Point Loma High School

Coordinates: 32°44′23.83″N 117°13′31.25″W / 32.7399528°N 117.2253472°W / 32.7399528; -117.2253472

Point Loma High School
Address
2335 Chatsworth Boulevard
Point Loma
San Diego, California 92106
United States
Information
School type Public high school
Opened 1925
School district San Diego Unified School District
Principal Hans Becker
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 1,880 (2014-15)[1]
Color(s)          Maroon and gold
Mascot Pointer Dog
Nickname Pointers
Rival Madison High School
Newspaper Pointer Press
Yearbook El Portal
Website http://www.pointlomahigh.com/

Point Loma High School is a public high school in the San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, California, United States. It is located in the Loma Portal neighborhood of Point Loma. The school serves the neighborhoods of Point Loma and Ocean Beach. Students who live in Mission Hills may choose to attend Point Loma High School as their neighborhood school.[2] Point Loma is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).[3]

History

PLHS is the third oldest high school in the San Diego Unified School District. It was dedicated in 1925 as Point Loma Junior-Senior High school, serving grades 7 through 12. There were 386 students at its opening on September 22, 1925. The first principal was Pete Ross and there were 30 teachers. Some San Diegans opposed creating a school in Point Loma, contending it was too far away from town, but school board member Edgar F. Hastings pushed the proposal through. In its early days the school was sometimes referred to as "Hastings' folly".[4] The original three-story high school building was torn down in the 1970s as part of a statewide requirement to make all schools earthquake-safe. It was replaced by multiple two-story buildings.[5] During the 1950s it was converted to a three-year high school with the opening of Richard Henry Dana Junior High School. In 1983 it became a four-year high school. PLHS now draws from six elementary schools serving grades kindergarten through 4, and two middle schools: Dana Middle for grades 5 and 6, and Correia Middle for grades 7 and 8.

The school holds the distinction of having produced two major-league baseball pitchers who threw perfect games - David Wells and Don Larsen. Only 21 pitchers have thrown perfect games in Major League Baseball history. Wells also threw a perfect game while a student at PLHS.[6] .[7] Wells became the school's head baseball coach starting with the 2014-2015 school year. He had been volunteering as an assistant coach for several years. The team's home field was named David Wells Field in 2010.[8]

Demographics

Point Loma High School is the third largest of 16 high schools in the San Diego Unified School District. It is a four-year, comprehensive high school, serving grades 9–12. It houses a student population of approximately 2000 students who come primarily from the local community. Approximately 35 percent of the student body participates in specialized programs, such as the Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program (VEEP), the Choice Program, the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) program, or the Seminar Program.

Academics

Point Loma High School offers a large variety of AP classes, ranging from Music Theory to Physics.

Athletics

The school's colors are maroon and gold, although football uniform colors are typically unconforming with their traditional colors of a main maroon with an accent of gold. The mascot is the Pointer Dog. The school offers a variety of men's and women's competitive sports:[9]

Offered

Fall

  • Cross country (men and women)
  • Field hockey (women)
  • Football (men)
  • Golf (women)
  • Tennis (women)
  • Volleyball (women)
  • Water polo (men)

Winter

  • Basketball (men and women)
  • Soccer (men and women)
  • Water polo (women)
  • Wrestling (men and women)

Spring

  • Badminton (men and women)
  • Baseball (men)
  • Golf (men)
  • Lacrosse (men and women)
  • Softball (women)
  • Swim (men and women)
  • Tennis (men)
  • Track & field (men and women)
  • Volleyball (men)

Club Sports

  • Surfing (men and women)
  • Sailing (men and women)

Awards and championships

Marching Band

The Point Loma "Vanguard" marching band have gotten first place in the Arcadia Festival of Bands tournament two years in a row making them the reigning champions in their class. The Point Loma Colorguard, which accompanies the Vanguard during fall season, have gotten first place in Winterguard Championships in 2017 over all of Southern California in their class.

Football

The Point Loma "Pointers" football team has won or shared the CIF championship five times in the past fifty years, all under head coach Bennie Edens. In 2005-2006, under head coach Mike Hastings, the Pointers reached the championship game but lost to Saint Augustine High School both times. They reached the championship game again in 2007 and 2009 but lost to Cathedral Catholic High School both times again led by first team All-C.I.F. selection Anthony Joyner and second team All-C.I.F. selection Jordan Sparkman. In recent years the Pointers have had 19 Division 1 football athletes.

Women's soccer

The Lady Pointers went to the CIF Championship game in 2009, defeating many higher seeded teams to get there. The game ended in a tie, with Point Loma winning it in PKs. In 2015 the Lady Pointers soccer team won the CIF Division II Championship against Valhalla with a score of 1-0.

Women’s Waterpolo

The Women’s Waterpolo won their first ever CIF game in 2018

Women's basketball

The Lady Pointers basketball team was a powerhouse at the state level during the late 1980s, capturing the state championship for four straight years, 1984 to 1987.[10] Their victories inspired a graffiti-style mural at the athletic field. Under legendary women's basketball coach Lee Trepanier, known as "Coach T", the Lady Pointers posted an astonishing record of 335 wins and 51 losses between 1977 and 1990.[11]

Men's water polo

The Point Loma High water polo team had the distinction of making it to the CIF tournament, seeded eighth in 2007. In the 2015 season, water polo won first place in their division.

Men's tennis

The Point Loma High men's tennis team won CIF twice, in 2008 and 2009. Their strongest team rivaled teams from all divisions, losing only one match, to Torrey Pines.

Sailing

The nationally ranked PLHS sailing team has won the Baker Trophy, the national team-racing championship of the Interscholastic Sailing Association, sixteen times (2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018[12]), making them the national champions in the sport of sailing. PLHS sailing teams also won the Mallory trophy, the national fleet-racing championship, eight times (1993, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2018), a record unmatched by any other school.[13] In 2003 PLHS Sailor Parker Shinn won the Cressy Trophy, the national singlehanded championship of the ISSA.[14]

Leap of Faith

The school became known among skateboarders for an infamous drop called the "Leap of Faith". This was a drop of 18 feet, 8 inches, consisting of 27 stairs, that had to be approached by an ollie over a railing. Professional skateboarder Jamie Thomas made this spot famous in his filmed attempt to land it; he landed without injury, but his board snapped upon impact.[15] His attempt was included in the Zero video "Thrill Of It All".[16] Another skateboarder, Richard King[17] and several rollerbladers also attempted it, among them Ian Brown,[18][19] Brian Shima,[20][21] and Chris Haffey,[22] but no one was successful at landing it completely, and several people broke their legs or ankles in the attempt. In 2005 the drop was blocked when the school installed a new elevator.[23] The PLHS Leap of Faith was included as part of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, a skateboarding-based video game.

The Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance Company

English teacher Larry Zeiger taught a class in musical theater called “Contemporary voices in literature” from 1977 until his retirement in 2007. In the second semester the students became “The Gotta Sing Gotta Dance Company”, writing and performing an original musical show in which all 100+ students took part. The students were all seniors, and “Zeiger’s show” became a beloved senior-year school tradition during the 31 years of its existence.[24] The 2003 production "Sticky Fingers: A Tale of Saks, Lies and Videotape", which was inspired by the Wynona Ryder shoplifting incident, received national attention.[25][26] The Performing Arts Center on campus was renamed the "Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center" in 2007.

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Point Loma High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ San Diego Unified School District website
  3. ↑ PLHS letter to parents, November 4, 2009
  4. ↑ Held, Ruth Varney, "Beach Town", privately published, San Diego, 1975, page 109
  5. ↑ San Diego Union-Tribune, November 11, 2005
  6. ↑ Harms, Rob (March 27, 2016). "Wells' and Larsen's perfect games echo in Point Loma". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Hopkins, Scott (June 10, 2016). "After tough season, Pointers baseball celebrates players". Peninsula Beacon. San Diego Community Newspaper Group. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Hopkins, Scott (June 19, 2014). "MLB All-Star David Wells to helm PLHS baseball". Peninsula Beacon.
  9. ↑ PLHS website
  10. ↑ Brand, Steve (January 31, 2012). "One more song for these Pointers sisters". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  11. ↑ San Diego Union-Tribune, January 18, 2005
  12. ↑ Baker Trophy results
  13. ↑ Hopkins, Scott (May 17, 2017). "Point Loma High's sailing team wins seventh national title". San Diego Community Newspaper Group. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  14. ↑ Cressy Trophy results
  15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj6GUl6ZM0Y#t=103s
  16. ↑ "Jamie Thomas". modernskate.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  17. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwPD9nVJ490
  18. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETTR5s6ppKQ
  19. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIKjEaJIISY
  20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8URn9aXJHdc#t=419s
  21. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orKpkxxq6Mc#t=353s
  22. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIAuueRCepQ#t=41s
  23. ↑ http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1057/1186630942_93b19b4edc.jpg
  24. ↑ Grant, Lee (May 20, 2007). "It's a wrap for English teacher Larry Zeiger after 33 years at Point Loma High". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  25. ↑ Perry, Tony (May 26, 2003). "High Schoolers Find Drama in Ryder's Trials". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  26. ↑ "People in the news: Students write play about Ryder's trial". Associated Press. Amarillo Globe-News. May 28, 2003. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  27. ↑ Point Loma High grad sailing to Rio as an Olympian, Lainie Fraser, SDNews, Retrieved 6 August 2016
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