(January 21, 2004) — While the number of applicants to Clark has fluctuated every year since the 1999-2000 school year, none has ever come close to topping Clark’s inaugural year of 1998-1999, with applicants exceeding 680. With the first batch of applications scheduled to be sent out to each Glendale middle school Feb. 4, Clark administration doesn’t know how many students will apply. According to senior administrative secretary Mary Jo Blatchley from Glendale Unified Student Support Services, the number of applicants increased by 136 from the 2002-2003 school year to the 2003-2004 school year. Blatchley said that 552 students applied in 1999-2000, 488 students in 2000-2001, 491 in 2001-2002, 431 in 2002-2003 and 567 in the 2003-2004 school year. S enior administrative secretary Barbara Melone said that each year only about 300 students get accepted to Clark from the four Glendale middle schools. This year alone, Clark has 1,061 students enrolled. The main criteria for acceptance into Clark are having at least a 2.0 GPA and being enrolled in a math class at Algebra level or higher. According to Melone, the lottery system that decides who gets into Clark is as fair as possible and it doesn’t play any favorites. Also, each middle school gets an almost-equal number of students accepted. Sophomore Edison Escobar said that Clark’s first year had the most applicants because “some students probably wanted to be trailblazers and try something new and out of the ordinary.”