News Room

South Tahoe High School Transformed

By Elaine Goodman

South Tahoe High School has received funding to build a $4.4 million sports medicine academy on campus – a facility that would not only broaden students’ career options, but might also motivate families to move to the South Shore.

Lake Tahoe Unified School District learned last month that it will receive a $2.2 million state grant for the project. The other half of the funding will come through Measure G – a property tax increase approved by district voters in 2008.

Construction of the 7,800-square-foot-academy is expected to be finished in the next few years, shortly after completion of other new facilities at STHS.

The $11.6 million Construction Arts and Transportation facility, where students will learn “green” technologies, is slated for completion next month.

Construction of a $13 million overcrowding relief building, which will replace portable classrooms on campus, is expected to be finished over the summer. And groundbreaking on a digital media arts center called the Tahoe Arts and Design academy is expected in May. Like the sports medicine academy, the three new buildings are funding through Measure G.

Taken together, the new buildings will transform STHS into a modern, state-of-the-art campus more typical of an affluent school district than a rural community such as South Lake Tahoe.

And that, school officials are hoping, will draw more families to South Lake Tahoe to help slow or reverse the district’s 12-year decline in enrollment as well as the South Shore’s loss of residents. With telecommuting an option for more employees, there’s no reason parents can’t keep their jobs with companies in the Bay Area while living at Tahoe, said STHS Principal Ivone Larson.

“Here you can have this incredible place to live, with (school) facilities that are unbelievable,” Larson said.

Sports Medicine Academy

Plans for the sports medicine academy include space for hand therapy, whirlpool therapy, physical therapy and conditioning, and a swimming pool. The facility was designed in consultation with local professionals in the industry, including those at Barton Health.

The academy will offer students two career paths: athletic fitness trainer or physical therapist. Students will be able to take courses leading to certification in first aid, CPR or AED (automated external defibrillator), and, when they’re 18 years old, American College of Exercise personal trainer certification.

Students will work as assistant trainers with the high school’s athletic teams. They’ll participate in internships with health professionals in the community.

“I think it would be a great program,” said STHS senior Alexis Holmes, a student athlete who has suffered injuries herself. Holmes, who has been named to the sports medicine academy’s advisory committee, noted that many STHS students already select physical therapy as the topic for their senior projects.

Dr. Stephen Bannar, an orthopedic surgeon with Tahoe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, said that program could make basic science and match more exciting to students, even those who don’t plan to enter the sports medicine field.

“I personally think it’s a great opportunity for students,” Bannar said.

Bannar envisions the academy becoming a place where athletes and coaches from across the U.S. could gather to learn about sport medicine, in sessions that high school students could attend as well.

And “if it’s done right,” the academy could be the amenity the district is seeking to draw families to South Lake Tahoe, he said.

The sports medicine academy will prepare South Tahoe High School students for a variety of career, even if they’re not planning to attend college. Fitness trainer, massage therapists and physical therapists aides are jobs that are available with vocational training, with hourly mean wage in the greater Sacramento area listed last year at $21.02, $18.85 and $12.46, respectively, according to data from the California Employment Development Department.

These occupations are anticipated to see job growth. For example the greater Sacramento area is expected to add 430 healthcare support jobs from 2006-2016, a 23 percent increase. The positions offered a mean hourly wage last year of $16.50, with only vocational training required.

Programs at the high school can also be used as a stepping stone to training at Lake Tahoe Community College or four-year colleges, or professional degrees. Larson noted that jobs available to students with vocational training from the high school, such as fitness trainer, would provide good pay to support them through college.

Lake Tahoe is ideally suited for training in sports-medicine related careers, according to the high school’s application for the grant funds.

“South Lake Tahoe is a premier your-round destination for sports enthusiasts as well as professional athletes interested in recreation, physical conditioning, high-altitude training, and competition,” the application states. “The abundance of activities available in our area sustains a viable industry related to injury treatment, rehabilitation and fitness training.

About 400 students, or roughly 30 percent of the student body, are expected to participate in sports medicine academy programs in the facility’s first year, with that number growing to 500 students by the fifth year.

In addition to spreading word about the new academy to the high school’s local “feeder schools,” a marketing plan is also in the works for outside the area.

A first step would be placing links to information about the school district’s programs on Web sites visited by people seeking general information about South Lake Tahoe. Those might include Web sites for the city or Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

The funding for the sports medicine academy comes through Proposition 1D, approved by California voters in 2006, which provides $500 million for career technical education programs. The STHS project ranked fourth out of 176 applications for this round of funding.

The next step is to work with architects on more detailed plans, which will be sent to the state for approval. Larson said she’s hopeful the new facility will open within three years.

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