Leland High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in the

Almaden Valley Almaden Valley (Spanish: ''Valle de Almadén''), commonly known simply as Almaden (Spanish: ''Almadén''), is a valley and neighborhood of San Jose, California, located in South San Jose. It is nestled between the Santa Cruz Mountains to the we ...

in San Jose,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Established in 1967, Leland is one of the nine high schools in the San Jose Unified School District.

History

Leland was founded in 1967. It was named for Raymond B. Leland, who had served as principal of San Jose High School, and his son Gordon Leland, who had been a student at the school and had died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Awards and recognition

Leland has won accolades for its

speech and debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

team, and more recently its

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

Quixilver 604 and its

FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST Vex Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other te ...

Quixilver 8404 robotics teams. In 2021, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Leland as the number 1 high school in San Jose Unified School District and number 68 in the state of California, and the education ranking and review website

Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

ranked the school as the number 1 high school in the district and number 77 in the state. In 2014, Leland was ranked number 20 in the United States for high standardized test scores between 2012-2014. ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' ranked Leland High School 54th in the nation. During the 2004–05 school year, Leland High School was recognized with the

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, ...

Award of Excellence by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

, the highest award an American school can receive.

Notable alumni and staff

Steven Beitashour Steven Mehrdad Beitashour ( ; , ; born February 1, 1987) is a former professional soccer player who played as a right-back. Born in the United States, he represented the Iran national team. Background Steven Beitashour was born to Edward and ...

'05 –

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

player, formerly with the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

. *

Jenna Flynn Jenna is a female given name. In the English-speaking world it is a variation of Jenny, which is itself a diminutive of Jane, Janet, Jennifer and is often used as a name in its own right.Katie Martin-Doyle, ''The Treasury of Baby Names'', Worth P ...

‘22 - Water polo player, competed at

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

for

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Jason Hardtke Jason Robert Hardtke (born September 15, 1971) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 3rd round of the 1990 MLB draft. Hardtke made his MLB debut with the New York Mets on September ...

– Former professional baseball player *

Jerry Hsu Jerry Hsu (born December 17, 1981) is a Taiwanese-American Skateboarding, skateboarder, photographer and owner/operator of the skate company "Sci-Fi Fantasy". Early life As of 2007, Hsu's family home remains located in San Jose, California, Un ...

– Professional

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United Stat ...

. *

Brent Jones Brent Michael Jones (born February 12, 1963) is an American former professional football player, business executive, businessman, coach, and sports analyst. As a player, he was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers during his entire 11-year c ...

'81 – Former American football player and Pro Bowl tight end for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. * Yubin Kim –

Wonder Girls Wonder Girls () was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in February 2007 with the single "Irony (Wonder Girls song), Irony" and 5 members: Park Ye-eun, Yeeun, Sunye, Sunmi, Hyuna, and Ahn So-hee, Sohee. Aft ...

member *

Evan Low Evan Low (born June 5, 1983) is an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the 26th Assembly district, which encompasses parts of Silicon Valley, includi ...

'01 –

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

member, and former Mayor of

Campbell, California Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 43,959. Campbell is home to the Pruneyard Shopping Center, a sprawling open-ai ...

. * Joe Murray – Creator of TV animated series ''

Rocko's Modern Life ''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American Television comedy, comedy animated television series created by Joe Murray (animator), Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic Australian ...

'' and ''

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pim ...

''. *

Reggie Smith Carl Reginald Smith (born April 2, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and afterwards served as a coach and front office executive. He also played in the Nippon Pr ...

'88 – Former NBA player for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

. * Steve Smith '77 – astronaut *

Pat Tillman Patrick Daniel Tillman Jr. (November6, 1976– April22, 2004) was an American professional American football, football player for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) who left his sports career and enlisted in the United ...

'94 – Former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, ended football career to enlist as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Ranger, killed in

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

, namesake for football stadium.

References

External links

* {{authority control San José Unified School District High schools in San Jose, California Public high schools in California Educational institutions established in 1967 1967 establishments in California