Junípero Serra High School (San Mateo, California)

School History

Serra High School was founded in 1944 and was originally located at Columbia Drive and Alameda de las Pulgas in San Mateo, which is the current site of St. Bartholomew's Parish. The original student body consisted of 86 freshmen and sophomores. The school moved to 451 West 20th Avenue in San Mateo when the student body grew to 576. In 1978, Michael Peterson was named the first lay principal of Serra and Fr. Stephen H. Howell was named the school's first president. From 2002-2004, Fr. Joe Bradley served as president, overseeing fundraising efforts for major campus renovation. In 2008, Barry Thornton, Ed.d, was named principal and Lars Lund was named president. Under their tenure, the school has expanded course offerings and completed large-scale renovations.

Academics

More than 60 percent of Serra students are enrolled in honors and Advanced Placement courses. Serra has averaged an 80 percent AP pass rate over the past five years, which is more than 20 points higher than the national average. Serra graduates of the past five years are currently attending the following private colleges and universities: Stanford University, Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, Caltech, the University of Notre Dame, Duke University, Northwestern University, the University of Southern California, Swarthmore College, Georgia Tech, the University of Chicago, and Santa Clara University, among many others. Alumni have also been accepted to all campuses of the University of California and California State University, as well as the University of Michigan, the College of William and Mary, the University of Washington and the University of Illinois. Serra's Class of 2016 received more than $17 million in college scholarships.

Serra has a one-to-one device program in each classroom and 99 percent of Serra graduates exceed the minimum course requirements set for the CSU and the University of California. Serra features 30 honors and AP classes and 75 percent of Serra faculty members hold advanced degrees.

Campus Renovations

Phase I of Serra's Master Plan was completed in 2005, featuring new facilities for football, baseball, and wrestling, along with a 150-space parking structure. Phase II was completed in 2011, and created five new science lecture-labs, a new music room, two art classrooms, an academic resource center, and a 550,000 gallon infinity pool for competitive aquatics. In 2016, Serra undertook a smaller project, renovating the playing surfaces used for baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse and track.

Publications

Fight Song

Fight on Serra Padres,
Win the game for Serra High!
Fight, you Serra Padres,
Let them know you'll never die!
Blue and Gold we're with you,
We're behind you all the way!
So fight, fight, fight, Serra Padres, Padres, Hooray!
Hey!

Padre Whisper

P-P-P-A-D, R-R-R-E-S,
P-A-D, R-E-S,
PADRES! (Loud)

P-P-P-A-D, R-R-R-E-S,
P-A-D, R-E-S,
PADRES! (Whisper)

P-P-P-A-D, R-R-R-E-S,
P-A-D, R-E-S,
PADRES! (Loudest)

Spirituality

Junípero Serra High School is a Roman Catholic school. It offers faith and theology education through its Campus Ministry program and curriculum. Campus Ministry offers four-day-long Kairos retreats, retreat leadership opportunities, liturgical leadership opportunities and Immersion trips to Watsonville, West Virginia, Nicaragua, San Jose and Los Angeles. The Campus Ministry office also manages the school's Christian Service program. Theology courses offer instruction in the Catholic faith, morality and worship, and stress the importance of individual faith development.

Notable alumni

Tri-School

Junipero Serra High School is a part of a program called Tri-School, a partnership with Notre Dame High School, Belmont, and Mercy High School, Burlingame, both all-female schools. The schools host some morning classes with mixed education and collaborate in other activities as well.