Sequoia High School (Redwood City, California)


Sequoia High School is a high school in downtown Redwood City, California, United States. Today, it is one of the few schools to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme within the San Francisco Bay Area.

About

Sequoia High School is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.
The school grounds include a Japanese tea garden which was built in 1929 by students, and it includes a number of historical trees; the Giant Sequoia, Monkey-puzzle tree, Australian Tea tree, Ginkgo biloba trees, Cork Oak tree and many others.

History

Established in 1895, it is the oldest high school in San Mateo County, and was founded as a preparatory school for Stanford University. When the school was founded, it was the only high school on the Peninsula, between San Francisco and Santa Clara. Initially when opening, the school occupied the third floor of the Redwood City Grammar School, with the two lower floors of the building for elementary and middle school students.
The present-day campus is located on the grounds of the former estate of Horace Hawes, author of the legislative bill that created San Mateo County. The present day campus was constructed in the 1920s and opened in 1924, in a Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style. The original campus buildings were designed by architects Coffey and Werner. The Argo Bell Tower campanile was built in 1923, and named after the former principal Clarence Argo. Carrington Hall , the school auditorium was named after a former music and art teacher at the school, Otis M. Carrington.
The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1995, under its former name Sequoia Union High School.
On September 13, 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Sequoia High School to sign bill SB 35, which prohibits persons who are under the age of 18 years from using a wireless telephone or other mobile service device while operating a motor vehicle.

Team Names and Mascot

In the early 1900s, the teams were named Cherokee, in honor of the creator of the Cherokee language Sequoyah. In 2002 the mascot was changed to be a raven, but the team names remained Cherokee. In 2019, the school board forced the final name change, changing both the mascot and the team names to be the ravens.

Specialized programs

Business/Information Technology Program

Sequoia's Business/Information Technology program consists of core business and technology courses designed to prepare students for exciting careers in business and information technology. These courses are available to all students and may be combined so that the program matches students' interests and goals. Business/IT provides students with advanced training that can lead toward industry recognized certification and community college credit. The program also provides students with marketable skills that can be applied immediately in the high tech workforce or built upon through higher education.

Digital Arts Academy

The Academy is a small school-within-a-school at Sequoia High School. The program is a School to Career Partnership Academy funded through a grant from the State of California that is matched by the district and industry partners. This grant is used to keep class sizes small, infuse curriculum with technology, provide extra support to students, and support hands on learning. Teachers in the Academy have time to meet and collaborate. This gives them the opportunity to plan cross-curricular technology rich projects to enhance learning. It also gives teachers an opportunity to identify students who need an extra push to take themselves to the next level and pool our resources to push them. The Academy provides a rigorous academic experience that focuses on helping students complete the A-G requirements to transfer to a four-year university. Students take four classes per year within the Academy: English, Science, Social Studies, and a Technology elective. The elective varies each year depending on the student's pathway. Students have the opportunity to enroll in an SAT preparation course at no cost. Students can earn college credit through Cañada College for all technology classes in the Academy.

Personalized Learning Communities (PLC)

Personalized Learning Communities at Sequoia High School provide a more personalized atmosphere for students and to ensure that all students receive the education they need. The movement toward personalized learning communities at Sequoia began in 2002. A team of teachers, administrators, and parents looked at three possible models for a house system. The Sequoia community ultimately chose the horizontal model, which is the model in place today. A team visited Nathan Hale High School, a school in Washington State that had already implemented the horizontal house system. They came back to Sequoia with observations, ideas, resources, and inspiration. During the 2003-2004 school year, the 9th grade houses task force met monthly at first, and gradually increased meeting time to almost weekly in order to plan everything necessary to implement 9th grade houses in the fall of 2004.

International Baccalaureate Programme (IB)

Sequoia High School began offering the International Baccalaureate Programme in February 2002. The IB Programme is available to all students beginning their freshman year. The students are placed in ICAP classes their freshman and sophomore years before they enter IB classes as a junior and senior. Sequoia High School includes a wide range of classes for the students from English, History, Arts, Sciences, and Languages. The students are able to choose if they want to partake in the full IB Diploma which includes taking a Theory of Knowledge class, an Extended Essay and doing Creative Active and Service hours. For those who do not wish to participate in the IB diploma, the students can take the IB classes for certificates, if they pass the IB test. The International Baccalaureate Programme allows the students a wide range of opportunities because the course is worldwide. It prepares them for college as the course is rigorous, but helps each student adapt to the work load. At the end of the last year, similar to the AP test, the students take IB tests which go on throughout the month of May.

Statistics

Demographics

2015-2016
HispanicWhiteAsianTwo or More RacesPacific IslanderFilipinoAfrican AmericanAmerican IndianNot Reported
1,273629666247322851
%%%%%%%%%

Standardized testing

Notable alumni

Athletes