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Clovis North High School

Part of the Clovis Unified School District

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  1. Co-Curricular
  2. Academic Clubs
  3. Academic Teams

Academic Teams

National History Day is a non-profit educational program celebrating its 50th year in 2024. This program involves over half a million students around the world in the creative exploration of history. Contests are on the local, state, and national level, and encourage students to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice, connecting with a yearly theme. Students enter these projects at the local and affiliate levels, with top students advancing to state, and from there to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. Students can work individually or in groups of up to five, and create projects such as physical exhibit displays, websites, video documentaries, podcasts, research papers, and performance pieces. CNEC’s History Day program has had wonderful success over the years, with multiple county champions, state qualifiers and finalists, and several national qualifiers. Just recently, in June (2023), one of our students WON the National Championship in senior division Individual Performance!

For more information about History Day, please check out this web page. The advisor for the CNEC team is Ms. Sally Howe in room 276. You can email her at sallyhowe@cusd.com. 

Robotics

What is Robotics?  Have you ever aspired to build an autonomous, intelligent, high-powered, high speed 125lb robot to go head to head with the best high school student built robots in the world?  Welcome to the FIRST Robotics Competition,  an international competition created by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technolgy)!  FIRST is a not-for-profit public charity committed to  accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills. This program brings together individuals of different backgrounds to compete in "Sports for the Mind".

Why join Robotics? FIRST Robotics Competition is an innovative, mind-stimulating competition that teaches students life-skills, teamwork, and  sportmanship. Robotics is much more than building robots, It's a way to view science through the lenses of real world engineers, designers,  and computer programmers.  Robotics team members learn to write grants, create their own designs,.  Students learn to become independent thinkers, innovators, and designers through  collaboration with engineering professionals both regionally and across the country.

Mock Trial

For more information visit the CNEC Mock Trial Website

Clovis North Mock Trial Team has been one of the most successful academic teams in Clovis North history.  We began our team during the 2008-2009 season with mostly 8th and 9th graders competing at the County level where we went 2-2.  Since that first year, we have been Valley Champions in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, and runner-up Valley Champs in 2013, 2014 and 2015.  Our teams placed 3rd (2011) and 4th (2012) in the California State Mock Trial Championships and we've also taken two teams to the Empire International Mock Trial Tournament in NYC where 40 teams from 6 nations competed!  In 2011, we placed 15th and in 2014, we placed 10th in the world!

Academic Decathlon

The Academic Decathlon® is recognized as the most prestigious high school academic team competition in the United States.  It is a ten-event scholastic competition for teams of nine high school students who match their intellects with teams from other schools.  Students of all learning levels are given the opportunity to excel academically through this competition, which centers around a yearly theme determined at the national level.  That theme is at the heart of the curriculum each year; however, the bulk of the things that decathletes learn apply to things that the CNEC team members need to know every year as a decathlete.  Students are tested in ten categories: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech.  The work students do to prepare for Academic Decathlon reinforces what they are learning in all of their classes at school, plus it lays groundwork for classes that students will take as upper classmen at CNEC and for classes in college.  Students gain a comprehensive understanding of education and have the opportunity to see how everything they learn in school is interconnected.

During the 2013 Fresno County Academic Decathlon, our students earned 26 individual medals and 3 special awards.  Beyond those individual successes, our team as a whole earned a first (1st) place finish in our division (Division III), PLUS earned the ninth (9th) highest team overall score at the competition.  All Team 1 members earned an additional medal for this accomplishment, AND we were awarded two large team trophies, which will soon be on display in our school’s display case.  We were the only Clovis School to finish in the top ten AND the only school in the top ten who doesn't tackle the Academic Decathlon curriculum in a class setting.  We were also the second most improved team out of all of the teams in our county.

Group of students in blue shirts with medals and trophies on a podium.

Debate and Forensics

It is not the science and technology used to investigate and establish facts in law; it is the art or study of formal debate and public speaking.  Any one from the out-going student to the quiet reflective student can find a place to belong on the Clovis North Forensics team.

Debate is more than arguing, it is arguing right!  Students learn to speak their minds and formulate informed opinions.  Aristotle said that “The mark of an educated mind is the ability to entertain an idea without accepting it.” and that is the credo of our debate team.  Students learn team work, dedication and more information on concepts from immigration to judicial activism to national service.

The spotlight, the glory, the laughs, the tears and stage is your place then the forensics individual events are for you.  Dramatic or Humorous Interpretation, Essay presentations, or Advocating your cause are all the realm of forensics individual events (IEs).  IEs include an opportunity for students to voice their opinion on events of their choice, practice thinking on their feet or act out scenes.  The forensics program competes at three local tournaments, state, national and invitational tournaments from Berkeley to Utah.