- Corona del Sol High School located in Tempe, Arizona, United States, was established in 1977 and is a part of the Tempe Union High School District.
- Campus
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Corona is a closed boundary school that does not permit any outside students to attend. In addition to this, Corona enforces a closed-campus policy. Students attending through grades 9, 10 and 11 may not leave campus without an adult checking them out for the day. Seniors are only permitted to leave campus with a special ID which can only be obtained with a signed and notarized parent permission form.
- Academics
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Corona's AIMS and Terra Nova test scores as well as student pass rates are consistently above its district and state averages, as is its graduation rate (99%).Corona is also among the top schools in the state in the number of National Merit Semifinalists produced each year (16 in 2006). These and other achievements are recognized by the school's NCLB rating of "Excellent" for the past three years.
- Arts
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Corona del Sol has a large music and fine arts program, boasting four concert bands, an award winning marching band, a concert orchestra and a chamber orchestra, as well as five choir classes, and a percussion program. Piano, Guitar, Darts, Percussion, and World Music (Steel Drums) are also offered. Other fine arts that students may take part include Intermediate Dance, Advanced Dance, Dance Performance, Photography, 3 Levels of Drama, Film Study, Stagecraft, Ceramics, Basic Art and Design, Drawing and Painting.
- Orchestra
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There are two classes of orchestra; Concert and Symphony(Chamber). Each year they go and compete at different festivals like the Aboda or Regionals. Well known for being one of the top classes in the Regionals.
- Choir Program
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The Choir Program has about 300 students involved in the program. There are 5 choirs: Jaztecs (the highest-20 Members), followed by A Capella (Co-ed-70 Members), Encore (Girls-70 Members), Men's Chorus (Boys-20 members), and Women's Ensemble (Girls-70 members) (Lowest Choir). There is also a group of students called the "choir council" who help the director and perform choir related tasks. About 20-30 students are selected by an application process. Students in the choir program are well known for making Regionals and All-State Choirs.
- Band Program
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The band program is a program at Corona Del Sol. With over 200 students enrolled, each year shows signs of progress and success. There are 4 concert bands (listed from least to most advanced): Junior Varsity, Symphonic II, Symphonic I, and Wind Ensemble. There are also 4 different classes of Percussion with similar performance skill classifications.
- Alumni
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Some alumni of Corona del Sol have gone on to become successful in music. Most recently, Jared Monaco and Pat Kirch have graduated from Corona del Sol to become members of the pop-punk group The Maine.
- Activities
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The school has over 100 clubs and activities including an award-winning school newspaper and yearbook, various sports teams, speech and debate, and a plethora of community service organizations. Along with these typical high school clubs, Corona del Sol has some atypical clubs, such as Monday Mythology Madness, the Random Acts of Kindness Society, an outstanding ping pong and chess team.
- Clubs
- Acatecs — A club primarily for gifted students (although open to all students) that organizes AcaTutoring sessions and provides advice to students.
- Animal Rights Club
- Anime Club — Holds weekly meetings on Thursdays to watch anime (Japanese animation) movies and TV shows.
- [1] — The production of the Advanced TV Production class taught by Mr. Forbes. Broadcasts are brought to classrooms on occasion- covering news, events and sketches about Corona del Sol. Recently, [2] won a 1st place "Best in Show" award by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for their best works for the 2008-2009 school year.
- Best Buddies
- Chess Club — This club is a place where people can play chess without being judged. All skill levels and all grades can come. In, addition , the first semester. This club goes to chess tournaments every other Saturday and, along with China Club, hosts the annual Chinese Chess Tournament.
- China Club — Experimental organization to raise awareness of Chinese and other Asian culture and runs the annual CdS Chinese Chess Tournament along with the Chess Club. Recently changed to the Asian Student Union (ASU).
- Computer Club[3]
- Language clubs — the French Club is the extracurricular counterpart to French classes, explores French culture, holds an annual cheese tasting event. The is also a German analogue of French Club. The Spanish Honor Society is similar to the other language clubs, but with community service requirements, where the volunteering must be Spanish related.
- Math Club — This is a club where people who enjoy doing math come and socialize with each other. There are weekly problems and several contests throughout the year, most prominently the AMC (the entry stage of the USA Math Olympiad.
- Music For Cure — This club is for those who are able to play an instrument and/or sing, they practice music to play at hospitals, hospices etc. This club deals with Music Therapy.
- National Art Honor Society
- National Honor Society — The CdS chapter of the national organization. Members must have GPA > 3.7 and complete 24 hours of community service per year. Officer selection process is the fairest of any club at Corona, using written applications which are blind-read by the sponsor (vice principal Duplissis) and other faculty.
- Mythology Club — Holds weekly meetings to talk about myths and legends, and watches videos on the subject.
- Philosophy Club — A discussion group where people can talk and debate each other about almost anything.
- Ping Pong Club
- Random Acts of Kindness Society
- Robotics Club — Formerly the Society of Future Engineers; advanced to the FIRST FRC Robotics national competition as the 1st place rookie team in 2007. Placed 2nd seed at the Arizona Regional in 2008. Website
- Speech and Debate — The CdS forensics team which meets frequently and participates in both speech and debate competitions in the area, occasionally traveling out of state. The debate division is one of the best in Arizona and its members have won many of the local tournaments in the past two years.[4]
- Style Club
- TheaterWorks — Affiliated with the Drama program at CdS, performs several stage plays in the CdS auditorium each year.
- Trivia Club — The successor organization to the CdS Brainstorm[5] team, which participates in the Arizona Cox Communications quiz show, now in its second season. Corona won the first season of the show. The team appeared twice this season, defeating opposing teams from Notre Dame Preparatory and Buena Vista High School (episode airdate: Nov. 28, 2007 6:30pm) and Fountain Hills and Desert Hills High Schools (episode airdate: May 14, 2007 6:30pm).
- Video Game Club
- Writer's Guild - A forum for young writers of all genres to meet and share their work with fellow students.
- Young Democrats Club — The club aims to promote liberal ideas and regularly volunteers for democratic politicians by performing a variety of activities, including canvassing, phonebanking, and literature dropping. Past guest speakers have included United States Congresswoman and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Barney Frank.
- Young Republicans Club
- Youth In Government — A discussion group with a focus on politics and government related issues. This group discusses current issues, different kinds of government, as well as controversial issues that are represented from different sides that effect the student's everyday lives.
- Community service clubs
- Aztecs for Soldiers — community service club, founded by Shihiayah Young in 2007, which raises money for military families
- Cancer Community — community service club focusing on cancer causes such as Race for the Cure
- Interact Club' — community service plus an annual trip to the Model U.N. program at New York
- Key Club — community service club; CdS chapter of Key Club International
- March of Dimes — community service club affiliated with, and focusing on fundraising for, March of Dimes/WalkAmerica
- Red Cross Club — community service club affiliated with the American Red Cross
- Controversies
- 2007 Columbine anniversary week
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In April 2007, threats were issued for Corona over supposed violence to take place on the 20th, the anniversary of the Columbine shootings. The first message was found on a boys' bathroom stall on April 10; an olive tree was burned down and a message on the ground nearby found on April 13. Subsequent messages were found later on April 13 and on April 16 in bathroom stalls. On April 19, 2007 the school was evacuated to the stadium due to a suspicious package found in a bathroom. The box turned out to be a student's physics science project in a shoebox.
- Despite high tensions, April 20 passed without incident, exactly as the administration predicted. Still, the false alarm from April 19 as well as the coincidental Virginia Tech shootings earlier in the week served to magnify fears that had already been raised by the unprecedented repetition of the graffiti threats. Although Corona has been threatened every April for the past several years, this is the first year that 4 messages have been found in succession making the same threat. Few classes had over 50% attendance, and it is estimated that over 2000 of the school's 2900 students took Friday off.
- The administration and faculty were unfazed by the threats, but troubled by the exaggerated rumors that the threats spawned and occasionally inaccurate media reporting. The threats were taken seriously, and extra police were deployed to Corona pending completion of the investigation. A monetary reward for information leading to an arrest has since been increased to $5,000. Tips may be directed to the Tempe Police. The school and Tempe Union District are soliciting donations to increase the reward further.
- Notable alumni
- David Rivas - Designer of custom guitar electronics/tech for Rx Bandits, The Fall of Troy, Tera Melos, Facing New York
- Pat Kirch - Drummer of the band The Maine
- Jared Monaco - Lead Guitarist of the band The Maine
- Mike Pollak - NFL Player - Indianapolis Colts
- Ade Obayomi - Finalist on So You Think You Can Dance
- Dominic Riccitello - Actor & Model
- Ashley Hansen - second baseman for USA Softball Team
- Derek Lull - 2008 Tempe Mayoral Candidate
- External links
- Official Website
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- 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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