C. K. McClatchy High

Do your internship elsewhere. Do not waste your time here. You will not observe professionals. For your health, safety, and career—pass and go elsewhere.

I just recently graduated from CKM, and although the classes can at times be hit or miss, I've overall had a a great experience there. It's true, I had my fair share of truly idiotic teachers (about one per year), I've also had some absolutely incredible teachers, from Mr. Perry who worked with me during lunch to the point where I could write an analytical essay in a single hour, to Mr. Warren whose encyclopedic knowledge of Biology and fascinating class labs taught me to love Biology, to Mr. Still, the Latin teacher whose dry humor and flawless handwriting made my day every day, and to Ms. Wong whose big end of the year Model UN project taught me more about politics and history in a single semester than an entire year of a history class had done before. Additionally, Ms. Cook and Ms. Watkins who have spent hours guiding and supporting CKM's Queer Straight Alliance. Other great teachers I haven't mentioned yet are Mr. Granados (AlgebraII/Trig), Mr. Starace (African/Lat.American History), Ms. Coleman (Molecular Bio), Mr. Holt (English, when we were both at Cal. Middle School), Mr. Griffin (Psych/Econ), and Ms. Nishizaki (Calculus AB). (They may be teaching other subjects now, but the ones I named in parentheses are the classes for which I had each of these teachers.)

Socially, I've found that CKM is too big to have one concrete "in-crowd." It's true that sadly, CKM is pretty divided, mostly between Humanities and International Studies Program Students (HISP, the advanced program) and non-HISP students, but it's not so divided that it causes too many issues. The people I hang out with vary widely, including people from the science quad, the ROTC quad, the lunch quad, the band hallway, and everything in-between. (The cliques are divided up by hang-out area in the school.) Although I've had a lot of difficulty finding friends before, CKM is so diverse that this problem was a complete non-issue there.

Keep in mind that CKM is a big school and it's pretty easy to get lost. Being able to get an appointment with your counselor can be difficult, as is getting special attention from your teachers. However, I am glad of this. Because of this I have learned how to work with the red tape and how to push through the crowd in order to get the help I need. Having braved the extensive red tape at CKM, I know for sure I can deal with it easily next year in college.

Finally, I'm sure you've heard CKM has a reputation for violence. I acknowledge that as usual, this stereotype has a seed of truth to it. People were recently talking about how Mr. Griffin had broken up a fight the day before and in doing so had re-aggravated an old leg injury and had to go home for the day. A person who had not heard about this then asked "Wait, which fight was it? The one in the band hallway, or by the D-Wing?" We joke about that--that we even have to ask which one shows how many happen is hilarious. So, yes I acknowledge we have these problems, but there're constantly police guarding the campus, and you can really only get involved in a fight if you're looking for one. There has never been a time at CKM when I have felt unsafe.

All in all,I love CKM and I absolutely recommend the school.