Pacifica High School is a high school in

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

, United States, within the

Garden Grove Unified School District The Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) is the 14th-largest school district in California. It includes boundaries in Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Stanton, and Westminster. The district includes forty ...

. It opened in 1965 and has enrolled more than two thousand students yearly. The communities serving Pacifica are western Garden Grove and sections of Stanton and

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

Campus

A campus landmark is a Navy

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

in the quad. At first painted blue but repainted black in 2011, the anchor was donated by the

U.S Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the worl ...

. On May 1, a new gym opened. The new gymnasium is a state-of-the-art building that is an 18,250-square foot multi-function facility that houses three full-size basketball courts and can convert to nine volleyball courts. The gym allows for seating for up to 1,584 people and includes a lobby, locker rooms, coach's offices, equipment storage, and more. The first shot was made by Freshman coach Mike Buneafe, whose grandfather, Al Buneafe founded Pacifica High school.

Athletics

Pacifica's sports teams, the Mariners, compete in the Empire League of the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...

Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF ...

. Before 2006, they competed in the Garden Grove League with the other schools in the district. Sports offerings are: *Football (boys) *Cross Country (coed) *Tennis (coed) *Volleyball (coed) *Waterpolo (coed) *Basketball (coed) *Soccer (coed) *Wrestling (boys) *Baseball (boys) *Softball (girls) *Swim (coed) *Track (coed) *Golf (coed)

Marching band and drumline

In 2003 and from 2005 through 2009, the Pacifica

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

drumline Marching percussion instruments are instruments specially designed to be played while moving. This is achieved by attaching the drum(s) to a special harness (also called a carrier or rack) worn by the drummer, although not all marching bands us ...

took the Southern California Percussion Alliance gold medal, and from 2006 through 2009, it garnered the Winter Guard International World Championship gold medal in the Percussion Scholastic Open division, along with numerous first-place finishes throughout Southern California. Pacifica also finished with a Percussion Alliance bronze medal in 2004 and a Winter Guard International silver medal in 2005. The Pacifica drumline is the second ensemble to have captured four consecutive WGI World Championship golds.

Notable alumni

* Danny Barber, pro soccer *

Pam Bileck Pamela Jean Bileck-Flat (born December 1, 1968 in Pittsburgh) is a former Gymnastics, gymnast. She competed for the United States national team at the 1984 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team competition. She was also a member of the ...

, Olympics gymnast * Jeff Carlson, professional football * Jon Dorenbos, professional football and magician *

Michelle Dusserre Michelle Hollis Dusserre (born December 26, 1968) is a former gymnast. She competed for the United States national team at the 1984 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team competition. She was born in Long Beach, California Long B ...

, Olympics gymnast1985 Pacifica High School yearbook. *

Larry Fortensky Larry Fortensky (January 17, 1952 – July 7, 2016) was an American construction worker known for being the seventh and last husband (but eighth marriage) of actress Elizabeth Taylor. They were married in 1991 at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch ...

, construction worker, husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor * Monique Powell, Lead singer for the band Save Ferris https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0694243/ *

Amanda Freed Amanda Louise Freed (born December 26, 1979) is an American, former professional softball utility player and pitcher. She played college softball for UCLA, winning the national title for the Bruins in the 1999 Women's College World Series. In ...

, Olympics softball *

Dexter Holland Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter and last remaining original member of the American rock band the Offspring. He is also the creator of t ...

, Offspring lead singer and guitarist *

Norm Johnson Norman Douglas Johnson (born May 31, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). During that time, he played for the Seattle Seahawks (1982–90), Atlanta ...

, professional football *

Greg Kriesel Gregory David Kriesel (born January 20, 1965) is an American musician known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the rock band the Offspring from 1984 to 2018. Biography Greg K. was one of the founding members of the Offspring alongs ...

, Offspring musician *

Terry Kubicka Terry Kubicka (born April 3, 1956) is an American retired figure skater who is known as the first American to perform the difficult triple Lutz jump. He is the 1974 Prague Skate champion, 1975 Skate Canada International bronze medalist, and 197 ...

, Olympics figure skating *

Jeffree Star Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr., November 15, 1985) is an American YouTuber, makeup artist, and former singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics. In 2009, Star released a studio album, '' Beauty Ki ...

, YouTuber * Kevin Wasserman, guitarist

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1965 High schools in Orange County, California Education in Garden Grove, California Public high schools in California 1965 establishments in California