Westlake High School (also known as Westlake High, Westlake, or WHS) is a

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 ...

in the Westlake neighborhood of

Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tree ...

, in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...

. Westlake High School serves grades 9–12 in the

Conejo Valley Unified School District The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) is a school district in Ventura County, California. The district serves the Conejo Valley area, including the city of Thousand Oaks, the adjacent community of Newbury Park, and the Ventura County ...

. Middle schools that feed into Westlake include

Colina Middle School The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) is a school district in Ventura County, California. The district serves the Conejo Valley area, including the city of Thousand Oaks, the adjacent community of Newbury Park, and the Ventura Count ...

and

Los Cerritos Middle School The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) is a school district in Ventura County, California. The district serves the Conejo Valley area, including the city of Thousand Oaks, the adjacent community of Newbury Park, and the Ventura County ...

. The first graduating class was the class of 1980. The first principal was William Albers. All students entering Westlake High School in 1979 signed a charter, which sits in the office today. Ron Lipari was the principal of WHS for 15 years. In 2015, Jason Branham was selected as the new principal.

Academics

Rankings

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' has consistently ranked WHS as one of the top high schools in the United States. In 2015, Westlake High ranked as the 210th top high school in the United States and the 26th-best high school in the state of California according to ''Newsweek''. In 2015, Westlake's average score on Advanced Placement exams was 3.65. In 2016, Westlake ranked as the 119th top high school in the United States and the 15th-best high school in the state of

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 ...

. It is one of four high schools in the

, that consistently has significantly above-average AP and SAT scores, and 96% of graduating seniors go on to attend some type of college or further education.

Academic teams

Westlake High School is home to several organized competitive academic teams, including:

VEX Robotics VEX Robotics is a robotics program for elementary through university students, and a subset of Innovation First International. The VEX Robotics competitions and programs are managed by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF). In ...

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

Mock Trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting ...

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...

FBLA The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...

, and HOSA. In 2016, Westlake High School won the Ventura County Academic Decathlon for the fifth year in a row.

Advanced anatomy

Westlake High offers a course called Advanced Anatomy. In the course, students work on a human cadaver. Nancy Bowman, a physiology teacher, started the program in 1990. As of 1994, the school was the only school in the United States to have a second-year program in advanced anatomy.

Jordan Michaels Jordan Michaels is an American digital healthcare entrepreneur, vice president of operations at GoodRx and a stand-up comedian. Michaels is the co-founder of Ringadoc. Raised in Southern California, Michaels is a graduate of Westlake High School ...

, co-founder of Ringadoc, participated in the program. In 2015, Dr.

Ira Byock Ira Robert Byock ( ; born February 13, 1951, Newark, New Jersey) is an American physician, author, and advocate for palliative care. He is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence St. Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring in Torran ...

spoke to the honors class about Death With Dignity laws.

Athletics

Westlake High School offers a wide variety of sports and activities, including

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 ...

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 ...

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

. Many Westlake athletic teams compete in the

Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school athletic conference in California affiliated with the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS). The league is composed of schools located in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Member schools Current As of the 2020–21 sch ...

of the

CIF 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 ...

, and are known as the Warriors.

Aquatics program

From 1995 to 1999, the WHS boys' swim team won five consecutive

titles. In 2001, WHS opened an aquatics complex on its campus. As of 2014, WHS boys' swim team had won three straight

titles. WHS grad Veronika Weiss, who played on the girls' water polo team, was killed in the Isla Vista shooting. In 2015, the school retired her number 11.

Baseball

Several Westlake players have gone on to play professional baseball, including

Matt Franco Matthew Neil Franco (born August 19, 1969 in Santa Monica, California) is an American former professional baseball player who played first base in the major leagues from 1995 to 2003, and in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2004 to 2006. Early ...

Kevin Howard Kevin C. Howard (born June 25, 1981) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 5th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft. Howard served as the assistant hitting coach for the New Y ...

Mike Lieberthal Michael Scott "Lieby" Lieberthal (born January 18, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher. He batted and threw right-handed. In a 14-year career, Lieberthal played for the Philadelphia Phillies (–) and the Los Angeles Dodge ...

, John Snyder

Mike Nickeas Michael James Nickeas (born February 13, 1983) is a former professional baseball catcher. Nickeas played four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Nickeas also represented Great Britain internationa ...

, and

Christian Yelich Christian Stephen Yelich (born December 5, 1991) is an American professional baseball left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Miami Marlins. The Marlins selected Yelich in the first r ...

. Westlake has never won a

title, but played in championship games in 1998 and 2001. In 2018 it was coached by

Zack Thornton Zachary James Thornton (born May 19, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He is currently the pitching coach for the UC Davis Aggies. Pitching for Oak Park High School, Thornton was All-State in California. At Ventura C ...

Football

Westlake won the

championships in 1999, 2003, 2009, and 2011 Several professional football players have played at WHS, including Billy Miller, Gary Wellman, Rudy Carpenter,

Mike Seidman Michael Andrew Seidman (born February 11, 1981) is a former American football tight end. He was a 1998 ''USA Today'' high school football first-team All-American. He played college football at UCLA, where he was All-Pac-10 First-team, and set a ...

, and

Patrick Mekari Patrick Mekari (born August 13, 1997) is an American football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California. Professional career The Baltimore Ravens signed Mekari as ...

Golf

Westlake has had successful golf teams. In 2002, Senior Brian Van Heel won the CIF/CGA California State High School Championship. In 2014, the Westlake High School boys golf team won the CIF/CGA California State High School Championship. In 2015, the boys golf team again won the CIF/ CGA State Championship, becoming the first school to ever win back-to-back state titles in California.

Soccer

In the late 1980s,

Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...

and

Cobi Jones Cobi N'Gai Jones (born June 16, 1970) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player and commentator. He is an analyst for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. He can also be seen on Fox Spo ...

played on the boys' soccer team. In the 1986–87 season, Jones and Wynalda helped the team post a 22-2-2 record and led them to the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs.

The Arts

The Carpenter Family Theatre

In 2010, Westlake High School's theatre, built in the 1970s, was expanded and renovated, and its name was changed to The Carpenter Family Theatre. It is named after

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct ...

, who initially approached the school about expanding and renovating the theatre, and donated an initial contribution to jumpstart construction.

Filming site

Blink 182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their sound has ...

's music video for " Josie" (1998) was filmed at Westlake High School, using official Westlake High School uniforms. * The 1994 movie ''

A Friend to Die For ''A Friend to Die For'' (also known as ''Death of a Cheerleader'' in the UK and during subsequent Lifetime television airings) is a 1994 American psychological thriller television film directed by William A. Graham. Written by Dan Bronson, th ...

'' was filmed at Westlake High School, using official Westlake High School cheer uniforms with the logo removed. * The 2006 movie ''

Gridiron Gang ''Gridiron Gang'' is a 2006 American sports drama film directed by Phil Joanou, and starring Dwayne Johnson, Xzibit, L. Scott Caldwell and Kevin Dunn. It is loosely based on the true story of the Kilpatrick Mustangs during the 1990 season. The ...

'' was filmed at Westlake High School. * Halsey's music video for "

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

" (2016) was filmed at Westlake High School, using the football field, classroom, and quad.

Notable alumni

* Anthony Angelini (born 1994), entrepreneur, event producer, and humanitarian *

Deidre Behar Deidre Behar (born October 29, 1988) is an American writer, producer and host for ''Entertainment Tonight''. In 2012, Behar joined Defy Media's Clevver Media as a host, producer and writer. She regularly appeared with Katie Krause. With Clevver, ...

, entertainment reporter *

Danny Barrera Daniel Francisco Barrera (born January 8, 1990) is a professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Born in Colombia, he has represented the United States at youth level. Early life and educa ...

, professional soccer player *

Aaron Bruno Aaron Richard Bruno (born November 11, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, who is best known as the founder, lead singer and last remaining original member of Awolnation. He is a former member of the post-grunge band Home Tow ...

, singer for AWOLNATION * Rudy Carpenter, NFL football player * Jonni Cheatwood, artist *

Luke Christopher Luke Christopher Hubbard (born May 8, 1993) is an American rapper, singer, producer and songwriter. Known as Luke Christopher, he is signed to ByStorm Entertainment / RCA. Early life Luke Christopher was born in Van Nuys, CA. He grew up in the ...

, singer, rapper * Jason Cook, actor *

, retired Major League Baseball first baseman * Helane Freeman, art director and artist *

Katherine Ho Katherine Ho () is a singer known for her performance of Coldplay's ''Yellow'' in Mandarin Chinese for the 2018 film, ''Crazy Rich Asians''. The song has reached No. 1 on Spotify Viral 50 Global chart. Previously, she appeared on season 10 of ' ...

, former contestant on ''the Voice'' and featured vocalist in Crazy Rich Asians soundtrack. *

, former professional baseball player * Nicole Johnson, model and beauty queen, Miss California USA 2010 *

, retired professional soccer player;

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction ...

Danielle Kang Danielle Grace Kang (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. As an amateur, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011. She won the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, an LPG ...

, golfer, winner of 2017

Women's PGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by the ...

David Kaye David Kaye may refer to: * David Kaye (voice actor) (born 1966), Canadian-American voice actor * David A. Kaye, actor who played Jesse Waingrow in the film ''3000 Miles to Graceland'' * David Kaye (footballer) (born 1959), English footballer * Dav ...

, United Nations special rapporteur and

clinical professor Clinical professor, sometimes known as professor of practice, is an academic appointment made to a member of a profession who is associated with a university or other academic body, and engages in practical (clinical) instruction of students ( ...

of law at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

Sam Kazemian Sam Hamidi-Kazemian ( fa, سام حمیدی‌کاظمیان; born February 12, 1993) is an Iranian Americans, Iranian-American programmer, software programmer. He is the founder of Frax Finance, a decentralized stablecoin cryptocurrency protocol ...

, president & co-founder of

Everipedia Everipedia () is a defunct blockchain-based and online encyclopedia. Everipedia was founded in 2014 and was officially launched in 2015 as a fork of Wikipedia by Larry Sanger (who co-founded Wikipedia). In 2022, Everipedia rebranded to IQ.wiki. ...

P.J. Lane P. J. Lane is an Australian actor, entertainer, philanthropist, school basketball coach and former professional basketball player. Early life Born in the United States but raised in Australia, Lane is the only child of Jayne Ambrose and Logi ...

, actor *

(born 1972), retired Major League Baseball 2x All Star catcher * Adam Mazarei, assistant basketball coach at Vanderbilt; former Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach, Redlands Maroon Squad *

, healthcare entrepreneur *

, NFL football player * Billy Miller, NFL football player * Trevor Moore, NHL hockey player *

Tahj Mowry Tahj Dayton Mowry (; born May 17, 1986) is an American actor. He is the brother of identical twin actresses Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry and is known for his role on the show ''Smart Guy'' as the main character TJ on The WB, though the show gained ...

, actor and former Westlake football running back *

, Major League Baseball catcher *

Catherine Ricafort Catherine Ricafort is an American actress, singer, software engineer, and entrepreneur. Ricafort has appeared in several Broadway productions, including Allegiance, the 2013 production of Cinderella, Mamma Mia!, Disaster! and Honeymoon in Vegas ...

, Broadway actress and singer *

Nick Rutherford Nicholas Rutherford (born August 7, 1985) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and co-founder of the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor. He has performed live stand up and sketch comedy in Los Angeles and New York. He was a writer for ''Saturday ...

, member of sketch group Good Neighbor and a Saturday Night Live writer *

(born 1981), NFL football player *

Nelson Spruce Nelson Gregory Spruce (born December 5, 1992) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Colorado. Early years Spruce attended Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, California. He was rated a ...

, professional football player * Gary Wellman, retired NFL football player *

Charlie Wi Charlie Wi ( ko, 위창수; born 3 January 1972) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA, European, and Asian Tours. He was a one-time winner on the European Tour, and a seven-t ...

(born 1972), professional golfer *

, retired professional soccer player;

Matthew Wolff Matthew Brandyn Wolff (born April 14, 1999) is an American professional golfer. He was an NCAA All-American at Oklahoma State University, and won the 2019 NCAA Division I individual championship. Wolff picked up his first win on the PGA Tour a ...

, professional golfer *

(born 1991), Major League Baseball player, 2018 National League MVP.

Notes

References

External links

Official siteBand websiteChoir Web SiteWestlake High School's Annual Soccer College Showcase
{{authority control Conejo Valley Unified School District High schools in Ventura County, California Public high schools in California Education in Thousand Oaks, California Westlake Village, California Educational institutions established in 1978 1978 establishments in California Buildings and structures in Thousand Oaks, California