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Fresno High’s cheer squad is headed to nationals

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Kendra Gilbert

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Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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There’s a whole lot of cheering going on at Fresno High School. The school’s first-ever competition cheer squad has landed a spot at nationals. And now they need the community to do a little ‘Go, team, go!” to help get them to the show.

Fresno High's cheer squad

 

Fresno High is a school with a lot of history. Established in 1889, it’s Fresno’s oldest high school and the only one that bears the city’s name. But in the more than 125-year history of the school, it has never had a cheer squad dedicated to competing, said pep and cheer director Jacqueline Ruiz. In that respect, the squad that Ruiz coaches is writing a new chapter in the school’s history. One highlighted by a first place finish at a regional competition in January, which qualified them for USA Nationals in Anaheim in March.

Fresno High's cheer squad holding plaque

 

The team is excited about the unexpected success they’ve had in their first year. And with nationals just a few weeks away, they’re working hard to make sure they represent their school and their city well at the competition, putting in hours of practice early in the morning and on weekends. The chance at another win, and the little bit of “fame” that’s come from recent news coverage of their story, keeps the team motivated.

Now, the team is hoping the community will start cheering for them on their journey to nationals. They’ve started a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 to cover registration costs, hotels, food, and transportation costs. Ruiz said the fundraising effort has allowed the squad to connect with Fresno High alumni, and they’ve raised about one quarter of their goal so far.

Here, a few members of the squad and coach Ruiz talk about the squad’s incredible first year, what they’re looking forward to at nationals, and how much the community’s support means to them.

Community: From Kerman to Clovis, Clovis West’s Principal Marc Hammack

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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He may have started out as a coach, but Marc Hammack is in charge of a much bigger team now that he’s principal at Clovis West High School. Growing up in Kerman, Hammack enjoyed high school, spending teen life moving between two often-at-odds social circles: the jocks and the band geeks. Anyone who can do that is a natural future leader. Coaching and a career in education developed from there.

Clovis West

It wasn’t until he entered the doctoral program at Fresno State a few years ago that Hammack began to consider Clovis as a place to work. After getting to know a few of the district’s administrators who were in the program with him, he grew interested in what Clovis Unified had to offer. His curiosity led him to a job as a learning director at Kastner Intermediate, then to a two-year stint as principal at Fort Washington Elementary School and finally to Clovis West, where he will soon be starting his second year as principal.

Clovis West

 

At a glance: Clovis West is a traditional public high school with roughly 2,500 students in grades 9-12. Opened it 1976 on the corner of Millbrook and Teague (which is technically in northeast Fresno), Clovis West was designated the School of Olympic Spirit by its first principal, William F. Noli. The school has remained competitive in academics and athletics since opening. It is been recognized as both a California Distinguished School and National Blue Ribbon School multiple times.

Here, Hammack talks about his path from Kerman to Clovis, his school’s focus on AP classes (to the tune of a near-50 percent participation rate), and just what he and teachers are doing to better connect with kids.

Community: Principal Lindsay Sanders Oversees Diversity in Harmony at Edison

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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One tiger, many stripes. At Edison High School, it’s diversity that unifies. Just ask principal Lindsey Sanders. When it comes to talking about what makes her school great, diversity comes up a lot. From the divergent student population to their wide-ranging academic and extracurricular interests, Sanders says individuality creates harmony on the Edison campus.

Edison HS 2

 

Sanders should know a thing or two about what makes a high school campus function effectively. She’s been working in the Fresno Unified School District for 19 years, first as a teacher and volleyball coach at Roosevelt, then on to McLane and Bullard. She then worked at the district offices where she says she “learned a lot about leadership” before becoming principal of Edison three years ago.

At a glance, Edison is a campus of around 2,500 students in grades 9-12. Opened in 1906, today Edison offers more AP classes than any other high school in the Valley, ranging from calculus to music theory. According to Sanders, 84 percent of students in the most recent graduating class had taken one or more advanced placement or honors courses. The school is also known for its standout sports teams. The boys basketball team won a record 23rd section title in 2015, the most in the state. There are two middle schools that feed into Edison, newly-built Gaston and Edison Computech, which shares a campus with the high school.

Of Edison, Sanders said, “It’s a treasure. I don’t think it’s a hidden treasure anymore…we have a waiting list this year. But, it’s a special campus.” Here, Sanders talks about why Edison is such a treasure, that signature diversity mentioned earlier, and where students are excelling inside and outside of the classroom.

 

 

Community: Rebecca Wheeler is Head of the Patriot Family at Hoover

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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When Rebecca Wheeler talks about Hoover High School, where she’s in her first year as principal, you get the feeling that she could speak indefinitely about the campus, students and staff. It’s easy to see why. There’s a lot happening at Hoover.

From new career pathways and special education programs to new facilities and students winning filmmaking awards… the Patriots are on the march. 

Leading them is Wheeler. With education in her blood, and having grown up going to Fresno schools, Wheeler is a capable commander. Prior to becoming a Patriot, Wheeler served as vice principal of two other Fresno high schools, McLane and Bullard, and got her first teaching job at her alma mater, Roosevelt. Now that she’s at Hoover, Wheeler has dedicated herself to the community and the kids. She lives in the neighborhood and says, “This is my school. This is my community. These are my kids.”

Hoover School

At a glance, Hoover, named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, is home to roughly 1,900 students in grades 9-12. Located on the corner of First and Barstow, it’s close to the city’s major university, Fresno State, and Wheeler is looking to develop partnerships between the two schools. Founded in 1963, the campus has a diverse student body that reflects the population of the district.

Here, Wheeler talks about Hoover’s many educational opportunities, what excites her about being an educator and new things to come for the Patriot community.

Community: Clovis High School Has Fresh Leadership in Denver Stairs

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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For a long time, nearly 80 years, Clovis High School was the only game in town. Its roots in the community go deeper than any other high school. Just two miles from campus, in the heart of Old Town Clovis, is the Big Dry Creek Museum, which holds volumes of yearbooks and memorabilia from the school dating back to the early 1900s.

For some in the community, Clovis High is and always will be the only high school in town.

clovis high

 

At the helm of this pioneering institution is principal Denver Stairs. Although he may be in his first year, Stairs is not new to the district. He has spent the last 15 years working in Clovis Unified as a learning director, deputy principal and elementary school principal.

Courtesy: Clovis High School on Facebook

Courtesy: Clovis High School on Facebook

At a glance: Clovis High is in its 116th year. Founded in 1899, today it is home to roughly 3,000 students grades 9-12. Located on the corner of Fowler and Barstow, it’s not only close to Old Town in proximity, but also in the Old West traditions that define Clovis’ downtown.

Stairs says math teacher Gary Ennis has been working at Clovis High since 1970, one year after the current campus opened. According to Stairs, Ennis often tells stories about the school still having hitching posts in the ’70s because students were still coming to school on horseback.

Here, Stairs talks about the school’s strong community outreach, how he went from a kid who didn’t like school to principal, and the deep respect the students of Clovis High have for their school’s history and traditions.

Community: Jeremy Ward, Duncan Polytech High School Principal

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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A passion for science had Jeremy Ward, principal of Duncan Polytechnical High School, thinking about a career in wildlife biology when he entered college. But upon second review Ward decided the profession, with its limited number of jobs and impractical fit for someone wanting a family, wasn’t for him. With the “powerful example” set by his teacher parents who “love what they do,” Ward decided to go into the family business.

With such a careful focus on his own career, Ward is a natural fit to helm a magnet school designed to prepare students for careers right after graduation.

Duncan Stallion

At a glance: Duncan offers several career pathways to its roughly 1,000 students in grades 9-12. Currently, the pathways offered are agriculture, business, construction, education, healthcare and transportation. However, Ward says the school’s pathways are currently being restructured, with several, like business, education and ag, moving to other schools, while other’s such as healthcare and transportation are being expanded. Ward says the school will soon be composed of two broad “academies,” industrial arts and healthcare, that will include several related pathways.

As a magnet school, kids must apply, but all are accepted unless there is particularly high demand. In grades 9 and 10, students do general course work within their pathways, and in grades 11 and 12 their coursework becomes more focused, and can include job-site work.

Here, Ward talks about the “promise of Duncan,” why his students are more engaged in their coursework than students at traditional public high schools and how Duncan fosters campus culture without pep rallies and sports teams.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzPzl_5q4qE?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0]

Community: Tim Liles, Sunnyside Principal

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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Tim Liles Gets Back, and Gives Back, to His Roots as Sunnyside Principal

For principal Tim Liles, Sunnyside High School is quite literally home. Not only does he live less than a mile from campus, but the job has brought him back to the southeast Fresno neighborhood where he grew up. And even though he never really strayed far from the nest to begin with, he says he’s lucky and that it’s “pretty cool” to be back.

Before taking the job at Sunnyside a couple of years back, Liles had worked at various campuses in Fresno Unified, and even worked for the district as coordinator of campus culture. It’s no wonder then, that campus culture is hugely important to Liles. And it’s something he says is paramount at Sunnyside. “Culture doesn’t just happen,” he says, you’ve got to work at it.

Sunnyside High School Wildcats

At a glance: Sunnyside High School opened in the fall of 1999 on the corner of Peach and Kings Canyon. It’s home to around 3,000 students grades 9-12. Graduates have both stayed local and traveled across the country to attend college, with some Sunnyside alums going on to attend Ivy League schools such as Harvard, MIT  and Stanford.

Sunnyside High School Wildcats

The school’s emphasis on building relationships between students and teachers is accomplished through the use of home room classes and four smaller administration offices set up to serve about 700 students each. Liles says these university offices, as they are called, help make such a big school “feel smaller.” And, along with home room classes, they allow teachers and administrators to guide the progress of students from freshman year through graduation.

What’s particularly special, Liles says, is that at graduation, it’s a student’s home room teacher who hands him his diploma, culminating the four years they’ve spent together.

Here, Liles talks about being “Cedar Avenue-educated,” the importance of culture to a good education and why you should expect to have the door held open for you when you walk onto the Sunnyside campus.

 

Community: Chuck Sandoval Leads Clovis East’s Wolf Pack

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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The city of Clovis is going through tremendous growth. In 2014, it was one of the fastest-growing cities in California. Clovis East High School has a front-row seat to the change—its campus is situated between quick-growing suburban housing developments and rural county land on the southeastern corner of the city. 

The school itself is looking to grow and change just like the city around it. But, in its 15 years of operation, it has established itself as a leader in academics, athletics and community involvement. For the past two years, principal Chuck Sandoval has been at the center of the school’s operations, pushing for growth that matches that of the community around it.

The Clovis East campus (courtesy: Clovis East High School on Facebook)

The Clovis East campus (courtesy: Clovis East High School on Facebook)

And why wouldn’t he? Not only has he had a long career in the Clovis Unified School District, Sandoval lives a stones-throw from campus. So he’s personally invested in making Clovis East the leader of the pack when it comes to local high schools. After all, the school’s mascot is a Timberwolf. 

(courtesy: Clovis East High School on Facebook)

(courtesy: Clovis East High School on Facebook)

At a glance: Clovis East is part of the Reagan Educational Center located on Leonard Avenue between Ashlan and Gettysburg. It’s home to roughly 2,100 students in grades 9-12. In 2007, it was named a California Distinguished School. And in 2008, it was named a Blue Ribbon School. It’s the only high school in the district to feature what Sandoval says is a “state of the art” ag center. The McFarlane-Coffman Agricultural Center on the Clovis East campus serves students throughout the district and features a 4,800 square-foot greenhouse, four acres of pasture land, 11 acre of land devoted to crop science, and several engineering and biotechnology classrooms.

Here, Sandoval talks about his personal investment in his school and community, what makes his wolf pack great and his goal of having a conversation with each student and learning every one of their names.