Gahr High School

Richard Gahr High School, often simply known as Gahr High School, is a public school in Cerritos, California, serving grades 9-12. Gahr High is part of the ABC Unified School District, which also includes the noted Whitney High School and Cerritos High School. Like the other high schools in the district, Gahr operates on the semester system and its school year runs from September to June, with a summer school program in June and July. Its current principal is George Kambeitz.

Though it has a comparatively small student population at around 1,900, Gahr is known as a very ethnically diverse campus, (located in "the most ethnically diverse place in America", according to a California State University, Northridge study as Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Filipino Americans and African Americans together constitute a large majority at more than 70% [http://www.gahronline.org/About/basic.htm. The campus is located on Artesia Boulevard and is within close proximity to the Cerritos Auto Square, Los Cerritos Center, and Cerritos Towne Center. The school is also very easy to find since it directly neighbors the intersection of the Interstate 605 and California State Route 91.

Gahr High is well-known for its athletics, especially in baseball, and its social science department, including the growing Model United Nations program. Gahr also contains many AP Classes throughout the school's departments that many students have the opportunity to take, in hopes of better chances at college admission (the ratio of the number of advanced placement classes taken and passed to the number of juniors and seniors for the 2003-2004 school year was 34%, compared to significantly lower county and state averages of 24% and 22%, respectively; the school's graduation rate is also 16% higher than the county average ^*). The school's mascot is the Gladiator. Gahr's school colors are blue and gold.

History

Gahr High School was completed in 1965 as the first high school in both the newly unified ABC Unified School District, and the recently incorporated City of Dairy Valley (the city would be renamed to its current state two years later) ^*. Indeed, the originally proposed name for the school was "Dairy Valley High School". The school was officially named after Richard Gahr, who had served as the school district's Superintendent. During the 1970s, as the student population in Cerritos rapidly grew, Cerritos High School was created for district expansion, and during its construction the latter used part of the Gahr campus.

Gahr High School has recently gone through many changes. New quads were built, grass planted, and a new school mural painted. While some underestimate Gahr because it has somewhat lower test scores than a few neighboring schools, supporters point out that both the student diversity and teacher intimacy that Gahr is noted for make up for it. Many students are enrolled in Honors or Advanced Placement courses, and those in the latter work to pass the annual tests in May. Other students that are struggling in certain subjects are offered intervention programs and after-school and lunch tutoring by the many committed teachers.

Clubs and Athletics

Gahr High School offers many clubs and athletic teams in which students can participate. Gahr has many popular sports programs, including American Football, soccer, basketball, track & field, cross country, tennis, water polo, volleyball, baseball, softball, colorguard, marching band and the recently added badminton team. All students have an equal opportunity to try out for junior varsity and varsity teams.

Clubs also play a major role in the students' highschool careers, not just for fun and friends, but because clubs offer opportunities to earn community service hours, and also look even better on transcripts for college applications. Clubs vary from cultural to artistic to academic. Gahr clubs include general and academic organizations (Key Club, Arts and Travel club, Math and Science club, MUN) and cultural clubs (Spanish Club, Japanese Club, Indian club, French Club, Barkata Club, Multicultural Club, SBC club, FLSA, and Environmental and Ermegency Services club, the Arts and Travel Club). All students interested in joining a cultural club are admitted, regardless of whether the student speaks the language or is ethnically related to the culture.

All clubs have their own fundraisers, whether it is with candy, local restuarants, or some other ASB approved form. Along with fundraisers, club members go on field trips, perform or have some type of fun game/ act prepared for lunch rallies, and increase the diversity not just at the Gahr campus, but in the community as well. All clubs are required a minimun of two hours community service per semester.

Statistics

**Student population racial makeup (2003)**
Race	Percentage of population
African-American	15.4
American Indian or Alaska Native	0.3
Asian	24.3
Filipino	12.5
Hispanic or Latino	34.2
Pacific Islander	.6
White (Not Hispanic)	12.4
Multiple or No Response	0.3

**California Standardized Testing Rankings for 2004**
Subject	School	District	State
English-Language Arts	35	46	36
Mathematics	27	49	34
Science	39	39	25
History-Social Science	39	42	29

**Expenditure per student for 2002-2003**
District	Similar Districts	State Average All districts
$6,497	$6,882	$6,822

Notable Alumni

Mack, Shane (1982) - Minnesota Twins baseball player (1990-1994)
Nieto, Tom (1978) - Major League Baseball player (1984-1990)
Payne, Nicolle (1994) - UCLA water polo goalie; Silver medalist in 2000 Sydney Olympics; Bronze medalist in 2004 Athens Olympics.
Zorn, Jim (1971) - Seattle Seahawks Quarterback (1976-1987)

External links

Geographic Information

ABC Unified School District | Educational institutions established in 1965 | High schools in California

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