High School’s Ideas Win It Acclaim

At first, Aliso Niguel seems like your average suburban public high school, or as average as a high school can be when many students drive luxury cars.

But the folks at the U.S. Department of Education think otherwise, and on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley announced that the Aliso Viejo campus--only 7 years old--is a “New American High School.” It is one of only 27 such schools nationally to be recognized for promoting outstanding academics, using innovative teaching techniques, integrating technology into the classroom and creating smaller “learning communities.”

Troy High School in Fullerton was also honored, as were Beverly Hills High and Palos Verdes Peninsula High.

On Thursday, while Aliso Niguel Principal Steve Lawrence spent the day in Washington at a White House ceremony honoring his school, back in Orange County, students and teachers explained what makes their school great.

Music teacher Tom Flannery, who will take his choir class to Rome this summer to perform for the pope, says it’s because the administration gives teachers leeway to develop innovative programs. In addition to the Vatican gig, Flannery’s classes record CDs of their performances and sell them to earn money for trips and special items.

Sophomore Ashley DeLeon credits the school’s emphasis on technology. Computers gleam from the corner of every classroom, and students are required to use them for most classes.

Computing Plays a Central Role

Teachers have a bank of computers in their staff lounge, and the school is creating a program in which parents can look up students’ grades on the Internet. Each year, freshmen do Internet research on a career choice and organize it into a PowerPoint presentation.

Students in the band, not surprisingly, think the band program is integral to the school’s success, but many also credit Aliso Niguel’s cooking academy, its film and television program, the special tutorial period in which students can get one-on-one time with any of their teachers, and an automotive class in which the teacher always has a solution when students accidentally break important parts.

Junior Nilab Rahyar said the competition among students pushes everyone to higher standards.

“You’re surrounded by people who are motivated,” she said. The school added to that by making Advanced Placement classes open to any student who wants to take them, said Assistant Principal John Pherson.

Sam Makki, a senior who plays in the band, said the school’s diversity is something to be proud of. Student body president Lauren LeFranc said she has tried to make student government diverse by drafting a variety of students into school leadership.

The school’s quad at lunchtime embodies this diversity. In one corner are the self-described band geeks, exchanging wisecracks and cavorting excitedly. A few yards away, a group of black-clad girls sporting T-shirts from punk-rock bands sits, quietly working on math homework. Next to them, three girls spend a substantial portion of the lunch period touching up their already perfect makeup.

For a long time, said students, they have also labored in the shadow of older, more established schools in the Capistrano Unified School District.

“The goal of this school is to encompass everyone,” said senior Emily Ghan, who dresses up as the school’s Wolverine sports mascot. “It’s about time we won this award.”