| Lower Merion High School | |
|---|---|
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Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve
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| Location | |
| 245 Montgomery Avenue., Ardmore, Pennsylvania, 19003 |
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| Information | |
| Type | High School: Public |
| Established | 1894 |
| Principal | Sean Hughes |
| Faculty | 107.7 FTE |
| Enrollment | 1,378 |
| Information | 610-645-1838 |
| Mascot | Bulldog/Aces |
Lower Merion High School, is an American public high school in Ardmore, a community on the Pennsylvania Main Line.
It is the larger of the two high schools in Lower Merion School District, which serves both Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. It was ranked among the top 60 U.S. high schools, public or private, by The Wall Street Journal in 2005. In 2010, 1,378 students attended the school. The athletics teams are known officially as the "Aces," but the football team is called the "Bulldogs".
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In 1894, with the consolidation of the area's three village high schools (Merion Square, Bryn Mawr, and Ardmore), Lower Merion began its first year in a stone building shared with the Ardmore Avenue Elementary School in Ardmore (photo). In 1897, nine students participated in the school's first commencement ceremony. The original high school faculty had seven members, including the principal and superintendent. The curriculum offered only a two-year preparation for either college or industry.
The Ardmore Avenue School burned in 1900 but was rebuilt, also of stone (photo). In 1911, the high school moved out of the elementary school to new quarters designed and constructed at the present site of 245 E. Montgomery Avenue. Dedicated on December 2, 1911, "Lower Merion Senior High School" was an impressive granite and stone edifice considered to be one of the finest new educational facilities in the state. The 17-acre (69,000 m2) property, complete with three stone-arch entrances, landscaped grounds and a football stadium, eventually grew to 23 acres (93,000 m2), with the purchase and annexation of the Clarke House. At its opening, twenty-one staff members were employed under principal "Professor" Charles B. Pennypacker. (photo)
In 1922, Ardmore Junior High School was constructed adjacent to the senior high school and in 1926 two new wings were added on either side of the main high school building. These additions doubled the size of the original school, helping to accommodate rapidly increasing enrollment. The present administration building was constructed in 1932 to provide office space and an additional twenty-five classrooms. By 1940, the teaching staff had expanded to 61 under the direction of principal George H. Gilbert. Total student enrollment was 1461 for grades 10–12.
In 1943 an adjoining "technical" building was added along the School House Lane side to house shops for auto repair, metal, print, wood-working and drafting (photo). In 1950 a cafeteria/library wing (photo) designed by the Philadelphia firm of Savory, Scheetz and Gilmour was added near Pennypacker athletic field. That same year the 18-acre (73,000 m2) General Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold athletic fields opened on land located directly across Montgomery Ave. By 1957, the enrollment had grown to 1,663 students and the time had come to build a second high school (Harriton) in Lower Merion Township. The original 1910 building was demolished in 1963 and replaced by an air-conditioned classroom structure designed by H.A. Kuljian and Co.
Due to enrollment increases and to accommodate changing program needs, the District frequently reconfigured spaces in the facility, including the re-opening of classroom and storage space in the former Ardmore Junior High School in the 1990s. (Most of the junior high school had been demolished in 1992 to make way for additional parking). The rooms in the technical building were converted for other uses, including art classes, computer labs and the school's television studio. Original classrooms were re-purposed as spaces for individualized learning support and students with special needs. The central lobby that connected the 1963 and 1932 structures was converted to a college-style help center in 2004.
In 2004, a community advisory committee determined that existing facilities no longer met the standards of the Lower Merion community and recommended that a new school configured for 21st century education be constructed on the same site. The Board and administration authorized construction of a new school in 2007. Demolition of the "Ardmore Annex" along with the natatorium and one of the school's two gyms commenced in the summer of 2008 to make way for construction. The new Lower Merion High School opened in September 2010 and was dedicated during a public ceremony on October 17, 2010. In addition to state-of-the-art classrooms, science laboratories, art classrooms and music rehearsal spaces, the new Lower Merion features a lecture hall with tiered seating, a multi-purpose black box theater, an 850-seat auditorium/theater, a greenhouse for environmental and horticultural studies, high-performance athletic facilities, a swimming pool, a television studio, multi-media production facilities, a music technology lab, an expansive courtyard and a two-story, glass-encased library that serves as the building’s exterior focal point along Montgomery Avenue.
The school also features a planetarium on top of the old building. It was closed after it was declared a fire hazard. It was then temporarily transformed into a staff lounge room. However, the room is currently vacated.
The new school was constructed adjacent to the historic district administration office building (DAO), which is the only “original” structure that remains on the site. A number of measures were approved by the Lower Merion Historic Commission to ensure the school was designed to complement this Class I historic resource. The placement of the new building provides an unobstructed view of the DAO from Montgomery Avenue. The color and size of the masonry used in the new building is reflective of materials of the DAO. Vertical windows and metal spandrel panels echo elements of the DAO’s façade. The scale of the building is also sympathetic to the nearby residential neighborhood. The stone engraving of Ardmore Junior High School's motto, "Enter To Learn, Go Forth To Serve" remains on the front lawn of the high school property, facing Montgomery Avenue. (photo)
Lower Merion is often listed among the top public high schools in the country, and graduates many students each year to the top academic colleges in the nation. It offers programs for students with varying needs and interests, including Advanced Placement Program, honors and college preparatory classes.
Lower Merion High School offers three languages for students of all grades, Spanish, French, and/or Latin. Classes range in level and difficulty [College Prep (CP) to Advanced Placement (AP)]. Japanese is available to upperclassmen only.
The school's Senior Project program allows second-semester seniors get an idea of the business world, while encouraging them to take on responsibility and consider college majors. By this program, Seniors get out of school in mid-May, whereas for the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors of the school, school lets out in mid-June. They take this month off to work as an intern or research or explore a topic of interest (not for money), and then present a slideshow/video for their parents, teachers, and friends at school.
Students "job-shadow" as juniors. For job-shadowing, each student gets in contact with a working adult, mindful of areas of personal interest, either prospective of the line of work or just looking for a fun or enlightening experience. A student may job-shadow a friend/neighbor or perhaps someone to whom the student has been referred by suggestion of a teacher or peer. Once the student writes a letter requesting the chosen worker's approval of being "job-shadowed", he or she makes arrangements with the adult concerning the date and time of the job-shadowing. (Students are to arrange to meet on one of four days, Monday through Thursday of a particular week, in the Month of December.) After said arrangements have been made, the student goes to the workplace of the "job-shadowee" and observes and subsequently writes about the type of work which he or she does.
The Lower Merion Athletics are represented as either the Bulldogs or the Aces. Bulldogs is mainly used for football and Aces is used by mostly rest of the sports.
The 2007 Lower Merion Baseball team recorded a 12 and 6 record, the second best in 50 years. They have only won one Central League Championship, in 2005. 2007 was a successful year for the Aces. The team was led by Jeff Calvert (Central League All Main Line), Jeff Puklin (Central League All Main Line) with the help of Devlin McConnell, (first team all central league) Elliott Yodh, (second team all central league) Andy Eisenlohr, (second team all central league) Luke Porter, (honorable mention) and Anthony Fulginiti (honorable mention).
The Lower Merion High School Basketball team (a.k.a. the "Aces") have won six Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class "AAAA" State Championships, the most by a PIAA Class "AAAA" school, the most recent of which was in March 2006 under Head Coach Gregg Downer (1990–). In the 2004–05 season, the Aces, despite being the fourth seed out of District I, won the Western bracket and became the lowest seed to ever reach the State Finals. The team was led by the "Big Three," Dan Capkin, Ryan Brooks, and Garret Williamson. In 2006, Lower Merion avenged three previous losses against the Chester Clippers in a rematch at the University of Pennsylvania Palestra, and ultimately beating the heavily favored Schenley High School Spartans 60-58 in the championship game. The Aces were led by seniors Ryan Brooks and Garrett Williamson, who graduated from Temple University and Saint Joseph's University, respectively, in 2010.
The following year, despite having lost six seniors (including Brooks and Williamson), the Aces advanced to the AAAA Quarterfinals, losing to Simon Gratz High School. Highlights of that year included finishing with the fewest "points allowed", two blowout wins against Springfield, and Ridley High Schools (both Central League rivals, to whom the team lost to earlier in the season), a buzzer beater win against Chester in overtime on a shot by captain Adam Ellison, another buzzer beater by team superstar sophomore Greg Robbins against Easton High School in States, and holding Souderton High School to only one point in the third quarter.
The Aces' fan section, nicknamed "the dawg pound" (c. 1997), is widely considered as the most involved and dedicated in the area.
NBA superstar Kobe Bryant led Lower Merion to a State Championship before graduating in 1996, when he was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft and subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant has won 5 NBA championships with Los Angeles Lakers, the winner of the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, is a 13-time NBA All-Star and four time All-Star Game MVP, 2-time league scoring leader, won the 2008 NBA MVP Award, the 2009–10 NBA Finals MVP award and scored the second most points in a single-game in NBA history with 81 points on January 22, 2006.
On December 16, 2010, the school held a sold out dedication ceremony for Kobe Bryant, naming the school's new gym after their famous alumnus.
The Lower Merion Varsity Tennis Team, under coach Joe Monaco have achieved athletic excellence that could be mostly described as under-celebrated. The Varsity Girls Tennis team captured the PIAA division AAA state champion title in 2005, along with the central league and district title for the past 5 years. This win is bittersweet for the seniors at that time because of the previous 3 losses at the state championship finals. The LM girls team captured the title without dropping one match throughout the states process to end with an astounding 19–0 record. Over the past six season, Lower Merion has been likened to a dynasty, having compiled a team record of 108 wins and 5 (all at state finals) losses.
The active players for the Aces at the championships are: 1. Courtney Fenimore (Junior) 2. Kristen Roth (Sophomore) 3. Julie Raezer (Senior
1 Doubles. Andrea Dumitrescu (Senior)/Yuxin Liu (Freshman) 2 Doubles. Leslie Golden (Senior)/ Grace Hollaender (Senior)
The LM boys team also captured the state title in 2006 and successfully repeated history in 2007. The duo of Robby Kay and Courtney Scott, who now have continued on to play at the University of Delaware, won two state championships in their time at Lower Merion. The 2006-2007 Lower Merion Boys Tennis Team had four players that currently play division 1 tennis.
Lower Merion offers extracurricular activities, for which many students stay after school as late as 9 p.m..
Ace Harmony and Aces Angels are the two a cappella groups at Lower Merion. Both choral groups feature 16 students. Ace Harmony is a co-ed group, while Ace's Angels is all girls. They performed the entire Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, for their January 2007 winter concert. The manager of both groups, Joshua Hunnex, teaches in the music department at Lower Merion. He is also an accomplished singer with an extensive musical background.
The Lower Merion chapter of buildOn, an international organization committed to enhancing education and empowering youth throughout the United States and "helping people of developing countries increase their self-reliance through education". Students meet weekly to learn about, and raise awareness for, global issues, and perform community service on the weekends and during some of the meetings. Since the Lower Merion chapter's inception in fall 2007, buildOn has grown to over 100 members and currently raises $1,200 per month to build schools in developing nations. The chapter is currently raising funds for the construction of a school in Malawi. Students from the Lower Merion chapter, along with those at other Philadelphia schools, have the opportunity to apply for the chance to help build one of the schools overseas- last year, students from the Philadelphia area traveled to Malawi, in southern Africa, to construct a school in a rural village and have a meaningful cultural exchange. Meetings are held in the large group instruction room (LGI) on Wednesdays during Academic Advisory.
The culinary arts club (colloquially known as cooking club) is for students at Lower Merion High School who love to make food and learn about culinary history but cannot fit a cooking class into their schedule. Its club members make a wide variety of gourmet food, ranging from oatmeal raisin cookies to traditional Japanese sushi to great American soul food classics like Mac 'n Cheese. Club members also watch food-preparation demonstrations done by various teachers at Lower Merion High School as well as guests from the real culinary world. The club provides its members hands on activities in the kitchen and good life skills.
Interact is the high school extension of Rotary International. It is a community service club which has an obligation to perform at least one local and international project each year, as dictated by its international Constitution. Sponsored by the Ardmore Rotary club, LM's chapter has gone on to volunteer at senior citizens centers, paint murals through the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, refurbish houses and parks in West Philadelphia through AchieveAbility, and has raised money for Rotary's Shelter Box program and Interact's BluePack campaign. Unfortunately, the Lower Merion chapter of Interact is no longer in existence.
The LM programming club was created in the 2009–2010 school year, and is still quite incipient. They intend to learn the Scheme, C, and Ruby programming languages. They also plan to analyze such topics as computability theory, data structures, and algorithms.
Was started as a student-run after school club at Lower Merion during the 2004–05 school year. The team worked very hard against scheduling and budget issues to put together and launch a news-type show that ultimately never got very far off the ground. Then in November 2006, with the aid of district funding and teacher training, Lower Merion started broadcasting morning announcements to homerooms through its video system, instead of the traditional PA system. Although the program is no longer run by students, many in the original after- school team keep the show alive for the "Aces Update", broadcasted to the student body and staff by a "Voice of the Aces".
Aces Update is currently scheduled to resume for the 2007–08 school year on December 17, 2007, after receiving a new Flash Video distribution system, similar to that of popular video sharing sites such as YouTube and Meta Cafe. This upgrade comes along with others in the studio including new computers used to edit and produce the show. This new system will bring viewers a better viewing experience, such as eliminating buffer times, better video and sound quality, and less bandwidth used.
Lower Merion's Mock Trial Club participates in Pennsylvania's mock trial competition as a member of the Montgomery county chapter. When provided with either a civil or criminal case, the club assigns lawyer and witness roles for both sides and prepares for county competitions around February. This past year (2010), LM's mock trial came extremely close to reaching states, ascending to the Montgomery county finals. Noted Mock Trial participants include founding president and winner of two consecutive "Best Lawyer in competition" awards Chris Perna-Elias, as well as Jonathan Eskreis-Winkler who won the "Best Lawyer in Competition" award in 2006 in a trial against Akiba Hebrew Academy.
Lower Merion's theater company, Players, is one of the only student-run theater programs in the state. Players staged their first production in the new auditorium in February 2011, "Twelve Angry Jurors".
The Student Council is a body elected by the Students of Lower Merion High School which serves as the liaison between students and administration in addition to running student events, fundraising, and organizing school spirit. Each advisory selects 2 representatives, and officers are selected in a School-wide election each April. The Officers for the 2011-2012 school year are as follows:
President: Aniqa Hassan
Vice President: Aziz Kamoun
Secretary: Andrew Pasquier
Treasurer: Danny Kane
Sergeant-at-Arms: Morgan Berman
Originally named GUAVA (Girls United Against Violence Anywhere), SUAVE is the acronym for Students United Against Violence Everywhere. It was founded in 2002 by a group of girls (Lower Merion students Lauren Falcão, Diana Chang, Ashley Johnson, Pam Rook, and Wendy Shreiner) for a community service project. The club strives to end violence in the world through fundraising and advocating nonviolence. Each year, the club chooses a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization to raise money for. Past years' beneficiaries have included Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, Roots of Peace, and Central Asia Institute. The gala, held in the spring of each year, serves as the club's main fundraiser. The amount of money the club makes each year is usually around $10,000.
The Technology and Engineering Club was started by Technology Education teacher Mr. Piotrowski during the 2002–03 school year. The club was primarily a Technology Student Association (TSA) chapter, and also competed in the annual mousetrap competitions at Widener University and in the JETS/TEAMS competition. The 2003–04 school year was the first year the Club attended the National TSA conference, taking home first place trophies in two events. During the 2005–06 school year, Lower Merion's FIRST Robotics team was formed, choosing the team name "Dawgma". This was formed under the supervision of English Teacher Rich Kressly, who worked with Piotrowski to make FIRST a part of the Technology and Engineering Club. During its rookie year, Dawgma competed at the Philadelphia Regional and won the Highest Rookie Seed Award and the Rookie All-Star Award. During the 2006–07 school year, Dawgma competed in the Ramp Riot competition at Wissahickon High School and the Duel on the Delaware which are both off-season competitions, as well as the Philadelphia Regional where they placed 4th overall, and won the GM Industrial Design Award. Dawgma also competed in the FIRST Robotics 2007 championship where they placed 6th overall in the Galileo Division. The Technology and Engineering Club has become the second largest club at Lower Merion, having over 100 registered members during the 2005–06 year, compared to about 10 members during the 2002–03 year.
The Dolphin is Lower Merion High School's Art & Literature club. Students can send in pieces of art or writing to have them work shopped by the editors and other members when they meet after school. The Dolphin also publishes a magazine at the end of the year containing submitted works from throughout the year chosen by the editors. And on the first meeting of every month Dolphin becomes Acoustic Dolphin, where students can bring in their instruments and songs to play for the club.
The Merionite is the official school newspaper of Lower Merion High School. It is completely student-run, from the articles to the layout. The Merionite publishes articles by students about sports, school news, arts and entertainment, and editorials. The Merionite is distributed monthly to students, parents, teachers and subscribers. There is an estimated readership of 4000 per issue.
Lower Merion Babaganouj, an open Ultimate team, was created in the 2005–2006 school year with the special efforts of Christian Vanni (Class of 2006). In their first season, Babaganouj fared well, placing 5th in the state and sending a group of players to nationals with the regional youth club team. As of May 2006, they are coached by Christina and Paul Minecci, and are now an official school club. By 2008, Babaganouj fielded three teams: the A team, the B team, coached by Rick Atkins and the girl's team (though girls play on the A and B teams as well), coached by Kathy Rowe and captained by Jenna Perna-Elias and Beah Jacobson. In 2009 and 2010, the Lower Merion girls team won the PA State HS Championships, women's division. The 2010 A team tied for 5th at the State Championships. Lower Merion now graduates high school players to the top College programs in the country, including Tufts, Carleton, Pitt, Brown, and Dartmouth.
Lower Merion's world affairs club has earned a spot among the nation's top discursive bodies. The club attends Model United Nations Conferences and discusses current international events on a biweekly basis.
Senior prank It is customary for Seniors to perform a "senior prank" in the month set aside for senior projects. The annual prank takes place at the school, and victimizes the students, administration, and teachers.
Shake Your Booty At pep rallies, Lower Merion Students, accompanied by the school's pep band, perform the "Shake Your Booty" chant (below). Each of the chants four verses addresses a different class of the high school, usually starting with the freshman class.
Freshmen verse: Sophomores,Juniors, and Seniors: Hey Freshmen! Freshmen: Hey what? S, J ,Sr: Hey Freshmen! Freshmen: Hey what? S, J, Sr: Shake your booty! Freshmen: What? S, J, Sr: Shake your booty!
In the 2010 WebcamGate lawsuit, plaintiffs charged that Lower Merion School District (including Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School) secretly spied on students enrolled at the two high schools by surreptitiously and remotely activating webcams embedded in school-issued laptops the students were using at home, and therefore infringed on their privacy rights. The schools admitted to secretly snapping over 66,000 webshots and screenshots. Those included webcam shots of students in their bedrooms.[1][2][3] In October 2010, the school district agreed to pay $610,000 to settle the Robbins and parallel Hasan lawsuits against it.[4]
Two parents filed the lawsuit against the school district on February 11, 2010.[5][6][7] The plaintiff was a student at one of the two district high schools. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the district to stop its secret webcam monitoring, and ordered the district to pay the plaintiffs' attorney fees.[8][9][10]
In July 2010, a Lower Merion High School student filed a parallel second suit.[11] The school was also put on notice of a third parallel suit that a third student intends to bring, for "improper surveillance of the Lower Merion High School student on his school issued laptop", which included taking over 700 webcam shots and screenshots between December 2009 and February 2010.[12]
A U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee held hearings on the issues raised by the schools' secret surveillance, and Senator Arlen Specter introduced draft legislation in the Senate to protect against it in the future. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), U.S. Attorney's Office, and Montgomery County District Attorney all initiated criminal investigations of the matter, which they combined and then closed because they did not find evidence "that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent". The civil lawsuit has a much lower burden of proof, and is unaffected by the decision. Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath said: "This would appear to be a matter to be resolved in civil court."[13] An investigative report prepared by the law firm Ballard, Spahr LLP–the firm that the Lower Merion School District had hired to defend it–did not find evidence that the system "was used to 'spy' on students", but was unable in many instances to find who had authorized that the system take surreptitious photographs, for what reason, and to find copies of photographs that had been deleted from the school server.[2]
Name (graduation year), significance
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