| Number of Schools Managed |
11 |
7 |
| Number of Students Managed |
2,435 students |
3,960 students |
| District Total Revenue |
$25,933,000 |
$37,604,000 |
| District Expenditure |
$25,475,000 |
$39,520,000 |
| District Revenue / Student |
$10,650 |
$9,496 |
| District Expenditure / Student |
$10,462 |
$9,980 |
| District Graduation Rates |
n/a |
n/a |
|
- University High School
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(colloquially, UHS) is a charter high school on the campus of California State University, Fresno, in Fresno, California. The school emphasizes academics and music. UHS opened in 2000 with Dr. Brad Huff as the founding Head of School, and its first seniors graduated in 2004. At the end of the 2004-2005 school year, approximately 370 students were enrolled. James Bushman, Ed.D., has been Head of School since 2006.
- Prospective students must apply to UHS and must have completed basic algebra. They must have at least intermediate-level proficiency in instrumental or vocal music. The school accepts approximately 125 new freshmen per year. It is possible to transfer to the school as a sophomore or junior, but all transfer students will be put in the first year musicianship class. Although priding itself on its music-oriented curriculum, anecdotal reports from students indicate that the majority attend for the academically challenging classes.
- UHS students study, in addition to normal high school courses, two years of Latin and four years of musicianship, entailing musicology, music theory, audiation, and musical analysis. Because of its location on the CSUF campus, students also have the opportunity to take a limited amount of classes through the university for college credit, some of which UHS itself requires. Owing to its protracted use of University Buildings and portables, it has long had aspirations of having its own buildings in (constantly shifting) areas on campus, but no real progress has yet been made.
- University High School is also ranked as a Gold Medal School and the 36th best school in the nation by US World and News Report. The school is also the three time reigning champion at the State and National levels for Academic Decathlon Virtual National Competition. Though the Academic Decathlon team has yet to win county.
- University High School shares a campus with California State University, Fresno. In 2010 the permanent UHS school building will be complete and will be located next to the Smitcamp Alumni House. The class of 2012 will be the first graduating class from the new building. There is also to be a time capsule placed somewhere under school grounds.
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Traditions ==
- UHS, while small, has a few fun traditions. The Phoenix Bowl at the begginging of the school year is a competition between classes in a game such as football or Extreme Frisbee and serves as an ice-breaker for the Freshman and a fun competitive exercise for all the classes to kick off the school year.
- In the spring is the Academic Decathlon competition, where at least a quarter of the school turns out to cheer on the UHS Acadorks at Super Quiz. This is a very rowdy event for the UHSers who like to prostrate themselves to the Academic Decathlon coach, Sean Canfield, lead many rowdy cheers, and generally make themselves as obnoxious as possible to the other audience members. UHS's rival in this event is Edison High School and the chant 'Edison Delenda Est' (Edison must be destroyed, this is another sub tradition which hails from the second year Latin class) can frequently be heard. This event is also prone to male nudity, such that some of the male students rip off their shirts with war cries and display their painted torsos to everyone present.
- Other traditions at UHS include the Winter and Spring Elective sessions where students get an additional two weeks of vacation to spend doing an elective of their choice all day every day. Popular ones include the skiing/snowboarding elective in the fall, the Drama productions, and other strange and interesting electives that are being offered, such as 'A History of Serial Killers' and 'A Study of French Films Through the Decades'.
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Dynasties and Legends at UHS ==
- At University High School, a Legend is a student that has had a brother or sister attend the school before them. The farther back the student's sibling goes, the more awesomeness the Legend's sibling has. Especially good are the Legends that are memorable for either their a)great intelligence b) dastardly wickedness c)general appeal d) greatness, e) insert something cool here.
- Dynasties are another piece of culture. These Dynasties are like mega-Legends. Dynasties must have a)a great number of siblings attend the school (3+) and b) must be especially memorable for their intelligence, skill at instrument playing/singing/acting or especially cool otherwise. Current Dynasties include the Matsushita's (Joseph, Jacob, Michael,and David(graduated)) and the Ohanians (Vasken(graduated), Zaven(graduated), and Shahen) both dynasties are expecting further siblings to attend. The Matsushita's are known mostly for their intellectial prowess and ability to solve Rubix Cubes very quickly. The Ohanians are known mostly for their musical talent. Vasken plays the violin, piano, sings tenor, and was a staple in drama productions. Zaven was in the top choir and played cello, and Shahen is also in the top choir, participates in drama, and plays an instrument.
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Teachers and Community ==
- Students and teachers at UHS share a fairly close relationship seeing as the number of students to teacher is quite small. Discussions in class range from funny and wild to serious and mature. Students are trusted to handle mature situations and discussions, and they therefore have more in depth and knowledgeable debates and discussions. Teachers at UHS are the best around, and do not stinge when it comes to teaching. They will teach you the rough, the bad, and the dirty, but will also bring you out of the mess with a complete understanding of their subject, or as close to as possible. Teachers will never deny a student one on one help, and they and the students generally have a good working relationship.
- The UHS community itself is very close. With only 400 students, it is very easy to learn names, make friends, and know everyone at the school. Each induvidual class is usually very close to each other by the time graduation rolls around, and they maintain good connections with one another during and after their graduation via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.
- Fresno Bee, "University High scores again", December 10, 2008, C4.
- Kerri Ginis, "Fresno school among top 100 - University High at Fresno State ranked 45th in U.S.", Fresno Bee, December 9, 2008, B1.
- Anne Dudley Ellis, "GOLD STANDARD - Fresno's University High wins national magazine honor", Fresno Bee, December 16, 2007, B1.
- "Best High Schools", U.S. News and World Report, http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/high-schools/index.html (accessed December 19, 2008).
- External links
- Official school website
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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