The Coachella Valley High School Alumni Association is committed to the educational advancement
of our community through scholarships to post-secondary institutions and to the support of CVHS
students and alumni morally, spiritually, and economically. The Association will not be involved in
politics or religious activities and will strive to include all age groups of alumni in our activities.
OBJECTIVES: The Coachella Valley High School Alumni Association will work to accomplish the following:
1. establish a database of alumni names, addresses, and other data;
2. be of direct assistance to the high school for the purposes of career resources for students,
awarding of scholarships, participating in role-model programs;
3. publish a quarterly newsletter for members and for use in membership drives;
4. be of assistance at CVHS during work days, assemblies, conferences, etc.;
5. conduct fundraisers to support association activities;
6. conduct membership drives and other activities to publicize our existence;
7. provide information regarding the school and membership at games and other school-related activities;
8. contribute in some form to the music or other under-funded program on campus.
Adopted by the Board of Directors
January, 1995
Board of Directors 2009 - 2011
Darlene (Gaston) Allchin (1959) darallchin@verizon.net 
Diana De Leon (1979) dianandl@msn.com
David & Diane (Butts) Hinkle (1961) pheaspatch@aol.com
Mary Jo (Wade) Ivy (1960) mji1142@aol.com
Harriet (Bridgewater) Macknicki (1975) bikenbeer@aol.com 
Eileen (Jacobs) McDaniel (1952) elmcdnl@aol.com
Art Montoya (1956) atoymon@aol.com
Carmen (Duran) Muñoz ('54) cvalumni@aol.com
Nicky (Yanez) Pizan (1959)
Rich Ramirez (1959) rpugz@aol.com
Ray Rivas (1960) monchirivas@verizon.net
Rita (Yoxsimer) Steffen (1956) ritasteffen@aol.com
Joe & Terry (Garcia) Zamorez ('56/'59) zamorezj@cs.com
The Evolution of Our Mascot
The Arab mascot dates back to when Coachella Valley High School first began to compete in athletics in the 1920s. The school adopted the name Arabs in part to recognize the importance of the date industry in this end of the valley, but also because it fit in perfectly with the neighboring towns of Mecca, Oasis, Arabia, and Thermal.
The original Arab was drawn carrying a lance and riding a horse. On his head he wore a turban.
His image remained that way until 1957 when the turban was replaced by a fez and the lance was replaced by a scimitar. CV High sponsored a contest to design a new logo. Cheryl (Walker) Ward, class of 1957, won the contest with her design of a young Arab boy. Before going to print, Mr. McSwan asked Cheryl to design a fierce fighter. The young Arab boy was later used as the logo for a local Junior High School.
There were two versions of the mascot - a young one holding a scimitar and an old, fierce one with a growling face and a gold tooth.
Another change in the mascot came in the 1980s. A group of Arabs from Saudi Arabia who were in the area touring the desert's date industry recommended that the mascot's headdress be changed from a fez to a hijab or head scarf. Their reasoning was that Saudi Arabia was no longer under French rule; therefore Saudi Arabians no longer wore the fez as their headdress.
The school voted to honor the request and the mascot began to be drawn as he still appears today.
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Thanks to CVHS Activities Director Richard Ramirez
for the history of our mascot
as told to Cindy Soria
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