Ánimo South Los Angeles Charter High School (also known as "ASLA", or "Animo South LA") is a public charter school operated by

Green Dot Public Schools Green Dot Public Schools (GDPS) is a non-profit educational organization charter school district headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that operates 18 public schools in Greater Los Angeles, including nine charter high schools, f ...

of Los Angeles. It is in

Westmont, California Westmont is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California, a part of the South Los Angeles area, just east of Inglewood. The population was 33,913 at the 2020 census, up from 31,853 at the 2010 census. For statistical purposes ...

, with a Los Angeles postal address.

History

Ànimo South Los Angeles Charter High School was founded by Green Dot Public Schools and established in August 2004. The first graduating class graduated in 2008. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges through June 30, 2014. Animo South Los Angeles was founded in response to the dangerous circumstances surrounding

Washington Preparatory High School George Washington Preparatory High School is a public four-year high school of Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located in the Westmont census-designated place and has a Los Angeles pos ...

, one of Los Angeles's most troubled schools. According to the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, in the 2000–2001 school year, thirty five percent of Washington Prep students were suspended, far passing district-wide suspension rates of thirteen percent. Not only were test scores and academic performance extremely poor, but the campus itself was so unsafe that in 2002, the teachers filed a written complaint to their union, calling the school "out of control" and demanding increased security on campus. Reports were released that the school was plagued by drugs, violence, and sex. Since Animo South LA was formed in 2004, students at this school have a safe place to go to where they can learn. Animo South LA has outperformed Washington High School in statewide API scores by over 150 points. Animo South LA's graduation rate is 81%. 90% of Graduating seniors are accepted into college, 79% attend college

July 22, 2014, Fire

On the afternoon of Tuesday July 22, 2014, around 2:17 pm LAFD received a call reporting a fire in a High School near Western and Imperial. Reportedly the fire started with an AC malfunction. According to Los Angeles County Fire inspector Scott Miller, the School's roof, and exterior wall collapsed. 2 Firefighters were injured by the fire; they reportedly went inside to see if there were people in need of help. The fire made national news and the fire was seen in all of Los Angeles. One of Green Dot's first schools, Animo South just celebrated its 10th anniversary when the fire happened.

Awards and recognition

In 2013, Animo South LA was ranked the 801st best high school in the United States and 162nd in California. In 2012 and 2013, U.S. News & World Report ranked Animo South LA as a Silver Medal School.

Student demographics

As of the school year 2012–13, there were a total of 537 students attending the high school. *55.6%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

(299) *43.3%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

(233) *0.5% Other (3) *0.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

(2) *57% Female (305) *43% Male (232)

School Scores

CAHSEE

CAHSEE The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) was an examination created by the California Department of Education, that was previously mandated to administer in public high schools statewide in order to graduate. The examination was suspe ...

pass percentages accounted only for 10th graders.

API

Athletics

The school competes in the

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...

of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) association and offers the following sports: * Volleyball (girls, boys) * Soccer (boys, girls) *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(boys, girls) *

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

(girls) *

Track and Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(boys, girls) * Cross Country (boys, girls) *

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

(girls) On March 3, 2012, the Boys Basketball team won the 2012 CIF Los Angeles City Small Schools Boys Basketball Section championship vs Viewpark High with a score of (49–47). Also in 2012 the Girls soccer team made it to the Playoffs the first time in the school's history

Notable alumni

* Corey Fowler (Smoove Da General),

recording artist A musician is someone who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate a person who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters, ...

. member of

Cali Swag District Cali Swag District was an American Hip hop music, hip hop group from Inglewood, California, founded by former Death Row Records artist Young Soldierz, Big Wy and Dairold Potts. They are best known for their 2010 commercial debut single "Teach Me ...

, creator of

Teach Me How to Dougie "Teach Me How to Dougie" is the debut single by American hip hop group Cali Swag District. The song was written by Chanti Glee, Cahron Childs, Corey Fowler, and Ebony Star West, and was released digitally on April 12, 2010, through Capitol Records. ...

. * Jose Anthony Dheming, Salvadorian

Footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for Chivas USA Academy and the El Salvador U-20 National Football Team.

References

External links

Official website

ASLA panthers Flickr

Green Dot