Northgate High School (Walnut Creek, California)

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Northgate High School
School type	Public
Established	1974
District	Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Grades	9-12
Principal	Dr. Martha Riley
Colors	Crimson and Gold
Mascot	Broncos
Location	425 Castle Rock Road Walnut Creek, CA
Information	(925) 938-0900
Website	[1]

Northgate High School is a public high school located in a suburban neighborhood in Walnut Creek, California. Part of the Mount Diablo Unified School District, the school was built in 1974. Its name derives from its location at the north entrance of Mount Diablo.

In the athletic field, Northgate is known for its cross country team, which won North Coast Section (NCS) in 2004 and its women's water polo team which placed 2nd in NCS in 2006. Boys basketball won the state championship in 1995. Unfortunately, its football team is not exactly known for its athletic prowess, as they have gone for five year periods without a Varsity victory. In the 1990-91 school year, Northgate High School was temporary relocated to portable trailers on an adjacent property. This was done in fear of fire-retardant asbestos fibers leaching from ceiling structures following the Loma Prieta earthquake. The Mount Diablo Unified School District spent several million dollars inspecting and removing material from the main buildings and a debate was raised whether the district should have closed the facility indefinitely without making such a substantial investment. For local parent groups, the nearest alternative for their children, Clayton Valley High School, was insufficient and politics rebuilt the school for the fall of 1991.

1 Graduation Requirements
2 Performing Arts
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Graduation Requirements

In order to graduate from Northgate, a student must have a total of 230 credits. A student accrues 5 credits upon completion of a semester of a class with a passing grade (higher than "F"). This is designed for a student to either:

Be able to leave early/come late their senior year
Fail two semesters of any class

Completion of a Senior Paper and Project with a passing grade is also considered a requirement of graduation, but is rarely, if ever enforced, as many students with a failing grade on their Senior Paper seem to graduate. The Senior Paper is an 8-10 page research paper that is on a topic related to a 15 hour project the student decides to undertake. Seniors ask a question, and the paper and project are designed to investigate that question. Previous projects have involved students staying up for 100 hours without sleep, skydiving, designing houses, and watching multiple versions of the movie Hamlet to study directing.

[edit] Performing Arts

[edit] Instrumental Music

The instrumental music program at Northgate consists of a Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Marching Band. The head of the music department and instrumental music teacher is Greg Brown.

9^th grade band students are required to take at least one year of Concert Band before moving up. Almost all of the students who successfully complete the Concert Band program are asked to join the Symphonic Band, though some do not wish to continue their involvement in the band program. Symphonic Band is the largest instrumental music group at Northgate, consisting of 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade members. Orchestra consists of students from all grades; the prerequisite is previous experience with private teachers or Orchestra in middle school. Symphonic band members are encouraged to audition for the Wind Ensemble or Jazz Band, the first being easier to get into than the latter. The audition process is competitive in nature, with a number of talented students vying for a small number of slots.

The Northgate Marching Band is relatively small, made up of about 30 to 40 people, and have been successful in competitions.

B.O.S.S is Band Orchestra Student Staff. They organize concerts and trips to Disneyland.

[edit] Choir

The Choir program, headed by Mrs. Monica Maddern, consists of three groups: The entry-level Concert Choir, the All-Women's Bella Voce, and the Co-Ed Madrigals. In order to be a part of the Madrigals (or "Mads" as they are known around campus), any prospective female member must first have spent one year in Concert Choir, and one year in Bella Voce, as well as complete a rigorous audition process. Male members must only spend one year in Concert Choir before auditioning for Mads. However, exceptions have been made to this rule.

[edit] The Little Theatre

The much anticipated new "Little Theatre" was supposed to be ready for the spring 2006 play, but in actuality took until November 2006 to complete. The new name of the theatre is the "Jack DeRieux Little Theatre", named for the former drama teacher at the school. Jack had Mr. Ed Meehan as a student, and he has now taken over Mr. DeRieux's job. Mr. DeRieux continues (as of the 2006-2007 school year) to substitute teach at Northgate.

[edit] Trivia

The movie The Principal was partially filmed at the school. Northgate's current drama teacher, Mr. Ed Meehan, attended Northgate as a student at the time, and can be seen in the film during the classroom scene in the beginning of the movie. The former drama teacher, Jack DeRieux, was also in the movie as well during a staff meeting scene at the beginning of the movie.

Yul Kwon, winner of Survivor: Cook Islands, graduated from Northgate in 1993 and was the school's valedictorian.

Mariet Ford, a key participant in The Play during the 1982 Cal/Stanford Big Game played football for the Broncos during his time at Northgate during the late 70s. He was later convicted of murdering his wife and child and is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence. ^[1]