Menlo-Atherton High School (known as M-A to locals) is a four-year public charter

secondary 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in Atherton, California. Menlo-Atherton is part of the

Sequoia Union High School District The Sequoia Union High School District is a public union school district in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily serving the southern San Mateo County communities of Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Ladera, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Portol ...

. School Profile
Menlo-Atherton has been named one of the top secondary schools in the nation by the

United States 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 ...

as part of its National School Recognition Program. It was selected as a California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education in 2007 and 2013. In 2005, ''

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 ...

'' ranked the school as the 259th best school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Menlo-Atherton also offers the most

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

courses in the district with over twenty, ranging from Studio Art to

US History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

. Since the closure of Ravenswood High School, Menlo-Atherton has been racially diverse, drawing from Atherton, Menlo Park,

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

East Palo Alto East Palo Alto (abbreviated E.P.A.) is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of ...

, and

Portola Valley Portola Valley is a town in San Mateo County, California. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy community nestled on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. History Portola Val ...

. The school's motto is "Strength in Diversity".

Academics

Typically, 97% of graduates continue their education. 37% opt for

two-year college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

s, 60% go to four-year colleges. M-A offers the following Advanced Placement courses:

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

;

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

; Calculus AB/BC;

Chinese Language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

;

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

;

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

; English Language/Composition;

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

; Environmental Science;

European History The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early ...

;

French Language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

;

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

;

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

;

Spanish Language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

;

Spanish Literature Spanish literature generally refers to literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects wi ...

(approximately every other year);

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

; Studio Art; and

. M-A has an 84% pass rate on AP exams, with just under 40% scoring a 5. It also has the Advanced Via Individual Determination program and the Computer Academy, programs for students seeking a smaller, supportive learning environment.

Athletics

Menlo-Atherton has nearly 60 teams at the varsity, junior varsity and freshman levels in 15 sports that they offer. Over 46% of the student body participates in a sport with 1,100 athletes in the 2018-19 season. M-A has emerged as one of the most accomplished athletic programs in Northern California, winning 2 CIF State titles (Football & Girls Wrestling-individual title), 8 Central Coast Section titles, and 13 Peninsula Athletic League titles in the 2018-19 school year. The Bears have also won the PAL Commissioner's Cup the last 11 years in a row and in 12 of the 13 years of its existence. The Commissioner's Cup is awarded annually to the Peninsula Athletic League school that best exemplifies the league's commitment to sportsmanship and excellence in athletics. Points are awarded to each varsity team in each sport that they participate in, by the order of finish in league play and for sportsmanship. In 2017, Co-Athletic Directors Paul Snow and Steven Kryger were named NorCal Athletic Directors of the Year by the California Coaches Association. That same year saw Adhir Ravipati named the NorCal Football Coach of the Year, and in 2018, Jane Worden and Brett Koerten were named State Swim Coaches of the Year, also by the California Coaches Association. In 2017, Menlo-Atherton was named the Northern California Public High School of the Year by Prep2Prep.com for their athletic achievements.

Fine arts

Menlo-Atherton is home to a professional-level 492-seat theater, the Menlo-Atherton Center for Performing Arts. It is home to the school play and musical; band, orchestra, guitar, and choir concerts; the Menlo-Atherton Student Film Festival; the Bear Arts Expo, a collaboration between all of M-A's arts classes; and many other school events. It also hosts events related to the City of Menlo Park, which partially financed its construction, and is a regular venue of ensembles and music festivals including the

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is an American orchestra based in San Francisco. PBO is dedicated to historically informed performance of Baroque, Classical and early Romantic music on original instruments. The orchestra performs its su ...

and

Music@Menlo Music@Menlo is an annual summer chamber music festival and institute in Atherton, California. The festival was founded in 2003 by cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han. American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American comp ...

. The Advanced Jazz Ensemble regularly travels to festivals around the world, including the annual Reno Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival. The band is supported by the Band Boosters. The Center is home to M-A Drama, Menlo-Atherton's chapter of the

International Thespian Society The International Thespian Society (ITS) is an honor society for high school and middle school theatre students. It is a division of the Educational Theatre Association. Thespian troupes serve students in grades 9–12; Junior Thespian troupes s ...

. M-A Drama produces a play and a musical each year. M-A Drama is supported by M-A Drama Boosters.

Alumni

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Rebecca Beth Bauer-Kahan (née Bauer; born October 28, 1978), also known by her initials RBK, is an American attorney and politician who has served as a member of the California State Assembly from the California's 16th State Assembly district, ...

, California State Legislator * Chuck Bradley, American football player *

Greg Buckingham Gregory Fenton Buckingham (July 29, 1945 – November 11, 1990) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in two events. Buckingham was born in Riverside, California, and attended Menlo-Atherton High ...

, Olympic Silver Medalist in swimming; brother of Lindsey *

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...

, singer and guitarist with rock group

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

Cheryl Burke Cheryl Burke (born May 3, 1984) is an American dancer, model, and television host. She is best known for being a professional dancer on ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars''. She was the first female professional to win the show and the first prof ...

, Professional dancer on ''Dancing with the Stars'' *

Greg Camarillo Greg Camarillo ( ; born April 18, 1982) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Stanford. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2005. Camarillo also played for the Miami Dolp ...

(born 1982), NFL wide receiver (

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

) *

Chris Dorst Christopher Dorst (born June 5, 1956) is an American former water polo player who won a silver medal for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. He was slated to go with the US Olympic Team to the 1980 Summer Oly ...

, Olympic silver medalist in water polo, Los Angeles 1984 * Marshall "Mark" Drummond, academic administrator *

James Gaughran James Alan Gaughran (born July 5, 1932) was an American water polo player, competitive swimmer, and former Hall of Fame Stanford Head Swimming and Water Polo Coach from 1960–73. Gaughran competed in Water Polo for the U.S. in the 1956 Summer O ...

, Olympic water polo athlete, Melbourne 1956 *

Gayle King Gayle King (born December 28, 1954) is an American television personality, author and broadcast journalist for CBS News, co-hosting its flagship morning program, '' CBS Mornings'', and before that its predecessor ''CBS This Morning''. She is ...

, CBS news anchor, Editor of O Magazine *

Mark Lettieri Mark Lettieri (born c. 1984) is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is a member of the jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, funk band The Fearless Flyers, and also performs with his quartet, the Mark Lettieri Group. His background spans ...

, Grammy award winning guitarist with

Snarky Puppy Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalis ...

Bob Melvin Robert Paul Melvin (born October 28, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and coach, who is the manager of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has been named Manager of the Year three times. Selected in t ...

(born 1961), Major League Baseball player and manager, current manager of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...

, singer with rock group Fleetwood Mac *

Elizabeth Osborn Elizabeth Osborn (born 1989 or 1990) is a former equestrian vaulter who represented the United States in the Aachen World Equestrian games in 2006 in Aachen, Germany. In 2007, Osborn became the gold level reserve national champion, the American ...

, woman equestrian vaulter United States, 2008 *

Ruth Porat Ruth Porat (born 1958) is a British-American business executive serving as Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google since 2015. In 2020, Porat was listed as the 16th most powerful woman in the world by ''Forbes'',

, Alphabet and Google CFO; former Morgan Stanley CFO *

Jamila Reinhardt Jamila Reinhardt (born November 17, 1989) is an American rugby union player. She made her debut for the in 2016. She is a member of the San Diego Surfers Women's Rugby Club and Women's Premier League national champion. She was named in the Eagl ...

, current player on the USA Rugby women's national team, named in the Eagles 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup squad. *

Dick Roth Richard William Roth (born September 26, 1947) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events. He swam in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, where he won the gold medal for his fi ...

, Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Tokyo 1964, Olympic and world record holder 400IM *

Courtney Thorne-Smith Courtney Thorne-Smith (born November 8, 1967) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Alison Parker on ''Melrose Place'', Georgia Thomas on '' Ally McBeal'', Cheryl Mabel in ''According to Jim'' and her recurring role on ...

, actress *

Rhett Ayers Butler Rhett Ayers Butler (born 1978Guynn, Jessica"A site of inspiration" ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 5 July 2006. Retrieved on 17 February 2021.) is an American journalist, author and entrepreneur who founded Mongabay, a conservation and environmental ...

, Journalist and Author *

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead ...

, singer, guitarist and founding member of

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

Steve Westly Steven Paul Westly (born August 27, 1956) is an American venture capitalist, entrepreneur, educator, and politician. He was the State Controller of California from 2003 to 2007 and was one of the top candidates in the Democratic primary for Gov ...

, venture capitalist, former California State Controller, 2006 gubernatorial candidate, and executive at

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

* Richard L. Wright, political leader

Faculty

Leo Krupnik Leonid "Leo" Krupnik (, , ; born July 15, 1979 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian-born United States, American-Israeli former soccer player and current soccer coach. He played college soccer at the Universit ...

(born 1979),

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

-born American-

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i former soccer player and current soccer coach.

References

External links

Menlo-Atherton High School website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1951 High schools in San Mateo County, California Public high schools in California 1951 establishments in California