Hamilton High School serves the southeastern Wisconsin communities of Sussex, Lisbon, Lannon, Butler, and parts of Menomonee Falls and Pewaukee. Hamilton High School is part of the Hamilton School District. Hamilton is distinguished from other area schools by its use of the block schedule. This means that it has 4 periods in a day.
The school is named in honor of Alexander Hamilton. The name was chosen as part of a contest, held in 1959. Linda Wicklund of Butler submitted the winning entry. It was finished in 1962.
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The current hallmark of the school is its 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) Hamilton Fine Arts Center. It seats 750 people. The Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra rehearses in the band room at the high school and uses the FAC for most concerts.
Hamilton High School offers specialized classes for students on both sides of the learning spectrum. For advanced learners there are a myriad of honors classes and AP courses. Many departments also have connections with area businesses providing the opportunity to participate in Co-Ops. For what the high school calls "credit-deficient" students the P.A.S.S. and G.A.P. programs are offered. These are individualized course programs.
Thanks to partnerships with the nearby Quad/Graphics plant, Hamilton High School has one of the best Graphic Arts Programs in the state. The Students are able to work with screen printing and offset printing. To facilitate the learning of these skills the Graphics lab has 2 single color offset presses, one digital 2 color press, 2 darkrooms, a camera, a straight to film printer, and a gullotine paper cutter. It also has a computer lab of G4 and G5 iMacs.
Hamilton's robotics team is known to the robotics community as either "Charger Robotics" or "Team 537." Team 537 is nationally renowned, and wins a regional at least every other year. The team is composed of 4 primary CDTs, or Component Design Teams. Mechanical builds the mechanical pieces of the robot, such as the chassis and drive train, Electrical wires the electrical parts together, and Code programs the internal computer that interprets the signals from the controller. Marketing takes care of fundraising and publicity activities. There are also Course and Animation. Course builds the full-size course that is used at the annual mini-regional, and Animation designs and creates the team animation, the topic of which is released at the same time as the robot task. Sponsors include Rockwell Automation (c) and GE (c)
The Hamilton High School Band is led under the direction of Jon Waite. The Band program consists of a Symphonic Band (Juniors/Seniors), a concert band (Freshmen/Sophomores), two jazz bands, a competitive marching band, and a pep band. The symphonic and concert bands rehearse on a daily basis and perform at various times of the year. The marching band practices during the summer all the way to the end of the marching season. Jazz Band 1 performs publicly on a regular basis at local parties, meetings, and other events. The music program has grown in size and quality since the arrival of director Jon Waite. The marching band his improved significantly since his arrival, and is breaking its own record scores each year.
Even though many students at the middle and high school levels play bowed stringed instruments on their own and within the Milwaukee area, true "instrumental music" does not include orchestra (strings), as the district does not offer orchestra lessons at any level within the district.
In 2007, the basketball team lost in the sectional round of the state playoffs. In 2008, the football team won three playoff games, eventually losing in the state semifinal round.