Carlmont high school: then and now

Mira Bhatt

We’ve walked through the halls of Carlmont High School hundreds of times, yet we don’t know a lot about the school’s history.

According to Carlmont’s website, the school was founded in 1952 with the goal of fostering a community of creative thinkers that could work well in a rapidly changing environment. The school was built at the bottom of a hill between San Carlos and Belmont, thus the word blend Carlmont.

The school initially had a poor reputation, as many people considered the school to be a rougher and more dangerous environment. Additionally, there was a large, evident socioeconomic gap.

“There were a lot of great kids who went on to top colleges, but at the time, a lot of folks thought it was rough and dangerous. My parents weren’t thrilled with me going there, and two of my good friends went to Aragon instead,” Ernie Chan, a Carlmont High School graduate class of 1995, said.

Much of that belief was due to the 1995 film Dangerous Minds, which stars Michelle Pfeiffer, who struggles as a new teacher in a rougher school. The movie was based on a true story about Carlmont; however, many Carlmont alumni disagree with how the school was portrayed.

“I think the movie may have caused people to think that the school was out of control, but the reality was that we had amazing students and a great staff,” Robert Tsuchiyama, a Carlmont math teacher who has been at the school since 1989, said.

Chan affirms Tsuchiyama’s statement, explaining that the movie was not based on the entire school but instead on a specific program for high-risk students at the school. He also recalls seeing Pfieffer getting into her limousine in front of T-Hall when she came to do research at Carlmont.

Pfieffer was not the only celebrity that came to Carlmont during the 1990s. During Chan’s senior year, he remembers the president at the time, Bill Clinton, along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Treasurer Kathleen Brown, and Rep. Anna Eshoo came to the school to sign an executive order on gun-free schools.

“I was in ASB at the time. We had about four days to get ready, and it was pretty nuts with the security, preparation, etc. All in all, it was a pretty awesome experience,” Chan said.

While celebrities visiting campus and movies being made about Carlmont were memorable moments, the school has also undergone fairly historical changes.

“Some people used to refer to it as the prison on the hill. With the renovation and addition of classrooms and buildings, I think today’s students have more pride in being a Carlmont Scot,” Tsuchiyama said.

Grant Steunenberg, one of Carlmont’s administrative vice principals, agrees with this statement, explaining that the campus was able to implement changes with a recent bond measure.

“The place where the S-wing is currently used to be hillside and a parking lot. And, the modular buildings that are down near the senior parking lot (where the daycare is now) used to be where the S-wing is now and were biology classrooms,” Steunenberg said.

He believes that Carlmont has changed a lot and compares the current abundance of class choices, programs, and clubs to what was available in previous years.

“We used to only have a business academy where students learned how to use Excel and Microsoft Word. It used to be very cutting edge, but the content became outdated, and we switched to a BTI (biotechnology) academy. We now also have journalism and a computer science pathway, so students have more options to explore,” Steunenberg said.

With the surplus of resources, classes, and activities at Carlmont, it has become a much more desirable school and no longer has the same reputation as it did 30 years ago.

Carlmont Carlmont Grant Steunenberg