The Sandites of Queen City

Casteel High School is in one of the most depressing places on Earth: in the Saddlewood neighborhood of Queen Creek, Arizona, on the far southeastern end of the Phoenix megapolis (37 miles from Phoenix).  Suburban sprawl on one side, sage brush and bare hills all around.







Queen Creek has 33,000 people, with population increase of over 500% since 2000, meaning suburban sprawl.   Its cultural attractions include the Schnepf Farm (a sort of amusement park) and the Barney Family Sports Complex.


The high school, which opened in 2015, is a low, long adobe building with a horribly depressing address -- 24901 South Power Road -- surrounded by sage brush, with nothing around but Optima Advantage, Specialized Auto Glass, a U-Haul, and sage brush.  The nearest restaurants are a mile away: Buddyz A Chicago Pizzeria to the south, and to the north, a little galleria with a donut place, a Burger King, a Subway, and an Iron Chef.

The school emphasizes "engineering, computer systems technology, entrepreneurship, and product design."

What, no Chaucer?

There are 30 clubs, including the CyberPatriots (gulp), Dungeons & Dragons, the Science Olympiad, Orchestra (Fiddler's [sic]), Street Skatin, and Yu Gi Oh.

I'm depressed.

The faculty have their own webpages, with photos and aphorisms.

"The purpose of life is not to be happy.  It is to be useful."
"Excellence is not an act, but a habit"
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me."

Gulp.

The sports team is called the Sandites. Sounds like a religious cult from Dune.

Athletics include girls' beach volleyball (where do they find the beach), cross country, track, volleyball, and wrestling (6 wrestling coaches; the head coach is the one strengthened through Christ).

The school wrestling blog has this guy from another team, apparently uploaded because of the "Got Jesus?" shirt.

Got Jesus?

Pity the non-Christian kids going to that school.






But if you go prospecting in the wilderness of Casteel High, you might dig up some gems.













This one is too "pretty" to count as beefcake.















Better. "Boy next door" charm, plus biceps.
















Before they changed to Sandites to commemorate the sand, they were the Knights, with green singlets. 

I can see why they changed.