Clairemont High School


Clairemont High School is a public high school serving grades 9-12. It is located in the community of Clairemont Mesa, San Diego, California, United States. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. The campus is situated close to the intersection of Balboa Avenue and Clairemont Drive. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

History

The school is named after the Clairemont community in which it is located.
When Clairemont opened its doors in 1958, it consisted of no senior class, a junior class consisting mostly of transfers from Mission Bay High School in nearby Pacific Beach and Kearny High School, and a sophomore class coming from its neighbor, Marston Junior High. There was no freshman class.
Ritchie Valens, who at the time had two hits on the charts, "La Bamba" and "Donna," played at Clairemont High School's opening.
In 1960, the two school's closest rivals were Kearny High School and Mission Bay High. Their current rivals are crosstown locals Madison High.
Mary Catherine Swanson started the AVID program at Clairemont High in 1980 with 32 students.

Sports

In 2014 Clairemont's varsity softball team won the CIF Division III title by defeating Brawley 3-0.
Clairemont has a variety of sports teams. The most attended game is football. The last time the football team won CIF was in 1981. The team made the playoffs in 1962, 1991, 1994, 2004, 2006, 2012, and 2019.
Clairemont has a long distance running tradition and won CIF championships in girls' cross country in 2009 and 2010.
Clairemont's mascot is the Chieftain, the school newspaper is The Arrow', and the annual is The Calumet''.

In popular culture

The movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High were inspired by author Cameron Crowe's undercover research at Clairemont High School during the 1978-79 school year.
A track on the band Pierce the Veil's album Selfish Machines is titled "Fast Times at Clairemont High".

Notable alumni