Blue Devils off to their next steps

Many of us have known for a long time that Davis High School's newspaper, The HUB, is one of the best student-produced papers in the country.

And, while I read every issue of this newspaper I never worked for during my days as a Blue Devil, my favorite edition every year is the final one of the spring semester that lists all the things DHS grads will be pursuing in the fall.

No one's privacy is being invaded because no names are listed without the student's permission, but most students are happy to see their names in print.

The list is stunning. It also reveals just how much brain power is floating around the Davis High School campus. I'm pretty sure you can get smarter just by walking along 14th Street between B and Oak Avenue.

A number of students have decided to take what they've learned in all those years of school and enter the workforce right away. Others have elected to serve their country in the military. Many more have decided to take a gap year to enjoy the world and sort out their options.

While many of those graduates who have decided to attend college will be scattered all over the United States — not to mention British Columbia — a great number have decided to stay within the Golden State.

California has an incredible system of higher education, with 116 community colleges, 23 campuses in the California State University system and nine more in the University of California realm.

I'm incredibly fond of the community colleges, which are spread throughout the state so that no student should have to travel far from home to attend.

Virtually tuition-free, they offer AA degrees in a wide variety of subjects and also allow students the guarantee of being able to transfer to a UC or CSU if they meet certain requirements. It's a system like no other in the country and one all Californians should be proud of.

Counting all colleges and universities together, Davis High

School will be represented at 110 institutions of higher learning just from the Class of 2023.

Of those 110, Sacramento City College is far and away the leader, with 54 Blue Devils enrolled for fall classes that begin in August. SCC, founded in 1916 on the top floor of Sacramento High School, has flourished ever since as one of the oldest community colleges in the state. It has rightly earned its reputation for excellence.

Davis High graduates will be attending no fewer than 15 community colleges, 15 CSU institutions and all nine UC campuses.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Davis have been rivals in athletics and academics for decades, perhaps because they are the two main agricultural campuses in the state. Both even have the mighty "Mustang" as their mascot and when they meet on the football field every year, it's called "The Battle for the Golden Horseshoe."

And never mind that most students don't major in ag at either campus, it's still a rivalry for the ages.

When the HUB publishes these college choices each spring, I've noted that Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis are neck and neck in attracting DHS students. This year is no exception.

Cal Poly has 26 Davis High grads heading there and UC Davis has attracted 23 from DHS.

Other big draws are UC Santa Cruz with 27, Cal with 24 and UC Irvine with 17.

Across the country there will be five Blue Devils at Oregon State, three at Smith, Arizona State, Montana State and Cal Poly Humboldt, two at Alabama, Pellissippi State, Gonzaga, St. Mary's and Willamette, and one each at Wellesley, Northwestern, Duke, Princeton, Brown, Clark Atlanta, Colorado College, George Mason, Mount Allison, Illinois, Puget Sound, Minnesota, the Naval Academy, St.Olaf, Portland State, Whittier, Auburn, Lewis and Clark, Bryn Mawr, Denison, Oberlin, Penn State, Amherst, American, Colorado, CSU Channel Islands, Michigan State, Rice, Purdue, Reed, Portland State, Chapman, Oregon, Cincinnati, Wheaton, Pitzer, University of San Francisco, Vermont, CSU East Bay, Boston U., and the Colorado School of Mines. Or is that the Colorado School of Minds?

And many, many more. May they all excel on the paths they have chosen.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.