Valhalla 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., ...

Rancho San Diego, California Rancho San Diego is a census-designated place (CDP) in the East County region of San Diego County, California. The population was 21,858 at the 2020 census, up from 21,208 at the 2010 census. The area was developed as subdivisions beginning in ...

. It is operated by

Grossmont Union High School District Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) is a public school district based in eastern San Diego County, California. It serves high school, adult school, and Regional Occupational Program (ROP) students in the cities of El Cajon, Lemon G ...

with an enrollment of 2,112 students. The school is characterized by its school colors, orange and white, going by the nickname ''Orange Nation''. During its existence, the school has won the California Distinguished School Award in both 2001 and 2003, and is also 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 school is currently directed by principal Joshua Johnson and three assistant principals.

History

Upon opening in 1974, the school had a very different open campus atmosphere, with a college-like schedule. The school was centered around the main building, with open-air classrooms. Reflective of this, the original motto was "Freedom with Responsibility". During the 1980s, the school transitioned to a more traditional open campus, although some unique architectural elements remain.

Campus

The original school was built in 1974. Valhalla's main structure is a five-story octagonal building. Originally orange, the trim of the building was painted blue in 2009. Classrooms are situated along the outside wall and center of the building. The gymnasiums are freestanding. Sports facilities include a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

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 ...

field,

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 ...

diamonds,

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

courts, and two swimming pools. A new, freestanding, two-story building that houses 12 science classrooms is currently in use. The building was proposed in order to make more room for teachers. It was dedicated in May 2010. In 2015, The main building was closed for renovation and repair of the inner structure. Temporary classrooms took their place for humanities and elective classes. In the 2016-17 school year, students returned to the main building for instruction, and the temporary classrooms were removed.

Notable alumni

Tony Clark Anthony Christopher Clark (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional baseball player and executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1995 to 2009 and is the sixth executive director of the Major League Baseball P ...

, Major League baseball player. *

Eric Close Eric Close (24 May 1967) is an American actor, best known for his roles in television series, particularly as FBI agent Martin Fitzgerald in the CBS mystery drama ''Without a Trace'' (2002–2009), Michael Wiseman in the CBS sci-fi drama '' ...

, Actor. Class of 1985. *

Brad Daluiso Bradley William Daluiso (born December 31, 1967) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. He played college footb ...

, NFL kicker. *

Amy Finley Amy Finley (born 1973 in San Diego, California) is an American cook and writer, who was the winner of the third season of '' The Next Food Network Star'' awarded a commitment to host a cooking show on the Food Network. Her program ''The Gourmet Ne ...

, ''The Gourmet Next Door'' host on the Food Network. * Broc Glover, Motocross National Champion. * Greg Garcia, professional baseball player. * Dan Gookin computer book author who wrote the first ...for Dummies books *

Ryan Hansen Ryan Hansen (born July 5, 1981) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Dick Casablancas on the noir drama series ''Veronica Mars'' (2004–2007, 2019), as Kyle Bradway on the Starz comedy series '' Party Down'' (2009–2010, 2023 ...

, actor. * Benjamin Howard, filmmaker * Darrell Long, notable computer scientist. *

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic Diving (sport), diver who won gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second ...

, Class of 1978. Four-time Olympic Games gold medalist in diving. * Sean O'Sullivan, MLB pitcher. *

Jason Russell Jason Russell (born October 12, 1978) is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of ''Kony 2012'', a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of ...

, co-founder of Invisible Children.

References

External links

Valhalla High School
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1974 High schools in San Diego County, California Public high schools in California Education in El Cajon, California 1974 establishments in California