Loara High School is a public four year American

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

Anaheim Union High School District The Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) is a public school district serving portions of the Orange County cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, and Stanton. It oversees eight junior high schools (7-8), eight high schools (9 ...

, located in the Southwest Anaheim region of

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

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 ...

. Loara is a Title I school that serves many students from low-income families, and the campus consists of 1,783 students and 75 certificated staff. Loara is a California Distinguished School which prepares students to "innovate in service of their community". The school was one of the premier institutions becoming an

International School An international school is an institution that promotes education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterized by a multinational student body a ...

under the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

in 1999, however, the program was discontinued in 2009 due to the lack of funding.

Students

In 1962, the student body consisted of the following percentage of ethnic groups: 90% Caucasian, >0.1% Native Americans, >0.5% Asian/Indian American, >0.1 Filipino American, 8% Hispanic, >0.1% African American. As of 2010, the campus' over 2,686 students consists of the following percentage of ethnic groups: 0.3% American Indian, 11%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

, 3%

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

, 71%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

, 1%

Asian Indian Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

, 2%

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, and 12%

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

. Over half of the student qualify for the reduced lunch program. Nearly one fourth of the students participate in an English learners program.

History

Loara was established in 1962, with the first graduating class in 1965, and is one of eight comprehensive high schools within the district. In 1971, then-California governor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited the Loara campus on a tour of the city of Anaheim. The school has recently undergone modernization under Bond Measure Z, which includes two gyms, a science building, and a math building. In 2006, the campus completed an extensive technology improvement plan. This includes the construction of the prototype for "Classroom of the Future," two technologically advanced rooms that were designed to model future prospects. Sammy Saxon is the school mascot. His appearance is typically depicted as a caricature of an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

warrior.

Academics

Loara had one of the largest International Baccalaureate (IB) programs in Orange County. The IB program is no longer offered at Loara. Loara was authorized to offer the IB Diploma Programme in July 1999, the program is taught in English to 148 students.

Athletics

The school competes in the

CIF-SS 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 ...

Golden West League. State championships * Tennis, 1966 CIF Championships * Football, 1968 * Football, 1979 * Baseball - 1983 * Wrestling - 1983

Notable faculty

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

(Robert Luther Olson); Former high school, college and Olympic Coach.

Notable alumni

* Mike Adams; Major League Baseball outfielder for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. *

Larry Beckett Larry Beckett (born April 4, 1947) is an American poet, songwriter, musician, and literary critic. As a songwriter and music arranger, Beckett collaborated with Tim Buckley in the late 1960s and early 1970s on several songs and albums, including ...

; poet and songwriter who collaborated with

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...

and

Jim Fielder Jim Fielder (born October 4, 1947 in Denton, Texas) is an American bassist, best known for his work as an original member of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Fielder attended Loara High School in Anaheim, California. While at Loara, the young Fielder befrie ...

. *

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

; alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Son of Tim Buckley. *

; folk singer-songwriter. Father of Jeff Buckley. Collaborated with

and

. * Bob Caffrey; baseball player * Keri Caye (aka Jorga Caye) - American actress. *

Sylvia Day Sylvia June Day (born March 11, 1973) is a Japanese American writer. She also writes under the pseudonyms S.J. Day and Livia Dare. She is a number one bestselling author in 29 countries. Career Day writes genre fiction and literary commentar ...

; best-selling author. *

Linda Emond Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake ...

; actress *

; bassist for

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...

. Collaborated with

and

. *

Bret Freeman Bret "Hollywood" Freeman (born September 15, 1966 in Harbor City, Los Angeles) is an American/British MMA ring announcer. He works for many major Boxing and MMA promotions across Europe and the Middle East including Goodwin Promotions, Matchroom ...

; Europe's leading MMA Ring Announcer. * Charles Gipson; Major League Baseball player *

Lauren Lappin Lauren Elizabeth Lappin (born June 26, 1984) is an American former collegiate All-American and medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball player and current assistant coach for Arizona. She played college softball at Stanford and ...

; member of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Women's Softball Team Silver Medal winner. *

Brian Mashburn Save Ferris is an American ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California, United States. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In 1995, the band began to perform underground venues in Southern Cal ...

; founding member of

Save Ferris Save Ferris is an American ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California, United States. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In 1995, the band began to perform underground venues in Southern Cal ...

, wrote music & lyrics. Was in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. Currently in Starpool, Powersurge, and

Red Panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...

Kevin McLain Kevin Wayne McLain (born September 15, 1954) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was a 1st round selection (26th overall pick) in the 1976 NFL Draft out of Colorado State University. McLain played f ...

; National Football League player * Augie Nieto; founder of Lifefitness and inventor of the Lifecycle. Augie has recently become a spokesman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and was featured on the cover of Parade Magazine. * Dan Ripley American Pole Vaulter * Dana Schoenfeld;

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Silver Medal winner, Swimming. *

Eric Stefani Eric Matthew Stefani (born June 17, 1967) is an American musician, composer, writer and animator best known as the founder and former member of the ska punk band No Doubt. He is the older brother of former bandmate Gwen Stefani and is also a forme ...

; co-founder of

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

. An animator for the series,

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

. Brother of Gwen. *

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...

; co-founder and lead singer of the band

. Also an internationally renowned solo performer. Sister of Eric. *

Stacey Q Stacey Lynn Swain (born November 30, 1958), known by her stage name Stacey Q, is an American pop singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. Her best-known single, John Mitchell's " Two of Hearts", released in 1986, reached number one in Canada, n ...

(Stacey Lynn Swain); recording artist * John Van Houten; Tuba player, teacher, and recording artist in the Los Angeles area * Eric Zamora; founding member of

, currently in Starpool *

George Zeber George William Zeber (born August 29, 1950) is a former professional baseball player. He played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball from 1977 to 1978 for the New York Yankees. He was used primarily as a backup to second baseman Willie R ...

; Major League Baseball player

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1962 High schools in Anaheim, California International Baccalaureate schools in California Public high schools in California 1962 establishments in California