La Cañada High School is a combined junior-senior

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

La Cañada Flintridge, California La Cañada Flintridge, commonly known as "La Cañada" (Spanish for "The Canyon"), is a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, California. Located in the Crescenta Valley, in the western edge of Southern Califor ...

, US. It sits at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, below the

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the U.S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabriel Mounta ...

, in the City of La Cañada Flintridge. The school is adjacent to the Interstate 210 Freeway north of

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

's Rose Bowl and south of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

History

La Cañada High School has been named both a California Distinguished School and a

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

. The

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

has recognized LCHS for “high achievement and exemplary programs”, for rich extracurricular activities, and for strong community support. With an enrollment of 1,389 pupils in grades 9 through 12, La Cañada High has also consistently received the maximum six years of accreditation by the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Sam ...

Academic awards

La Cañada High School was named a California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education in 1986 and again in 2003 and 2021. La Cañada High School has been recognized by the United States Department of Education three times as a National Blue Ribbon School, first in 1992 and 1993, again in 2004, and most recently in 2015. In 2009, La Cañada High School was ranked 80th out of all public schools in the U.S and 23rd in the state of California by the '' U.S. News & World Report''. In 2009, La Cañada High achieved a new school record of 20 students admitted as

National Merit Scholarship The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

semifinalists.

Notable alumni

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...

(Class of 1970), author of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel '' The Hours'' *

Doug Davidson Douglas Donald Davidson (born October 24, 1954) is an American Emmy Award winning television actor. He has portrayed Paul Williams on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' since May 1978, making him the series' longest-serving cas ...

(Class of 1973), actor (''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

''). *

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, ...

(Class of 1975) actor, comedian, painter, and playwright * Chris Holmes (Class of 1976), lead guitarist W.A.S.P. *

Phil Joanou Phil Joanou (born November 20, 1961) is an American director of film, music videos, and television programs, known in part for his ongoing relationship to the band U2. Biography Joanou was born in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and began m ...

(Class of 1979), film director (''Rattle and Hum'', ''

Three O'Clock High ''Three O'Clock High'' is a 1987 American teen comedy film directed by Phil Joanou. The script, about a meek high schooler who is forced into a fight with a volatile new transfer student, is based on the high school experiences of screenwriters R ...

'') * Mark Riebling (Class of 1982), author of ''Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and the CIA'' * Sam Farmer (Class of 1984) sportswriter, Los Angeles Times NFL writer * Tommy Kendall (Class of 1985), Race car driver * Matt Whisenant (Class of 1988), former Major League Baseball pitcher *

Brian Behlendorf Brian Behlendorf (born March 30, 1973) is an American technologist, executive, computer programmer and leading figure in the open-source software movement. He was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular web server software ...

(Class of 1991), computer programmer, developer of the Apache Web server *

Chris D'Elia Christopher William D'Elia (born March 29, 1980) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. He is known for playing Alex Miller on the NBC sitcom '' Whitney'', Danny Burton on the NBC sitcom ''Undateable'', Kenny on the ...

(Class of 1998), stand-up comic and actor *

Indra Petersons Indra Valija Petersons (born June 22, 1980) is an American meteorologist. She formerly worked as the weather anchor for CNN's early morning program "New Day". She is also formerly a meteorologist for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, where she was born an ...

(Class of 1998), a weather anchor for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's '' New Day'' and ''

CNN Newsroom ''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is an American news programming block that airs on CNN. Broadcasting for 43 hours each week, ''Newsroom'' features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the iss ...

'' programs * Erin Coscarelli (Class of 2002), Host NFL Network Gameday Pick'em *

David Lipsky David Lipsky (born July 20, 1965) is an American author. His works have been ''New York Times'' bestsellers, ''New York Times'' Notable Books, ''Time'', Amazon, and NPR Best Books of the Year, and have been included in ''The Best American Mag ...

(Class of 2006), golfer *

Trace Cyrus Trace Dempsey Cyrus (born Neil Timothy Helson; February 24, 1989) is an American musician. The son of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and brother of recording artists Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus, he is the backing vocalist and guitarist of the ba ...

, (Class of 2007) (dropped out in 2006) member of the band

Metro Station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

, adopted son of

Billy Ray Cyrus Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and ...

Brianne Howey Brianne Nicole Howey (born May 24, 1989) is an American actress. She had main roles in the Fox series ''The Exorcist'' (2016) and '' The Passage'' (2019). She had a recurring role in the first season of The CW's superhero drama '' Batwoman'' (2 ...

, (Class of 2007) (moved in 8th grade), actor * Olivia Smith (journalist), (Class of 2007), Emmy award-winning journalist *

Kate Hansen Kate Elizabeth Hansen (born June 9, 1992) is an American luger who has competed since 2003. In 2008, she became the youngest Junior World Champion, at age fifteen. Career Hansen has been competing since 2003. She would practice luge in Califor ...

(Class of 2010), 2014 Winter Olympic luger *

Collin Morikawa Collin Morikawa (born February 6, 1997) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and European Tour. He began his PGA Tour career with 22 consecutive made cuts, second only to Tiger Woods' 25-cut streak. Morikawa has five PGA ...

(Class of 2015), golfer

References

External links

La Cañada High School - Official Site
— ''provided by the La Cañada Unified School District''
La Cañada High School Alumni Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Canada High School High schools in Los Angeles County, California La Cañada Flintridge, California Public high schools in California 1963 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1963