Harriton High School

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**Harriton High School**
Corpori Menti Moribus

Established	1957
School type	High School
Principal	Mr. Steven R. Kline
Faculty	85
Students	889
Colors	Red, White, Black
Location	Rosemont in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, 19010
Information	(610) 658-3950
Website	LMSD.org

Harriton High School is a public secondary school located in Rosemont, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.

Harriton is one of two high schools in Lower Merion School District; the other is Lower Merion High School. It is a comparatively small high school, containing 889 students in 9th through 12th grades. The student teacher ratio is 16:1, and the average class size is 25 students.

1 History
2 Notable Teams
3 The Harriton Banner
4 High School Modernization
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] History

In 1697, William Penn sold a 700-acre tract of land to Rowland Ellis. Years later, Ellis sold his home to Richard Harrison who had married a local woman named Hannah Norris. Some of the land holdings of her family were known as Norriton. Thus the combination of the names of Harrison and Norriton became known as Harriton. The daughter of Richard and Hannah Harrison married Charles Thomson.

In 1957, a new "campus-style" school was designed by architect Vincent Kling. It situated on a portion of the plantation grounds belonging to Charles Thomson, which gave Harriton High School its name. Harriton High School opened its doors for the first time in 1958.

Source: Harriton High School History

[edit] Notable Teams

[edit] Science Olympiad

The Harriton Science Olympiad team is one of the most followed teams at the school. Harriton has placed first in the Pennsylvania state Science Olympiad competition for the last nine years, and it is considered the team to beat in Pennsylvania. The Harriton team traditionally scores in the top ten at the national competition. Most recently, Harriton placed ninth at the 2006 Science Olympiad National Championship at the Indiana University.

[edit] First Place

The Harriton Science Olympiad team placed first at Nationals in:

1995
2001
2005

[edit] Coaches

The Harriton Science Olympiad team currently has four official coaches:

Mr. Brian Gauvin (Head Coach) - Chemistry teacher
Mr. Lee Mescolotto- Biology teacher
Mr. Dan Jewett- Chemistry teacher
Ms. Danielle Michelman (on leave of absence for 2006-2007 school year, but still coaching) - Astronomy/Geology/other related Earth Sciences teacher

Mr. Robert Schwartz, Harriton physics teacher and founder of the Harriton Science Olympiad team, also puts in a lot of effort.

[edit] Politics, International Affairs, & Forensics

Harriton is also noted to have an excellent Speech and Debate Team. In the recent past, interest in politics and world affairs has risen at Harriton, due mainly to the advent of a formal Model United Nations delegation in 2006.

[edit] Harriton Theater Company

While not really a team, the HTC is a great company, most noted for being a completely student-run organization. The shows are chosen by a student director, who then, with the guidance of a sponsor, directs the show. All of the set construction and lighting is done by students aswell.

[edit] The Harriton Banner

Since the opening of Harriton High School in 1957, the school newspaper has been called either the Harriton Forum or the Harriton Free Forum but as of Octoboer, 2006 it was renamed toThe Harriton Banner.

[edit] High School Modernization

Currently, Lower Merion School District is undergoing a Highschool Modernization program. Construction of a new school will begin on Harriton's athletic fields, starting in January 2007. The new school is set to open in time for the 2009-2010 school year, with the original building being demolished the same year.

The new school is planned to house approximately 1250 students and cover about 330,000 square feet as opposed to its current square footage of 176,825.

[edit] Notes

Harriton is built in a unique way for a Philadelphia-area public school because it is built with a California-style campus, with its buildings surrounding a main quad known as the Tombs. The new Harriton High School, currently being built, will not feature this style.
Harriton is also one of only 426 high schools in the United States to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
One notable Harriton graduate is former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and President of Harvard University Lawrence Summers, who has announced his intention to resign the later office as of June 30, 2006.
Harriton is considered to be among the best public schools in the nation. It is a two-time recipient of the Department of Education's Blue Ribbon School Award, and consistently ranks high in Newsweek's lists of the top 1000 high schools in the country. In a 2005 Newsweek list of the top high schools in the United States, Harriton ranked 427. On a similar Newsweek list from 2003, it ranked 384.
In Philadelphia Magazine's September 2006 issue, it ranked Harriton the 33rd best school in Pennsylvania, 6th best public school in Pennslyvania and, 2nd best school in Montgomery County (just behind its sister school).