Indio High School

Indio High School
Location
81750 Avenue 46, Indio, CA 92201
Coordinates	33°42′47″N 116°14′25″W / 33.71306°N 116.24028°W / 33.71306; -116.24028Coordinates: 33°42′47″N 116°14′25″W / 33.71306°N 116.24028°W / 33.71306; -116.24028
Information
Type	Public
Established	1958
Principal	Derrick Lawson
Enrollment	1,900
Color(s)	Blue/Red/White
Mascot	Rajah
Information	(760)775-3550
Website	www.ihsrajahs.com

A typical day at Indio High School.

Indio High School is a public high school for grades 9–12. It is located in Indio, California and has a current enrollment of about 1,800 students.^[1] Its mascot is a Rajah (a king or prince in India). The school is part of the Desert Sands Unified School District. Indio High School has one of the largest student pupil populations of any California high school. It once had a 60-square-mile (160 km²) school boundary area until 1985, but still serves all of Indio, as well parts of La Quinta and accepts intradistrict waivers for Coachella residents. Its feeder schools are Indio Middle School and Jefferson Middle School, which are both located in the city.

History

Indio High School was founded in 1958, which makes it the third oldest high school in the Coachella Valley. The school newspaper is called Sandscripts.^[2] School graduates continuing their education at college have recently improved to 75 percent in 2006, up from 23 percent in 1995 .^[3] It was the only high school for DSUSD students in the 9th to 12th grade level, until Palm Desert High School opened its doors in 1985/86 and then La Quinta High School in 1994/95 which have a large share of Indio residents who can attend there by school district policy. A new high school, Shadow Hills in the northern half of Indio will decrease the number of students in the 2009/10 school year.^[4] In the 2009/10 school year Desert Sands was deciding whether to close the school at the end of the 2009/10 school year, due to low Standardized Test scores. That year the scores went up dramatically and the board instead voted to renovate the school, which was approved. The School was featured in a video for success 101, a course for freshmen entering high school to help them transition from middle to high school. Freshman students, faculty, and teachers of the 2010/11 school year were followed all school year to see how the class had helped them.^[5] For the 2011/12 school year the school moved from a six-period day schedule to an eight-period A/B Block schedule. This was done to give the students more electives and also so they would have opportunities to get more credits. On May 1, 2013 at 8:52, there was a fire at the boy's locker room coaches office. Firefighters took out the fire in about a half an hour.^[6] In December 2013, a student at the high school was confirmed to be a victim of tuberculosis (TB) infection. Out of an abundance of caution, all students were tested before they returned from winter break on January 6, 2014, though officials did not believe at the moment that there would be a wider outbreak.^[7]

Renovation

The school has begun renovations in late 2011. Phase I of III which included a new administration building, science/business building, a new gymnasium, and a new Performing Arts Center. The new campus was open to all students at the beginning of the second semester during the 2014/2015 school year. Phase II of III officially began in February 2015, with demolishing the old campus. It will take approximately 2 years for the construction to finish.^[8]

Clubs and Groups

Athletics

Indio High School is in the Desert Valley League which includes Cathedral City, Coachella Valley, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert and Palm Springs.

Indio High School has won 14 CIF Championships: ^[9]

Notable alumni

• Cameron Crowe, writer and director
• Rigoberto González, writer
• Vanessa Marcil, actress
• Oscar Lua, football player
• Tony Reagins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim General Manager
• Marco Sanchez, actor
• Ed White, football player
• Tom Martin, writer
• San Juan Mendoza, head football coach at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Guy Baker, U.S. Olympic Waterpolo Coach,^[10][11]
• Jack Blades, musician
• Debi Derryberry, voice actress

Indio High School in popular culture

Indio High School has been mentioned in the lyrics of songs and has been featured in music videos.

The Desert Sessions song "Winners" contains an audio sample of a man reading out the names from Indio High School. The names listed in the song "Winners" were real Indio High School students. The song "Interpretive Reading," on the same album as "Winners", features a choir singing the school's alma mater song in the background.

There was a hip-hop single titled "Indio Rydaz" on YouTube released by Lil' Tweety, an Indio High School alumni from the class of 2004.

The musician Michael Aguilar took a photograph of clouds at Indio High School for the cover of his debut album.

In 2012 it was in the inspiration for the rap song "Rajah City" on YouTube by Ray Ray, an Indio High School Alumni from the class of 2012.

References