by Steve Phan, staff writer & photographer
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) was opened in 1966 to accommodate the rising population living in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. Throughout the years, the school has changed in culture, classes, campus, and much more.
Just around 15 years ago, normal traditions like the annual events and bimonthly Baron Broadcast News (BBN) videos did not exist.
“We didn’t have Baron Games. We didn’t have the glow show; we didn’t have big things like that,” said math teacher and alumnus, Ashley Fah.
Other events such as the culture fair were also different back then.
“We used to have International Week which is now the culture fair, but International Week used to be a week long at lunch and all the clubs would set up booths and sell different foods,” said Fah.
Not only was the environment of FVHS different but also the physical campus.
“The cafeteria and [the 300 buildings] was different when I was a student… It used to be a hallway like [the English hallway],” said English teacher and alumnus, Sara LaFramboise.
The old 300 hallway’s sewage pipes ruptured in 1997 and was demolished to fix the problem. Then, the new 300 buildings were to be built in the early 2000’s which meant that FVHS had to find a place to have temporary classrooms. This problem was fixed by using an old elementary school across Bushard street.
“We used to have part of the school on the other side of [Bushard street]… So i had marine biology in the science halls, then I have to race across the street to go to math on the other side of the street,” said Fah.
Back then, the student body’s culture was different too. Students were categorized and separated by what they participated in the school.
“Now, our AP kids are super involved in sports and clubs and it wasn’t really like that [back then]. It was kind of like the AP group then there’s the jock, popular kids group,” said LaFramboise.
Over the years, Fountain Valley High School may have changed physically and culturally but the things that remain the same are the students’ journey through FVHS.
“I went from being really lost and I didn’t know my identity at this school to being really involved in this school,” said LaFramboise.
