After wrapping up the 2024-2025 school year in the spring, Sunny Hills rose in the U.S. News & World Report High School Rankings, jumping 27 places from No. 98 to No. 71 in the state and 191 places from No. 720 to No. 529 in the nation, placing it within the top 3% of all public high schools in both the state and the nation.
“We were excited about it,” principal Craig Weinreich said. “We knew a lot of these rankings were based on AP [Advanced Placement] scores and things like that, so we knew that we would probably get a good jump, but it was a really big jump, so we were very excited to see that.”
Weinreich announced the achievement in his digital newsletter on Friday, Sept. 5, expressing his pride in the recognition. He commended the Sunny Hills [SH] faculty and students for their contributions to this improvement.
Coming from the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, sophomore Arlo Buell said she noticed a clear difference in her school life after starting at Sunny Hills.
“My old district wasn’t really that good, and part of why I left was because there were some bullying issues, and the people there just weren’t that great,” Buell said. “So my first impression of Sunny Hills last year was definitely that it was a very good school, especially compared to my last environment, because everyone seemed nice and even people who were different from me were very welcoming.”
Weinreich said he prides himself on how welcoming the students are and on the school’s positive environment.
“[This ranking] says that, again, one of our big focuses is our excellent academics and preparing kids for the next level,” Weinreich said. “I think it just says how hard our kids work, their dedication to improving themselves and continuing to grow and learn, and that’s just kind of a hallmark of our community.”
According to U.S. News, the organization used six ranking indicators to produce the overall score for each of the 18,000 public high schools they ranked across the country.
Six indicators were taken into account:
- College Readiness: 30%
- College Curriculum Breadth: 10%
- State Assessment Proficiency: 20%
- State Assessment Performance: 20%
- Underserved Student Performance: 10%
- Graduation Rate: 10%
The company stated that it used the same six measures as in previous years, but relied on more updated, recent information this time, which contributed to the rise in Sunny Hills’ rank.
Knowing this, Weinreich emphasized the importance of putting in the hard work.
“All of these things play into it; that’s why it’s important that our students take those [exams] seriously,” the principal said. “They don’t always count for a grade, but they do represent your school, which in turn gives your diploma much more value when you’re applying for college and being compared to students from other schools throughout the nation.”
Despite feeling nervous about taking her first AP course, freshman Angelina Ates said she knows she will be well prepared.
“I’m taking [Advanced Placement Human Geography] with Ms. Kosareff,” Ates said. “Even though it’s a harder class, Ms. Kosareff is always open to talking with us, and she understands that we can get stressed out; it’s currently my favorite class.”
AP English Language and AP English Literature teacher David Wolf, who was a SH student from 1983-1987 before joining the faculty in 2000, said he is not shocked by the school’s new rankings.
“Sunny Hills has always been one of the more prestigious schools in California, so it’s not that surprising to hear that we’re ranked fairly high,” Wolf said. “I think it would be a good idea not to take these good years too seriously, because sometimes we’re not ranked quite as high, so it’s best to just do our best and keep our head down, not getting all hung up on these merits.”
Weinreich said he is looking forward to continuing the school’s improvement in all aspects of Sunny Hills and always striving to be better.
“Sunny Hills should be something [students] should be proud of,” the principal said. “And again, in my mind, [these rankings] always give their diploma more value every time that we go up.”
