# Concord High School (California)

Concord High School is a 9–12 comprehensive public high school in Concord, California, United States. It is one of the six high schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. Concord High School was constructed in 1966 and currently provides 144,373 square feet (13,412.7 m$^2$) in permanent structure, including about 70 classrooms, a library, and other structures. As of 2023, the current principal is Julene MacKinnon.

## Academics

Concord High offers many course choices, including over 18 AP/honors courses. The school once offered many foreign languages, including Spanish, French, German, and American Sign Language, but German and French were discontinued.
The school also features a band program with six different bands. Ladies First is an advanced women's singing group. Fine arts classes at Concord include Art, Ceramics, Photography, Creative Writing, Film Study, Video Production, Foods, Drama, Concert Choir, Show Choir, Ladies First, Women's Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Stage Band, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Marching Band.
The journalism class does not produce any publication due to a lack of participation in the course. When it did publish, the school newspaper was named The Patriot.
Concord High, in partnership with the Contra Costa County Office of Education and their ROP classes, also has a Robotics class.

### CHS Academy

The CHS Academy is a Health and Human Services California Partnership Academy located on the Concord campus and available for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. Academy students take their core class with the same classmates for the entire school year, but also take some classes with the general student population.
Academy curriculum focuses on preparing students for life after high school with an emphasis on health and human services fields such as medicine, psychology, and social work. Academy students are automatically enrolled in special elective courses to complement the focus of the Academy. Sophomores take Career Transitions, which focuses on exploring interests and various career fields in the health sector. Juniors take Psychology within the academy, and, in addition to regular classes, attend a Career Explorations class at Diablo Valley College in the spring. Seniors take Sociology, with a focus on looking at modern society in regards to a variety of topics, from homelessness and health issues, to dissecting advertisements in the media. Students in the academy attend many field trips throughout the year, including trips to many local colleges such as UC Davis, Berkeley, the Art Academy, and San Francisco State. Students in the academy also organize the yearly Diversity Conference, blood drives, and donation drives.
For the 2022–2023 school year, the Academy program was removed from the school due to lack of funding.

## Athletics
### Field of Dreams

The vision of the Field of Dreams Project is to renovate existing, build new, and maintain facilities that will benefit all indoor and outdoor athletic programs and fine arts programs. Field of Dreams led the way for:
* The new Concord High football stadium. Opened in autumn 2006, the new stadium features new lights, grass, scoreboard, bigger and better bleachers, fencing, goal posts, and renovations and building of stadium bleachers. The Homecoming game of 2006 was the first ever game in the history of Concord High to be played on Concord's own field under its own lights.
* Over the summer of 2006, many improvements were made to the Concord High gymnasium, including new flooring with artwork and new lighting.
* Concord received new tennis courts as a result of a $500,000 project funded by Measure A and Proposition 55. They are currently in use.
* Baseball field improvements, including scoreboard, fencing, wind screen, and many more improvements are being planned.
* Renovated softball field with new scoreboard, fencing, etc.

### Football

On December 11, 2010, the Concord High football team won its first North Coast Section Division II Championship by defeating Rancho Cotate High School (Rohnert Park, California) 40–37 in the Oakland Coliseum. The Minutemen finished 13–1. The 2010 offense averaged 50.6 points per game (third in California) and scored a total of 100 touchdowns.
The following year, the Bears again appeared in the NCS Division II title game but fell to Windsor High School (Windsor, California) 28–20 on December 9, 2011 at Santa Rosa High School. The Bears finished with a 10–3 overall record.
Concord High had previously been to the NCS 2A Championship game in 1989, where they were defeated by Marin Catholic High School.
The 2012 team finished 10–3 after falling to Clayton Valley Charter 49–22 on November 23 in the NCS Division II Semifinals.

### Soccer

The Concord High School has an active soccer program. The women's program made it two consecutive years to the North Coast Sections finals in 2005 (defeated by Bishop O'Dowd High School) and 2006 (defeated by Campolindo High School). In the 2008 season, the team made it to the NCS playoffs but were eliminated by Las Lomas High School in the quarterfinals.

### Swimming

The 1977 and 1978 men's teams won the North Coast Section Championship. The 1978 men's swim team finished with a third ranking in the United States.
The 1985 women's team won the North Coast Section Championship.
Former All-Americans include Dan Boatwright, Dave Boatwright, John Riolo, Jerry Ferris, Rich Taylor, Dan Brady, Paul Donohue, Dan Akre, Duane Fiene, Paul Vanhoven, Greg Witters, Rich Newton, Steve Larocque, Sean Harrison, Kevin Leveroni, Jim Taylor, Raphael Brasil, Brett Lowe, Robin Fiene, Lindsay Ingles, Dori Green, Jean Collins, Julie Jordan, and Ali Rowe. Paul Vanhoven, Dori Green, and Steve Larocque were also national age group record holders.

### Cheerleading

The 2016–2017 varsity cheerleading team won a national championship in Las Vegas Feb 17 2017. The following year, they won their second national championship in Las Vegas on February 24, 2018.

### Softball

The Bears softball team has won four NCS Division II Championships since 2010.

## Drama

The drama department at Concord High was the first high school in the United States to perform the play Zoot Suit. Different levels of drama classes were offered. Auditions for the productions put on throughout the year were open to all of the school's students. As of 2023, Concord High School no longer has a drama program.

## Music

Concord High Instrumental Music is a program including Concord High's Marching Band, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra and Stage Band as well as Percussion, Winter Percussion, Auxiliaries and Winter Guard. The marching band has taken part in the Oakland Holiday Parade, the Broadway Parade of lights, and the Hollywood Parade in Pasadena, and have competed in various reviews throughout the area. The Jazz Ensemble has performed at the Todos Santos tree lighting for several years and performs locally at community events such as the yearly fundraiser A Night of Jazz and Casino Night around March and April.
In 2009, the band program went to the Seattle Music Heritage Festival and took sweepstakes, placing first in the jazz band category and first and second in the wind ensemble categories. The Concord High Instrumental Program has gone on several performing trips to Washington DC, Disneyland and Hawaii.
In 2023, the marching band won the San Francisco Fleet Week band competition, being marked the "Best Band in The Bay Area".
In 2024, the Jazz Ensemble 1 placed top 5 in the Folsom Jazz Festival, marking a first in Concord High School history.
In 2024, the CHS Winter Guard competed in the Scholastic A division at the Winter Guard International Union City Regional Competition and progressing to Finals, marking a first in Concord High School history.

## Notable alumni

* Carlos Alazraqui – voice actor; played Deputy Garcia on Reno 911!
* Dave Barr – former professional football player; quarterback for the University of California
* Tom Candiotti – former professional baseball player
* Bonnie-Jill Laflin – former NBA and NFL cheerleader; model and actress
* Jon Weisberg – former bassist of the band From First to Last