El Camino High School (Oceanside, California)


El Camino High School is one of two high schools of the Oceanside Unified School District, located at 400 Rancho Del Oro Drive in Oceanside, California. Declared a California Distinguished School in the early 2000s, it was originally named "Oceanside High School East", and officially became El Camino High School in 1976. El Camino's Truax Theatre was built in the early 1980s and houses a large performance venue, an adjacent classroom with stage and large music and drama rooms. It also recently built a new Science and Technology Building and is undergoing constant construction to clean up the campus. El Camino maintains a close athletic rivalry with Oceanside High School. The ECHS mascot is the "Wildcat" and the school colors are brown and gold.

Notable alumni

In 1986, a group of Christian students found two dozen books on sorcery and satanism in the school's library and claimed the Oceanside Unified School District board to state for a ban of the volumes. A committee of teachers and administrators assisted by the ACLU San Diego chapter appealed to the First Amendment and the students' request was rejected.
The school drew national media attention in June 2008 for staging a controversial fake car accident, telling students their classmates had died as part of an anti-drunk driving program called "Every 15 Minutes--Extreme". "Many seniors from all walks of life were included in the program to show the wide reach and seriousness of drunk driving" said Greg Vargas one of the dead seniors.