Suncoast Community High School
Suncoast Community High School is located in Riviera Beach, Florida.The school has been open since 1955 though it was named Riviera Beach High School. In 1970 it was renamed and in 1989 it became a public magnet high school. All of the students belong to one or both of the four magnet programs that the school offers; Math, Science & Engineering (MSE), International Baccalaureate (IB), Computer Science (CS), and Interdisciplinary Program (IDP).
Students apply to Suncoast through the Palm Beach County School District’s Magnet and Choice School Application Form. Applicants apply for a specific program or programs and are admitted into the school by a selective lottery after the top 10 percent of applicants (based upon Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores, teacher recommendations, and grades) are admitted. Additionally, students who complete the IB Middle Years Programme at an area middle school are automatically entered.
Students in the International Baccalaureate program take IB classes. Although the IB program is only the junior and senior years, freshmen and sophomores take “pre-IB” classes. Foreign languages offered are Spanish, French, and more recently Mandarin Chinese. Many students dual-enroll with Palm Beach Community College or Florida Atlantic University through the Palm Beach County School District’s Dual-Enrollment Program.
Math, Science, and Engineering (MSE) concentrates on mathematics, science (particularly physics), and engineering. Suncoast MSE and MSE/IB sophomores take AP Physics B and juniors take AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. Students enrolled in both MSE and IB take IB Physics Higher Level during their senior years.
Computer Science (CS) focuses on computer science, mostly computer programming and programming languages.The Interdisciplinary Program (IDP) is a general college preparatory program.
Newsweek has listed Suncoast in its annual “Best High Schools in America” list, which ranks public high schools according to their score in the “Challenge Index” developed by Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews. In 2007 Suncoast ranked #5 in 2006 Suncoast ranked #7.