Thomas Downey High School
Encyclopedia
Thomas Downey High School is a 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....

 in Modesto, California
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....

. It is one of the seven high schools in Modesto. George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

, Tony Graziani
Tony Graziani
Anthony Robert Graziani was an American football quarterback who played for the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League, and the Los Angeles Avengers and Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League. Graziani played college football at the University of Oregon...

, Laci Peterson
Laci Peterson
Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman who was the subject of a highly discussed murder case after she went missing while seven and a half months pregnant with her first child. Peterson was reportedly last seen alive on December 24, 2002...

 and Olympian
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and American Discus Record Holder Suzy Powell
Suzy Powell
Suzanne Powell-Roos is a female discus thrower from the United States., who represented her native country in the women's discus throw event at three Summer Olympics, 1996 , 2000 and 2008 .She is the current American record holder in the Discus Throw, that record of...

, are some of its notable graduates.

One of the six high schools in Modesto, Thomas Downey High is the second oldest in the city. Its mascot is the Knight, but they are sometimes humorously referred to as the "Downey Ducks."

The movie American Graffiti
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...

, written and directed by Downey graduate George Lucas, is based in Modesto but filmed in Petaluma, California
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...

. The school that students in the film attend is called "Dewey High", but is actually Petaluma High School
Petaluma High School
Petaluma High School is a public high school located in Petaluma, California. Petaluma High School's rival is Casa Grande High School. Petaluma High School is located in the city of Petaluma, California. Petaluma High School serves the westside of Petaluma and many of the rural areas that surround...

, the architecutral twin to Downey High. "Dewey High" is a likely reference to Downey.

Downey's yearbook and newspaper have received awards. Yearbook adviser John Scott was one of three finalists for the Stanislaus County
Stanislaus County, California
Stanislaus County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. As the price of housing has increased in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people who work in the southern reaches of the Bay Area have opted for the longer commute and moved to Stanislaus County for the...

 Teacher of the Year award in 2007.

The Agriculture Department at Thomas Downey was first created to work the school's early orchards. The orchards have been since cut down, with the department serving as the main welding area for the students of TDHS. Proficient students in welding go on to competitions for the National FFA Organization
National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is an American youth organization known as a Career and Technical Student Organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education...

. If students win competitions, they have a chance to be recognized by superiors in the welding industry. Companies include West-Mark, Caterpillar, and others. Students also raise animals for the Stanislaus County Fair, hoping to gain a profit. The projects range from 3 to 7 months and focus on gardening, animals, and home improvement. Students also have the opportunity to take a floral design class in which students design and sell arrangements.

The school has designated dress-up days during fall and winter homecoming weeks, Unity Week, and Red Ribbon week. A large rally is usually thrown at the beginning of each year for fall homecoming, where dance performances are given and homecoming court nominees play games meant to be somewhat embarrassing, but all in good fun for the spirit of Homecoming Week.

Sport

In 2008 the Thomas Downey High boys' varsity 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...

 team was crowned 2008 MMC (Modesto Metro Conference) Champions by beating Modesto High
Modesto High School
Modesto High School is a high school in Modesto, California, U.S.A. It offers the International Baccalaureate Program, and was the first public school to do so in the Central Valley of California.Modesto High School is the oldest high school in Modesto....

 and had an inner league record of 13–2.

On Saturday, February 23, 2008, the Downey Science Bowl Blue Team won the Central Valley Regional Science Bowl Competition. They defeated the other 23 teams from the area.

Singing

Downey is also notable for its strong tradition in choral singing. Downey has five choirs: Concert Choir (mixed ensemble), Madrigals
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....

(advanced mixed ensemble), Knightengales (advanced women's ensemble), Knights(men's ensemble), and Gloriana (beginning women's ensemble). The choirs usually perform three concerts each year: Knight Magic in fall, the holiday concert in the winter, and the spring concert in spring. They also perform at various locations throughout the year and especially throughout the holiday season. The choirs also go on an annual choir tour to Southern California in the spring.
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