SPHS Preparing for the WASC Visitation

Santa Paula High School will welcome the seven member WASC visiting committee to our campus March 13th through the 16th, 2011.

The committee members’ four day visit is to validate the Santa Paula High School Self Study Report that was completed over a 12 month period.

What they will find is a high school that is committed to providing our students with a safe, caring environment focused on student achievement and the California Content Standards. Outside the classroom they will see extracurricular programs that allow our students to explore their interests beyond the classroom in areas of sports, music, and the arts.

Our WASC visitation represents over 12 months of work by our school community and stakeholders. The process was a tremendous benefit to our understanding of our school and the work we do. Through the exploration of our school program we were able to celebrate all the things we do well and to critically examine areas where we need to improve.

All stakeholders at Santa Paula High School including community members, parents, students, teachers, and staff look forward to the visitation and the opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful things our “Campus on the Hill” has to offer.

Paul Marietti
Principal, Santa Paula High School

First Rally of 2010-2011!

The first rally of the school year was held on Friday, August 26th.  The rally started off with the traditional singing of the National Anthem by a student followed by a "Welcome Back" by the principal, Mr. Marietti.  New teachers were then initiated to the Cardinal community by doing the Cardinal Dance to the school song. The Santa Paula High School cheerleaders then gave a demonstration of their skills.

After this, a game involving fishing took place.  It was too noisy to hear who won, but an amusing time was had by all.  The first class yell of the year followed.  Again, it was too loud to her which class won, but all classes gave their noisy best.  Over the summer FFA and SPHS Artists had won a variety of awards, and the students involved were recognized by ASB.  Following this, the Flag team gave a spirited and colorful performance.  This was followed by another high decibel class yell.

A second game took place.  After that the Drum Line gave their first performance of the year and the rally concluded with the Spirit Stick.

SPHS Cardinal: February 10, 1978

The Santa Paula High School Cardinal newspaper for February 10, 1978 is now online!  The lead story covered an administration crackdown on "ditchers and troublemakers" in which detention hall was established and teacher patrols were implemented.  A later story in the same issue discusses that annual February crackdowns had taken place since 1975.  In February 1976 for instance, a new rule was put into place that required students to fill out a form if they were absent or tardy - they even had to give a reason why they were absent or tardy (how draconian)!  The new rules were also the subject of an editorial by David Beach, who felt that the rules weren't especially extreme or unfair.

The cartoon that accompanies the editorial shows a group of students being punished by sitting in the corner with the traditional dunce cap.  The cartoon is fairly standard fare, but where did those creepy paintings come from?  Do we still have them hidden away in some sub-basement of the school?

Other stories include the three nominees for the "King of Hearts", Alex Carrillo, Jim Hoover and Robert Howard.  The nominees were selected by the Pep Squad, and the winner was selected by a vote of all students.  It was also a big week for the Cardinal Basketball team - they broke a 35 game losing streak (ouch!) by winning two games, one against Santa Clara and the other against Rio Mesa.  The newspaper was rounded out with an opinion piece about messy student bathrooms (some things never change).

SPHS Move-Up Rally

On Friday, May 21st, the Move-Up rally was held in the McMahan Gym - the final rally of the year!

Joe Cardinal and his friend greet students as they arrive

The first game!  Not exactly sure what it was, but it involved throwing stuff around

Joe Cardinal & friend lead the soon to be graduating seniors in their final senior cheer!

Joe Cardinal & Friend have a bit of a disagreement

The second game!  It was rather eccentric and had something to do with fruit

The Senior class of 2010-2011 moves to the hallowed Senior section

No more freshmen!

Seniors watch a slide show of their 2009-2010 year

Cinco de Mayo 2010

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the defeat of a larger and better equipped French army that invaded Mexico.  In 1862 France landed a number of ships on the Mexican shore.  The French army won the early battles, but was defeated on May 5, 1862 in the city of Puebla.  France however eventually won the war and took over Mexico from 1864 - 1867.

The holiday began in California in the 1860s as a protest against the French occupation of Mexico.  Since that time Cinco de Mayo has become a popular holiday in California, Texas and other Southwest states.  Interestingly, Cinco de Mayo is not a major holiday in Mexico and is mainly celebrated as a regional holiday in the state of Puebla.

Santa Paula High School celebrated Cinco de Mayo today with a spirited performance by Conjunto Desafino Musical.  The drummer was our very own Alex M., a tenth grader!  The lunch time event was sponsored by Mecha and also included dancing and a wide variety of colorful decorations.

 Thanks to Jose L. for taking the photos for this post!

SPHS Squirrel!

While walking back to my classroom through the courtyard this morning I noticed a fairly large (at least well fed) tree squirrel sitting on the edge of the fountain. I've worked here about 15 years and this was the first squirrel I've seen on campus (we most likely have ninja squirrels...). As I got closer he ran away a bit, but then returned to the fountain's edge. I think he was trying to get some water. He looked like he wasn't going to go anywhere soon, so I went to get the camera from my classroom. But by the time I returned, he had left the fountain (some students were sitting near it) and was scuttling across the walkway to the big tree near room 128. I did manage to get a couple shots of him up in the tree peering down at me.

SPHS Cardinal: December 9, 1977

The Santa Paula High School Cardinal newspaper for December 9, 1977 is now online! The lead story talks about the standardized test of that era, the California Assessment Program, which all seniors needed to take. SPHS scored above average on the test. The test apparently wasn't very popular and the then vice principal stated, "The only reason the California Assessment Program Test is given is because the law requires it."

A yearbook sale was held in November and the yearbooks sold for the grand total of $9.50 each! The then superintendent, Mr. Scuitto was retiring and the search was on for a new district leader. The newspaper editors complained about student apathy, and an Aerosmith concert was reviewed - they've been playing for a while! Basketball and track stories rounded out this somewhat thinner than usual (only four pages) issue of the Cardinal along with the usual comics and photos.