Central Union High School, also known as Central or CUHS, is a four-year public
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
El Centro, California
El Centro ( Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the largest city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban ar ...
The school was established in 1908, and celebrated its centennial in 2008.
Among the most well-known alumni are actor Donal Logue from the class of 1984, who starred in the Fox TV sitcom " Grounded for Life" and was Central's ASB president his senior year; professional saxophonist
Walter Beasley
Walter Beasley is an American saxophonist, a professor of music at the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in t ...
, a member of the school's Great Spartan Band in the 1970s under the late band director and local jazz legend Jimmie Cannon; Doug Harvey, an umpire in the
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball- ...
; former
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
linebacker
Glenn Cadrez
Glenn E. Cadrez (born January 2, 1970) is a former American football linebacker who played 11 seasons in the National Football League, mainly for the Denver Broncos. He played for the Broncos from 1995 to 2000 and was a starter in Super Bowl XXX ...
and actress Kyle Richards of the class of 1987; and actor/artist H. Michael Wieben, class of 1962, who appeared on and off Broadway.
Central's annual football game with the Brawley Union High School Wildcats of Brawley, CA which is called the bell game is one of the oldest high school rivalries in the country.
Clubs
Academic Decathlon
Central's
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 ...
team has won the Imperial County Competition every year since 1981, until 2014, but have competed in the state competition in
Sacramento, CA
)
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, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
annually during their time.
Mock Trial
Central's Mock Trial team participates in the Constitutional Rights Foundation's California Mock Trial Program, and has competed and won in the state championship in 1986 and 1998. In 2015, the team placed second in the state championship, the first time in the team's history.
Athletics
Central competes in the Imperial Valley League in the
California Interscholastic Federation
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have ...
San Diego Section. The school's teams are called the Spartans and its colors are blue and white.
The Spartans' longtime archrivals are the Brawley Wildcats. The annual football game, known as the Bell Game, began in 1943 when the schools' associated student bodies bought the bell from a ship in San Diego for $50. But the Central-Brawley rivalry predates the Bell Game and began in 1921.
* Boys' Tennis
* Swimming
* Softball
* Baseball
* Boys' Golf
* Track and Field
Music Programs
* Marching Band (The Great Spartan Band)
* Beginning Band
* Wind Ensemble
* Concert Band
* Jazz Band
* Stage Band
* Chorus
* Guitar
The Great Spartan Band
The Great Spartan Band performs at all home football games and is known for its "Spartan Shuffle" as it enters the field during pre-game and as it exits the field after halftime. The band also performs in local events and parades in
Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas
...
and
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
counties. In addition, Central has an award-winning jazz band and a wind ensemble.
The band has performed across the country and received awards and honors from the Orange Coast College Jazz Festivals, El Centro Navy Base Jazz Festival, Southwestern College Jazz Festival, Imperial Valley College Jazz Festival, USC Concert of the Bands,
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
Band Festival,
Holiday Bowl
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...
Music Festivals, Columbus Day Parade, Mother Goose Parade, and the Disneyland Parades and concerts in 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1987.
Under the direction of Jimmie Cannon from 1966 to 1996, the Great Spartan Band began to travel extensively and in 1972 performed in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...
Luis Echeverría
Luis Echeverría Álvarez (; 17 January 1922 – 8 July 2022) was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously ...
. The band has a standing invitation to perform in the
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "F ...
Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
in 1995, where it participated in the Magic Kingdom Easter Parade.
The Great Spartan Band was invited by Congressman Bob Filner ( California's 51st District) to participate in the 2010
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
Parade in
Washington, DC
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...