Cabrillo High School is a California Distinguished School that serves students of

Vandenberg Village Vandenberg Village is a census-designated place (CDP) in the unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The population was 6,497 at the 2010 census, up from 5,802 at the 2000 census. It is a community situated in the ...

, the city of

Lompoc Lompoc ( ; Chumash: ''Lum Poc'') is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast, Lompoc has a population of 43,834 as of July 2021. Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who called ...

, and

Vandenberg Space Force Base Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from th ...

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

, on the

California Central Coast The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and includes the rugged, undeveloped ...

History

The school was founded in 1965 by the Lompoc Unified School District. Built to serve the residents of

, Vandenberg Village, and the northern Lompoc Valley, Cabrillo answered the sudden population boom during the late 1950s and 1960s, a result of the booming space program at Vandenberg. Named for the early Spanish explorer

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, the school board of Lompoc chose the

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

to be the mascot of the new high school in the early 1960s, with the black and gold of the first Spanish Californian flags as the school colors. In 2001, Cabrillo opened up its Aquarium Room to the public. In 2007 the California Department of Education awarded Cabrillo as one of the winners for a California Distinguished School Award, as well as 171 other schools in California.

Administration

The first school year on campus was 1965–66, with Camillo Wilde as the principal. Wilde would leave during the second school year to assume the position of Lompoc Unified School District Superintendent, and he was succeeded by assistant principal Robert Bickford, who would serve until the late 1970s. Wilde would return for a second stint as principal in 1978. There have been seven principals since Wilde's retiring in the mid-1980s: Dr. Debra Bradley (1986–1993), Mr. John Lemon (1993–1999), Mr. Jeff Carlovsky (1999–2003), Dr. Fred Manzo (2003–2005), Ms. Betty McCallum (2005–2008), Mrs. Lore Desmond (2008–2014), Mr. Jeff Wagonseller (2014–2018), Mr. Isidro Carrasco (2018–2020), Mr. Mark Swanitz (2020-2023), and Mr. Brian Grimnes (2023-present).

Sports

Cabrillo High School has won 13 CIF SS championships in 8 sports, including boys' basketball (1979), boys' cross country (2004), boys' track & field (1983, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991), boys' water polo (1976, 1996, 2022), girls' track & field (1986), softball (1976, 1985), wrestling (1988), and women's water polo (2007). Cabrillo High has seen much success in aquatics, with a combined 62 league titles in boys' swimming (17 titles), boys' water polo (28 titles), girls' swimming (9 titles), and girls' water polo (8 titles).

Notable alumni

George Porter George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Porter was born in Stainforth, near Thorne, in the then West ...

(1985), held the national record in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles for 22 years (still third all-time) * Duane Solomon (2003), Olympic track athlete; placed 4th in the

800 meters The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Roland Solomon Roland Howard Solomon (born February 6, 1956) was an American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, and the Denver Broncos. He played for Cabrillo High School of Lompoc, California, also ...

(1974), NFL defensive back *

Danny Duffy Daniel Richard Duffy (born December 21, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals. After being drafted by the Royals in 2007, Duffy spent the ...

(2007), baseball pitcher and

2015 World Series The 2015 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2015 season. The 111th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion New York Mets and the American Leag ...

champion for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Vai Taua Vai or VAI has several possible meanings: * Vai people ** Vai language ** Vai syllabary ** Vai (Unicode block) * Vai (Crete) * Văi, a village in Lupșa Commune, Alba County, Romania Abbreviation * VAI, Video Artists International, a classical ...

(2006), Nevada football coach * Gabe Lopez, singer/songwriter/producer *

Donald Willis Donald Kirk Willis (born July 15, 1973 in Goleta, California) is a former American football guard in the National Football League. He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 1995. He played college football at North Caroli ...

, NFL offensive guard

References

External links

GreatSchools Inc: Cabrillo High School

Cabrillo High School

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1965 High schools in Santa Barbara County, California Public high schools in California 1965 establishments in California