Everything about Birmingham High School totally explained
Birmingham High School is a public
coeducational
high school in the neighborhood/district of
Lake Balboa in the
San Fernando Valley section of the
County of Los Angeles,
California. The school is a part of District One of the
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). It was founded in
1953 as a 7-12 grade combined high school, and became solely a senior high school in
1963. The school has a
Van Nuys address.
Birmingham serves Lake Balboa, parts of
Encino, and Amestoy Estates
(External Link
).
History
This school was built on the site of Birmingham General Hospital. This facility was a United States Army hospital that operated primarily as a rehabilitation center for soldiers injured during
World War II. It was named after Col. Henry Patrick Birmingham, a senior officer in the Medical Corps who died in 1930. The hospital closed in 1948.
The site was acquired by Los Angeles City Schools in the early 1950s (for the token price of $1), and became the home to Birmingham Junior High School in 1953. The school expanded into a six-year campus in 1956. In 1963, the northern part of the campus became
William Mulholland Junior High School.
The original name of the sports teams were the Braves; this name was changed to the Patriots in the late 1990s when the
LAUSD Board of Education voted to do away with team mascots depicting native Americans due to the threat of a lawsuit by the
American Civil Liberties Union. This was in spite of the fact the school was dedicated by
Jay Silverheels (Tonto) and five gathered Native-American Chiefs from the San Fernando Valley Indian Council.
In January 2006,
The Los Angeles Times published a series of articles discussing the graduation/dropout rate at the school and how it relates to the rate for the rest of
LAUSD (External Link
).
Pop culture
Birmingham High School has been used as the backdrop for numerous music videos, commercials, and television shows such as the music video for
Gwen Stefani's song "
Hollaback Girl" &
Corbin Bleu's song "
Push It to the Limit". Also, in 2007 an episode of
America's Next Top Model was filmed. Other shows filmed at Birmingham High School include
Nip/Tuck,
NCIS,
Cold Case,
Scrubs,
The Office and
Monk.
The school's football field was used as a set for the shoot of
Angels & Airwaves,
Everything's Magic music video. Everything's Magic is the first single to Angels & Airwaves new CD,
I-Empire. The track, surrounding the football field, also served as the location for the relay race scene starring Kirk Cameron in
Like Father Like Son.
Also ans episode of Full House was filmed there were Danny, Jessy, and Joey were running a race around the track.
Academics
Birmingham High School offers students a full range of subjects in its academic curriculum. All students study a core curriculum of Math, English, science, Social Studies, and Foreign Languages. In addition, Elective classes in a variety of subjects are offered, including music, drama, and the visual arts. The school has recently created a number of Small Learning Communities (SLCs). Some of these include:
- Renaissance Academy
- Medicine and Sports Academy
- Social Justice Academy
- Performing and Visual Arts Academy
- Business and Technology Academy
- 9th Grade Success Academy
- Daniel Pearl Journalism and Communications Magnet
In addition, many other programs such as Humanitas, AVID, and School for Advanced Studies are available to students.
Sports
Birmingham High School has a long tradition of producing championship teams in a variety of sports. . Among the many outstanding teams are Football (1963, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 Los Angeles City Champions), Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Soccer (2006 LA City Boys Champions), Cross-country, Tennis, Golf, Track and Field, Swimming and Diving (2007 runner up) and Water Polo (2007 Valley League Champions and 2008 CIF champions).
Many students participating in sports come from throughout the city of Los Angeles specifically to play sports at Birmingham. This is especially true for those on the Swimming and Diving teams, as Birmingham is one of the few schools in
LAUSD with a pool on campus.
From 2003-04 to 2006-07, the Basketball coach was Andre McCarter, MVP for the
Rochester Zeniths of the
Continental Basketball Association in the 1978-79 season. McCarter played on UCLA's national championship teams in the early 1970s under John Wooden.
Birmingham's new head coach for the 2007-08 season will be Jarvis Turner, who played under Henry Bibby at USC in the early 1990s and was formerly the freshman team coach at Harvard Westlake School in North Hollywood.
Arts
Drama has been one of the programs that has drawn students to Birmingham throughout the years. The Drama Academy is the latest embodiment of this program, which has seen teams from Birmingham win competitions throughout the world.
The visual arts are supported through a digital video and animation program run through the Communications Technology Magnet, as well as graphic art programs taught through the host school.
Notable alumni
Selective listing of notable alumni - (please add year of graduation):
Marc Cohen - KABC Talk show host
Jordan Farmar - Los Angeles Lakers (also attended Taft High)
Sally Field - actress
Russell Fritz - Recipient of the Jamaicam Prime Ministers Medal of Appreciation
Terry Gilliam - Monty Python member, film producer, director, and animator
Eric Grossman - bassist for K's Choice (Class of 1982)
Jermaine Jackson - singer (Class of 1973)
Jeremy Licht - actor, The Hogan Family
Linda Lingle - Governor of Hawai'i
Michael Milken - financier/philanthropist
Tia and Tamera Mowry - actresses
Michael Ovitz - talent agent
Daniel Pearl - journalist/kidnap victim
Paul Rodriguez Jr - Professional Skateboarder
Bobby Sherman - singer and actor
Pam Skaist - co-founder of Juicy Couture
Karen Valentine - actress
Billy Warlock - actor (Real name Bill Lemming)
Cindy Williams - actress
David Gregory - Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News (Class of 1988)Further Information
Get more info on 'Birmingham High School'.
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