Rahway High School

Rahway High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Rahway, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Rahway Public Schools. The high school's present location was built in 1941. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1931.^[2]

As of the 2010-11 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,096 students and 84.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.05:1. There were 407 students (37.1% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 115 (10.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.^[1]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 191st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2012 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 261st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.^[3] The magazine ranked the school 249th in 2008 out of 316 schools.^[4] Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 316th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 13 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).^[5]

Fine and performing arts

Rahway High School's fine & performing arts department serves more than half of the school population, who are involved in at least one aspect of the department's offerings. Fine Art, Drama, Chorus, Madrigals, Piano, Music Theory, Musical Theater, Dance, and Band curriculum coursework are available to the student body.

The Musical Theater program has been largely recognized by the Papermill Playhouse Rising Star program as one of the finest in the state, with awards won in 2003 for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography" for the production of Crazy for You, and in 2004 for "Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design" for the production of 42nd Street along with a final nomination for Outstanding Overall Production that year, Several final nominations were awarded in 2006 and 2007 for the productions of Me and My Girl and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat respectively.

The Papermill Playhouse nominated Rahway High School's Spring 2009 production of The Will Rogers Follies in 13 categories, and was awarded four Rising Star Awards for "Outstanding Costuming Achievement", "Outstanding Achievement by a Teacher or an Outside Director", "Outstanding Achievement by a Chorus", and "Outstanding Overall Production".^[6]

In 2011, Rahway High School was awarded the Educational Impact Award by the Papermill Playhouse for its production of West Side Story.^[7]

Advanced Placement courses

Rahway High School offers Advanced Placement courses in AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP United States History, AP United States Government and Politics, AP Comparative Government & Politics, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP Physics.

Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP)

Beginning in 2007 with support from Rahway alumnus and former Merck & Co. CEO Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, President of The Marianthi Foundation, the new Advanced Placement Incentive Program (APIP) was introduced. The APIP Program involves naming teachers as AP Teacher, Pre-AP Placement Teacher, Lead Teacher, and AP Advisor, providing financial incentives for students and teachers based upon AP enrollment and AP exam results.

Vagelos Scholars Program

Rahway High School seniors who are admitted to and attend a U.S. News & World Report ranked Top 25 National University or Liberal Arts College will receive a scholarship from the Marianthi Foundation. The Vagelos Scholarship is funded by retired Merck and Co. CEO Dr. P. Roy Vagelos.

Athletics

Rahway High School now competes in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.^[8][9] Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school had participated in the Mountain Valley Conference, which consisted of public and parochial high schools covering Union County and Essex County in northern New Jersey. With 808 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2011-12 school year as North II Group III, a category that included schools with enrollment of 808 to 1,106.^[10]

The football team won the North II Group III state sectional championships in 1978-79 and 1984.^[11]

Extracurricular activities

Allegarooter, the Rahway High School yearbook received state-wide recognition for earning the 2007 and 2008 Garden State Scholastic Press Association Yearbook 1st Place Gold Award in Content and Design.^[12]

Rahway High School also has the Marine Corps JROTC Drill Team, the Devil Pups. This team competes in the National High School Drill Team Championships, held annually at Daytona Beach, Florida. In May 2008, the Devil Pups earned the title of Overall National Champions at NHSDTC. In addition to the overall title, the team also brought home several more first and second place trophies in each section at the event: Inspection, Regulation, Color Guard, and Exhibition. In the area of Armed Dual Exhibition, the team claimed both first and second place in that event, a feat never before seen at NHSDTC.^[13][14]

The Devil Pups were featured in the Disney Channel made-for cable movie Cadet Kelly (2002) after earning a National Runner-Up trophy in Platoon Exhibition the previous year.^[15]

Marching Indians

In 2003 and 2005, the Rahway High School Marching Band took 1st place in the USSBA State Championship. In 2008, they finished in 2nd place.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:^[16]

• John Farinella, Principal
• Mark Cantagallo, Vice Principal
• Cary Fields, Vice Principal
• Chey Rivera, Vice Principal

Notable alumni

Carl Sagan

Antonio Garay

• Earl Clark (born 1988), basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA^[17]
• Milton Friedman (1912–2006), economist, 1976 Nobel Laureate recipient.^[18]
• Antonio Garay (born 1979), defensive tackle for the San Diego Chargers.^[19][20]
• Wayne Gilchrest (born 1946), U.S. Congressman.^[21]
• Kenneth R. Miller (born 1948), Professor of Biology at Brown University.^[22]
• Jeffrey Moran (born 1946), Ocean County Surrogate and former member of the New Jersey General Assembly.^{[citation needed]}
• Carl Sagan (1934–1996), Astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.^[23]
• Bob Scarpitto (born 1939), former professional football player.^[24]
• Dr. P. Roy Vagelos (born 1929), Retired Merck & Co. CEO.^[25]

References

External links

• Rahway High School
• Rahway Public Schools
• Rahway Public Schools's 2010–11 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for the Rahway Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics

Coordinates: 40°36′39″N 74°17′35″W / 40.610762°N 74.293119°W / 40.610762; -74.293119

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