From the nctimes.com:

School officials have narrowed the list of potential names for the high school being built in Carlsbad down to 10 finalists, all based on geographical or environmental characteristics.

More than 200 people submitted suggestions on what to name the school the Carlsbad Unified School District is building near the intersection of College Boulevard and Cannon Road in eastern Carlsbad.

District officials whittled down the list from more than 100 unique names to their 10 recommendations.

The finalists, and the explanations for them, are:

—- Calavera Canyon High School, because the campus is in a canyon near Calavera Lake;

—- Canyon Del Oro High School. The name means “Canyon of Gold,” referencing the area and the quality of education the school will provide;

—- Foothills High School, because the campus sits in the foothills;

—- Hillside High School or Hillside Academy, because the campus is built against a natural hillside;

—- Lake Calavera High School or Calavera Lake High School, because of the school’s proximity to the lake;

—- Laguna Vista High School, because of the school’s proximity to the Agua Hedionda Lagoon;

—- Ridgeview High School, because of the view surrounding the site;

—- Sage Creek High School, because of the habitat in the area that is home to the endangered Bell’s Vireo;

—- Shadow Mountain High School, because when the sun rises the school will be in the shadow of Calavera Mountain;

—- Sunset Hill High School, to describe the sun setting over the nearby ocean.

It will be up to the district’s school board to determine what to name the school. The trustees are expected to pick a name at their next regular meeting, which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive.

At a meeting earlier this month, the trustees asked staff to eliminate names that related to people or specific neighborhoods. They said they wanted a name that had to do with the geography or environment around the school since most of the names submitted did.

A small committee of district officials that reviewed the names also decided to eliminate any names that were similar to nearby schools or that had the same initials as Carlsbad High School, said Suzanne O’Connell, assistant superintendent in charge of instructional services for the district.

“That eliminated many of the names,” she said.

The district plans to open the school in 2013 with only freshmen and sophomores, adding a freshman class each year until it reaches 1,500 students in grades nine through 12. Originally, the plan was to have the campus finished in 2011, but work was delayed a couple of years because of environmental concerns. Work at the 57-acre site started in October.

The project is expected to cost $104 million. Most of that will come from Proposition P, the $198 million school-construction measure voters passed in 2006.

District officials have recommended the school be a comprehensive high school, with a special focus on science, math, technology and engineering, that would be open to students throughout the district.