Merced High School is located in

Merced, California Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on Apri ...

, United States. It is a part of the

Merced Union High School District The Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) is a school district headquartered in the Castle Commerce Center on the grounds of the Castle Airport Aviation and Development Center in unincorporated Merced County, California, near Atwater. The ...

. The current enrollment is over 1,800 students in grades 9 through 12. The school is currently under Principal Marcus Knott and Associate Principals Ashley Silveria, Joel Sebastian, Phaedra Hofmann and Lea Smith.

Academics

The Merced High School Advanced Placement program is open for any student who wishes to be challenged in the fields of chemistry, English, physics, government, Spanish, biology, calculus, statistics and studio art. The teachers at Merced High School try to ensure that their students work their hardest, which explains the high percentage of students who pass the Advanced Placement examinations with a score of 3, 4, or 5. Merced High School's Advanced Placement exam and test scores have earned it a place among the Top 1300 schools in the United States by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' magazine. The school has also earned a Bronze Award from ''U.S. News & World Report'', having been cited as one of the top 1,800 schools in the United States. The Merced High Academic Decathlon team took the title of Merced County Champions (10 years in a row 2009-2018) and competed in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

in March 2015, coming in 51st place in the state of California.

Special programs

The school has the Newcomer Program for newly arrived immigrants. As of February 2006, 80 students from Southeast Asia were a part of the program. Many of them were refugees from the Thamkabok refugee camp in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. Many had never had formal education before, did not know how to use writing utensils, and did not know how to write their own names.Yawger, Doane. "Learning Life in U.S. - Recent Laotian Immigrant Students Getting to Know Language, Food." ''

Merced Sun-Star The ''Merced Sun-Star'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper printed in Merced, California, in the United States. It has circulation of 7,926 copies. The newspaper is published every day except for Sundays. History The ''Merced Sun-Star'' evolved fr ...

''. Wednesday February 22, 2006. Local A1. Retrieved on March 12, 2012.

Student life

As of 2006, the school has an Asian Club, which has over 100 members. It is one of the largest groups at Merced High School. The Asian Club takes end of the year school trips and holds fundraising and social events.

Athletics

Merced High School produced the 2015-2016 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year. Madilyn Nickles received this award as the top high school softball player in America. As of 2017, the Merced High boys' swimming team has won nine straight Central California Conference championships. Merced High School has won the

Central California Conference The Central California Conference is a high school sports league in Central California. It comprises six schools in the Stanislaus and Merced County area. The league is administered by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Sac-Joaqu ...

for three straight seasons in football (2014, 2015, and 2016).

Demographics

By January 1983, Merced High School North Campus had suddenly received over 200

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...

refugee students, with almost all of them in

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

(ESL) programs. Between the northern hemisphere spring of 1982 and January 1983, the school doubled the size of its ESL program. A former assistant principal at Merced High North said that many of the Hmong students valued education and had almost perfect school attendance.Refugee students jam the schools
" ''

''. Friday January 21, 1983. Page 6. Retrieved from

Google News Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google ...

(26 of 35) on March 11, 2012.

Notable alumni

Margaret Dingeldein Margaret "Margie" Dingeldein (born May 30, 1980) is an American water polo player who won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Her position is attacker, and she is considered an excellent perimeter shooter. High school Dingeldein attended ...

– member of the

United States women's national water polo team The United States women's national water polo team represents the United States in international women's water polo competitions and friendly matches. It is one of the List of water polo world medalists#Women's water polo world medalists, leading ...

during the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Marvin Eastman Marvin Lee Eastman (born June 8, 1971) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2013, he competed in K-1, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Fighting Alli ...

–

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

fighter * Duke Fergerson – NFL football player for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

* Jerry Garvin – professional baseball player for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Brian Fuentes Brian Christopher Fuentes (; born August 9, 1975) is an American former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Minnesota Twins, Oakland A ...

– professional baseball player * Eric A. McAfee – entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist *

Tony Slaton Anthony Tyrone Slaton (born April 12, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the USC Trojans, ...

– NFL football player for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

* Jesse Thompson – professional football player * Thad Tillotson – professional baseball player * Rick Williams – professional baseball player * Lloyd Winston – professional football player

References

External links

Merced High School
{{authority control High schools in Merced County, California Public high schools in California Merced, California 1922 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1922