Summit High School (New Jersey)

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Location
Summit High School
125 Kent Place Boulevard Summit, NJ 07901
Information
School district	Summit Public Schools
Principal	Paul Sears
Enrollment	977 (as of 2005-06)^[1]
Faculty	82.6 (on FTE basis)^[1]
Student:teacher ratio	11.8^[1]
Type	Public high school
Grades	9 - 12
Athletics conference	Iron Hills Conference
Nickname	Hilltoppers
Color(s)	Maroon and gold
Established	1888
Information	908-273-1494
Homepage	School website

Summit High School is a four-year public high school in Summit, New Jersey, United States, and is operated by the Summit Board of Education as a part of the Summit Public Schools. The school was opened in 1888 due an increased need for a publicly-operated secondary school within the City of Summit. The school's athletic teams are referred to as the Hilltoppers, though the school's actual mascot is a mountain goat wearing a Summit High School athletic jersey. The school's colors are maroon and gold, although for most of its history they were maroon and white.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 977 students and 82.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 11.8.^[1]

1 Facilities
- 1.1 Athletic facilities
2 Awards and recognition
3 Athletics
4 Trivia
5 Notable alumni
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Facilities

The school was originally located in a building constructed in the 1920s on Morris Avenue between Maple and Elm Streets near downtown Summit. It shared this building with the junior high school until 1936, when Edison Junior High School opened in east Summit. However, a number of parents outside of east Summit -- then called "Deantown" -- objected to their children traveling to this section of the city. By 1943, the new junior high school had closed and the high school again shared the Morris Avenue building with the junior high school. (The building still houses the junior high school, now known as Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School, as well as the Summit Board of Education offices.)

In 1962, the high school relocated to a larger, more modern facility located at 125 Kent Place Boulevard, slightly outside of downtown Summit and within the Washington Elementary School district. In the late 1990s, a push was made to renovate the extremely outdated high school. From 2000 until 2003, the high school building underwent a series of renovations, including the construction of a new media center, cafeteria, gymnasium, and science laboratories. Special attention was also paid to upgrading the building's existing facilities and to increasing the information technology capacities of classrooms.

[edit] Athletic facilities

The Metro Homes Sports Complex, better known as Tatlock Field, is located on Butler Parkway (a short distance from the high school), is utilized as Summit High School's main venue for football, men's lacrosse, and track and field. The field was recently converted to FieldTurf due to frequent problems with poor field conditions. A generous grant was made by the Metro Homes Corporation, and the football stadium has been renamed Metro Homes Field. Tatlock also includes a field house with locker room facilities and practice fields adjacent to Washington Elementary School. Junior varsity and middle school tennis practices at the four tennis courts adjacent to the track complex.
Memorial Field, located a short drive from the high school on Larned Road near the Brayton School this large public field (currently operated by the Board of Recreation) is utilized for men's and women's soccer, cross country, baseball and softball. This field complex is also used extensively by Summit's youth sports programs. Varsity and junior varsity tennis matches are played at the six court complex next to the Brayton School.
Warinaco Rink, located in Warinaco Park in Elizabeth is shared by Summit High School, Westfield High School, Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark, and Cranford High School as a home hockey venue. The Summit High School hockey team also utilizes several other local rinks for practice and has hosted home games at the newer, smaller Union Sports Arena, also located in Union Township.
Summit High School Gymnasium, the high school's main gymnasium is used to host men's and women's basketball as well as volleyball. The high school's second (newer) gymnasium used primarily as a practice facility.
Summit High School Lower Field, located directly behind the high school this field is used for field hockey, women's lacrosse, and physical education classes.
Buntin and Hurst Pools, located at the Summit YMCA in downtown Summit, these facilities are utilized by the men's and women's swimming teams.

[edit] Awards and recognition

Summit High School has consistently been ranked among the best public high schools by New Jersey Monthly. Summit High School students have an average SAT score which is considerably higher than the national average and frequently are admitted to the nation's most competitive colleges and universities.

The drama club has been extremely successful. In 2007, the spring musical was Titanic, which sold out almost every performance. Anne Poyner, the director, entered the production into the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards, a statewide competition of excellence in New Jersey high school musicals. Summit High School received 12 final nominations. At the Rising Star Award ceremony in June, Titanic ended up winning a record 7 Rising Star Awards, including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, making Summit High School the top theatre school program in the state of New Jersey.

This year, their production of Fiddler on the Roof was nominated for 11 awards, including, for the third year in a row, Best Overall Production of a Musical. The awards ceremony is on June 10, 2008.

The Forensics Team is thriving as well. The team took home 2 third-place trophies, and one first-place this year. Among the team's top competitors, sophmore Tim Lynch, and seniors Ismenia Mendes and Max Rissman, were selected to compete in the nation's National Forensic League Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada in June. They will compete with over 1,000 students from around the country.

[edit] Athletics

Despite the fact that Summit High School faces many of the challenges that small, suburban public high schools are plagued by — most notably, competition with private school recruitment, a small student-athlete base, and frequent turnover due to graduation — Summit High School's athletic teams have a long and proud tradition. For more information on Summit High School sports please see [1].

The Summit High School cross-country team has also been very successful since 2004. The girl's team has won several sectional championships, and has made it to the Meet of Champions.

The Summit High School Hilltoppers compete in the Iron Hills Conference.

The girls' lacrosse team won the state championship in 1999.

The boys' lacrosse team made it to the state championship in 2001, falling 8-3 to Moorestown High School in the championship game, after a 4-2 semi-final win over Delbarton School.^[2] They again reached the state championship in 2005, falling to Delbarton School 6-2.

The boys' hockey team surprised the well-respected and dominant team from Brick and eventually lost in the public school final game to Bayonne in 2000.

The boys tennis team, coached by Bob McNutt, a teacher at Governor Livingston High School, and Peter Tierney, a history teacher at Summit, the team has won, or shared, the conference or county title many years in a row. This includes a Group II state championship in 2003 earned with a 4-1 win over Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School.^[3]

The 2005 boys basketball team won the North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 61-58 win over Hillside High School.^[4]

The 1998 girls tennis team won the Group II state championship (with a 3-2 win over Moorestown) and finished in the top 5 in the state. In 2007, the girls tennis team won the North II, Group II state sectional championship with a 3-2 win over Mountain Lakes High School in the tournament final.^[5]

The boys swim team was 13-2 in the 2007-2008 swim season, losing only to Seton Hall Prepatory in the regular season and Mountain Lakes in the sectional finals of the state tournament.

[edit] Trivia

In 1965, A band of New York City musicians then called The Warlocks (one of several bands, including The Grateful Dead, to use that name) played their debut show together at Summit High. The band went on to replace one of its members and rename itself The Velvet Underground.