Herbert H. Lehman High School

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Herbert Lehman High School
Motto Catch the Spirit, Hear the roar
Established 1970
Type Public secondary
Principal Mr. Robert Leder
Students 4240
Grades 9–12
Location The Bronx, New York, New York, USA
Colors Blue and Orange
Mascot Lions
Website www.lehmanhs.com

Herbert H. Lehman High School is a public high school at 3000 East Tremont Avenue, in the Bronx, New York City, U.S.A. The school is named after former New York State Governor Herbert Henry Lehman (1878 – 1963). The school is not affiliated with Lehman College in the Bronx but does hold its annual graduation ceremony there each June.

The school's first graduating class was in June 1974. The location is unique as the school is built on top of an overpass. This was a result of the fact that no other piece of land large enough for a school was available at the time the school was built. The largest part of the school exists on the west side of the Hutchinson River Parkway, with the rotunda on the east side. Connecting the two is a 3 level section on top of the overpass, with classes looking out over the parkway in both directions.

Behind the school, and alongside the Hutchinson River Parkway, there is a waterway (Westchester Creek) that is a small inlet for boats that load and offload various cargo. The water comes directly up against the school's tennis courts and football field.

The current principal, Robert Leder, is the schools second principal since its inception and has been such for most of its 37 year existence. In late 2006 and early 2007 the school underwent an external renovation that included painting the entire building. Much of the work was done during the night to avoid disrupting classes.

After a New York City Department of Education investigation of two assistant principals and abuse of overtime funds, Robert Leder was given the choice to resign his post as principal at the end of the year, or be immediately removed and reassigned. His decision, amid a great deal of student and parent protest, was to resign effective June 30th, 2008. He will be replaced by Janet Saraceno, the principal of High School for Media and Communications in Manhattan, NY.

Contents

[edit] Academics

In Lehman each student is placed into a certain "house" based on their academic record. Lehman offers for sophomores and above Advanced Placement where students can earn college credit in these college level classes. Most classes require the student to take a New York State Regents to complete the course and earn a credit. Lehman also offers many academic clubs, in areas such as Math, Law, Science and others. The Lehman law team has had tremendous success in the past and has won numerous state and city-wide titles and championships.


[edit] Campus

Lehman's main building is an expansive multi-winged structure. It contains 4 floors plus a basement for the schools athletic activities. An interesting note is that one of Lehman's main hallways is situated over a highway and the school resides of both sides of an overpass. This is do to the fact that when the school was built, a piece of land large enough to fit a school could not be located. The campus also features a large rotunda housing the school's auditorium. Behind the school is Lehman's primary home field used for football and baseball. It is covered in an artificial turf and is surrounded by a clay running track.

[edit] Notable alumni and former students

  • Actor James Madio[citation needed]
  • Former major league baseball player Bobby Bonilla[1]
  • High school as both a student and teacher, of late NYC Port Authority Police Officer Dominick Pezzulo who is portrayed in the movie World Trade Center.[2]
  • Asia Nitollano, member of the Pussycat Dolls[3]
  • Mrs. Yvette Beck is the Lehman AP Calculus teacher that started the Calculus program 25 years ago. She began the program with kids that failed math the previous year and worked with them extensively until they learned the material. They passed the AP exam. Since then, Mrs. Beck has repeated this formula year after year and as a result the Lehman AP calculus program has consistently produced top scores in the nation. In 2006, Mrs Beck was honored with the prestigious Seimans Award along with five other teachers in the nation for recognition as being the top six AP calculus teachers in America.
  • United States Navy Enlisted Michael Spirito
  • Construction Project Manager of the New Yankee Stadium, Michael V. Kennedy, who works for Commodore Construction graduated class of 1996.

[edit] Athletics

Lehman offers a wide variety of athletic clubs and teams for the students. The mascot of Lehman is the Lion and the schools colors are blue and orange. The schools Varsity football, baseball, soccer and bowling teams have had tremendous success in recent years.

[edit] Football and Baseball

Perhaps the most followed sport at Lehman is football. The coach of Lehman's varsity football team, Carmine Colasanto is recognized as one of the PSAL's best coaches. He has recorded over 200 career victories and has been honored with numerous coach of the year awards. The school's varsity football team has been consistenly ranked among the PSAL's best and has been in numerous City-wide championships. Junior varsity football is also offered and the team has also met with success in recent years, even managing to finish the 2007 season a perfect 8-0, and winning the New York City championship.Lehmans Baseball program is one of the best in the Bronx area. The divisional title is an every year capture for the Lehman lions varsity Baseball team.

[edit] Logo and Uniforms

Since its inception the school's colors have been orange and blue and the mascot the lion. The football uniform consits of a white jersey with blue numbers and blue pants. The road uniform is an all orange combination with blue numbers. The helmet is solid orange with a blue paw print on both sides. The Baseball uniform consist of white pants with a blue and orange stripe down the pant legs. The jersey consist of a white top with blue letters "HL" and orange outlining. The hat is all blue with an HL logo in white with orange outlining.


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Bonilla's Stance Makes Sense", The New York Times, 1992-01-19. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. 
  2. ^ "A NATION CHALLENGED: THE VICTIMS", The New York Times, 2001-12-15. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. 
  3. ^ Deborah Starr Seibel. "BRONX CHEER", New York Post, 2007-05-06. Retrieved on 2008-01-05. 

[edit] External links