West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South

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West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Princeton Junction in Mercer County, New Jersey serving students in grades 9 through 12. The school is part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, a regional school district serving students from West Windsor Township (in Mercer County) and Plainsboro Township (in Middlesex County).

The high school was opened in 1973 as West Windsor-Plainsboro High School. In 2001, the school was renamed by appending "South" to the school's name, because of the opening of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North[1]. As of 2003, the school had 1,541 students.

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[edit] Awards and recognition

During the 1992-93 school year, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education[2], the highest award an American school can receive.[3][4]

The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District is one of the top achieving districts in New Jersey. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South was the 9th ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.[5]

In 2005, the school had the second highest average SAT score in New Jersey. About 97% of the students pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). The school offers several honors and Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses in various subject areas. The school does not rank students, but it uses a weighted GPA. The most common college for students is Rutgers University, with over 90 students from the Class of 2005 attending there. Many students from the school are accepted to highly selective schools around the country, including the Ivy League.

In 2004-05, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, came in second with a 1240 SAT average score (V:604, M:636) trailing Montgomery High School which scored a 1244 (V:617, M:627) earning it the highest average SAT score in the state for non-magnet schools.[6]

[edit] Sports

The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Pirates participate in the eleven-member Colonial Valley Conference, which includes high schools from Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties. The school mascot is the Pirate and the school colors are green and gold. Secondary school colors used as accents include black and white. From 1973 to 2003, the Pirate football team bore a "Golden Dome," or a yellow helmet, which for much of that time was blank without a decal. Now, the football team bears a "Snowcap," or a white helmet bearing a yellow pirate flag on it. The school newspaper is called The Pirate's Eye. The school's radio station is WWPH 107.9 FM, shared with West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North.

The North-South high school rivalry is a heated affair, with the annual football game in 2003 drawing nearly 5,000 spectators. There is also an older rivalry with Hightstown High School called "The War of the Windsors." The winner of the annual football game takes home "The Mayors Trophy."

The South Varsity Boys' tennis squad is the flagship team of the district. They can be seen featured in local newspapers almost every year after dominating performances in county, sectional and state tournaments. They are consistently ranked in the top 10 of all New Jersey high school tennis teams.

[edit] Clubs

West Windsor-Plainsboro offers a variety of clubs and activities including Model United Nations, Junior Statesmen of America, Future Problem Solving, Math Club, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Science League, China Club, Korea Club, Russian Club, German Club, French Club, the South Asian Awareness Student Association (SAASA), Academic Decathlon, The Pirate's Eye Newspaper, ECHOES Arts and Literary Society, Interact, HELP, Waksman Genetics Research Program, and The Red Cross Club. South's academic teams consistently rank highest in the state. For instance, in 2005, the Science Olympiad Team ranked first in the state and eleventh nationally, a Future Problem Solving Team qualified for the International Conference, two students qualified for the Chemistry Olympiad training camp, a student ranked first in the state in Academic Decathlon, and a student qualified for the National Informatics Olympiad Team.

[edit] South Model United Nations

The West Windsor Plainsboro High School South Model United Nations Team is regarded as one of the premier high school MUN teams in the nation. The team is comprised of two advisors and approximately sixty delegates. The delegates conduct individual research outside of school and attend conferences as prestigious universities such as Princeton, University of Pennslyvania, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins. The team has won numerous awards throughout the east coast. Recently, the South MUN team has won the following awards: 1. Honorable Mention at the North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference(07) 2. Best Delegation at the Cornell Model United Nations Conference(06) 3. Best Delegation at the Rutgers Model United Nations Conference(06) 4. Best Delegation at the Princeton Model United Nations Conference(06) 5. Outstanding Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (05) 6. Best Delegation at the Rutgers University Model United Nations Conference (04) 7. Best Delegation at the Ivy league Model United Nations Conference(04) 8. Best Delegation at the Ivy league Model United Nations Conference(03) 9. Best Delegation at the North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference (03) 10. Best Delegation at the Seton Hall Model United Nations Conference (02) 11. Outstanding Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference(02) 12. Best Delegation at the Harvard Model United Nations Conference(97)

[edit] History

Before the opening of the school in 1973, students were sent to Princeton High School in the Borough of Princeton. In the 1990s, population growth in the district necessitated an additional high school, and in 1997 High School North was built and the name was changed.

[edit] Schedule

The high school operates on a rotating class schedule from 7:40 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. daily. Classes are an hour long with a 5 minute passing period between classes. Lunch is at the same time for all students from 10:50 to 11:35 (because of this, seniors are allowed to leave school for lunch to reduce crowds). There are three classes before lunch and three after lunch. The schedule cycle is 4 days. On a 1-Day, classes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 meet, with 4th and 8th period missed. On a 2-Day, classes 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 meet, with 1st and 5th period missed. 3- and 4-Days follow the same pattern. If a science class requires lab time, 20 minutes of the lunch period are used once every four days, following the 4-day cycle, thus allowing for a 6-Credit course instead of the traditional 5-Credit course.

[edit] Referendum

A district-wide referendum was recently passed in January 2006, which will result in many improvements for High School South. Among those include a new gym, more parking spaces, a new cover for the pool, more classrooms, improvements on the HVAC system, and artificial turf for the football field. The improvements will be done in stages starting with the 2006-2007 school year. During that time, there will be very few parking spaces and only one gym class each period since only the auxiliary gym will be available. The estimated cost of the referendum is $23 million.

[edit] Administration

  • Charles Rudnick - Principal
  • Robert Banks - Assistant Principal
  • Dennis Lepold - Assistant Principal

[edit] Notable alumni

The following attended what is now West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ District Landmarks, accessed May 15, 2006
  2. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), accessed May 11, 2006
  3. ^ 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."
  4. ^ 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."
  5. ^ Top Public High Schools in New Jersey, New Jersey Monthly, September 2006
  6. ^ New Jersey's Highest Average SAT Scores, Mission, Officers, Staff, New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools, data gathered from 2005 New Jersey School Report Cards, February 1, 2006

[edit] External links

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