Hilltop High School (formerly Hilltop Senior High) is a four-year

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

and is part of the

Sweetwater Union High School District The Sweetwater Union High School District is a school district headquartered in Chula Vista, California. , the school district is the largest secondary school district in California. The union high school district serves over 42,000 high schoo ...

(SUHSD). The school colors are kelly green, white, and black. The school mascot is the "Lancer". Hilltop boasts the magnet program Foreign Language and Global Studies (FLAGS) as well as the Academies of Hospitality and Tourism (H&T), Information Technology (IT) programs, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), Music Technology, Televideo, and Ballet Folklorico. For the 2007–08 school year, former Montgomery Middle School principal Ernesto Zamudio took over as principal for Hilltop High School and replaced the retiring Jerry Rindone. As of 2020, Karen Hernandez is the principal of Hilltop High. who had served Hilltop since 1997. Rindone is currently serving as a member of the San Diego County Board of Education

Clubs and associations

Hilltop has many clubs and associations, including AP Scholars, the BIBLE Club, Best Buddies, The HOOLIGANS (Pep Club), Girl's League, Humanities, MVPS, GSA, Metal (Music), Marine Science, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD),

FIRST Robotics For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (''FIRST'') is an international youth organization that operates the ''FIRST'' Robotics Competition, ''FIRST'' LEGO League Challenge, ''FIRST'' LEGO League Explore, ''FIRST'' LEGO Leagu ...

, Interact, Chips and Salsa, and Chess and Cards.

Academics

Hilltop was named a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarded t ...

in 2005 and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In the 2006–07 school year, the graduation rate was 93.3%. Hilltop has the highest number of AP courses available to all students and the highest AP pass rate out of the entire SUHSD at 72.8%. Since the 1999–2000 school year, there has been a 25% increase in exams taken, a 7% increase in the overall pass rate, and a 30% increase in the total number of students testing.

Athletics

Hilltop is a member of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Diego Section and the Mesa League of the Metro Conference. Hilltop competes in the following sports: *Fall: cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, boys water polo, women's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, women's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, field hockey *Winter:

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

, Roller Hockey, women’s water polo *Spring:

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, men's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

, men's

, lacrosse CIF Champions 2016- Women’s Water Polo Chula Vista Spartans are the Lancers longtime rival school, dating back to the '60s. Longtime Hilltop Coaches elected as San Diego Sports Hall of Champions Coaching Legends: *Don "Big Dawg" Rollins- JV Basketball (Don is currently third all time in Southern California JV wins) *John Baumgartner - Baseball *Janet Balsley - Field Hockey *Chip Holmes - Track & Field *Tim Tyler - Wrestling (Tyler was also inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

)

Demographics

In the 2005–06 school year, the school's

Academic Performance Index The Academic Performance Index (API) was a measurement of academic performance and progress of individual schools in California, United States. The API was one of the main components of the Public Schools Accountability Act passed by the California ...

place it 698 (base) where 800 is the California state goal with a state rank 5 out of 10.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Rene Ortiz Rene Ortiz (born April 23, 1969 in Anaheim, California) is a retired Mexican-American soccer player. He spent most of his playing career in indoor soccer with two seasons in the Western Soccer Alliance and one season in Major League Soccer. He cu ...

, former soccer player *

Dean Lister Dean Richard Lister (born February 13, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2000 until 2015, he fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, and California-based promotion King of t ...

, multiple time

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

champion

References

External links

*
Hilltop High legacy (archived) web site)
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1959 High schools in San Diego County, California Public high schools in California Education in Chula Vista, California 1959 establishments in California