First Coast High School is a 9-12 comprehensive high school located in the Oceanway neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. It was opened in 1990, at the same time as its sister school, Mandarin

Mandarin, Florida

Mandarin is a neighborhood located in the southern most portion of Jacksonville, in Duval County, Florida, United States. It is located on the eastern banks of the St. Johns River, across from Orange Park...

 High School, opened up in the southern part of the city.

The school's design is unique for Jacksonville schools (other than Mandarin, which started with an identical layout). The school is built around a large paved courtyard, somewhat reminiscent of Spanish architecture

Spanish architecture

Spanish architecture refers to architecture carried out in any area in what is now modern-day Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide. The term includes buildings within the current geographical limits of Spain before this name was given to those territories...

 from the colonial period of Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. In 2006, an additional wing was added to the school, to accommodate the explosive growth in North Jacksonville

Neighborhoods of Jacksonville, Florida

There are more than 500 neighborhoods within the area of Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in the continental United States by area. These include Downtown Jacksonville and surrounding neighborhoods...

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The current principal is Ms. Debbie Smith, who replaced Tony Bellamy in June, 2008. Mr. Tony Bellamy had previously replaced Dr. Crystal Sisler in 2006.

Improvement

First Coast was one of 16 schools nation-wide selected by the College Board

College Board

The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...

 for inclusion in the EXCELerator

EXCELerator

' is a school improvement model developed with the College Board. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation agreed to fund a five-year pilot project with a $16 million grant...

 School Improvement Model program beginning the 2007-2008 school year. The project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...

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Competition

• The team mascot is the Buccaneers. The Buc football program won district championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.
• The school's NJROTC unit has this epic guy named C/Ens Alonzo Williams....you should join just because of that guy!

Students

• Andrew Klingerman
• Anthony Beug
• Bowser Jr.
• That one chick
• harry cruz
• angel castillo
• harley turner
• david bellis
• austin jones
• steven owens
• mufasa
• sora
• kairi
• riku
• ash ketchum
• misty
• brock
• wil antommarchi
• stephanie lane
• christopher starling
• dimitrius daniels
• Kate Thomas
• scary guy
• dr.no-nothing
• brandy richter
• joseph richey
• kermit d. frog
• julio dealmida
• dylan studt
• teddy
• amanda flores
• kyle campbell
• tyler yeager
• brandi works
• ariah brantley
• micheala vogelsong
• alyssa steele
• deion mcbride
• alex bryant
• derek hentze
• jacob carvey
• amy johnson
• colin cooper