High Tech High School

BACKGROUND: A little info about me. My name is Isabella Ballesta, HTH c/​o 2004 (the first class who did all 4 years here). Don’t believe me? I’m the Love Hina tile on the HTH tile wall to the right of the receptionist desk. Brett P (First to Review) was one of the teachers when I was a student. So take his review with that in mind…
Note that I graduated in 2004. I don’t know how things have changed in 2013. I’m writing my experience based on the 4 years I went here, 2001 – 2004. When I left, HTH International JUST started as well as HTM. The rest of Liberty Station was still in ruins (good thing too)
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WHAT I GOT OUT OF HTH: This is what I REALLY think after having gone through the system and not as part of a prompt through one of the staff.
*Back then, HTH admission wasn’t through a lottery system. I actually had to submit an application and it was based on the strength of your application. I was one of the people that actually chose to go to the school out of fear of being ostracized at the local high school I was supposed to go to.
*Textbooks still existed and we actually used them.
*Lunch for the most part consisted of Roach Coach food or whoever was willing to make an In-​N-​Out run at the time. No wonder I started having blood pressure problems so early…
*My senior projects consisted of a product development class and a writing class. Both were fun in their own ways, but it felt like busywork.
*I did AutoCad and Maya modelling in 9^th grade. I was part of a car team that made it all the way to national finals — in Detroit.
*I didn’t know what my TPOL consisted of. Hey, at least I passed. Like all the other students, I though that end-​of year POL’s were a joke. The very last one that encapsulated all four years of high school was no different.
*Digital Portfolios, like TPOLs, were a joke. Hey, I have some rudimentary knowledge of HTML 3 because of this.
*I got by 4 years of high school without ANY formal chemistry class. Seriously. Thank goodness for the chem remedial class the very first fall quarter at college (which was one of the hardest yet most fulfilling classes I ever took, thanks Rolf!), otherwise I dunno how I ever would have graduated with a bio degree…
*My internship at the Salk Institute was recommended to me by one of the career advisors. My mentor had a project that studied a mutation in the Arabidopsis gene that caused the plant to not shed its petals. This internship, along with AP Bio, set the stage of me changing my career focus from computers to biology. However, the decision to be in the clinical lab came AFTER UCSD. Took me a year and 7 months doing a shitty desk job to finally realize this.
*HTH didn’t teach me how to study. This is also due to its Project-​Based Learning philosophy. In undergrad, most classes are 2 midterms and a final! Then again, the commute using the trolley and later by car tired me out so much that I didn’t study for 10^th and 11^th grade. That I had to learn on my own, THANKFULLY before undergrad.
*College classes were offered and I took some of them. Some were fun, others were not. The best one was an intro college English class. The professor had some of the best reading assignments I’ve ever had. Because of one of the books I had to read I made one of the best decisions of my life… to become atheist.
*Robotics and MUN were pretty fun groups. So was the GSA.
*I got to go to Paris as my graduation present, but this was before I REALLY appreciated travelling and European culture. Because of this, I learned that the Louvre is closed one day of the week. Yes, I went to Paris WITHOUT visiting the Louvre :(
*Had an interview for a teaching position several years ago. I got rejected because «I was meant to be in the lab».
*I certainly wasn’t the model HTH student when I graduated. It took me three more years before I would start changing into the person I am today.

I am currently enrolled in an induction program (BTSA) for beginning teachers. We have monthly seminars that are taught by project based High Tech High teachers. I have really enjoyed the workshops and can implement what I have learned the next day in my own classroom.
Our meetings are held in the International building in different classrooms. The facilities are always well kept not even for a high school. I’ve always had friendly and cooperative staff experiences.
Only downside about doing BTSA through High Tech High are their «high» prices. This program is twice the average if going through a University or districts. My school wanted to incorporate Project Based Learning and the instructors have 5 – 20 years of Project Based Learning experience.

Do you hate your kid? If you answered YES to this question then you should send your kid straight to High Tech High! Why? Well if you really wanna send your kid a message about how much you hate them dump em at HTH. HTH employs a never-​before-​seen smoke and mirrors tactic that everyone will love! Parents think their kid is learning and preparing for college while the student believes that he or she is actually learning, it’s quite genius! But wait there’s more! If your kid can stand 4 years at HTH they’ll be ready for one of the biggest letdowns of their lives, the realization that HTH has screwed them on all learning and most importantly, study skills! They will be stuck at JC’s for years, not re-​learning, but LEARNING the material from square one. Years behind and frustrated, you will finally be able to have the last laugh! On a more serious note, as a former student of HTH I loved it until I hit college and the real world. I spent years in the JC system and had to completely learn how to study thanks to HTH’s textbookless learning régime. In closing, I hope you can detect the satire in the above story, it’s the only way I know how to spin my experience in a happy way.

Well at least they’re consistent. I attended my son’s graduation on Saturday and as usual HTH disappointed. Instead of making the graduation about the students and congratulating them for their hard work and accomplishments (only mentioned in passing), the founder’s speech sounded more like he was running for political office. His remarks were completely inappropriate and offensive. Add to that the teachers that were in attendance looked like they took a break from the beach and were on their way back as soon as they could break free. Flip flops, shorts, tanks tops to a graduation? Really? And most bothersome of all, the teachers made it very well known who their favorite students were by cheering very loudly for them and not for others. My son actually took pride in NOT being a favorite (as he should have), but I can imagine some other students who actually cared what their teachers thought could have had their feelings hurt. Bad, bad liberals!
Seriously. A graduation should be conducted with some dignity. I’m surprised they couldn’t find a company to supply them with rainbow caps and gowns since the they couldn’t stress enough how much they love gays. What that has to do with education is beyond me but it was definitely the theme of the day. They did just two things right — they kept the ceremony mercifully short and made a lovely gesture of giving the diploma of the murdered student to her grandmother. THANK GOD IT’S OVER. People put your kids in private school if you want to save them from this indoctrination center.
Oh and to Gail P., since you haven’t experienced it first hand you can’t make an informed comment. Be glad you were spared the experience. And by green teachers I didn’t mean eco-​friendly, I meant green as in inexperienced.

The website says «High Tech High began in 2000 as a single charter high school launched by a coalition of San Diego business leaders and educators. It has evolved into an integrated network of well-​regarded schools spanning grades K-​12.»
Local parents fight and claw to get their kids enrolled at High Tech but the selection process is by lottery. I tried once to get my son in for 10^th grade but no go. Still I have attended school functions, graduations, and other activities here and I know a teacher at High Tech High. My son’s best friend graduated from the school– his friend is beyond brilliant on a computer!
I do not know about any kind of liberal or environmental agendas here.
I realize that the Educational bureaucracy and labor unions dislike how successful and popular HTH is. This school thinks outside the box.
The kids that tend to gravitate here are creative types. The Media Arts School has a lot of opportunities to study abroad and if you cannot afford it, the school offers needy students opportunities to work and earn your way. My next door neighbor’s daughter went to Africa, Costa Rica, and China on study abroad programs that taught English and build schools, while enrolled at HTH.
I am proud that this school was picked as one of three finalists for President Obama to visit and give a graduation speech at. Too bad that HTH lost out to some school in Memphis. Charter Schools are the wave of the future and in fact, HTH has become so successful that many parents in the Point Loma area want to change over the Public High School to a Charter, if the public school’s test scores don’t improve-​using HTH as an example.
Had to deduct 1 Unilocal STAR for not enrolling my son back in 10^th grade!

A tremendous, public, tuition free, liberal arts charter school where 99% of the graduates go on to college. Nice work!