North Brunswick Township High School
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North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Brunswick Township, New Jersey, as part of the North Brunswick Township Public Schools. The school’s current principal is Salvatore Mistretta.
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[edit] Awards and recognition
For the 1999-2000 school year, North Brunswick Township High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education[1], the highest award an American school can receive.[2][3]
[edit] Facility
NBTHS is located on a sprawling ten-acre facility off of U.S. Route 130 South. The school was first built in 1973 to accommodate the growing student population (which, at the time, attended New Brunswick High School). The school, at the time an architectural marvel, was nicknamed by students from neighboring schools as the “Country Club” in its early years. Due to the growing population of students in North Brunswick, the school has undergone two expansions in 1990 and 2004-2006. Apart from standard classrooms, the school has a fully equipped library, six electronic classrooms, industrial technological rooms, naturally lit art studios, and a commons that serves as a link between the school and outside community.
[edit] Student Body and Academics
Nearly 90 percent of the 1,800 students at NBTHS attend institutions of higher education; in recent years, the list of colleges where students matriculate range from the local state university, Rutgers University, to acclaimed institutions of higher learning, including Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Furthermore, the school sends a large number of students to the prestigious Governor's School of New Jersey summer program and the local Middlesex County Arts High School. The school offers over fifteen Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses, and had over 20 AP scholars for the 2005-2006 school year.
The school is considered to be both economically and ethnically diverse. As of 2005, the school was made up of students who were 44% White, 23% Black, 17% Asian, and 16% Hispanic. Economically, the school enrolls students who come from high-income to low-income backgrounds.
[edit] Athletics
NBTHS is a member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and holds membership in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC). NBTHS has a wide range of athletic facilities, available to both its student body and the North Brunswick community. With over six multipurpose athletic fields, a six-lane track, a football stadium, six tennis courts, a gymnasium that seats over 1,500 people, and three multipurpose baseball/softball diamonds, the school has long been considered one of the premier athletic facilities in the county. Furthermore, the school is the only GMC School that has an eight-lane, Olympic-sized swimming pool, and has thus frequently been the host of GMC Championships and state sectional meets. Annually, the school is strong in boys’ soccer and girls’ swimming, two sports in which they have captured numerous state championships over the last decade. The school also fields teams in football, girls’ soccer, boys and girls’ tennis, boys and girls’ basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls’ lacrosse, boys’ swimming, diving, boys and girls’ track and field and cross-country, gymnastics, wrestling, and golf. Volleyball was introduced in the 2005-06 season.
Members of NBTHS also participate in the FIRST program on the school's robotics team. Team 25, Raider Robotix, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb, were national champions in 2000, and world championship finalists in 2003 and 2006. The team also consistently wins numerous state regionals, not limited to New Jersey but also traveling to other states across the US. They have also won numerous internationally recognized awards.
[edit] Extracurricular Activities
NBTHS offers close to 35 extracurricular activities for its students, many of which are integrated with the school’s academic curriculum. Its DECA program, linked with the school’s marketing coursework, has won championships at the regional, state, and the national levels. The Model United Nations has won honors at a variety of prestigious conferences, including those held at Harvard University, Georgetown University and Princeton University. Daedalus, the product of the school’s yearbook program, has won awards for excellence in yearbook production across New Jersey and at an annual conference held by Columbia University.
The school also serves as the host to a chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Key Club, as well as honor societies like the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, French Honor Society, German Honor Society, Latin Honor Society, and Italian Honor Society.
The school’s arts program continues to rapidly grow. As a consequence of the growth, the North Brunswick Board of Education approved a $67 million expansion that includes a 1,500 seat auditorium, music practice rooms, and theater and film production studios. The school has a marching band, which competes locally in the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) circuit, along with a full orchestra, band, and choral groups. The school also has a full theater program (The Alchemist Theater Company), which puts on three performances on an annual basis. In the 2006-2007 school year, they performed You Can't Take it with You on November 17th and 18th, and are working on "Theatre Revue 2007", a combination of different skits and musical numbers. The Alchemists are planning on performing Les Misérables as their spring musical in April.
[edit] Notable faculty
- Jamie Egan is a band teacher at NBTHS and professional trombonist and trumpeter who has performed with ska bands such as Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto
[edit] References
- ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), accessed May 11, 2006
- ^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
- ^ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
[edit] External links
- North Brunswick Township Public Schools
- Great Schools: North Brunswick Township High School Profile
- North Brunswick Township Public Schools's 2004-2005 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
- National Center for Education Statistics data for the North Brunswick Township Public Schools
- Raider Robotix Web Page