Burlingame High School (California)


Burlingame High School is a public high school in Burlingame, California. It is part of the San Mateo Union High School District.

History

In order to meet the growing student population, the school was opened in December 1923 under the name "San Mateo High School, Burlingame Branch." Designed by architect W. H. Weeks, the school took in students from Burlingame, Hillsborough, Millbrae, and San Bruno. Initial enrollment consisted of 350 students and 30 teachers. As a branch of San Mateo High School, extracurricular organizations were shared between the schools. There was a single band, football team, and other athletic teams with student members from both schools. Within 10 years the enrollment of the school increased to 494 boys and 474 girls, totalling 968 pupils, a figure close to the school's original design capacity. In 1927 the school name was officially changed to Burlingame High School.
In the summer of 1980, the SMUHSD board decided it must close one of the district's seven schools, due to declining enrollment. Following public hearings, the board narrowed the choice to either Crestmoor High School or Burlingame High School. After study and discussion, the board decided to close Crestmoor in the fall of 1980 and keep Burlingame open.
San Mateo and Burlingame have been rivals since the division of the Burlingame branch, and the rivalry culminates annually in a football matchup dubbed the "Little Big Game" and patterned after the Big Game. As of 2019, Burlingame leads the series record 56–32, with four ties. Burlingame currently holds "The Paw" as part of a ten-game win streak, the longest in the rivalry's history.

Academics

Burlingame High School has been recognized nationally for its academic excellence. For 2013, it was ranked 280th in Newsweeks Top 2,000 Public High Schools, 471st nationally by US News and World Report, and 490th by The Washington Post's ranking of "America's Most Challenging High Schools."
As of the 2018–19 school year, the San Mateo Union High School District uses Canvas as its online platform for classrooms.
Burlingame High School has a wide array of Advanced Placement course offerings:
ScienceMathematics and computer scienceLanguageSocial scienceVisual arts
AP BiologyAP Calculus ABAP English Language and CompositionAP European HistoryAP Music Theory
AP ChemistryAP Calculus BCAP English Literature and CompositionAP Macroeconomics AP Studio Art Drawing
AP Environmental ScienceAP Computer Science AAP Italian Language and CultureAP Microeconomics
AP Physics 1AP StatisticsAP Spanish LanguageAP United States Government and Politics
AP United States History

Statistics

Demographics

2017–2018
WhiteHispanicAsianTwo or more racesPacific IslanderAfrican AmericanAmerican Indian
712278315152765
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Approximately 11.9% of the students at Burlingame are served by the free or reduced-price lunch program.

Standardized testing

Extracurricular activities

Robotics

The Iron Panthers was founded in 2013 to compete against other Bay Area high schools. In September 2017, the Iron Panthers received recognition by competing in the finals of an off-season Robotics competition, Chezy Champs. In March 2018, the Iron Panthers' FTC team traveled to Spokane to compete in the West Super-Regional. In 2019, they were alliance captains at the Central Valley Regional, where they competed in the finals. In the past three years, the Iron Panthers traveled to Houston to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship and were alliance captains in the 2018 game FIRST Power Up. In the 2019 game Destination: Deep Space, they were the winners of the Newton Division and the World Champions; this was the first competition that they won. Their motto is "Student-Built, Student-Run."
Burlingame Robotics previously had an FTC team known as the Iron Kittens.

Marching Band

The Burlingame High School Marching Band plays rock, pop, and funk songs at all home football games and most home basketball games. In addition, the band marches during at least four events throughout the school year: the annual Burlingame Pet Parade in September; the annual Play-A-Thon fundraiser in October; the Holiday Lights Parade in December; and the Hillsborough Memorial Day Parade. The band also marches to rival San Mateo High School's stadium ahead of the Little Big Game when San Mateo hosts the game in odd-numbered years. The band presents its field show twice a year, often with a "dance break" in the middle of the show, and competes against the San Mateo High School Marching Band during the Little Big Game.

Theatre

Burlingame High School has a drama program, which puts on two productions each year: a musical in the fall and a play in the spring. The performance schedule switched to the current order in the 2013–14 school year..

Musicals

Scenes from the film Dangerous Minds were filmed on the campus of Burlingame High School in the spring of 1994.