Homestead High School (California)

Homestead has a music program consisting of more than a dozen performing groups, including concert bands, a jazz ensemble, a marching band, choral groups, string and symphonic ensembles, and extracurricular performing arts groups such as winter guard and winter percussion. The marching band has enjoyed a continuous run of championship awards, starting in 1993 with their field show rendition of The Phantom of the Opera. Since then, the Mighty Mustang Marching Band has performed such shows as The Who's Tommy, and Miss Saigon. In their first statewide competition in 2005, the band tied for 6th place in the 5A division at the Western Band Association State Championships. In April 2010, Homestead's marching band was one of only 10 high schools nationwide selected to participate in the 2011 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.[13] In November 2015, the band traveled to their first appearance at the Bands of America Grand National Championships and finished 19th-place as a semifinalist, out of 95 bands. On November 19, 2017, Homestead's Marching Band placed 3rd overall at the 2017 WBA Grand Championships with a score of 94.15, the highest score in Homestead history. On New Year's Day 2018, the band participated at the 129th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade.

The Homestead marching band is under the direction of John Burn.[14]

The jazz, vocal, string and wind ensembles consistently rank Superior in competitions.[15] Many of the musical groups have traveled internationally. The Wind Ensemble and Orchestra performed in Carnegie Hall at the 2007 New York Band and Orchestra Festival, winning Silver Awards for each group.[16] Participating in the 2009 Australian International Music Festival held in the Sydney Opera House[17] on a trip to New Zealand and Australia, the Wind Symphony received a Gold Award, and the Jazz Ensemble received a Silver Award.

The Winter Guard program has won the California Color Guard Circuit (CCGC) championship six times, as well as Winter Guard International regional competitions.

Homestead's Winter Percussion (also known as Indoor percussion ensemble) has competed in the California Color Guard Circuit (CCGC), WGI, the Northern California Percussion Alliance (NCPA), and San Joaquin Valley Color Guard and Percussion Review (SJVCGPR) circuits. Homestead's percussion ensemble was the CCGC 2010 Scholastic World Division Champion, and placed 15th, 7th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 8th in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019 respectively at WGI world championships in Dayton, Ohio.[18]

Every spring, Homestead participates in the David Ricardo division of the National Economics Challenge for students not taking AP economics courses, consistently sending teams to the state level. In 2015, Homestead placed first nationally[19] in the David Ricardo division of the National Economics Challenge.

Homestead's award-winning student newspaper, The Epitaph, won eight Gold Crowns from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). During that same period, it received eight Pacemaker Awards from the National Scholastic Press Association. As late as 1994, these were the most national awards ever given to a high school paper.

In 1988, the paper received one of its highest honors, The Press Freedom Award, from the Student Press Law Center, for its successful defense of a story about a junior boy who was HIV positive, one of the first such stories in any high school newspaper. The story, which had been initially censored by the principal, was allowed to run when the newspaper invoked California Education Code 48907, a California law that protects students' rights to free expression. The story was reported nationally in the wake of a Supreme Court's decision in Hazelwood School District et al. v. Kuhlmeier et al., 484 U.S. 260 (1988). This case gave school officials greater latitude in determining the content of a school's official student publications. The California law made the ruling moot in the state.

During that same period, the paper also won numerous local and state awards. The San Jose Mercury News named the paper the best in its annual contest for Silicon Valley student newspapers ten of the 12 years that the paper ran the contest. It was also awarded the top prize from the San Francisco Press Club several times during that period, as well as the top prize from the now-defunct Palo Alto Times.

The paper's unusual name was selected by the school's first students in 1962. In keeping with the school's western theme and Mustang mascot, they named the paper after the first newspaper west of the Rockies, the Epitaph of Tombstone, Arizona, which had been popularized in a television series of the time about Wyatt Earp, "Tombstone Territory".

Some of the newspaper's former staffers have gone on to work in journalism professionally. Among them, Alex Williams (1983) and Michael D. Shear (1986) write for the New York Times. Erica Werner (1989) is a White House correspondent for the Associated Press.

The paper's adviser from 1976 to 1994, Nick Ferentinos, was the 1994 Dow Jones News Fund's National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year.

With a gift from alumnus Steve Wozniak (class of 1968), co-founder of Apple, the Epitaph adopted desktop publishing in 1986, among the first high school newspapers to use the technology to produce a student publication.

In 2013, the Epitaph limited print distribution for financial reasons. The Epitaph has been available online since then.[20]

Homestead has a robotics team that competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition. The team, FRC team number 670, was created by students in 2001. Alumnus Steve Wozniak and noted electrical engineer Ron Crane have both served as key supporters of the team over the years. The team has a website detailing its history, mission, news, and ongoing activities.[21]

Currently the largest student-run organization on campus, Interact is a club dedicated to developing leadership and character skills as well as allowing members to find their passions. Consisting of over 200 active members, Interact's mission is to provide its members with opportunities to perform service, build character, and develop leadership. The Homestead Interact club is part of District 5170, which is the largest Interact district in the world. Homestead Interact stays in close relations with the district to provide students with volunteer and leadership opportunities that range from learning how to help and interact with local communities to making an impact internationally through causes that are chosen by the district. The Interact club at Homestead is also closely connected with the interact clubs in the Fremont Union High School District, and they work closely together to create ways to fundraise for international projects through car washes, talent shows, dances, and more.

Members of the mathematics team have regularly qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). Over the past five years, the team has placed among the top 10 schools in the Mu Alpha Theta National Log 1 Mathematics Contest, taking fifth place nationally in 2009–10, third place in 2008–09, ninth place in 2007–08, and fourth place in 2006 and 2007. From 2003 through 2006, Homestead's math team placed among the top 10 teams nationally in the Ciphering Time Trials, a contest sponsored by National Assessment & Testing. During this period, Homestead's team also placed among the top 20 teams in several other contests sponsored by National Assessment & Testing, including the Team Scramble, the Four-by-Four, and the Collaborative Problem Solving Contests.[22] In 2002, the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competition (AMC) awarded the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Excellence in Teaching to Homestead teacher and team faculty advisor Steve Headley.[23]

Homestead's yearbook, Pegasus, has been its most award-winning publication of recent years, capturing two National Pacemaker Awards from the National Scholastic Press Association in 2002 and 2005. The Pacemaker is awarded to the 20 best yearbooks in the country, often out of more than a thousand contenders. The yearbook was also an NSPA Pacemaker Finalist in 2000 and 2001. In 2006, the CSPA awarded the Pegasus a Silver Crown. The yearbook has also won a number of other awards, ranging from CSPA Gold Circles (awarded for individual stories, concepts, designs, and photography) to various Best in Show awards.

Homestead has a team competing in the Science Bowl, a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Over the years, Homestead students have won awards at the National Chemistry Olympiad and the National Science Bowl. Teacher Gareth Wong initially organized and advised the team, and, in 2002, the American Chemical Society recognized his work with a High School Teacher Award for the Western Region.[24] The team is not currently advised by any teacher. On February 10, 2007, Homestead's team won the regional competition held at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, eventually repeating their regional victory on February 2, 2008.[25] At the 2007 National Science Bowl Competition in Washington, D.C., Homestead's team placed 12th out of more than 60 high-school teams, winning a $1,000 prize for the school's science department.[26] In 2009, Homestead made it to the National competition for the third time in a row. At the National Science Bowl Competition, they placed in the top eight out of 67 other high schools.