South High School is located in the Kern County District of

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

. The school has approximately 2,150 students.

History

The official South High School website states that the school was originally founded in 1957 and was surrounded by farmlands. As of May 7, 2021 the school mascot is known as the “Spartans” following a year long review committee determination examine the prior mascot ''Rebel Man'' or ''Johnny Rebel'' which was patterned after a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldier. Sports teams formerly referred to as the Rebels, will now be known as the Spartans.

Athletics

The school offers a variety of sports that include:

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

cross-country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 ...

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) ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. In 2015–2016, the Varsity boys soccer team won the CIF Southern California Regional Championships for Division II. South High celebrated its 50th anniversary and homecoming on September 29, 2007. The South High football team also hosted their 50th homecoming football game against the Shafter Generals, with South High winning 41–12.

Clubs

Clubs on campus include forensics,

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US mil ...

, and ROC. South High is also home to the prestigious MS³ program, the brand new South High Justice Academy, the AVID program, and an award-winning Rebel Regiment Band and Color-guard.

Notable alumni

* Winston Crite,

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, played for Texas A&M University *

Natalie Dunn Natalie Dunn, also known as Natalie Dunn Fries, (born 1956) was the first American woman to win the world championship in figure roller-skating, which she did in 1976. She won her first event at age seven, and won the national women's single at age ...

, first American woman to win the world championship in figure roller-skating in 1976 * Brent McClanahan, former running back for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, 1973–1979 *

Rick Mears Richard Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is an American former race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (197 ...

, retired American race car driver and four-time

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

winner *

David Silveria David Randall Silveria (born September 21, 1972) is an American musician, best known as the original drummer for nu metal band Korn from 1993 until leaving the band in 2006. He then became the drummer for Infinika, which was formed in 2012 and ...

, former drummer of the band

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

* Jennifer L. Thurston, judge who is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California

References

External links

Official Site
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1957 High schools in Bakersfield, California Public high schools in California 1957 establishments in California