The official web site of the Lowell Alumni Association

Excellence in Advanced Placement Courses

"In recognition of the important role of the Advanced Placement program at Lowell, the Lowell Alumni Association has helped students with financial need pay their AP exam fees. Over the past decade, alumni donations have provided more than $50,000 in exam fee subsidies to deserving students. If state funding for AP exam fees is eliminated this year, the Lowell Alumni Association will be asked for an additional $17,000 in subsidies to support low-income students."

There is no better measure of the Lowell student body's interest in serious academic challenges than the continuing growth of Lowell's Advanced Placement ("AP") program. Students enroll in college-level courses in subject areas ranging from economics and calculus to music theory and art history in preparation for taking national exams. High AP exam scores earn college credit or placement in higher-level college courses. And the country's most selective colleges prefer to admit applicants who have demonstrated their strong academic drive through AP coursework.

Over the past decade, the number of AP exams administered at Lowell has grown by nearly 10 percent annually, resulting in the nation's fourth-largest AP program. Today's average Lowell student will take four AP exams prior to graduation, although some students will graduate after taking ten or more. Even more important than the number of AP exams taken is the fact that 38% of Lowell students earn a perfect score of 5 on their exams, compared to a national average of only 14% of students who do that well. Marian Gonzalez, Lowell science teacher and current department head Alumni donations have helped hundreds of students pay for the AP exams that allow them to demonstrate their

Excellence in World Languages

"Lowell offers instruction in nine languages: Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin and Spanish. No other public high school in the Bay Area offers more than six languages."

The breadth of Lowell's world languages program, currently offering 9 languages, is likely unmatched by any other public high school in America. Lowell's Italian and Korean programs are among the few offered in Northern California. And the Hebrew program, product of a collaborative partnership with the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund, Koret Foundation and San Francisco State University, may be unique among public high schools in California.

Lowell's annual Kermesse festival, celebrating a variety of international cultures through music, dance and food, raises money to support the World Languages program and has become one of Lowell's most beloved traditions. The most significant recent development in the World Languages department is the opening of a new, state of the art computer-based language lab in the new science/academic wing. Although additional funding is needed to enhance the lab's capabilities, hundreds of students visit each week to supplement traditional classroom instruction.

Excellence in College Preparation

"Last year, 29% of Lowell students applying to UC Berkeley were admitted, compared to only 14% of other applicants. At UCLA, 24% of Lowell applicants were offered admission, compared to just 17% of other applicants."

For generations, Lowell has lived up to its reputation for providing its students first-rate preparation for their college studies. It's not uncommon for Lowell alumni to find their college coursework- even at America's finest colleges and universities- to be less challenging than what they faced at Lowell.

Over 98% of Lowell's most recent graduating class entered college immediately while the balance chose to temporarily defer their college studies. Recent Lowell graduates can be found at more than 200 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada, including every University of California and California State University campus, every Ivy League school and most of the nation's other outstanding educational institutions.

The fact that virtually every Lowell student plans to attend college, combined with the size of the Lowell student body (more than 650 graduates each year), creates an incredible demand for college counseling services. Lowell's counseling staff, with the help of other faculty and the parent volunteers who staff the school's outstanding college advising center, do their best to meet that demand. But budget cutbacks again threaten a 20% reduction in counselors that will only be offset by outside financial support from alumni and parents.

Excellence in Special Programs and Athletics

"The Lowell, after more than 100 years of continuous publication, regularly receives national recognition as one of America's very finest high school newspapers. In 2003, the National Scholastic Press Association named The Lowell one of the five best large high school newspapers in the U.S., marking the third consecutive year the paper received the NSPA's Pacemaker Award."

The increasing emphasis on and visibility of test scores of all types serves to burnish Lowell's reputation for excellence with regard to core academic subjects. But Lowell students excel in a myriad of other areas. For years now, Lowell students have not only taken top honors in local architecture competitions but often sweep all the awards in some competition categories. Lowell's Academic Decathlon team has won the city title (competing against both public and private high schools) ever since the competition began 18 years ago.

And Lowell has even become an athletics powerhouse among the city's public high schools. While the boys varsity basketball team has received the most attention lately, after having won the city title for the first time since 1953, other Lowell sports teams have dominated their opponents for years. Current city title streaks include: girls cross country, 27 consecutive years; overall cross country team title, 25 years; girls track, 17 years; girls varsity swimming, 15 years; boys tennis, 14 years; girls varsity volleyball, 8 years; boys varsity swimming, 8 years; boys track, 7 years; and girls soccer, 6 years. Other teams, from baseball to golf to softball, regularly win the city title. The varsity football team has played in the last two city championships, winning the title in 2002, while the girls varsity basketball team went undefeated in league play this season only to be upset in the playoffs.

Excellence in Alumni Support

"More than 3,000 alumni and other friends of Lowell participated in the 2003 Annual Fund Campaign, donating more than $385,000 in unrestricted gifts. Those funds helped to restore faculty and staff positions while also funding a host of important projects and more than $50,000 in college scholarships."

While the most important keys to Lowell's continued success are talented and hard-working students matched with dynamic and dedicated teachers and staff, credit is also due the alumni community. Few high schools in America boast the depth of alumni involvement and support seen at Lowell each and every day.

Alumni participate on the school site council, coach athletic teams and help students with college and career advice. Several more alumni are Lowell teachers and counselors. And the thousands of Lowell alumni who help improve our society, through their families, careers and philanthropy, provide strong role models for today's Lowell students.

Now it's up to you to make your own personal investment in Lowell's continued excellence. Your generous donation, no matter the amount, will enhance Lowell's tradition of alumni involvement and support and help a new generation of San Franciscans make the most of their talents and ambition.