Los Angeles Baptist High School (LAB) was a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
, private, coeducational day school located in
North Hills,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with approximately 848 students enrolled in grades 6 through 12. In the summer of 2012, the school was acquired by another Christian day school in the San Fernando Valley (Hillcrest Christian School), and the two merged to become
Heritage Christian Schools. The L.A. Baptist campus is now the South Campus of Heritage Christian School. The campus was home to approximately 945 students in grades 7-12 under LAB ownership.
Los Angeles Baptist Middle School/High School was founded and administered by the Los Angeles Baptist City Mission Society later renamed American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles. The school was accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...
. On July 1, 2012, ownership of the campus was transferred to Hillcrest Christian School of Granada Hills, CA.
Academics
Los Angeles Baptist Middle and High School, a college preparatory school, was privileged to have 39 teachers be a part of its mission to equip "the saints for the
works of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." The school's mission is derived from Ephesians 4:12 (the New American Standard Bible Version that is
used above). In pursuit of promoting intellectual growth in its students, Los Angeles Baptist required that prospective teachers have a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
or
higher. The student/teacher ratio was 25:1. One hundred percent of Los Angeles Baptist
students from the class of 2011 were admitted to either a university, college, speciality school, or military program.
International students
In 2008, international students, who met a certain set of requirements, were accepted from the nation of
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. In 2009, they accepted students from
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and other countries as well.
Currently there are students from
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
Athletics
Middle school
*Boys Tackle Football
*Boys Basketball, former top 10 program in California
*Girls Basketball
*Girls Softball
*Girls Soccer, won championship title in the 2010 season
*Boys Baseball
*Boys Soccer
*Boys Volleyball
*Girls Volleyball
*Track
*Cross Country
High school
*Football 1970 – runner-up CIF Championship, 1971 CIF SS Champions (nationally ranked with #1 running back in nation), 1993 – CIF Champions, 2003 CIF SS runner-up CIF Championship, 1997 and 2005 Alpha League Champions, 2018 Olympic League Champions
*Cross Country placed 15th in the CIF State Championships in 2003–2004 season and 20th in the CIF State Championships during the 2008–2009 season., 2019 League Champions
*Girls Tennis
*Cheerleading
*Girls Volleyball 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 Alpha League Champions
*Boys Baseball 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2002 Alpha League Champions and 2005 Olympic League Champions
*Girls Softball 1997 Alpha League Champions, 2004, 2007, 2016, 2017 Olympic League Champions, 2017 CIF SS Division V Runnerup
*Boys Volleyball 1993, 2003, 2004 Alpha League Champions
*Boys Soccer 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990 and 2009 Alpha League Champions
*Girls Soccer
*Boys Basketball – 1971 CIF "A" Champions, 1983, 1996, 1997 Alpha League Champions, 2017, 2019 Olympic League Champions
*Girls Basketball 2007 Delphic League Champions, 2007 CIF SS Division V-A Champions, 2017 CIF SS Division V-AA Champions
*Track and Field
*Equestrian Team
*Coed Golf Team
For more detailed sports information:
LA Baptist's CBS MaxPreps homepage
Spiritual life
As a Christian school, one of the school's goals was to contribute in the spiritual growth of its students. Once a week,
the whole student body, including both middle school and high school students, come together for chapel. In chapel, the school's worship team leads the student body in worship, and guest speakers come to speak the Word of God. Past guests have included
Donn Moomaw
Donn Moomaw (born October 15, 1931) is an American retired professional football player and Presbyterian minister.
Moomaw played college football for the UCLA Bruins as the center and linebacker for the team. He was elected to the College Foot ...
,
Nick Vujicic
Nicholas James Vujicic ( ; born 4 December 1982) is an Australian American Christian evangelist and motivational speaker of Serbian descent, born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of arms and legs.
Ea ...
,
Louis Zamperini
Louis Silvie Zamperini (January 26, 1917 – July 2, 2014) was an American World War II veteran and an Olympic distance runner. He took up running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m race for the 1936 Ber ...
, and
Something Like Silas. Every year, the spiritual life chairman, a student, who is chosen by a committee, proposed a spiritual life theme for the year. The spiritual life chairman is a part of the ASB and presides over the chapel team. The chapel team consists of a group of students who come together to make a few chapels that creatively convey the year's spiritual life theme. This year's spiritual life theme is "God is Greater". Spiritual Life Week, which takes place twice a year, is a week where three days of the school week are set aside for school chapels, which challenge the students' religious life and personal commitment to Christ. From sixth grade to twelfth grade, students are required to take a religion class, including a course that is taken second semester by students in eleventh grade in world
religions
Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, tran ...
that studies the beliefs of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. In the first semester of their Senior year, students takes a course in
Apologetics
Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
. In 2009, faculty member Philip Struyk was named the first campus pastor.
Performing arts program
Los Angeles Baptist Highschool has performed numerous plays in the chapel theater. In 2016, the Advanced Drama Department will be performing an Adaptation of "Around the World in Eighty Days", adapted by David Calvillo
Middle School educational events
LA Baptist middle school students have the opportunity to participate in several extra-curricular educational events, many of which are sponsored by
ACSI, including the
ACSI spelling bee, math olympics, and geography bee. Students participating in these events compete against students from other Christian secondary schools in the greater Los Angeles area.
Traditions
Annually, the student body has a day of refreshment called Spirit Day where high school classes compete with one another, while middle school homerooms compete against one another. The day is planned out by the ASB and the Middle School Student council.
At the annual Junior-Senior Banquet, the Junior Class hosts the Senior Class at the event. The Senior Patio is reserved for the Senior Class. The Senior Class yearly gives the school a Senior Class gift.
Scouts
In the 2007–08 school year,
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
Troop 356 was formed, averaging 12-18 Scouts.
Publications
Los Angeles Baptist had three school publications: ''The Commitment'', ''Excalibur'', and ''The Knight Writer''.
''The Commitment'' is a quarterly newsletter magazine sent to parents of students, alumni and friends of Los Angeles Baptist High School. ''Excalibur'' is a literary magazine that publishes the English works of students. The magazine was first published in 1987 as ''Opus Minimus'', which remained the title of the literary magazine from 1987 to 1989. ''Unbound Treasure'' proceeded as the literary magazine's title from 1991 to 1994, then ''Los Angeles Baptist Annual Literary Magazine'' followed from 1994 to 2001. In 1994, ''Excalibur'' became the fourth title and has remained as its respective title. In 2005, a group of high school students came together to create ''The Knight Writer''. ''The Knight Writer'' was the first newspaper that appeared on campus after a sum of years where the school did not have a newspaper. The school began to offer a
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
class taught by Sharon Ranieri in 2006, and since then, the journalism class has kept a newspaper circulating the student body. Starting in 2009, there will also be a Middle School newspaper.
Bible Bowl
The Bible Bowl is a huge football game event where the Los Angeles Baptist Knights compete against their rivals, the Crusaders from
Village Christian High School. The Heritage Christian won this year's Bible Bowl game.
Allyson Felix Track
On May 21, 2008, the school began to renovate its field, covered with green grass and dirt, into a synthetic field with an eight-lane, synthetic surface track and permanent bleachers. The new field was dedicated to Olympic gold medalist
Allyson Felix
Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 me ...
at the school's Homecoming 2008 Festivity, which took place on October 11, 2008. games. The day of the dedication, Los Angeles Baptist played
St. Margaret's football team, winner of the 2007 CIF-Southern Section Northeast Division title, but lost the game in a devastating loss of Knights 0 to Tartans 52.
[MAX Prep. "Game of October 11, 2008 LA Baptist vs St. Margaret's". Retrieved on 2008-12-18. http://www.maxpreps.com/contests/4Rz8Sh5KpEuHXPGICC_gyg/football-fall-08/boxscore-los-angeles-baptist-north-hills-vs-st-margarets-san-juan-capistrano.htm]
School song
Oh! Baptist High, all hail to thee!
We pledge our faith and loyalty.
Thy sacred truths our hearts enfold.
We proudly serve as Knights of old.
Our Lord will lead to victory. Oh
Baptist High, all hail to thee.
Notable alumni
*
James Adomian
James Adomian (born January 31, 1980) is an Armenian-American stand-up comedian, actor, and impressionist. He is best known for his work on ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'', ''Chapo Trap House'', ''Last Comic Standing'', ''The Late Late Show with Craig Fe ...
, comedian
*
Alisa Childers, singer/songwriter
*
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty (, born April 12, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jenny Wilder in ''Little House on the Prairie'' (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'' (1985); Kris Witherspoon in '' Our Hous ...
, actress
*
Blake McIver Ewing
Blake McIver Ewing (born March 27, 1985), also known as Blake McIver and Blake Ewing, is an American actor and musician. He was known for playing Michelle Tanner, Michelle's friend, Derek, on the sitcom ''Full House'', a role he reenacted on '' ...
, actor and singer/songwriter
*
Allyson Felix
Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 me ...
, track and field athlete, six Olympic gold medals, 11 world championship gold medals
*
Armie Hammer
Armand Douglas Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Hammer began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film '' Billy: The Early Years'', and ...
, actor
*Phil Parlapiano, musician, singer, songwriter, member of
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. ...
*
Todd Sand
Todd Sand (born October 30, 1963) is an American pair skater. With his wife Jenni Meno, he is the 1998 World silver medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist (1995, 1996), and a three-time U.S. national champion (1994–96). With his previous ...
, figure skater, U.S.A. Olympian (1992, 1994, 1998)
References
External links
Official School WebsiteAmerican Baptist Churches of Los AngelesOfficial Website of the American Baptist Churches of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Baptist Athletic Informationby CBS MaxPreps
2007 Los Angeles Baptist High School Educator of Distinctionby the
National Society of High School ScholarsAbout Motion EducationThe Filing CabinetWatch ''The Filing Cabinet'' at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
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Baptist schools in the United States
Defunct Christian schools in the United States
Private middle schools in California
High schools in the San Fernando Valley
High schools in Los Angeles County, California
Private high schools in California
Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
1962 establishments in California
Educational institutions established in 1962
2012 disestablishments in California
Educational institutions disestablished in 2012