Patrick Henry High School is a four-year

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., ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, United States. It is part of

San Diego Unified School District San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is a public school district based in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 ...

. It is attended by students residing in Del Cerro, San Carlos, Allied Gardens,

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the City of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Mi ...

and the College Area. Patrick Henry High School is accredited by the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ( )) provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern ...

. The campus includes a counseling center, child development center, computer and science labs, a cafetorium, library and a performing arts theater. The mascot of Patrick Henry High School is the Patriot, a reference to

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

, an American

Founding Father The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...

. Patrick Henry High School participates in the Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program (VEEP) whereby approximately 600 students travel daily from an underrepresented minority community and are regularly enrolled, full-time students. In 2020, the ethnic composition of the school represented more than 20 ethnic groups, Patrick Henry High School is approximately 39.5% White, 29.8% Hispanic, 15.7% Asian, 8.6% Biracial, 5.8% Black, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 0.2% Not specified, and 0.1% Native American.

History

Patrick Henry High School opened in 1968, and had a grant from the Danforth Foundation as an experimental public school. Founding Principal Donald W. Giddings designed the curriculum as experimental independent learning around a twenty-minute modular system, independent study and an open campus. Within five years, Patrick Henry became more of a traditional school benefiting from its experimental foundation by the early adoption of advanced placement courses including Art History.

Academics

In 2019, Patrick Henry High School was ranked in the top 4% of the most challenging public high schools in America (888th of 22,000). The rank was determined by the Challenge Index defined as the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests taken in a year relative to the number of seniors who graduate. Patrick Henry High School offers Advanced Placement and Honors courses in

World History Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

, English,

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Calculus Calculus is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...

. The school offers a modern Visual and Performing Arts program in theater, tech theater, band, orchestra, and choral music. Through a longstanding collaboration with Mesa College, high school students can take introductory college courses for credit. Patrick Henry High School has Engineering Academy to support students’ science, engineering, architecture, design electronics and design interests. In 2017 the school's robotics club, the Patribots, won the ''For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology'' (FIRST) San Diego Regional and competed at the international championships in Houston. In 2019, the Patribots won the Utah Regional and competed in international championships.

School Within A School

Patrick Henry High School offers a School Within A School program focused on psychology and child development classes called the Teaching Academy. The Teaching Academy is specifically designed to prepare students for college and career experiences in teaching and early childhood education.

Athletics

Patrick Henry Athletics participates 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 s ...

(CIF) and offers the following programs: Coed

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Boys and Girls) , Boys

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, Coed Cross Country , Girls

Field Hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, Boys

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 ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

(Boys and Girls) , Coed

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

(Boys and Girls) , Rugby (Boys and Girls) , Girls Sideline Cheer , Coed Sideline Cheer , Girls

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(Boys and Girls) , Coed

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

, Coed

Surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(Boys and Girls) , Coed

, Coed Track ,

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(Boys and Girls) ,

Water Polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

(Boys and Girls) , Boys

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

, The Patrick Henry High School Varsity Football team led by Ricky Williams, competed in the 1994 CIF Championship, losing to Morse High School 13–0. The Patrick Henry High School Varsity Football team won the Division IV CIF Championship over University City High School on November 26, 2021, for the first football CIF title in school history.

International

Twinning arrangements

The high-school has long established exchange partnerships with the Institution Saint Michel located in Solesmes,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Common projects were carried out with Saint-Michel for the World Forum Lille where cohorts of Patrick Henry High School students presented their work in France on

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

and the

environmental impact Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans ( human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot reco ...

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

Notable incidents

On January 5, 1984, the

San Diego Police Department The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of San Diego, California. Established on May 16, 1889, the department employs 1,731 officers and 601 civilian staff. It covers 343 square miles of service area with ...

executed a narcotics raid arresting 63 Patrick Henry High School students, who had allegedly sold drugs to an undercover officer posing as a student. On January 3, 2007 the San Diego Police Department executed a narcotics raid resulting in the arrest of 15 students from Patrick Henry and University City High Schools who allegedly sold narcotics to undercover San Diego Police Department officers posing as students. In October 2011, Patrick Henry elected the nation's first lesbian couple as homecoming king and queen. The story was covered internationally and led to both support and opposition. In February 2012, following a new school policy limiting bathroom breaks during student advisory periods, a teacher allegedly told a female student who asked to go to the bathroom that she would have to urinate in a bucket in a back room. Due to subsequent bullying which followed her despite two school transfers and led to a suicide attempt, the student sued the

. In 2017, she was awarded $1.25 million in damages by a

Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

jury. On March 17, 2012, a campus police officer was arrested on charges of auto theft and driving under the influence, after taking the wheel of a shuttle-bus while intoxicated.http://www.10news.com/news/30725858/detail.html On March 22, 2012, three Patrick Henry students organized a protest to defend their teachers who had recently been terminated by the San Diego Unified School District. Students signed a petition, wrote letters to the Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District and other members of the school board. Additionally, over 200 students participated in a walk-out for an hour to show their support for their teachers.

Alma Mater

''On our City’s eastern border,'' ''Midst the hills and the sky,'' ''Home of our most Valiant Patriots,'' ''Patrick Henry High.'' ''In our many halls of learning,'' ''On our fields of play,'' ''Goals of excellence and honor,'' ''Always lead the way.'' ''As we march along together,'' ''Let’s be brave and bold.'' ''All hail to Patrick Henry High School,'' ''Hail to the green and gold.'' ''-Thomas Leslie, 1968''

Notable alumni

References

External links

* {{San Diego, state=collapsed School districts in San Diego County, California 1968 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1968 San Diego Unified School District Public high schools in California Schools in San Diego County, California Schools in San Diego High schools in San Diego High schools in San Diego County, California Education in San Diego County, California Education in San Diego