Damien High School

Damien High School

Cor Unum et Anima Una
One heart and One spirit
Address
2280 Damien Avenue
La Verne, California, (Los Angeles County) 91750
USA
Coordinates 34°6′18″N 117°47′18″W / 34.10500°N 117.78833°W / 34.10500; -117.78833Coordinates: 34°6′18″N 117°47′18″W / 34.10500°N 117.78833°W / 34.10500; -117.78833
Information
Type Private, All-Male
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Patron saint(s) Saint Damien
Established 1959
President Fr. Peadar Cronin SS.CC.
Dean Ron Castillo
Principal Merritt Hemenway, Ph.D
Chaplain Fr. John Roche SS.CC.
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 953 (2014)
Color(s) Green and Gold         
Mascot Spartan
Team name Spartans
Accreditation Western Association of Schools and Colleges[1]
Newspaper The Laconian
Yearbook The Spartiate
Tuition $7,700
Athletic Director Jeff Grant
Dean of Curriculum Chuck Ballingall
Dean of Faculty Chris Douglas
Deans of Students Ron Castillo, Dominic Zampiello
Summer School Director Mike Castillo
Website www.damien-hs.edu

Damien High School is an all-male Roman Catholic high school in La Verne, in the U.S. state of California named for Saint Damien of Molokai. The school had its first graduating class in 1963. Each of Damien's freshmen classes draws from an average of over 75 different elementary and junior high schools for youths from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is a part of the tri-school community including St. Lucy's Priory High School and Pomona Catholic High School.

History

The school opened in 1959 as Pomona Catholic Boys High School and was renamed in 1967 as Damien High School,[2] in honor of St. Damien de Veuster, SS.CC., who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday October 11, 2009.[3] The Sacred Heart Fathers have staffed and administered the school since its beginning in La Verne. The courage and capacity for self-sacrifice in the cause of others, is encouraged as an impetus toward social causes in the lives of Damien's students.[2]

In 1996, a new swimming pool and locker room were constructed. Six new tennis courts were also built near the priests’ residence and a new ticket/snack bar/rest room facility was built in Spartan Stadium.[2] A new gymnasium, The Travers Cronin Athletic Center, was opened in 2006. In 2008, the Spartan Stadium was renovated. It now includes an all weather track and FieldTurf. Spartan Stadium was renamed "Dick Larson Stadium" in honor of the school's longtime football coach. 2010 brought a renovation of the football stadium, including the installation of a new scoreboard and stadium seating. The stadium was officially named "Tom Carroll Stadium," in honor of Damien's Athletic Director of 37 years.[4]

In 2014, Damien and St. Lucy's Priory High School were moved from the Sierra League, where they had competed since 1998, to the Baseline League. The League consists of Damien/St. Lucy's, Chino Hills, Etiwanda, Los Osos, Rancho Cucamonga, and Upland.

In 2015, the basketball team won the California Interscholastic Federation State championship (Division III) by defeating Campolindo High of Moraga (CIF North Coast Section) by the score of 70-57 at Haas Pavilion on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. }

School activities

Policy Debate Team

The Damien Policy Debate team has consistently achieved local and national success. In 2009, Damien's Reid Ehrlich-Quinn and Sean Hernandez won the 2009 National Debate Coach's Association National Championship, the 2009 National Forensic League National Tournament, and the inaugural Unger Cup, the award given to the "nation’s most successful high school debate squad." [5][6] Damien qualified 4 teams to the TOC in 2009, more than any other school in the nation. [7]In 2011, Damien's Pablo Gannon and Nadeem Faroqui won the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) Tournament, making Damien the first and only school in history to win the NDCA twice. [8][9][10]

Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP)

Damien High School was 1 of 23 communities involved with SSEP's Mission 7 to send a science experiment to the International Space Station. The experiment was originally aboard the SpaceX-7 rocket launched on June 28, 2015 which exploded 2 minutes into launch.[11] The experiment was successfully re-flown on the SpaceX CRS-8 (SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket; Dragon spacecraft) on April 8, 2016 and docked with the International Space Station 2 days later.[12] The experiment studies the affects of tardigrades in a microgravity environment. Students Garrett Souza, David Washington, Ashwin Balaji, Richard Conti and Aaditya Patel worked over a year on the experiment moderated by their Physics instructor, Ms. Charity Trojanowski.[13]

Tri-School Community

Damien High School is a part of the "tri-school" community existing between St. Lucy's Priory High School and Pomona Catholic High School. Numerous dances and functions are coordinated between the three schools during the school year. Additionally, financial incentives exist for parents who have multiple children attending these schools.

Notable alumni

References

External links

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