We opened the year with an enrollment of 2,763 students as we celebrate our 84th year. As we are now midway through the school year, I am excited to share with you how our school continues to shine in the areas of Academics, Athletics, Activities, and the Arts.

 

We are coming off of a stellar year last year with an all-time high of IB and Val Tech diplomas issued. Our AVID program received national demonstration school recognition and achieved a 100% 4-year college acceptance rate. Now that our first semester has come to a close we look ahead to spring testing and prepare for AP and IB exams, Smarter Balanced exams for juniors, the CA Science Test for seniors, and the ELPAC for English Learners.

 

It has been another impressive year for the the Tigers with five league championships in the fall from football, girls tennis, girls golf, and boys and girls cross country. As the winter season comes to a close we are on the way to securing three league championships in wrestling, boys soccer, and girls water polo. I wish all the winter sports luck as they head into league finals and CIF competition.

Our Activities department is doing a fantastic job of leading a campaign of inclusion and connectedness this year. They are pushing for increased attendance and engagement of students at extracurricular activities and have done so by providing free entry to sporting events for students with an ID card. Our PBIS team is leading a movement of recognizing students for demonstrating positive behaviors on campus through their ROAR cards and weekly drawings.

Our performing arts have had an amazing year with both the Tiger Regiment & Color Guard taking 2nd Place at the Southwest Regional Band Competition this fall. Our Dance Team and All Male Hip Hop Team swept all three solo title divisions in the miss dance drill team california competition this month. This is an accomplishment that has never been achieved by any school. Our Vocal Jazz had the opportunity to perform at Riverside City College at a festival with Avi Kaplan, formerly of Pentatonix and one of our students was selected to be the vocal percussionist for the finale out of 225 students from 17 schools. Students from our four orchestras were chosen to perform at Disney’s California Adventure this month through a video audition.  Being selected to perform is an honor for the students and our school. And last but not least, our drama program put on a successful fall production of 1984 and are preparing for their spring play production of You Can’t Take it With You.

 

As we begin the second semester I want to take a moment to say I am so incredibly proud of our school and all that you have accomplished. I want to encourage you to finish the second half of the year even stronger and I can’t wait to see what success we are able to achieve together. Remember, VHS is a place where you belong and where you come to thrive.

 

If you would like to watch the State of the School video, please click the image below.