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It’s been 30 years since 60 ninth-grade students met in temporary buildings at Gavilan College to become the first class in the newly formed Anzar High School. This year, the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District is celebrating by holding a student-planned six-hour Fall Festival on Sept. 21.
The event will feature food trucks, three live bands, a water battle in a 75-by-80-foot arena, and more. A highlight will be a display of concept drawings for campus improvements.
“The idea came from our school’s leadership class,” said Anzar Principal Angela Crawley. “They were tasked to develop a fundraising idea for our different after-school programs, and they thought of a carnival that would bridge our communities. That idea resonated with me, so we started exploring it.”
Before the construction of the school in 1994, students from San Juan and Aromas had only North Monterey County High School in Castroville, Watsonville High School and San Benito High School in Hollister. The school district was formed in 1991.
“The movement started with parents in San Juan and Aromas who wanted to have a school that was smaller than the alternatives they had,” said Rotary Club member Wayne Norton, who was on the school’s founding staff. “They did a district unification to bring in the San Juan and Aromas elementaries and created Anzar to service those two schools.”
Norton said the school’s philosophy was founded on principles expounded by educational reformer Ted Sizer in his book, “Horace’s Compromise,” including the idea that kids do better in smaller learning environments.
“The adults on the campus actually know the students and know them well,” Norton said. “That benefits the kids not just in learning but in many other ways. It is just a richer environment for them.”
Norton said there are schools like Anzar in bigger cities, but they are usually private schools catering to students with white upper-class backgrounds. He said the plan was to demonstrate that students could have the same kind of experience in this community.
“At the time,” he said, “the district was about half-and-half white and Latino with different educational and economic levels like we have in our district. It was difficult to pull off in a rural area where none of the teachers actually lived.”
Schools Superintendent Barb Dill-Varga said that Sizer’s vision was of a high school that was “not just as something you have to get through.”
“He saw it as a place that would prepare you for life as a community member and a citizen,” she said. “He wanted to connect students to important purposes like giving back to the community.”
One of the first programs instituted was to have advisors follow the same group of students for their entire four years at the school.
“They are responsible for knowing each one,” Norton said. “They help them select classes, help with the college process and help with their career goals. By the end, they really know the students as human beings.”
According to Director of Curriculum and Instruction Jivan Dhaliwal, one benefit of having a small enrollment—currently about 270 students—is that the faculty gets to know every student in the school by name and needs.
Dhaliwal said this is one of the factors that has led US News and World Report to rate Anzar as one of the nation’s best high schools.
“It is different from any other high school in the area,” she said. “We have the highest English language arts proficiency in the county. We have Advanced Placement (AP) and four dual enrollment opportunities, with connections to Hartnell and Gavilan colleges. We know how to get things done.”
According to the US News survey, Anzar’s AP participation rate is 44%, 10 points higher than the national average. The survey rates Anzar in the top 15% of US high schools based on performance on statewide tests, graduation rates and how well it prepares students for higher education.
Anzar ranks above all but two of the two dozen or so high schools in the tri-county area, including Salinas, Hollister, and Gilroy high schools. Anzar’s 19:1 student-teacher ratio is the lowest in the area, significantly lower than Hollister High School’s 31:1 ratio.
Another program instituted from the first was having the students hold an exhibition as a graduation requirement. Norton said students are expected to offer a question that is of importance to them and then demonstrate they have the academic discipline to answer it.
“The idea was to have them demonstrate authentically that they had learned something at the school,” Norton said. “In most schools in America, unfortunately, once you get to the end of your four years, you’ll get a diploma whether you learned anything or not. We wanted something more than that.”
Dill-Varga said the idea of the graduation exhibition is “right in the heart” of Sizer’s work.
“Community members and employees are invited to come and judge the presentations,” she said. “You hear how the students have grown up and reflect on what they’ve learned, what their family and community means to them and what they hope to do in the future.”
According to Dill-Varga, beyond a record of academic excellence, Anzar also has an impressive 45% of students participating in sports.
The Fall Festival will also showcase conceptual drawings that are the first step in redesigning parts of the campus to provide modern spaces that encourage learning. The plans could be built if funds become available through Measure D on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Measure D would authorize $44 million in bonds to renovate classrooms in all three district schools, help construct new campus buildings, update security and fire alarm systems, improve computer networks and security, and repair athletic fields, gyms and tracks. It would also be used to fund new learning opportunities for Anzar students.
“Our community wants to see us develop some Career Technical Education pathways,” Dill-Varga said. “Being so close to Silicon Valley, those include coding, robotics, and engineering. We also have a state-of-the-art wood shop, a good field for many kids.”
Crawley says the school is working hard to provide students with avenues to explore in their post-Anzar lives and hopes to keep expanding existing programs to meet future needs.
“We want our students to have every opportunity possible,” she said. “In my mind, Anzar is already a destination school. We continue to grow with our dual enrollment opportunities, Career Technical Education opportunities, Advanced Placement courses, and internship and work-based learning opportunities. The more people know about us, the more they will want to send their children here.”
The Anzar Fall Festival takes place on the Anzar High School campus at 2000 San Juan Highway on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Former students are invited to join the Alumni Directory and record a memory of their time at Anzar at the alumni booth during the Festival.
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