Francis Lewis High School
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Francis Lewis High School | |
Established | 1900s |
---|---|
School type | Public |
Principal | Nescobar Aloplop |
Location | Fresh Meadows, New York, USA |
Students | approx. 4900 students |
Athletics | 30 sports |
Francis Lewis High School is a public high school located in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It is known for its racial and ethnic diversity; 44% of the school is Asian, 23% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic, and 16% African American. Its large student body allows it to have 30 athletic teams.
The school also has an active Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps unit, which maintains its own drill team, which placed second in the nation (Master's Level) last year. The Academic Team is defending it's National Championship. Their Raider challenge team is also the defending champion of the Northeastern Brigade. The program is also known for its high yield of USMA alumni.
The school's own sports field and new track are teeming with students in "Polar Bear Gym," a year-round outdoor physical fitness class.
Francis Lewis High School also offers a number of special programs upon admission: Jacob K. Javits Law Institute (for law studies), the University Scholars Program (a highly selective program which gives its students an acceleratered humanities program with a requirement of two foreign languages), and a Math and Science Research Program (advanced studies of math, science and statistics). The latter program has caused a large amount of interest in the Intel Science Talent Search, with some student-created research projects including "Synthesis of Two New Alpha-Lactams" and "Suppression of Graft Versus Host Disease by Inhibition of Donor T-Cell Proliferation."
The school offers an "English as a Second Language" program, with bilingual Chinese and Korean classes.
In keeping with the school's diversity, Francis Lewis offers a plethora of foreign languages: Hebrew, Chinese, Classical Greek, French, AP French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Modern Greek, Spanish, AP Spanish language, and AP Spanish literature.
For those students who are unable to keep up with the average pace of the school, there is a "Return to Success" program, which doubles up sessions of core subjects and requires that classes stick together as groups. The school also offers a number of specialized education programs, which fall under the category of IEPs (Individualized Education Programs). These programs can either be classes where there are two teachers, classes with only those in need of specialized education, and a life-skills instruction class designed for the severely mentally handicapped or brain damaged.
The school sends students to Ivy League schools, private schools and CUNY / SUNY schools every year. The school has approximately a 91% attendance rate and 71.1% graduation rate.
Also, FLHS has a history of accidents around its streets. In February 2006, a Senior was hit by a car and lost his right leg in the accident.[1] The child is now homeschooled.
In 2003 New York City artist Marshall Weber [2] created a well known unique artists book by hand tearing a 1969 yearbook from Francis Lewis Highschool and collaging it into a vintage stamp album. Titled Souvenir the book was so popular that the Booklyn Artists Alliance[3] published a limited edition version in 2004.
[edit] Notable alumni
- James Van Thach - The first Vietnamese-American to serve as a Military Advisor to the New Iraqi Army