HBO Finds the Changing Face, Flavor of Young America at Chatsworth High

They sport pierced tongues and navels. They wear baggy denim pants and sheer tops exposing their undershirts and bras. They come from all corners of the world, and have few problems interacting with people of different backgrounds.

They are members of a freshman class at Chatsworth High School. According to HBO, they represent the changing face and flavor of young America, and they offer a commentary on the nation’s present and a peek into its future.

A few years ago, HBO documentary makers searched the 49 high schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, for a campus that epitomizes the typical experience of students in an urban school.

The cable station selected Chatsworth High, a 3,276-student campus in the northwest San Fernando Valley that hovers around the state average in student achievement, teacher experience and class size. Once predominantly white, with famous alumni such as Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey and actors Val Kilmer and Mare Winningham, the campus now boasts a diverse student body that reflects the shifting demographics of Los Angeles, the Valley and much of the country.

“It has incredible ethnic diversity . . . ,” said Eamon Harrington, HBO’s executive producer for the documentary “Freshman Year,” which follows 1,020 first-year students through the 1999-2000 school year. “It was fantastic.”

The 14-part series debuts Aug. 31.

Film crews followed students around the sprawling campus, at sporting events and in their homes. The half-hour episodes will feature class elections, a nerdy student who lands the lead role in a school play, a cheerleader’s battle with bulimia and a girl with a tough home life who is flunking and leaves for a continuation school.

“The kids were both excited and apprehensive to do it,” Chatsworth Principal Dan Wyatt said. “There were lots of laughs and also drama.”

Joe Shumpert, a tailback on the school’s football team, said he enjoyed filming the documentary, although at times it was prying.

“Sometimes it was annoying because I was trying to kiss my girl and there was the camera,” the 16-year-old said Wednesday in between summer classes.

Joe, who will be a junior in the fall, lives in Chatsworth, a tree-lined community of subdivisions, horse ranches and industrial parks at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains. He said he knows why the series’ producers focused on his campus.

“It’s the best school togetherwise,” he said. “I have white friends, Mexican friends and I’m black and we all get along.”

District figures show that 41% of the students are Latino, 31% are white, and 14% are Asian. African Americans account for 10%, Filipinos 3% and Native Americans 1%.

Many Chatsworth High teenagers being dismissed from summer classes Wednesday afternoon hadn’t heard about the documentary, but agreed that they represent the future.

“We’re all different races, but everyone kicks it together,” said Gregory Aldana, 14, who described himself as a “mutt” because of his African American, Mexican, Honduran and Guatemalan heritage. “One day we’re all going to be mutts, and that’s a good thing.”

He said students still worry about the same things their parents did. “We worry about getting too much homework and getting rejected,” said Gregory, a soccer player who break-dances and is wearing a bright blue shirt portraying Ninjas. “We worry about peer pressure, like going to a party and what if the punch is spiked?”

His friend, Martin Clark, a 14-year-old African American, said he’s happy that most students are unconcerned about each other’s ethnicity. “It’s the adults who trip,” he said. “But I think when we’re all old, we won’t care as much about race. So I guess that’s why we’re the future.”