Bear Creek High School (California)

Infobox Secondary school
name = Bear Creek High School
established = 1991
type = Public high school
principal = Daryl Camp
asst principal = Richard Thomas, Pete Corsun, Donna Thayer
vice principal = Jana Durham
faculty =
teaching_staff =
enrollment = Roughly 5000
enrolment =
students =
grades_label =
grades = Grade 9 - Grade 12
address = 10555 Thornton Road
city = Stockton
state = California
province =
country = United States
district = Lodi Unified School District
oversight_label =
oversight =
accreditation =
campus =
colors =
colours =
athletics =
mascot =
emblem =
yearbook =
website = [http://sites.lodiusd.net/schoolcity/ssb/content.cfm?si=0&fi=0&siteID=0xAD490422C38AD611&ptc=/0xAD490422C38AD611/0xAF4D0422C38AD611&CFID=1387318&CFTOKEN=4449395]

Bear Creek High School is a high school located in north Stockton, California. It is part of Lodi Unified School District (LUSD). Current enrollment is roughly 5,000. Before Ronald E. McNair High School opened in 2006, Bear Creek was the newest high school in LUSD. It first opened for the 1991-92 school year as the first high school from LUSD to be built in Stockton, about 10 miles from the closest LUSD high school (Tokay High School). Daryl Camp is the principal of Bear Creek High School after replacing William Toledo in 2005.

Demographics

Demographically, the school has an Asian majority with 38.4%, followed by Caucasian with 25.3%, Latino with 20.1%, African-American with 15.6% and other with 0.7%.

Because of the very diverse backgrounds of the students, there are a number of clubs that represent the various cultures. These cultures are displayed during the school's International Rally. Some notable clubs include: Poly, Four Elements, Punjabi Junction, Kababayan, BC Latino, BETA, Vietnamese, JCKC, Swing, BSU, French, Dance and Drill.

Historical problems and recent change

The school's diversity has led to many racial conflicts involving students. During the 2004-05 school year, a string of attacks on white students by black students led to a crackdown on campus violence. Dubbed "White Wednesday," attacks would happen outside of the gymnasium and restrooms, where security cameras where not focused. In all, a dozen attacks occurred with varying degrees of severity. Also in 2004, there was a riot involving close to 500 students where faculty and School Resource Officers got involved. 30 people were suspended and two students were arrested following the lunch-time brawl. Students in the Orthopedically Handicapped program (OH) have also reported abuse from faculity both publicly and privately. In the 1995-96 school year, quadripeledgic student, Chris Brevik, was reportedly starved as punishment for disobeying OH faculity. He was suffering from the disease Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy, and at the time, weighed a mere sixty-eight pounds. - Chris Brevik graduated from Bear Creek High School in 1996, but later died from duchenne muscular dystrophy in 1999. A biography for Chris that was completed by his friend, Kimberly Froberg, also a Bear Creek student (graduated in 1999) can be found at: www.mandysnmore.com/chrisbio.html

Athletics

Bear Creek High School is best known for their National Champion Cheerleading squads from 1997 - 2001. They were coached by John Hebert, Lisa Deeter (Science teacher at The Creek) and Gigi Mandujan. Once the coaches left the cheerleading program struggled.

Bear Creek High School is infamous for its Varsity Football team's poor performance throughout the last five years. Although the football team has struggled, the badminton teams are competing in the top ranks in the state. In 2007, both teams were undefeated and managed to place 1st in the SJAA league. In the 2008, BC badminton maintained that 1st place title.

The swimming and water polo teams practice each day at McNair High School, a half-hour bus ride away, because of Bear Creek's lack of a pool. However, in May 2007, groundbreaking began for several new additions to the school, including a pool, a second gym and a theater arts center, which were opened for partial use in fall 2008.

Also in 2007, the girls varsity track team ranked 2nd in the state for their 400 x 400; in the 2007-2008 be the boys Cross-Country team took second place in league.

Men's Varsity Tennis also achieved being #1 in their league in both 05-06 and 06-07 seasons.

Other sports offered at Bear Creek include badminton, cross country, track and field, basketball, tennis, golf, girls volleyball, soccer, wrestling, and girls softball.

In the early years of Bear Creek, the men's track and field teams were strong. From 1994 to 1996, the Bruins battled Sonora High School for the top spot in the Valley Oak League, winning the school's first league championship in 1995. They also battled for the first spot in 1998 - 1999 seasons. They finished second to Lincoln High School, but in '98 had a 7'1" high Jumper Daryl F. and a 16'6" pole vaulter David Gritz. Daryl took 2nd at the California State meet and Gritz took first, just missing on the CIF state meet record of 17' 1". There were also some stand outs in the 99 season, but not to the extent of F. and Gritz.

Academic teams

Bear Creek traditionally has strong academic teams competing in Academic Decathlon, Science Olympiad, and SkillsUSA. The Academic Decathlon team reached the state tournament three out of the last five years from San Joaquin County. The Science Olympiad has reached the state tournament for the last three years, after being founded four years ago. The SkillsUSA Team has been to the state conference the past nine years and to the national conference three times out of the past four years.

The school's newspaper, "The Bruin Voice", has consistently earned national recognition at newspaper conventions over the past decade, including a National Pacemaker Award. The current adviser of "The Bruin Voice" is Kathi Duffel.

The school's yearbook, The Cornerstone, has also consistently earned state and national recognition over the past decade. The current adviser is Joyce Dedini.

The Speech and Debate team has done well during the past year. At each regional competition, the team placed third overall, behind Lodi and Beyer High. The team sent nine individuals to the last State tournament.

Class colors

Seniors: Green (2009) Juniors: Orange (2010) Sophomores: Black (2011) Freshman: Purple (2012)

Links

[http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=6163&ID=062223010314 School statistics]

[http://sites.lodiusd.net/schoolcity/ssb/content.cfm?si=0&fi=0&siteID=0xAD490422C38AD611&ptc=/0xAD490422C38AD611/0xAF4D0422C38AD611&CFID=1387318&CFTOKEN=4449395 School website]

[http://www.lodiusd.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 District website]