Temple City High School


Temple City High School is a four-year public high school located in Temple City, California, in the West San Gabriel Valley.

History

The Temple City Unified School District was established on July 1, 1954 and incorporated Oak Avenue Intermediate School, a junior high school formerly part of the Pasadena Unified School District. Before 1956, Temple City public school students would attend Pasadena High School after Oak Avenue, but in 1956 the first 12th grade class in the district graduated at Oak Avenue. The first graduation from Temple City High was a year later, when the Associated Student Body established the green and gold school colors and the Ram as the school mascot. Temple City High School holds its annual graduation ceremonies at the school's Hitchcock-North Stadium in the evening and the Grad Night celebration takes place after the ceremonies on campus instead of holding it at a Southern California theme park.

Awards and recognition

Temple City High School has received several awards for its academic programs. Rampage, the school newspaper, was presented with the second place award for High School Newspaper Excellence in Division A by the Los Angeles Times at the Student Journalism Awards on May 26, 2005. The school was awarded the California Distinguished School award in 1996 and again in 2019, and a California Gold Ribbon School award in 2017.
In 2011 Temple City High School was ranked at #209 in the distinguished Newsweek list of America's Best High Schools.

Temple City High School Yearbook: ''Templar''

Over the years, Temple City's yearbook program has been both regionally and nationally recognized. The most prominent year was in 2007, where the Templar's 2005–06 edition yearbook, themed "It All Adds Up", received one of only six Columbia Scholastic Press Association "Gold Crown" awards in the nation. In 2009, the Templar received the "Herff Jones Yearbook Silver Crown" award for their 2007–08 edition yearbook entitled "Right Click". In 2009, at the East Los Angeles Journalism Education Association Write-Offs competition in Alhambra, the Templar also took home Grand Sweepstakes for accumulating the most points over a series of criteria that include Copywriting, Layout, and Pictures.

Athletics

Temple City High School competes interscholastically as a member of the Rio Hondo League in boys' and girls' baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, marching band, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, boys' football, Auxiliaries, cheer, pep flags, song, Choreo Dance Team, and Fusion Competitive Dance Team.
In 1973, the football team set the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section record for most consecutive wins, with 46. It also tied the California high school football state record.
Girls' volleyball won the CIF Southern Section championship in 2002, and girls' water polo won the CIF Section III championship back-to-back in 2003 and 2004, marking a consistent streak in girls' athletics.
The girls' tennis varsity tennis team secured a CIF win in 2016 and the boys' varsity baseball team won CIF championships in 2018.
Men's basketball won the Rio Hondo League in 2009.
Auxiliaries, cheer, pep flags, Song, Choreo, and Fusion have competed at various competition circuits including United Spirit Association and Sharp International. At Sharp International regionals, they have placed top three as well as overall first and sweepstakes in the categories of cheer, flags, song, lyrical, jazz, hip hop, and senior dance. In 2011 and 2012, Choreo and Fusion won back to back national champion titles in senior dance. In 2013, Choreo and Fusion won national champs in lyrical dance and Song won national champs in pom.
Athletes who went on to play professionally from Temple City High School include Kent Kramer, Steve Busick, Jimmy Conrad, Bryan Jordan, Ryan Tucker, and Lee “Rocky” Biddle.

Performing and visual arts

Temple City High performing and visual arts consist of art, auxiliaries, band, dance, chorus, orchestra, and theatre. Dragonflicks, part of the school's art and film department, holds an annual Film Festival supported by the school during the months of
May and/or June. Their nationally recognized "co-ed" show choir team is named the Brighter Side Singers and they perform at Disney's California Adventures every Christmas season. The Brighter Side Singers also tour every year.
The Temple City Marching Band and Pageantry Corps—the "Pride of Temple City"—was invited to march in the 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade, because they had had one of their most successful marching seasons, earning 3 Sweepstakes Awards and 7 First Place Awards. Their appearance later led to an invitation to perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
In 2005, the Temple City High School Symphony Orchestra was invited to New York to take part in the Youth Symphony Orchestra Competition in Carnegie Hall. They were awarded the Gold Plaque Award for their performance.
In 2008, the Temple City High School Honors Orchestra was invited to play in Disney's Concert Hall. They were invited due to the recognition of one of their students and cello players, Daniel Gee. He was recognized for his arrangement of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue".
In 2013, The Pride of Temple City Marching Band and Pageantry Corps was again selected to march in the 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Notable alumni