ASB)Students' unionA students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...
, which organizes dances, assemblies and other events that promote school spirit - American Cancer Society (ACS)American Cancer SocietyThe American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
- National Honor Society (NHS)National Honor SocietyThe National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
- Model United NationsModel United NationsModel United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
- Animal RightsAnimal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
Club
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
Club - Key ClubKey ClubKey Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family of service-leadership programs...
- HikingHikingHiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
Club - Young Democrats Club
- Young RepublicansYoung RepublicansThe Young Republicans is an organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization and chapters in individual states....
Club
- Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
- Future Farmers of America (FFA)
- Multicultural Club
- The Ubiquity, a student-run newspaperNewspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
- Fight Aids Now (FAN) Club
- California Scholarship FederationCalifornia Scholarship FederationThe California Scholarship Federation, or CSF, started in 1921 by Charles F. Seymour, seeks to recognize students living in the state of California who possess high standards in academic scholarship, community service and citizenship....
(CSF) - Spanish Club
- French Club
- Asian Culture Club
- Swimming and Waterman Club
- Yearbook
- Marine Biology Club
- Cheerleading/Pep Squad
- Mock TrialMock trialA Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...
- Christian Club
- Vocal Association
- Anime Club
- Japanese Culture Club
- Hip Hop Club
- Drama Club
- Mixed Martial Arts
- Speech/Debate Club
- Art Club
- Take Down Club
- Parkour Club
Sports
The sports program at Quartz Hill High School includes Marching bandMarching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, soccer, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
.
The mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
of Quartz Hill High School is the Rebel, a Confederate soldier
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
. Rebel teams began interscholastic competition in the mid-1960s.
In the 2008 season, the cross country team placed 1st in Golden League for the first time in 25 years, repeating in 2009.
In the 2008 season, the volleyball team placed 1st in CIF division 3.
In 1990 the Quartz Hill High School Football team led by Jon Albee and Ken Hettinger won 8 straight games and made it to the Division One Southern Section finals in Anaheim Stadium ranked in the top 25. This was in the Golden League's first season in division one CIF football.
The 2006 Rebel baseball team was the first, and still only, baseball program from the Antelope Valley to win a C.I.F. Southern Section Championship
Mission statements
Mission Statement: The mission of Quartz Hill High School is to produce responsible citizens who are able to communicate effectively, set and achieve realistic goals, and who become life long learners.Vision Statement: Quartz Hill High School desires to provide the staff with training, instruction and modeling to improve the instructional strategies, curriculum offerings, and learning for all students. It is the school’s vision that all students will reinforce their fundamental academic skills through the use of appropriate instruction, current technology, and an environment most conducive to learning. The school desires to equip staff with the skills which will assist in providing all students opportunities for post-high school success.
Planned school attack
On December 15, 2005, two former Quartz Hill students were arrested for planning a ColumbineColumbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
style massacre at the school. The two youths allegedly intended to attack the school on February 14, 2006. News reports described them as goths
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
and indicated that they had accumulated knives, ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
, a gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
and bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
-making instructions. They were charged on December 19, 2005 with conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to commit murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
.
Tensions flared again on January 13, 2006, when a rumor that the former students who had been arrested would again attempt to attack the school using pipe-bombs. According to Principal Mark Bryant, the planned attacks were merely "rumor, upon rumor, upon rumor." This "Friday the 13th" rumor was passed between students via internet messages and cell-phone text messages. In response to the threat, nearly 50% of the student body was absent from the campus by the time the school day had finished. In the end, the only disruption to the day was a firecracker explosion within a trash can during the school's lunch break.
Notable alumni
- Kiel McClungKiel McClungKiel McClung is an American soccer player, currently without a club.-Youth and College:McClung was a three-time letterwinner at Quartz Hill High School under coach Tony Bruce. McClung was named the Golden League’s Most Valuable Player as a Junior, Daily News Player of the Year, and also the CIF...
- Professional Soccer Player USL First DivisionUSL First DivisionThe United Soccer Leagues First Division was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.... - Michelle PerryMichelle PerryMichelle Perry is an American athlete. At the 2004 Summer Olympics she placed 14th overall in the heptathlon competition...
- Silver medalist in heptathlonHeptathlonA heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:...
, at NCAANational Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Outdoor Championships in 2001 , competitor in the 2004 Summer Olympics.