Polytechnic School (California)

Last updated

Polytechnic School
Polytechnic Pasadena.jpg
Address
Polytechnic School (California)
1030 E. California Blvd.

Pasadena
,
Los Angeles Co.
,
California
91106-4099

United States
Coordinates 34°08′01″N118°07′47″W / 34.1337°N 118.1296°W / 34.1337; -118.1296
Information
School type Private, K–12 school
Opened1907;116 years ago (1907)
StatusActive
School district Pasadena Unified
NCES District ID0629940
NCES School ID00083655
Head of schoolJohn Bracker
Faculty198
GradesK–12
Gender Coed
Enrollment877 (2021-22)
Average class size17
Student to teacher ratio9:1
Language English
Campus size15 acres
Campus type Suburban
Color(s)   Orange & White
Athletics25 varsity sports
Athletics conference CIF Southern Section
Prep League
Nickname Panthers
Accreditation WASC/CAIS/NAIS
PublicationOakTree Times
NewspaperThe Paw Print
Website Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Last updated: December 4, 2021

Polytechnic School, often referred to simply as Poly, is a college preparatory private day school located in Pasadena, California with approximately 850 students enrolled in grades Kindergarten through 12.

Contents

The school is a former member of the G20 Schools group.

History

The school was founded in 1907 as the first non-profit, independent school in Southern California. It descends from the Throop Polytechnic Institute founded by Amos G. Throop, the same institution that grew into the present California Institute of Technology. [1]

In the spring of 1907, the Institute decided to focus on the college level and closed the grammar school. Citrus tycoon and noted eugenicist Ezra S. Gosney donated $12,500, a sum matched by twelve other donors. This money allowed them to purchase the property at the present site, originally an orange grove. The school opened in October 1907 with 106 students. At the time, the school was named Polytechnic Elementary School. The school added a ninth grade in 1918 and expanded to high school in 1959. Polytechnic ended its pre-kindergarten program in 2005.

Academics

Poly has a rigorous academic curriculum, which includes Advanced Placement and Honors classes as well as arts and athletic programs. In 2006, Poly was named a world leader in student participation and performance on Advanced Placement exams by the College Board. The school frequently had the highest percentage of its students receive a 3 or above on the AP Calculus AB examination when compared to all other small schools administering the test across the globe, according to the College Board. [2]

In recent years, the most popular college destination for Poly students was the University of Southern California. [3] The Wall Street Journal ranked Poly 4th in the world as a feeder school for "elite colleges," including Harvard University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Williams College, Pomona College, Swarthmore College, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University. [4] In the 2016-17 class, 35% of the class were National Merit Semi-Finalists & Commended students and 80% of students were accepted to 'highly-selective' top tier universities (institutions with an admit rate of 30% or lower). [ citation needed ]

Los Angeles Magazine has also consistently recognized Poly as one of the best high schools in Los Angeles. The September 2008 issue praised Poly for its "national reputation for producing scholars, artists and athletes." Using test score data, the September 2014 issue of Los Angeles Magazine ranked Poly 2nd of 75 Los Angeles high schools. With an average score of 2150, Poly students had the highest average SAT score of any school included in the rankings. [5] The Washington Post ranked Poly the 84th most challenging high school in the United States in 2017. [6] In their 2022 evaluations, Niche ranked Poly as the 3rd best private high school in Los Angeles, [7] the 9th best private high school in California, [8] and the 36th best private high school nationally. [9]

Campus

Polytechnic School covers 15 acres and is divided by Cornell Road into two campuses, north (Lower and Middle School) and south (Upper School), and is adjacent to the Caltech campus. Most of the North Campus buildings were designed by Myron Hunt, who also designed the Rose Bowl and The Huntington, and Elmer Gray, who designed the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Pasadena Playhouse. Some of the classrooms on the lower campus were also done by Gordon Kaufmann, and Roland Coate. The Cornett Mansion (now called the Haaga House) in the south campus was designed in 1907 and serves as the administration building and houses several classrooms for the Upper School. Facilities include a Lower and Middle School Library, Upper School Library, Pool, Boys and Girls Gyms, Athletic field, Performing Arts Center, and historic as well as new classrooms. [ citation needed ]

Athletics

Poly's Athletic Department currently offers 25 Varsity sports in the three seasons of play and is a member of the Prep League. Poly has been competing in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) since 1962. In 2016–17, 82% of the students in the Upper School participated in some type of sport.

The CIF Southern Section has recognized Poly for its commitment to sportsmanship and awarded Poly the CIF Southern Section Jim Staunton Champions of Character Award in 2012. Poly was named the ESPN Rise California/Cal-Hi Sport's Division 5 School of the Year in 2011.

CIF-SS Team Championships (38)

CIF-SS Individual Championships (69)

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo</span> Public university in San Luis Obispo, California

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, adjacent to the city of San Luis Obispo. It is the oldest of three polytechnics in the California State University system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Polytechnic University, Pomona</span> Public university in Pomona, California

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, is a public polytechnic university and Hispanic-serving institution partially in Pomona, California. It has the largest student body of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University system.

Saratoga High School is a grade 9–12, public high school located in Saratoga, California. It is ranked No. 1 Best College Prep Public High School in California according to Niche.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California)</span> Catholic secondary school in Santa Ana, California

Mater Dei High School is a private, Catholic, co-educational secondary school in Santa Ana, California, located in and administered by the Diocese of Orange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hollywood High School</span> Public school in North Hollywood, California, United States

North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, including most of North Hollywood, Valley Village, Studio City and Sun Valley, send students to it. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Its principal is Ricardo Rosales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loyola High School (Los Angeles)</span> School in Los Angeles, California, United States

Loyola High School is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school for boys in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was established in 1865 and is part of the Society of Jesus. It is the oldest continuously run educational institution in Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Beach Polytechnic High School</span> Public school in Long Beach, California, United States

Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby Knolls, and some parts of the cities of Signal Hill and Lakewood. Polytechnic is the flagship high school of the Long Beach Unified School District. It is a large urban high school with about 4,000 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodrow Wilson Classical High School</span> Public school in Long Beach, California, United States

Woodrow Wilson High School is an American public high school located in Long Beach, California. This two-block campus is located approximately 1.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean, across from the Recreation Park, and approximately 3 miles from Orange County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaminade College Preparatory School (California)</span> Private Catholic high school in Los Angeles

Chaminade College Preparatory, formerly Chaminade High School for Boys, is a private Catholic preparatory school with two campuses in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Alamitos High School</span> Public high school in Los Alamitos, California

Los Alamitos High School is a public school for grades 9 to 12 located in Los Alamitos, California, and also serving the city of Seal Beach and the community of Rossmoor. It is the only traditional high school in the Los Alamitos Unified School District; the far smaller Laurel High School serves as a continuation school and as the district office site. Both Oak Middle School and McAuliffe Middle School feed into Los Alamitos High.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Margaret's Episcopal School</span> Private college prep academy in San Juan Capistrano, CA, United States

St. Margaret's Episcopal School (SMES) is a selective private, pre-K – 12th grade college preparatory school located in San Juan Capistrano, California. It is a member of the National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES), the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Western States Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS).

Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy is a Title 1 co-educational charter high school located in Los Angeles, California, United States, and is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District/Green Dot Public Schools. It is named after Alain LeRoy Locke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaks Christian School</span> Private, coeducational school in Westlake Village, California, United States

Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 4–12. Oaks Christian School is located on 25 acres (10 ha) in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established in 2000. As of the 2019–20 school year, total student enrollment is approximately 1,400 students. Approximately 70% of these students are enrolled in high school, while the remainder comprise the middle school population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Bernard High School (Los Angeles)</span> Private school in Los Angeles, California, United States

St. Bernard High School is a four-year coeducational Catholic high school located in Playa Del Rey, California, which is in the West Los Angeles area. The school is located next to the Los Angeles International Airport, across from Westchester High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellarmine-Jefferson High School</span> Private, coeducational school in Burbank, , California, United States

Bellarmine-Jefferson High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Burbank, California. It was located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The school was reopened in 2019 as St. John Paul II STEM Academy, which later closed in 2020.

Los Angeles Baptist High School (LAB) was a Baptist, private, coeducational day school located in North Hills, California with approximately 848 students enrolled in grades 6 through 12. In the summer of 2012, the school was acquired by another Christian day school in the San Fernando Valley (Hillcrest Christian School), and the two merged to become Heritage Christian Schools. The L.A. Baptist campus is now the South Campus of Heritage Christian School. The campus was home to approximately 945 students in grades 7-12 under LAB ownership.

AGBU Vatche & Tamar Manoukian High School was a private Armenian-American school located in Pasadena, California, United States, which opened its doors in September 2006 and closed in 2020. The campus is owned and operated by the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the largest Armenian philanthropic organization in the diaspora that also sponsors 17 Armenian day schools around the world. The school was administratively and academically affiliated with AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School, a college preparatory high school in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. The school met high school requirements, which included a science lab, library, indoor gym, computer lab, assembly hall, and cafeteria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatsworth High School</span> Charter school in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, United States

Chatsworth Charter High School is a charter secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Sierra Canyon School (SCS) is a private, coeducational university-preparatory day school located in Los Angeles, California. Sierra Canyon enrolls students in preschool through grade 12.

Inimfon "Ini" Joshua Archibong is an industrial designer, creative director, artist and musician who is active in product design, furniture design, environmental design, architecture, watch design, and fashion.

References

  1. ↑ Heath's Directory of California Secondary and Normal Schools for 1907–08. Heath. 1907.
  2. ↑ "AP Data - 2nd Annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation (2006)" (PDF). Research. College Board. 2006. p. 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021. These schools lead the world in helping the widest segment of their total school population achieve an exam grade of 3 or higher in AP Calculus AB. Small-size school (<300 students in grades 10–12): Polytechnic School (Pasadena, CA)
  3. ↑ "5 year matriculation 12-16 & in college alum 13-16 ed. 6.14.16.xlsx" (PDF). Polytechnic School. June 14, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  4. ↑ Gamerman, Ellen; Chung, Juliet; Park, SungHa; Jackson, Candace (November 30, 2007). "How the Schools Stack Up (revised 12-28)". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2008. Weekend Journal looked at the freshman classes at eight top colleges -- Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins -- and compiled a list of the students' high-school alma maters. The survey ranked the high schools based on the number of students sent to those eight colleges, divided by the high school's number of graduates in 2007, limiting the scope to schools that had senior classes of at least 50...
  5. ↑ Mathews, Jay (September 23, 2014). "75 Los Angeles County High Schools—Public and Private—That Bring Out the Best in Students". Los Angeles Magazine . Archived from the original on September 30, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  6. ↑ "U.S. high school rankings by state — Most challenging schools". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 31, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  7. ↑ "2022 Best Private High Schools in the Los Angeles Area". Niche . 2021. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  8. ↑ "2022 Best Private High Schools in California". Niche . Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  9. ↑ "2022 Best Private High Schools in America". Niche . Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Koko Archibong International Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  11. ↑ "Sunday Morning". John Battelle's Searchblog. May 11, 2008. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Alec Berg '87 scores Emmy nomination". Polytechnic School. July 20, 2015. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  13. 1 2 Bates, Colleen Dunn; Ganon, Jill Alison; Gillis, Sandy (2006). Hometown Pasadena: The Insider's Guide (1st ed.). Pasadena, California: Prospect Park Books. p. 93. ISBN   9780975393918. OCLC   76881557 . Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  14. ↑ "Pasadena Poly Grad is a Possible Supreme Court Nominee – Pasadena Now". www.pasadenanow.com. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Polytechnic Elementary School Catalogue, 1907-1908." Available in Polytechnic School Archives.
  16. ↑ "Independent Star-News from Pasadena, California on January 24, 1960 · Page 70".
  17. ↑ "Rob Rasmussen - Baseball". University of California, Los Angeles . Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  18. ↑ "AP Studio Art students visit David Wiseman's '99 Los Angeles art studio". Polytechnic School. May 19, 2014. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.