These pages are offered to my students and their parents at Chaffey High School in Ontario, CA.  Here, you can find course information and links to other sites of interest.  I hope that you find these a helpful resource. Please scroll down to find out more about what's happening at your school.

"Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us." -- Thomas Paine (1737-1809)  author, radical, revolutionary, intellectual and founding father of the United States.

Congratulations to Coach Steven Mercado and Chaffey High School's Academic Decathlon Teams for taking first place in the San Bernardino County competitions on January 31 and February 7.  Chaffey "Black" scored an all time county record of 47,714 points, besting the second place school by nearly 8000 points.  Chaffey "Orange'', our Division II team, won its division and its 39,571 points would have placed third in the Division I competition.  This is Chaffey High School's first ever county championship.  Chaffey had taken second place in county the last four years running.

Chaffey's accomplishment is impressive.  According to AcaDec information published on the web, the team  ranked number 3 in the nation behind Moorpark and El Camino Real High Schools.  A summary prepared by Coach Mercado of our school's accomplishment may be read by following this link.  You can read the March 12, 2009 article about the team in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin by following this link.

Chaffey went on to compete against the best schools from throughout California at the state finals in Sacramento on March 13-16.  Chaffey finished ninth out of sixty schools. More info is available at the California Academic Decathlon site.  Congratulations to Moorpark High School  the California state champion and winner of the national championship on April 22-25, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee.  Go Tigers!

The picture above was taken on January 31 after the Speech, Interview and Essay competitions at Arroyo Vista High School in San Bernardino.  The picture below was taken on March 15 after the Super Quiz Relay in Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium.

In Memorium

Michael Dickson, c/o 2000, passed away on Friday, June 26, 2009.  Michael was gifted AP/Honors student at Chaffey High School who excelled in mathematics and science.  He was a leader in our school's astronomy club and helped spearhead an outreach by our students to Vina Danks Middle School in 1999.  Michael always brought curiosity, keen intellect, a quick wit and joy of learning to his AP Calculus and Astronomy classes, earning a score of 4 on the College Board's AP Calculus Exam. 

Michael was involved in Academic Decathlon while at Chaffey.  He distinguished himself as one of the great varsity students in Chaffey AcaDec history--playing a crucial part in the team's 3rd Place finish in 2000, the highest placing the team had reached since 1988.  His family opened up their home several times to host team practices and they were extremely supportive of Michael, and the Academic Decathlon team.
 

Michael also participated on the boys tennis team while at Chaffey.

Michael went on to graduate from Cal Poly Pomona in 2005 earning his bachelor's degree in Physics.  His studies continued at Cal State Northridge where he was pursuing his master's degree. Read Michael's obituary in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.  It was a privilege to have taught and known Michael.  Michael, you will be missed.

Michael is seated second from right in this 1999 photo of the Astronomy Club.

Cool Events

If your club, class, or organization has an upcoming event that you would like publicized here, send Mr. James an email with information and any images you wish included.  Make sure that your images are not copyrighted. If they are not, you need to obtain permission from the copyright holder before I can use it.

In addition to the schedule listed above, I assist head coach Mr. Steven Mercado and Chaffey High School's Academic Decathlon Team as they prepare for the 2009 San Bernardino County competitions in January and February. My principal area of involvement is  mathematics. I also advise the Chaffey Astronomical Society (Chaffey's Astronomy club) and I support Chaffey's Christian Club and Science Club.

My classes meet in room 114 of the Math-Science Building. 

18 years of teaching lead me to offer this application of the spirit of Ecclesiastes 12:12 --  "Beyond this my son be forewarned: the calling of many meetings is endless, and excessive devotion to them wearies everyone."