Coronado High School is a public high school located in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. The school enrolled 1,295 in the 2010-2011 school year who primarily come from feeder schools in the Scottsdale Unified School District.
History
Coronado High School, named for the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, opened in 1961 as a public comprehensive high school, grades 9-12, with emphasis on college preparatory and vocational/technical curriculum. The school mascot is the Coronado Don, don being the name for a Spanish nobleman.
Architecture
Ralph Haver, the noted Phoenix mid-century architect, designed the original school, mostly made of pre-cast concrete. Haver also designed numerous public and commercial buildings, as well as tract homes and private residences in Phoenix and Scottsdale, during the 1950s and 1960s. The neighboring residential community of Town and Country, also featuring classic contemporary ranch style tract homes designed by Haver, was designated as historic by the City of Scottsdale in 2005. Coronado High was overhauled by DLR Group for the 2008-09 school year, though the white folded plate motif was kept in the new structures as a nod to the former appearance.
Athletics
The Coronado baseball team has been one of the school's most successful programs for over 50 years. The program won four baseball championships, three Class 5A state titles led by coach Roy Coppinger (1961â€"88) in 1966, 1969, 1979; and Runner-ups in 1974, 1978, and 1986. The fourth state title was in 4A Division II led by coach Buck Holmes (1989â€"present) in 2007; and Runner-ups in Class 4A 1999 and 2003. The Dons baseball program has only been led by two head coaches since 1961. The Coronado football program has been known for its small but powerful players. In 1976, head coach Ed Anderson led the program to a perfect season and its only 5A state championship. The Coronado girls' basketball program led by head coach Jerry Smith won state titles in Class 5A in 1979 and 1981; and Runner-up in 1980. In Class 4A (Spring season) led by head coach Jim Ferrando won state titles in 1990, 1991, 1992; and Runner-up in 1993. The Coronado boys' soccer program led by head coach Mike Tsorin appeared in back to back Division III state finals as Runner-ups in 2012 and 2013. On February 14, 2014, the boys' soccer team led by head coach Nick Barker won their first state title in Division III by defeating Northwest Christian, 3-1.
Shield
The Coronado Shield has been a symbol of the school for many years. It was originally designed by Joe Gatti, who also created another symbol of the school, the mural on the auditorium. Gatti was an art teacher at Coronado from its opening in 1961 until 1984. He felt that this shield design fitted the idea of Coronado's namesake.
Fine arts programs
Coronado High School has a wide range of arts programs.
Coronado has art classes from art to photography and 3D art. The school's most famous work of art, the mural that hangs above the school auditorium, was pieced together by some of the school's first art students. Recently, Coronado art students have made a mosaic that stands between two of the art classes.
Theater
2008-09
Coronado High School's theater program had a "reboot" in the 2008-09 school year with its first production to have all fine art departments collaborating in 20 years with the show Once Upon a Mattress. The show was a joint effort between all the fine arts department with the show directed by the school's theater teacher Mr. Gerry Carrey, choreographed by the school's dance teacher Ms. Irma Griffin, pit orchestra provided by the school's band director, Dr. Shultz Bennet, and the vocal direction provided by the school's choir director, Dr. Sammy Jo Brauer.
2009-10
The following year Coronado produced Grease, directed by the choir director, Dr. Brauer, and co-directed by a previous Saguaro High School theater teacher, Paul Townsend (a 1982 graduate of Coronado).
2010-11
The fine arts department performed The Music Man the following year on February 3â€"5, 2011 directed by the Carey and Griffin and musically directed by Brauer.
2011-12
In 2012, Townsend returned to co-direct The Pirates of Penzance with Brauer for the school's 50th anniversary. They were joined by Jan Tannenbaum who designed the costumes for the production.
2012-13
In the 2012-13 school year Dr. Brauer directed a variety show with an original script named "The Possibilities Are Endless!".
2014-15
In the 2014-2015 school year Dr. Bruaer teamed up with Paul Townsend again and produced the Prince Street Players version of Cinderella. Dr. Brauer directed the cast vocally and was in charge of the set design and construction, while Paul Townsend directed the cast theatrically and blocked the scenes. Laney Townsend, former head of MasterPeace Productions, and former alumni and student of Brauer, Peter Townsend, were also brought in to stage manage. Mrs. Townsend also worked on hair and makeup while Peter designed the promotional material. Jan Tannenbaum was brought in again to create all the shows costumes and former alumni Johnathan Buckland was brought in to tech the show along with Brauer's tech class. Production began February 3, 2015 and went to the show's run on March 26-28, 2015.
Thespians
Coronado High School is also home to Thespians Troupe #1557.
Choir
Coronado's choir program has been under the direction of Dr. Sammy Jo Brauer since 2007. The Coronado Varsity Chorus is the main choir at the school. Varsity Chorus student size has more than doubled in size under the direction of Brauer. Varsity Chorus has participated in a number of Heritage Festivals in California as well as at many in-state events. In 2011-12, the choir was separated into a Varsity and a Women's choir. On February 29, 2012 the choirs, along with the orchestra traveled to New York City to perform in the Lincoln Memorial center.
Advanced Choral Ensemble
The Advanced Choral Ensemble (A.C.E.) is a smaller choral ensemble of 15 members (four tenors, four basses, three altos and four sopranos) chosen by audition. Members of A.C.E. must be in the varsity choir, maintain excellent Grade Point Averages, and must display leadership qualities. The A.C.E. group has competed in several Heritage Festivals as well as the Northern Arizona University (NAU) Jazz and Madrigal Festival, where they received the ratings of "Superior" in jazz and "Superior" in madrigal (February 2015).
Band
The Coronado Dons band program, currently under the direction of Dr. Schultz Bennett since 2006, has continued a longstanding tradition of excellence that includes symphonic band, marching band, and jazz band. During the 2009-10 marching season, the band was a Division II with almost 75 members and continued to be as successful, if not more so, than it was in previous years in Division III. At the ABODA State Marching Festival on November 7, 2009, it was one of three bands to receive a rating of Superior with Distinction as well as four of five captions. At the 2010 ABODA State Marching Festival at Hamilton High School, the Dons Marching Band received a rating of Superior with 3 of 5 captions and it qualified for the state championships on November 13, where it reached 2nd place for Division II with a score of 71.30. The Band has also received 3rd place for Division III in 2013 and 2014.
Clubs
Coronado has a variety of clubs and organizations. The various clubs and organization, in cooperation with Student Government, sponsor dances and other activities. Except for size and specific requirements, all clubs and organizations are open to all students as per board policy, which states that the governing board encourages student involvement in the many and varied organizations that complement the academic program. These organizations are under the authority and approval of the school administration and student government.
Listed below are the clubs and student organizations that are active at the school:
- A.C.E.
- Advance Choral Ensemble
- Anime Club
- AVID Club
- B.A.C.H.
- Ballet Folkorico
- Best Buddies
- C.A.S.E.
- C.H.A.N.T.
- Chess Clubs
- Children 1st
- CHSazz
- CORE Club
- DonX
- Explorer (Newspaper)
- FCA
- Future Educators of America
- Computer Gaming Club
- Global Citizens Club
- Hackey Sack Club
- High Fashion Club
- International Club
- J.A.G.
- Key Club
- Kawaii Club
- Library Club
- Lookout Club
- National Honor Society
- Pride Club (Unitown)
- Robotics Club
- Rap Club
- Science Club
- Service Learning
- SOHA (Fine Arts)
- Student Government
- Thespians
- Trail (Yearbook)
- VISIONS
- Voice of *Seniors*
- Voice of *Juniors*
- Voice of *Sophomores*
- Voice of *Freshmen*
- Young Life
- HOSA club
- Women's rights club
Coronado hymn
All hail to Coronado scarlet and navy blue
We pledge to you allegiance,
we Dons forever true
May each year bring more glory,
hold your banner high
Thy praise we sing and vict'ries bring to
Coronado High
Fight song
Coronado Dons go marching on
Go marching on
To this, their song
Ever faithful, loyal, valiant be
Bring honor to family
We proclaim them proudly
Coronado win this game
Fight on to fame
Uphold the name
Take it on the chin and never give in
Coronado Dons fight on!!!
Famous alumni
- J. D. Durbin, minor league baseball pitcher
- Lou Marson, Major League Baseball catcher with the Cleveland Indians
- Kia Zolgharnain, former American indoor soccer player
- Brian Roberts, noted American scholar
- Edgar Keuling, noted American artist ( painter)
- Lawrence F. Lihosit, noted urban planner, teacher and author
Film location
In the late 1980s, Coronado was used as a film location as a less-expensive alternative to filming in California. It was used as the high school that "Bill and Ted" attended in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure although the high school in the movie was named San Dimas High School (San Dimas was actually the site of the Bill & Ted sequel). The movie finale (Bill & Ted's final on-stage report with historical figures) was filmed in Coronado's auditorium, torn down for remodeling in 2006.
Disney used the school twice, as Coronado was the site of filming for ABC's Not Quite Human, a film featuring Jay Underwood, Robyn Lively and Alan Thicke. Another movie called Just Perfect (featuring Jennie Garth) was filmed for the Mickey Mouse Club in 1989. The final football game shown in the movie was actually between Coronado's varsity and junior varsity teams.
The 1985 movie Just One of the Guys, starring Joyce Hyser, was filmed at the now-demolished Scottsdale High School as well as at Coronado High School.
There was another Lifetime Networkâ€"type movie filmed on the campus in 1998.
References
External links
- Coronado High School's home page
- Coronado's Facebook Page
- Coronado's Twitter Account
- Coronado High School Alumni home page
- List of clubs at Coronado
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