Saugus High School (California)

Saugus High School
View from a ridge overlooking campus, 2014
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
21900 Centurion Way Santa Clarita , California 91350 United States
Coordinates	34°26′27″N 118°31′04″W / 34.4408°N 118.5178°W / 34.4408; -118.5178Coordinates: 34°26′27″N 118°31′04″W / 34.4408°N 118.5178°W / 34.4408; -118.5178
Information
Type	Comprehensive school
Established	September 6, 1975
Principal	Genevieve Peterson-Henry
Grades	9 - 12
Enrollment	2,526 (2019-20)[1]
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Blue   silver
Mascot	Centurion
Yearbook	Sword & Shield
Website	www.sauguscenturions.com

Saugus High School is an American public high school located in the neighborhood of Saugus in the city of Santa Clarita, California, United States. It is part of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Campus and facilities[]

Saugus Campus in 2007. Note the plowing of a new grass field in the foreground.

The Quad, a grassy knoll with paved footpaths located at the center of the campus.

Quad at night

Saugus' Quad

This is the hill behind Saugus High School, commonly deemed as the "S" hill for the letter that stands upon it, abbreviating the school it represents. The pipe in the photo is the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

The College of the Canyons football stadium is a venue for many of Saugus High School's events, including football games and graduations

Saugus' campus is built on a hill, with a leveled upper and lower campus and a sloped quad in between the two campuses. The A, B, C, D, E, F, and G buildings are located on the lower campus. Generally speaking, elective classes are located on the lower campus. The theater arts, choir, and band classes are housed in building E. The ASB is housed in the A building, art and ceramics classes in the B building, and computer and business classes in the C building. Video, wood, auto shop, and other elective classes are in the D building. Some core classes are scattered throughout the lower campus nonetheless. The Los Angeles Aqueduct runs along the western boundary of the school's campus.

The upper campus is larger than the lower campus and houses teachers that teach core subjects. Teachers who teach an elective alongside their core class also teach their elective class here. It houses the H, J, K, L, M, P, Q, R, S Lecture Hall, and X buildings. In buildings H, K, and Q are English classes, although some English classes are scattered in the L, P, and A buildings due to a lack of space. In building J is the math department, in L are social studies classes, in M is the world language department, in P and R are history classes, and in the S building is the S lecture hall.

The two-story Y building is located on both upper and lower campus, with the offices portion on the first floor, lower campus portion and the library located on the second story in the upper campus.

One may enter the school through a number of different ways. The main entrance is at Centurion Colonnade located between the Y and A buildings in lower campus, next to Centurion Way. Other lower campus entrances include the student parking lot D gate, auto compound gate, basketball courts gate, and the gate located towards the end of the football field. There are two entrances on the upper campus. The "driveway" is located behind the K and J buildings, leading up to Centurion Way.

Many of Saugus's renovations were completed in September 2007. These renovations included a new X building, the football field, the gym, the amphitheater, the refurbishing of the A, B, C, E, F, H, J, L, K, Q, M, P, R, and S buildings, a new cafeteria, a new student store, ASB office, library and administration building. During the modernization, the D building in the lower campus and the W weight room building next to the field were not altered, except for the new exterior paint the D building got to match the school's new and modern look. During the summer of 2011, the D building went through extensive renovation in order to modernize the current electives up to today's standards. Room D5 which houses video production, and TV production (SNN) will expand and receive a new television studio. Wood shop and the auto compound will also expand and receive new equipment. New facilities and accommodations continue to arise on campus including a 1,900 square feet (177 m²) performing arts center which includes a large performance stage, 468 audience seats, catwalks, a fly room for lights and set rigging, spaces for drama rooms, and a large lobby and ticketing area.

The school newspaper is known as the Saugus Scroll.

Curriculum[]

Saugus High School runs on a traditional schedule. There are seven class periods per day, the first period beginning at 6:55 am. Each class period is 57 minutes long except for Wednesdays when first period starts at 8:55 and each class is 41 minutes for teacher collaboration. There is a 14-minute "nutrition" period as well as a 38-minute lunch period between the 5th and 6th periods. Saugus offers basic courses as well as many Honors and AP courses. Each morning (except for Wednesdays), Saugus News Network (SNN) is shown. AFJROTC is offered as well to students in grades 9-12.

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are offered in the following subjects: English Language and Composition, English Literature, Government, US History, European History, World History, Human Geography, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, Art History, Studio Art, Spanish Language, French, and Chinese.^{[citation needed]}

Sports[]

The school colors are blue and silver and its mascot is the Centurion. Saugus competes in football, cross country, basketball, softball, track and field, golf, volleyball, tennis, soccer, baseball, swim and dive, and lacrosse.^[2]

Saugus High School's football team, long overshadowed by surrounding high schools Hart, Canyon, and Valencia, had a turnaround season in 2006, in which they made it into the second game of play-offs. Their talent continued as the Centurions advanced to the semi-finals of the CIF Southern Section championship in the 2007 season. The team was ousted by St. Bonaventure High School on December 1, 2007 at a score of 55–36. The football team won the Foothill League Championship in the 2008 season, the first time they had ever won it.

Saugus' girls cross country team competes on a national level. The team took first in the Division 1 California State Championships in 2006 and 2007 while winning the Division II title in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 finishing second overall in the Nike Nationals competition in 2007 and 2008.^[3] They hold the course record on the renowned Mt. Sac cross country course and 6 of the top 10 all-time team times on the course.^[4]

The Saugus dance team has won regional and national awards. They compete in national, state, and regional competitions, earning national titles from the years 2003 to 2008 and 2010 to 2016. In the 2015-2016 competition season, they won national titles in the Small, Medium, and Intermediate categories at the USA Dance Nationals and were also awarded the highest score in the dance category. The team also earned the title of National Grand Champions and National Intermediate Champions at the West Coast Elite Nationals (WCE). The dance team has been named state champions and most recently been named 2017 National Champions in the Large Lyrical category at WCE.

Student demographics[]

As of the 2019-20 school year, 2,526 students were enrolled at Saugus High. Of those, 49.7% were non-Hispanic white, 34.5% were Hispanic, 8.5% were Asian American, and 2.1% were African American.^[5] 456 students (18.1% of the student body) were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.^[1]

2019 shooting[]

On November 14, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at the high school. That morning, Nathaniel Berhow, an 11th-grade student at the school, pulled out a handgun from his backpack and opened fire on the school's quad, killing two students (a 15-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy) and injuring three others. Berhow concluded the attack by shooting himself in the head; he died from his injuries the following day. The shooter carried out the attack on his 16th birthday.^[6][7]

In popular culture[]

Saugus High School was used as the filming location for "Hubert Humphrey High" in the 1990 film Pump Up The Volume.^[8] It was also shown in a couple episodes of the show Recovery Road and the Lifetime movie The Wrong Crush.

Notable alumni[]

• C. Thomas Howell (1984) - actor, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Outsiders, Red Dawn, The Hitcher
• Roger Salkeld (1989) - pitcher for the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds^[9]
• Bobby Trendy (1991) - interior designer
• Mike Garcia (1994) - current U.S. representative for California's 25th congressional district
• Mandy Gonzalez (1996) - actress and singer (Broadway: Aida, Lennon, In the Heights, Wicked)^[10]
• Katie Hill (2004) - former U.S. representative for California's 25th congressional district^[11]
• Tyler Blackburn (2004) - actor (Best known for Caleb Rivers on Freeform's Pretty Little Liars)
• Tommy Milone (2005) - professional baseball pitcher
• Tessa Ludwick (2006) - actress (Disney's Movie Surfers)
• Katie Volding (2007) - actress (movies: Smart House, Au Pair, Au Pair II, Au Pair 3: Adventure in Paradise)
• Sara Niemietz (2010) - actress/singer (movie: Akeelah and the Bee, television: Glee)
• Abbey Weitzeil (2014) - 2016 Team U.S.A. Olympian competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle, two-time Olympic medallist^[12]

Notes[]

See also[]

• Central Park - a nearby public park

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saugus High School (California).

• Official website