Santana is speaking to students, giving a brief concert and jamming with members of the school's guitar club in a visit meant to applaud the school for raising its test scores and achieving an 85 percent college acceptance rate among seniors last year, school district officials said.
Santana was scheduled to be joined on stage at the school this morning by his bandmates and wife Cindy Blackman Santana on the drums.
At the end of the concert, the Grammy Award-winning musician is also planning to present the school's guitar club with 30 new guitars.
"He's very proud of the school, this school is really doing great stuff," San Francisco Unified School District spokeswoman Heidi Anderson said today. "It has had its challenges but in the last several years it has been steadily gaining."
According to a statement from a Santana public relations rep, Mission High's improving test scores and growing college acceptance rate are the result of a five-year effort by school administrators to ensure that students graduate and attend college.
