South High School is a public high school in Torrance,

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 ...

. It is one of five high schools in the

Torrance Unified School District Torrance Unified School District (TUSD) is a school district in Los Angeles County, California, with its headquarters in Torrance. The district board of education has a president, a vice president, a clerk, and two members. As of 2021, the D ...

History

South High School opened in September 1957 and moved to a new campus in January, 1958 with 20 buildings and 106 classrooms. It currently serves children south of Sepulveda, west of Hawthorne and north of Lomita Boulevard. In 1980

Asahi Gakuen Asahi Gakuen, or the Los Angeles Japanese School, is a part-time Japanese school in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.Rainey, James.Children of Japanese Executives Flock to Special Classrooms" ''Los Angeles Times''. December 31, 1987. Retrieved ...

, a weekend Japanese-language education institution, began renting space in South Torrance High School.Rainey, James.
Children of Japanese Executives Flock to Special Classrooms
" ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. December 31, 1987. Retrieved on March 6, 2014. The school continues to use the school for its Torrance Campus (トーランス校 ''Tōransu-kō''). Since 2004, South High has been under refurbishment. Renovations include improved handicapped accessibility, improved lighting, and new signage. '' American Beauty'' was filmed on the South High School campus during the winter break of 1998/1999. Many contemporary South High students were featured as extras in the scenes set on campus. The short movie ''

Skaterdater ''Skaterdater'' is a 1965 American short student film. It was produced by Marshal Backlar, and written and directed by Noel Black. Summary The film tells a story with no dialogue. The group of boy skaters are suddenly at a point when one of the b ...

'' was filmed using the Imperial Skateboard Club whose members went to South High.

Demographics

In the 2014–15 school year, South High had an enrollment of 2,132 students. *African-American - 2.4% *American Indian - 0.50% *Asian - 30.4% *Filipino - 3% *Hispanic or Latino - 14.7% *Pacific Islander - 0.60% *Caucasian - 41.70%% *Multi-Racial - 5.10% *Other - 1.6% The average household income of South High's ZIP code (90505) is $105,771.

Athletics

South High's mascot is the

Spartan Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

, and their colors are green and white.

Activities

The Marching Band won West High Invitationals Sweepstakes 2009, 2010 Percussion State Champs, and the 2011 & 2013 SCJA Division 5A State Champions. The South High 2014-15 Advanced Dance Team were the 2015 USA Dance National Champions in the category "Novelty." In 2017, the 2016-17 Advanced Dance Team became state champions at the USA State Championship, while also placing first in several divisions at USA Regionals. The 2016-17 Athletic Training Program placed first in the small school division at the St. Francis Sports Medical Competition.

Notable alumni

Mike Andrews Michael Jay Andrews (born July 9, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. After his playing career, he served ...

: former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

, currently Chair of

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Rob Andrews Robert Ernest Andrews (born August 4, 1957) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative for from 1990 to 2014. The district included most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. He is a membe ...

: former MLB second baseman *

Greg Bargar Greg Robert Bargar (born January 27, 1959) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Barger played for the Montreal Expos from to and the St. Louis Cardinals in . Bargar attended South High School in Torrance, California. He attended Cal P ...

: former MLB

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Gillian Boxx Gillian Dewey Boxx (born September 1, 1973) is an American, former collegiate four-time All-American, Gold Medal winning 1996 Olympian, right-handed softball catcher, originally from Torrance, California. She won an Olympic gold medal as a ca ...

: 1996 Olympic gold medalist (

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) ...

) *

Shannon Boxx Shannon Leigh Boxx Spearman (; born June 29, 1977) is an American retired soccer player and former member of the United States women's national soccer team, playing the defensive midfielder position. She last played club soccer for the Chicago Re ...

: 2004, 2008 Olympic gold medallist (

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 ...

) *

Chuck Codd Chuck Codd (born in Torrance, California) is a former U.S. soccer defender who played one season in the Western Soccer Alliance, six in the National Professional Soccer League, two in the USISL and two in the USL PDL. He is currently the assis ...

: former professional soccer player *

Juan Croucier Juan Croucier (born August 22, 1959) is a Cuban-born American musician. He is best known as the bassist for the hard rock/glam metal band Ratt. Career Croucier attended Torrance High School in Torrance, California, and played in various ba ...

: former bassist for

Ratt Ratt (stylized as RATT) was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA. ...

Michael B. Donley Michael Bruce Donley (born October 4, 1952) is a United States government official who is the Director of Administration and Management (Department of Defense), director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense s ...

: former US Secretary of the Air Force * Chris Donnels: former MLB

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

* Tim Drevno: former offensive line coach 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 ...

Jason Farol Jason Roger Farol (born April 3, 1993) is an American singer from Torrance, California, United States, who placed third in the American television series '' Duets'', alongside mentor Kelly Clarkson. In August 2012, Farol signed with Viva Reco ...

: singer on

Duets (TV series) ''Duets'' is a singing competition reality television show that premiered on May 24, 2012 on ABC. The show starred Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Robin Thicke, and Jennifer Nettles as mentors who search for singers to duet with them as they perfo ...

Steven Roger Fischer Steven Roger Fischer (born 1947) is a New Zealand linguist. Sources * * * 1947 births Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Linguists from New Zealand Linguists of Polynesian languages New Zealand non-fiction writers Living p ...

: prominent academician, writer and preeminent Polynesian historian, ethnographer, and linguist * Ryo Fujii: professional soccer player * Chad Morton: former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and kick/punt returner * Greg Popovich: Founder & Owner of Castle Rock Winery *

Johnnie Morton Johnnie James Morton Jr. (born October 7, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s and 2000s. He played college football for the USC Trojans, earni ...

: former NFL

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

Sendhil Mullainathan Sendhil Mullainathan () (born c. 1973) is an American professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a professor of Computation and Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business from 2018- ...

: professor of economics at

The University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan about fr ...

Aaron North Aaron Wright North (born March 22, 1979) is an American musician. He was the co-founder and guitarist of punk band The Icarus Line, a touring lead guitarist of industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, and vocalist/guitarist for Jubilee. North i ...

: lead guitarist for

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

Bob Anderson (wrestler) Bob Anderson (born 1943) is an American former wrestler and coach. Anderson was born in Oakland, California and raised in Redondo Beach, California. Early life Anderson attended South High School in Torrance, California, where he placed 3rd h ...

: USA Teams, AAU and College Champion Wrestler * David Patterson: professor of computer science at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and winner of the ACM AM

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, the Nobel Prize of Computer Science * Steve Smith: former world record holder in the indoor pole vault * Ken Turner: former MLB

* Chauncey Washington: former NFL running back * John White:

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

running back *

Alejandro Daniel Wolff Alejandro Daniel Wolff (born 1956) is an American diplomat who served as the US ambassador to Chile from 2010 to 2013. He was the acting U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations until Zalmay Khalilzad was appointed as permanent repre ...

: American diplomat, former US Ambassador to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations *Gary Steele: Intramural Basketball champions 1969; Gold trunks 1967–1970; Co-photographer and double of Blythe movie * Mike Song: Professional dancer for Kinjaz *

Fred Goss Fred Goss (born March 25, 1961, in Orchard Lake, Michigan) is an American TV actor, director, writer, producer and comedian. He was the lead singer for the 1970's punk rock group "Bogue Herb". As writer Goss began writing and staging his own pla ...

: TV director, actor, producer and writer

References

External links

Official South High School website
{{authority control Public high schools in Los Angeles County, California Education in Torrance, California Buildings and structures in Torrance, California Educational institutions established in 1957 1957 establishments in California