Santa Maria High School (SMHS) is a public comprehensive

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, it is approximately northwest o ...

, United States. Located in the heart of the city, Santa Maria High School is the second oldest Californian public high school still functioning on its original site. The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District was founded on June 6, 1893. In 1996, SMHS was recognized as a

California Distinguished School California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately 5-10% of California schools are awarde ...

History

Built originally on the corner of Broadway and Morrison in 1892, the original school house sat where the Ethel Pope Auditorium now stands. In 1920, the present school was built. The administration building and Ethel Pope Auditorium were connected and featured a bell tower. However, due to strict earthquake codes enforced after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, portions of the school were condemned and demolished. The only original structures that remain are the Administration offices (which will later become into classrooms) and the Auditorium. One former SMHS faculty member of note is Dean of Girls Ethel Pope. The teacher started the school newspaper, ''The Breeze'', which first published in 1924 and is still active today. In 2007, Santa Maria High School became a closed campus, meaning that students are not allowed outside of school grounds for lunch. The school's new cafeteria now serves meals and is a gathering place for students at lunch. Santa Maria High School has remodeled and added on sections in recent years including a new library, pool, cafeteria, a two-story building in 2016, and a three-story building in 2023 which brought back the bell tower. Dave Boyd Field has also been renovated with a new synthetic turf and track, home stands and press box. The new stadium has been dedicated to longtime athletic director Ralph Baldiviez. On May 28, 2016, presidential candidate

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

held a campaign rally on campus at Dave Boyd Field.

Athletics

Santa Maria High School athletic teams are nicknamed the Saints, and its mascot is Sammy the Saint. Since 2018, the school has competed in the

Central Coast Athletic Association The Central Coast Athletic Association (CCAA) is a high school athletic conference in California that is affiliated with the CIF Central Section. The association was established in 2018 as the Central Coast Athletic Conference and consists of 16 ...

, a conference affiliated with the

CIF Central Section The California Interscholastic Federation—Central Section (CIF-CS) is the governing body of high school athletics in the central and southern portions of the San Joaquin Valley, the Eastern Sierra region, and as of the 2018/9 season, San Luis ...

. Previously, SMHS was a long-time member of 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 ...

(CIF-SS) and the

Los Padres League The Los Padres League was a high school athletic conference in California that was part of the CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS). Member schools were located in San Luis Obispo County, San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara County, Santa Barbara c ...

. Santa Maria has earned CIF-SS championships in football, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' water polo (1991), boys soccer (2005 Division IV), and boys baseball (2017 Division VI). Santa Maria boys soccer made it into another CIF Finals. They faced their crosstown rivals, Pioneer Valley. They defeat Pioneer Valley 2-0 in overtime and became CIF champions. (2023 Division I

Awards

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

2004 Inspiration Award

Notable alumni

* John Rudometkin, 1962

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

All-American and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player *

Abel Maldonado Abel O. Maldonado Jr. (born August 21, 1967) is an American politician who served as the 48th lieutenant governor of California from April 27, 2010 to January 3, 2011. As of 2025, he is the last Republican to serve as California's Lieutenant Gove ...

, politician who served as 48th

Lieutenant Governor of California The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest Executive (government), executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The Lieutenant governor (United States), lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-yea ...

* Owen W. Siler, served as 15th

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

from 1974 to 1978. * Terry Hermeling, NFL offensive tackle * Francisco Jiménez, author and

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

professor * Steve Patterson, NBA player for

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

, two-time NCAA champion with

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

* Devon Brock, Professional MMA Fighter

References

External links

* * * * {{authority control High schools in Santa Barbara County, California Santa Maria, California Public high schools in California 1892 establishments in California