Golden Valley High School (Merced, California)

Golden Valley High School is a high school located within the Merced Union High School District in the community of Merced, California, United States. The school first opened in August 1994,[2] with its first class of seniors graduating on June 5, 1996. The current enrollment is over 1,700 students in grades 9 through 12.[3]

Golden Valley High School
Location
Map
2121 E. Childs Ave
Merced, California 95341
Coordinates37°17′18.8″N 120°27′2.2″W / 37.288556°N 120.450611°W / 37.288556; -120.450611
Information
School typePublic
Established1994
School districtMerced Union High School District
PrincipalMike Richter
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,843 (2019-20)[1]
Campus size48 acres (190,000 m2)
Colour(s)  Cardinal   Gold
Athletics conferenceCentral California Conference
MascotCougar
RivalMerced High School
NewspaperCougar Tracks
Websitehttps://gvhs.muhsd.org/gvhs

Academics

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Enrollment

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According to the United States Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment characteristics for the 2014-2015 school year were as follows:

Enrollment by grade
9 10 11 12
Students 454 441 431 459
Enrollment by gender
Male Female
Students 886 899
Enrollment by race/ethnicity
American Indian/Alaskan Asian/Pacific Islander Black Hispanic White Two or more races
Students 5 264 63 1,084 296 73

Rankings

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Golden Valley's Advanced Placement program has earned the praise of Newsweek magazine, which named it a "Top 1300" school in the United States, three years running.[4] Golden Valley has also garnered a Silver Award from U.S. News & World Report, which named it one of the top 1,800 schools in the United States.[5]

Rivals

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The cross-town Bears of Merced High School have been the Cougars' rivals since Golden Valley opened in 1994.

Merced has a deep and long-standing animosity with the Atwater High School Falcons, both in sports and in academics. As the city of Merced grew, so did its student population, forcing the freshmen to be bussed to a different area of the city known as "East Campus" in order to adequately fit them all. This eventually drove the city to develop plans for a second city high school, Golden Valley High. Until the new school's opening, the main rival for the Merced Bears was the Atwater Falcons.

However, the opening of Golden Valley prompted a split in districting of Merced, and nearly half of the first-year students at the new campus were from Merced High. Since then ,a great competition between "old school" and "new school" has sprung up, and Atwater has fallen into a close second-rival for both city schools.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Golden Valley High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Jansen, Shawn (November 4, 2023). "Heartbeat of Golden Valley.' Merced school's second mom a hero to thousands of students". Merced Sun Star. pp. Since Golden Valley High School opened in 1994. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  3. ^ Associate principals are Jennifer Euker, Lindsay Parker, Mike Richter and Megan Cope. Campus Information - School History Archived 2009-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Newsweek magazine - America's Top Public High Schools
  5. ^ U.S. News & World Report - Best High Schools 2008
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