Forest Hills High School

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Forest Hills High School
Established	1937
Type	Public secondary
Principal	Stephen Frey
Students	approx. 3600
Grades	9–12
Location	67-01 110th St. Forest Hills, Queens, New York, New York USA
Colors	Blue and gold
Mascot	Rangers
Yearbook	Forrester
Newspaper	The Beacon
Website	www.fhhsweb.org

Forest Hills High School (FHHS) is a public secondary school in Queens, New York City.

FHHS was dedicated in 1937^[1]. It educates students in grades 9-12 and is operated by the New York City Department of Education. The School serves the middle class to upper-middle class Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Kew Gardens sections of Queens. FHHS is located near Flushing Meadow Park, site of two World's Fairs.

The United States Open tennis championship has long been held nearby, first at the West Side Tennis Club in upscale Forest Hills Gardens and later at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow Park.

FHHS frequently has been extremely overcrowded throughout its history, sometimes running three overlapping sessions. In past years, administration has found that many prospective students often present false information regarding their permanent residence in order to fall within zoning boundaries and successfully gain admission into the school. Traditionally, a very large fraction of FHHS graduates have gone on to attend college^[2]. Most recently, the valedictorians of the Classes of 2005 and 2006 have matriculated at Harvard University and Columbia University, respectively.

FHHS was shown in the motion picture The Basketball Diaries (1995), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg. The school's facade, boys gymnasium, and boys locker room, are used to portray^[3] a private Catholic High School in the borough of Staten Island where the main characters go to play a rival basketball team. The scene showcasing the game used FHHS students as extras to portray the students watching from the bleachers. FHHS plans to start both a football team and a wrestling team for the 2007-2008 season.

As of 2006, Stephen Frey is the principal administrator of the school.

Contents 1 Location 2 Feeder patterns 3 Notable alumni 4 Unsubstantiated notable alumni 5 SING! 6 External links

[edit] Location

Forest Hills High School is in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens. The school is near Rego Park.

[edit] Feeder patterns

There is zoning to high schools in New York City; but 8th graders may apply to schools of their choice.

[edit] Notable alumni

Many of FHHS's most famous students have gained recognition in entertainment fields. These include childhood-TV veteran Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), perennial TV-serial star Michael Landon, TV freak-show host and one-time mayor of Cincinnati Jerry Springer, "easy listening" songwriter Burt Bacharach (Class of 1946), folk-rockers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and punk-rock pioneers The Ramones. (The attitude expressed by the lyrics of The Ramones hit Rock and Roll High School is in stark contrast to the ethos long typical of FHHS students!). Graduates who went on to become entertainment producers include network-TV's Fred Silverman and Hollywood's Leslie Urdang^[4].

Court of Appeals judge Robert Katzmann is a member of the Class of 1970. Former NBA player and current Washington Wizard's GM Ernie Grunfeld also attended FHHS.

War-time dropout^[5] Art Buchwald, Class of 1943, won the Pulitzer Prize twice. Key organizer and executive of NASA, George Low, Class of 1943, served as chief of manned space flight. After retiring from NASA, he served as president of RPI until his demise in 1984. The first space tourist, ex-NASA engineer and millionaire investment fund manager Dennis Tito, graduated FHHS in 1958.

In June 1998, US President Bill Clinton cited FHHS's "academic and extra-curricular excellence" - and it became one of only 124 "Blue Ribbon" schools nationwide.^[6] In 2000, US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the commencement address.. Jacob J. ("Jack") Lew, a 1972 graduate of FHHS, was then the Clinton administration's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, having been elevated to the post two years earlier.

An elusive billionaire whose 'Cinderella-midnight' pardon by outgoing President Clinton caused a furor, commodity trader Marc Rich, attended FHHS for a while in the 1950s, until he was enrolled in an exclusive prep academy, the Rhodes School. The crimes for which Rich was forgiven by Clinton include the largest tax-evasion case ($48 million) in history.

[edit] Unsubstantiated notable alumni

Another important political figure, the brilliant and abrasive John Henry Sununu is an alleged attendee of FHHS. Cuban-born Sununu's family did live in Forest Hills during part of his minority; but, given his birth in 1939, surely the claim^[7] he is Class of 1953 is untrue. In any event, he would graduate^[8] now-closed La Salle Military Academy in 1957. Sununu served as Governor of New Hampshire from 1983-1989 and White House Chief of Staff for US President George H.W. Bush between 1989 and 1991, co-hosting CNN's "Crossfire" through much of the 1990's.

His Crossfire adversary, another Forest Hills resident, and the first woman nominated for US Vice President by a major party, Geraldine Ferraro, is another person alleged to be a FHHS attendee, supposedly Class of 1953. In any event, she graduated^[9] Marymount High School in Manhattan in 1952. Ferraro spoke at FHHS on June 23, 1992^[10] (presumably a commencement address).

[edit] SING!

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The annual theater competition known as SING! pits seniors, juniors, and "sophmen" (freshmen and sophomores working together) against each other in a race to put on the best performance. Started in 1947 at Midwood High School in Brooklyn, SING! is a tradition at many New York City high schools. At Forest Hills, SING! was well-established by the end of the 1960s: The aforementioned Leslie Urdang was Chairman (sic.) of Senior Sing 1972, which class had participated in Sing since "entering" in fall 1969. (In those times, nearly all students entered as sophomores, 9th grade graduates of "junior high schools".) It is now a huge school-wide event — in 2005, nearly 500 students participated. The entire production is written, produced, directed and funded by students. Their involvement ranges from being members of the production's casts, choruses, or tech crews to Irish Jig, Step, Russian, Bollywood, or Latin dance groups. SING! begins in late September and culminates in final performances in early February.

This year, the Juniors, for the first time in nearly 8 years halted the Seniors grapple-hold on SING!, and emerged victorious.

[edit] External links

• Official FHHS Web site
• Current profile, NYC Department of Education
• Current statistics, NYC Department of Education
• 2004-2005 annual report, NYC Department of Education
• 2003-2004 annual report, NYC Department of Education
• 2002-2003 annual report, NYC Department of Education
• An older (2002) FHHS Web site
• A Brand New FHHS Alumni Message Board for the Classes of the 60's (1960-1969) ONLY!!!

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