Sequoia High School (Redwood City, California)

Sequoia's Business/Information Technology program consists of core business and technology courses designed to prepare students for exciting careers in business and information technology. These courses are available to all students and may be combined so that the program matches students' interests and goals. Business/IT provides students with advanced training that can lead toward industry recognized certification and community college credit. The program also provides students with marketable skills that can be applied immediately in the high tech workforce or built upon through higher education.

The Academy is a small school-within-a-school at Sequoia High School. The program is a School to Career Partnership Academy funded through a grant from the State of California that is matched by the district and industry partners. This grant is used to keep class sizes small, infuse curriculum with technology, provide extra support to students, and support hands on learning. Teachers in the Academy have time to meet and collaborate. This gives them the opportunity to plan cross-curricular technology rich projects to enhance learning. It also gives teachers an opportunity to identify students who need an extra push to take themselves to the next level and pool our resources to push them. The Academy provides a rigorous academic experience that focuses on helping students complete the A-G requirements to transfer to a four-year university. Students take four classes per year within the Academy: English, Science, Social Studies, and a Technology elective. The elective varies each year depending on the student's pathway. Students have the opportunity to enroll in an SAT preparation course at no cost. Students can earn college credit through Cañada College for all technology classes in the Academy.[13]

Personalized Learning Communities at Sequoia High School provide a more personalized atmosphere for students and to ensure that all students receive the education they need. The movement toward personalized learning communities at Sequoia began in 2002. A team of teachers, administrators, and parents looked at three possible models for a house system. The Sequoia community ultimately chose the horizontal model, which is the model in place today. A team visited Nathan Hale High School, a school in Washington State that had already implemented the horizontal house system. They came back to Sequoia with observations, ideas, resources, and inspiration. During the 2003-2004 school year, the 9th grade houses task force met monthly at first, and gradually increased meeting time to almost weekly in order to plan everything necessary to implement 9th grade houses in the fall of 2004.

Sequoia High School began offering the International Baccalaureate Programme in February 2002.[14] The IB Programme is available to all students beginning their freshman year. The students are placed in ICAP classes their freshman and sophomore years before they enter IB classes as a junior and senior. Sequoia High School includes a wide range of classes for the students from English, History, Arts, Sciences, and Languages. The students are able to choose if they want to partake in the full IB Diploma which includes taking a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class, an Extended Essay (EE) and doing Creative Active and Service (CAS) hours. For those who do not wish to participate in the IB diploma, the students can take the IB classes for certificates, if they pass the IB test. The International Baccalaureate Programme allows the students a wide range of opportunities because the course is worldwide. It prepares them for college as the course is rigorous, but helps each student adapt to the work load. At the end of the last year, similar to the AP test, the students take IB tests which go on throughout the month of May.

2015-2016[15]

• 2,143 students: 1,096 Male (51.1%), 1,047 Female (48.9%)

• Gary Beban (class of 1964), Heisman Trophy winner in 1967, briefly played professional football for the Washington Redskins.[19]
• Spencer Folau (class of 1991), 2000 Super Bowl championship with the Baltimore Ravens.[20]
• Bob Gaughran (class of 1953), member of the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame[21]
• James Gaughran (class of 1950), Olympic water polo athlete, Melbourne 1956, member of the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame [21]
• John Harlin II (class of 1953), American mountaineer, famous for Harlin's Route, north face of the Eiger
• Charles Johnson, professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors
• Rich Koeper (class of 1960), NorCal Player of the Year, played with Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons
• Paul McClellan, Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the San Francisco Giants
• Paul Noce, former MLB player with the Chicago Cubs
• Dick Sharon (class of 1968), former MLB player[22][23]
• Dick Stuart (class of 1951), former MLB player with the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Bob Svihus (class of 1961), played with the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets from 1965–1973.[24]
• Tim Twietmeyer, ultramarathon runner, best known for completing the Western States Endurance Run more than 25 times in under 24 hours.

• Eric Dane (in school as Eric Feldman 1987–1990), actor on Grey's Anatomy and Marley & Me
• Tim Genis (class of 1984), Boston Symphony lead timpanist
• Kenny Ortega (class of 1968), director and choreographer for the High School Musical franchise.[25]
• Lydia Pense (class of 1966), musician and singer in the band Cold Blood; was in a Sequoia High School band called The Dimensions (in 1963).[26]
• Ronnie Day, (class of 2006, graduated early to focus on his music career), musician

• Ray Dolby (class of 1951), founder of Dolby Laboratories[25]
• Gordon Moore (class of 1946), co-founder of Intel Corporation, best known for Moore's Law[25]

• William Royer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives[27]

• Steven G. Krantz (class of 1967), scholar, mathematician and author of more than 50 books[25]