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Corona del Sol High School located in Tempe, Arizona, was established in 1977 and is a part of the Tempe Union High School District.

Campus

Corona is a closed boundary school that does not permit any outside students to attend. In addition to this, Corona enforces a closed-campus policy. Students attending through grades 9, 10 and 11 may not leave campus without an adult checking them out for the day. Seniors are only permitted to leave campus with a special ID which can only be obtained with a signed and notarized parent permission form. This policy was created by former principal Jim Denton. Corona's current principal Susan Jilek Edwards insists that the rule remain. Assistant principals Dan Nero and Mark Duplissis respect the policy, but are moving toward a more lenient approach.

Activities

The school has over 100 clubs and activities including a school newspaper and yearbook, various sports teams, a renowned marching band and concert band program, a choir program, orchestra, speech and debate, and a plethora of community service organizations. Along with these typical high school clubs, Corona del Sol has some atypical clubs, such as Monday Mythology Madness, Computer Club, The Random Acts of Kindness Society, an outstanding ping pong and chess team.

Corona del Sol has a large music and fine arts program, boasting four concert bands, an award winning marching band, a concert orchestra and a chamber orchestra, as well as five choir classes, and a percussion program. Piano, Guitar, Darts, Percussion, and World Music (Steel Drums) are also offered. Other fine arts that students may take part in are as follows in importance: Photography, 3 Levels of Drama, Film Study, Stagecraft, Ceramics, Basic Art and Design, Drawing and Painting.

Choir Program

The Choir Program is lead by Mr. Gregory Hebert, and has about 300 students involved in the program. There are 5 choirs: Jaztecs (the highest), followed by A Capella (Co-ed), Encore (Girls), Voce (Co-ed), and Womens Ensemble (Girls)(Lowest Choir).

Band Program

The band program is highly honored at Corona. There are more than 200 students enrolled in this program. The students in the Wind Ensemble (highest level) were awarded a superior at their recent festival in Tucson along with the Symphonic 1 band who also played at the same festival. The most recent concert, which was also the last concert of the 2006-2007 school year, was the POPS concert. This is where all the concert bands: Wind Ensemble Symphonic 1, Symphonic 2, and JV get together and prepare several special pieces. They played themes from Forrest Gump, Friday the 13th, Who Let the Dogs Out?, and Jurassic Park.

The marching band at Corona happens to be one of the top marching bands in the south-western region of the US. They rehearse daily and work hard as a family to achieve their goals. The American Band Achievement Committee of America has awarded the band the "One of the Top Marching Bands in the South-Western Region of the US Award" a record 7 times.

Clubs

• Mythology club
• Philosophy Club
• Math Club
• Chess Club
• YIG(Youth in Government)
• Speech and Debate
• Video Game Club
• Ping Pong Club
• Trivia Club
• Anime Club
• Philosophy Club
• Computer Club
• Random Acts of Kindness Society
• National Honor Society
• National Art Honor Society
• Spanish Honor Society
• China Club (Recently changed to the Asian Student Union (ASU))
• French Club
• German Club
• Robotics Club
• Animal Rights Club
• Best Buddies
• Acatecs
• TheaterWorks
• Other Community Service Clubs

Mythology Club

Holds weekly meetings to talk about myths and legends, and watches videos on the subject.

Philosophy Club

A discussion group where people can talk and debate each other about almost anything. But they usually talk about nothing.

Youth In Government

A discussion group with a focus on politics and government related issues. This group discusses current issues, different kinds of government, as well as controversial issues that are represented from different sides that effect the student's everyday lives.

Speech and Debate

The CdS forensics team which meets frequently and participates in both speech and debate competitions in the area, occasionally traveling out of state. The debate division is one of the best in Arizona and its members have won many of the local tournaments in the past two years.

Trivia Club

The successor organization to the CdS Brainstorm team, which participates in the Arizona Cox Communications quiz show Brainstorm, now in its second season. Corona won the first season of the show.

Anime Club

Holds biweekly meetings to watch primarily Japanese animation and cartoons.

Chess Club

This club is a place where people can play chess without being judged. All skill levels and all grades can come. In,adddition , the first semester. This club goes to chess tournaments every other saturday and, along with China Club, hosts the annual Chinese Chess Tournament.

Math Club

This is a club where people,who enjoy doing math come and socialize with each other. There are weekly problems you can complete and there are several contests throught the year.

National Honor Society

The CdS chapter of the national organization. Members must have GPA > 3.7 and complete 24 hours of community service per day. Officer selection process is the fairest of any club at Corona, using written applications which are blind-read by the sponsor (vice principal Duplissis) and other faculty.

China Club (ASU)

Experimental organization to raise awareness of Chinese and other Asian culture and runs the annual CdS Chinese Chess Tournament along with the Chess Club. The club takes a trip to China every year to learn about Communisum.

French Club

Extracurricular counterpart to French classes, explores French culture, holds an annual cheese tasting event.

German Club

German analogue of French Club.

Spanish Honor Society

Spanish analogue of French Club, but with community service requirements (volunteering must be Spanish related).

Robotics Club

Formerly the Future Engineers Club; advanced to the FIRST Vex Robotics national competition as the 1st place rookie team last year. Now building their second robot.

Acatecs

CdS "gifted" club (open to all students), runs the AcaTutoring academic help program. A 2.0 minimum GPA is required to be in the club.

TheaterWorks

Affiliated with the Drama program at CdS, performs several stage plays in the CdS auditorium each year.

Other community service clubs

These overlapping clubs each claim a special niche of the strong community service commitment at Corona.

• Key Club - community service club; CdS chapter of Key Club International
• Red Cross Club - community service club affiliated with the American Red Cross
• Interact Club - community service plus an annual trip to the Model U.N. program at New York
• Aztecs for Soldiers - raises money for military families
• March of Dimes - community service club affiliated with, and focusing on fundraising for, March of Dimes/WalkAmerica
• Cancer Community - community service club focusing on cancer causes such as Race for the Cure
• Ping Pong Club - community service club focusing on enjoyment of the game of ping pong. It is possibly one of the greatest clubs for the benefit of mankind.

Thus, Corona del Sol students have vast and overlapping opportunities for community service. The above clubs, along with Acatecs, NHS, NAHS, SHS, and other "partly about community service" clubs comprise a total of at least 10 clubs dedicated to service.

2007 Columbine anniversary week

Every year during the week of April 20, many schools across the nation increase vigilance for possible "copycat" attacks inspired by the Columbine shootings.

Lead-in to anniversary

In April 2007, threats were issued for Corona over supposed violence to take place on the 20th, the anniversary of the Columbine shootings. The first message was found on a boys' bathroom stall on April 10; an olive tree was burned down and a message on the ground nearby found on April 13. Subsequent messages were found later on April 13 and on April 16 in bathroom stalls.

On April 19, 2007 the school was evacuated to the stadium due to a suspicious package found in a bathroom. The box turned out to be harmless, believed to be a discarded chicken patty from the cafeteria.

The administration and faculty were unfazed by the threats, but troubled by the exaggerated rumors that the threats spawned and occasionally inaccurate media reporting. Only four messages were found during the two weeks before April 20, although some media reports claimed up to six. The threats were taken seriously, and extra police were deployed to Corona pending completion of the investigation.

A monetary reward for information leading to an arrest has since been increased to $5,000. Tips may be directed to the Tempe Police at 480-350-8311. The school and Tempe Union District are soliciting donations to increase the reward further.

April 20

Despite high tensions, the day passed without incident, exactly as the administration predicted. Still, the false alarm from April 19 as well as the coincidental Virginia Tech shootings earlier in the week served to magnify fears that had already been raised by the unprecedented repetition of the graffiti threats. Although Corona has been threatened every April for the past several years, this is the first year that 4 messages have been found in succession making the same threat. Few classes had over 50% attendance, and it is estimated that over 2000 of the school's 2900 students took Friday off.

References

1. http://www.aiaonline.org/schools/school.php?id=28&x=16&y=15
2. http://www.tempehighschools.org/student/enrollment.htm
3. www.abacausa.com
4. http://www.tuhsd.k12.az.us/cds/CdSAdminLetter17April.pdf
5. http://www.tuhsd.k12.az.us/cds/TempePoliceStatemet.pdf

External links

• Official Website

• High schools in Arizona
• Educational institutions established in 1976
• Tempe, Arizona