Bella Vista High School

Bella Vista High School
Location
Fair Oaks, California United States
Information
Type	Public
Established	1960
School district	San Juan Unified School District
Principal	Peggy Haskins
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2,120+
Campus type	Suburban
Color(s)	Red and Black
Mascot	Broncos
Website	http://www.sanjuan.edu/BellaVista.cfm

Bella Vista High School is a public high school in Fair Oaks, California and a member of the San Juan Unified School District. In 2003, the California Department of Education's School Recognition Program honored Bella Vista High School as a "California Distinguished School". It was also the only school in Sacramento County to receive this honor in 2003. In 2009, it received the same recognition again from the California Department of Education. On November 18, 2010, the school celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a special presentation for all past and current students. The presentation included a guided tour of the school spotlighting where changes have been made throughout the campus since the school's foundation in 1960.

This map shows the incorporated and unincorporated areas in Sacramento County, California, highlighting Fair Oaks in red.

Curriculum

Bella Vista offers ten AP courses.

A special business course called Advanced Computer Applications is available to qualified students who, once completed, will be eligible for three units of credit at Sacramento State University through the Accelerated College Entrance off-campus program. It is one of the few campuses in its district to offer Japanese. Other foreign languages include French and Spanish.

Administration

Mrs. Peggy Haskins is the principal, replacing Marlyn Jones-Pino in July 2007.

Extracurricular activities

The academic decathlon team has represented Sacramento County in the California Academic Decathlon 20 out of the past 24 years. In 2008, the team took back the county title after placing third in 2007. In 2009 they won the county again but were defeated in 2010 by rival Folsom High School. In 2011, Folsom again took first place in the county competition, but in 2012 Bella Vista regained their title.

The moot court team earned the first-place team award at the National High School Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C in 2003, 2005 and 2006. In 2008 and 2011 they received 1st place in the county competition.

Bella Vista's renowned marching band was recognized by Sacramento Magazine as one of the best marching bands in the Sacramento area in 2004 and 2005. It has been undefeated in Northern California for seven years. Under the direction of Edward Moore, the band has accumulated hundreds of trophies and has competed out of state and even in Europe in 2006. They were also undefeated in their division in 2009. Two years later, in 2011, the band also went undefeated in their division, except for one judging error causing them to lose to the Del Oro marching band.

The school newspaper is known as La Bandera, while the school yearbook is called La Remuda.

Alumni

This is a partial list of notable alumni of Bella Vista High School. Entries on this list should either have an accompanying existing article link which verifies they are an alumnus, or reliable sources as footnotes against the name.

• Lynn Anderson (1965), country singer and songwriter
• Randall Bal (1999), member of the United States men's swim team
• Justin Bannan(1997), defensive tackle for the Denver Broncos
• Rob Bonta, Assemblyman from Alameda, CA
• Austin Bruns (2014), director and screenwriter
• DJ Countess (2000), soccer player for Atletico Tigre
• Carl Cranke (1966), professional motorcycle racer and tuner; represented the United States in the International Six Day Trials competitions, won 7 gold medals and 2 silver in 10 years; member of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
• Steve Cronin (2001), goalkeeper for the D.C. United of Major League Soccer
• Angel Deradoorian, member of indie rock band Dirty Projectors and solo artist
• John Fund (1975), journalist
• Tom Hanks (sophomore year only), Academy Award winning actor
• Hill Harper (1984), author and actor, presently as Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY
• John Holland, member of the 1972 USA Olympic Team, whitewater kayaking
• Gordon King (1974), professional football player for the New York Giants
• Peter Lowry (2003), midfielder for the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer
• Joan Lunden (1968), actress and former host of Good Morning America
• Derek Miles (1991), finished seventh in the pole vault at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Dave Revering, former MLB first baseman
• Tyler Robertson (2006), professional baseball player (Minnesota Twins)
• Casey Serin (2000), "the world's most hated blogger", known for mortgage fraud
• Ramit Sethi (2000), author of "I Will Teach You To Be Rich"
• Kevin Sharp (1989), country singer
• Tommy Skeoch (1979), guitarist of multi-platinum rock band Tesla
• Heather Rene Smith (2005), Playboy Playmate
• Nicholas Sparks (1984), author
• Gregg Wager (1976), composer and music critic
• Steven L. Thompson (1966) author, journalist, historian, motorcycle racer

Threatened school shooting

On October 24, 2014, students reporting finding an alarming threat written on the side of a bathroom stall. It read “I’m shooting up the school on October 27th, make sure to be there.” The message had a smiley face on the end. The suspect wasn't taken into custody.