Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School

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Plainview-Old Bethpage
John F. Kennedy High School
"Excellence in Education"
Location
50 Kennedy Drive
Plainview, New York, USA
Information
School district Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District
Principal Mr. James Murray,
Principal
Mr. Thomas Sena, Associate Principal
Mr. Paul Dallara,
Assistant Principal
Mr. Jonathan Silkowitz, Assistant Principal
Enrollment

1500+
Faculty approx. 130
CEEB Code 334532
Student:teacher ratio 12:1
Type Public School
Grades 9th through 12th
Campus Suburban
Athletics conference NYSPHSAA Section 8
Mascot Plainview Hawks Image:POBJFKhawk.jpg
Color(s) Blue and White         
Newspaper The Hawkeye
Established 1968
Information (516) 937-6371
Homepage http://pob.k12.ny.us/pobjfkhs

Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School (POBJFKHS) is a four-year coeducational public high school located on Kennedy Drive in Plainview, Nassau County, Long Island, New York. Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School is the only high school in the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District. It is fully accredited by the New York State Education Department and Tri-State Consortium. This school is registered with the College Board as Plainview-Old Bethpage/JFK High School, and is often referred to as Plainview JFK, especially for athletic purposes, to avoid confusion with nearby Bellmore JFK.

Contents

[edit] History

The school was opened in 1968 as John F. Kennedy High School, Plainview's second high school. In 1991, Plainview-Old Bethpage High School and John F. Kennedy High School merged into the John F. Kennedy High School building as Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School. The newly merged school abandoned Plainview High School's colors of green and yellow as well as their mascot (The Gulls) in favor of John F. Kennedy High School's blue and white Hawks. It is now the only public high school for residents of the community of Plainview and Old Bethpage.

[edit] General Information

[edit] Schedule

Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School operates on a 6-day schedule, although any rotating classes do so on an odd-even basis. The school day begins at 7:28 AM. Each period is 42 minutes long, with the exception of first period which is 47 minutes long to allow time for the daily announcements. The regular day ends at 1:37 PM at the conclusion of 8th period, but there is a 9th period in which health, physical education, or science labs may be scheduled. This period also allows students to meet with teachers for extra help or make up work. Clubs can meet either during 9th or 10th periods.

[edit] Grading

POBJFK grades on a 100-point scale. Students are awarded numerical grades for courses, with the exception of physical education, which is pass/fail. AP courses are weighted 7% and Honors courses are weighted 5%.

[edit] Facilities

POBJFK contains classrooms, science labs, a multiroom/bi-level library with a Women's Center and Holocaust Remembrance Center, a large group instruction/auditorium, a gymnasium (named "The V" in honor of former teacher Mr. Lucian Veneziano), a swimming pool, a state-of-the-art weight room and dance studio, a radio station, a television studio, a media arts classroom, a photography darkroom, art classrooms, technology classrooms, and computer labs, including a specialized computer lab for the Languages Other Than English Department.

[edit] Academics

The school currently offers 22 Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses[1], as well as College-credit and honors courses, in various subjects in every department. POBJFK has many honor societies, including the National Honor Society, the French National Honor Society, the Spanish National Honor Society, the New York State Science Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, and the Italian, Art, Business, and Thespian honor societies.

[edit] AP Macroeconomics

Based on a report released on January 24, 2005, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK "was ranked as achieving the best overall performance last spring on an Advanced Placement test in macroeconomics," meaning that Plainview has the "strongest AP macroeconomics course in the world among schools in (their) size range," according to the College Board. This data referred to AP exams given in Spring 2004. The Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District attributes this success to the district's sole macroeconomics teacher, Ms. Jane Behrens.[2]

[edit] Music

POBJFK has an excellent music program. There are two bands (symphonic band and wind ensemble), a string orchestra from which stems a full orchestra and a chamber orchestra, and both a treble choir and mixed choir. In addition, POBJFK has a jazz band and several student-run a cappella groups, including Chock Full of Notes, The B Sharps, On A High Note, Drastic Measures, and Noteworthy. Students from POBJFK participate each year in the Nassau Music Educators' Association All-County Music Festival as well as New York State's All-State Music Festival.

There is a long history of excellence in the choral program at this school. For many years, the Kennedy Choir, under the direction of Mr. Ronald Cohen (now retired), was viewed as one of the finest high school choral groups in the country.

[edit] Science Research

Plainview is known for its top-tier science research program. During the 2005-2006 school year, then-seniors Abhinav Khanna and Ben Pollack placed second nationally in the Siemens Competition (formerly Siemens Westinghouse Competition). During the 2006-2007 school year, then-senior Jinju Yi was a National Finalist and Regional Winner in the same competition. On December 3rd, 2007, Class of 2008 Seniors Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff were named national winners in the Siemens Competition team category (for a $100,000 scholarship), with the creation of a molecule that can inhibit the production of drug-resistant tuberculosis strains.[3] [4]The 2007-2008 year was also very successful for Senior Paul Chang, who had a 2nd place finish at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair for his work on Caribbean Drosophila melanogaster.

[edit] Athletics

The Plainview Hawks compete in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Section 8. Each year, Plainview's teams produce All-Conference, All-County, and All-State athletes. Plainview offers a wide variety of athletics, including:

Men's Women's
Baseball Basketball
Basketball Bowling
Bowling Cheerleading
Cross County& Cross County&
Football Golf
Golf Gymnastics%
Ice Hockey# Kickline
Lacrosse Lacrosse
Soccer Soccer
Swimming and Diving Softball
Tennis Swimming and Diving
Track and Field Tennis
Volleyball Track and Field
Winter Track Volleyball
Wrestling Winter Track

& - The cross country team is Co-Ed
% - The gymnastics team is combined with Bethpage High School.
# - The ice hockey team is combined with Hicksville High School.

[edit] Notable Athletes

Of recent years several athletes have gone on to become NCAA Division-I athletes:

Graduating Year Name University Sport
1999 Jamil Soriano° Harvard Football
2003 Bryan Cipolla Old Dominion Baseball
2003 Kristin Engel Niagara Women's Lacrosse
2003 Katie Spicer Marist Swimming & Diving
2003 Dominic Valente Hofstra Men's Lacrosse
2004 Jason Appel°° UNC-Wilmington Baseball
2004 Thomas Hopkins Siena Baseball
2005 Ben Green Fairleigh Dickinson Baseball
2006 Brent Herbst Siena Men's Lacrosse
2006 Jason Morganstern Wake Forest Men's Tennis
2007 John Bastone Delaware Men's Lacrosse
2007 James Giulietti Binghamton Baseball
2007 Elizabeth Kudirka Monmouth Women's Basketball
2007 Brandon Smyth Cornell Men's Tennis
2008 Anjelo Austria Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse

° - Soriano was drafted by the New England Patriots of the NFL after playing at Harvard.
°° - Appel was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies of MLB but chose to go to college instead.

[edit] Extra-Curricular Activities

Extra-curricular activities[5] include (but are not limited to):

  • Anime Club
  • Art Club
  • Broadway Theatre Club
  • Community Service Club
  • Creative Patterns, the district's literary-art magazine
  • DECA, the business-marketing club
  • Drama Cadets, who produce a Fall play and Spring musical each year
  • Federal Challenge
  • Foreign Culture Club
  • Images, the school's literary-art magazine
  • Increase the Peace (formerly Students Opposing Violence and Hatred)
  • The Hawkeye (formerly the Spectrum), the school newspaper
  • Mathletes
  • Model United Nations (METMUNC), which has hosted a conference every fall since 1971

-Since 2006, Model UN has expanded greatly, with club membership having doubled under the leadership of advisor Mrs. Bobbie Robinson, and students Ian Weissman '08, Shelby Grynberg '07, Daniel Mann '08, Lenny Luckman '08 and Andy Descovich '09.

Additionally, POBJFK is the only school on Long Island to host a SING! production every year, in which the classes in teams of Freshman/Sophomore, Junior, and Senior compete in skits that each team writes and performs.

[edit] WPOB

The school's radio station, WPOB, can be heard from 7:00AM - 2:30PM on 88.5 FM in Plainview-Old Bethpage and the surrounding area. WPOB is run under the direction of Adam Weinstock and Joseph Gennaro as part of the Business Department. WPOB is broadcast by students partaking in a three-year course in radio engineering, producing, and broadcasting. POBJFK shares the frequency with nearby Syosset High School's WKWZ, which broadcasts on the frequency from 2:30PM - 11:00PM.

The Class of 2006's senior prank.
The Class of 2006's senior prank.

[edit] Senior Prank

POBJFK made headlines when the Class of 2006 pulled a senior prank in which students placed a car on the school's roof on the last day of classes. The car, or rather shell of a car, which was painted hot pink and covered in green question marks, was lifted onto the school's roof directly above Principal James Murray's office. Mr. Murray responded to the prank by wearing a hot pink tie with green question marks on it to the 2006 graduation.

[edit] Notable Alumni

[edit] Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School (1991-Present)

[edit] John F. Kennedy High School (1968-1991)

[edit] Plainview-Old Bethpage High School (ca. 1960-1991)

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Ebert. "AP Classes on LI", Newsday, 2008-01-13. Retrieved on 2008-01-17. 
  2. ^ "POBJFKHS Holds Strongest Advanced Placement Macroeconomics Performance in Nation", Plainview Herald, 2005-02-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 
  3. ^ Catherine Arnst. "Girls Dominate the Siemens Competition", Business Week, 2007-12-03. Retrieved on 2007-12-06. 
  4. ^ Amanda Millner-Fairbanks. "Girls Make History by Sweeping Top Honors at a Science Contest", The New York Times, 2007-12-04. Retrieved on 2007-12-06. 
  5. ^ http://pob.k12.ny.us/pobjfkhs/POBJFKHS-Club%20Activities-2006-07.pdf POBJFKHS Club Activities 2006-2007