Harry S Truman High School (Levittown, Pennsylvania)

Harry S Truman High School
Address
3001 Green Lane
Levittown, PA, 19057
United States
Information
School type Public
School district Bristol Township School District
Superintendent Samuel Lee, Ed.D
Principal Mr. Davis
Vice principal John Baradziej, George Harwick, George Kramarenko, Mike Stock
Grades 9–12
Hours in school day 8
School color(s) Black and Gold
Mascot Tiger
Team name Harry S Truman Tigers
USNWR ranking 1
Website http://www.btsd.us/subsite/hth

Harry S Truman High School is a public high school located in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The school is a part of the Bristol Township School District in Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is its only high school. It was named after US President Harry S Truman. It hosts grades 9-12. The current principal is James Moore.[1] It was formerly known as Woodrow Wilson High School. Its name is sometimes abbreviated HST or HTH; it is also known as merely Truman.

Academics

AP level courses

Harry S Truman High School has historically offered the various Advanced Placement (AP) level classes, including U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, Chemistry, English Literature, Statistics, and Calculus AB (though BC has been offered to particularly advanced students). The school also offers Project Lead the Way courses that result as college credits. Those include Intro to Digital Electronics, Intro to Engineering Design, Principles of Engineering & Civil & Architectural Engineering. HST won an AP Honor Roll award for their distinguished scholars for the years 2011-2012, besting other school districts in the area.

Language instruction

Truman offers five years of instruction in Italian and Spanish. It also has an extensive English as a Second Language (ESL) program and often hosts international students who are studying abroad in the United States.

NJROTC

Harry S Truman HS was a pilot school for the United States Navy's Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program. The Harry S Truman NJROTC unit was active from 1968 until 1996. It was the first JROTC unit to admit female cadets.

Debate & forensics

Truman has a nationally recognized speech and debate team. The debate team's main coach is Carl Grecco. Shawn Eliasun is the Cross Examination or Policy coach, and Tom Gushue is the Lincoln Douglas coach. The team competes in the Valley Forge district of the National Forensic League, the Philadelphia Catholic Forensic League, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Debate League, District 12 of the Pennsylvania High School Speech League, and at numerous national and regional invitationals.

The program has qualified hundreds of students to National (NFL & NCFL) and state (PHSSL) championships. Truman students continue to place among the top debaters at national tournaments. The program has produced many state and local champions. Truman's speech & debate team is the reigning champion of the 26 school PCFL for the 2005-2006 school year. The team has accumulated many individual and team awards. During the 2008–09 year, Truman has won the Southwestern New York Debate League 50 Year Anniversary Sweepstakes award.

Drama

Known regionally and nationally, Truman's drama program was led by Louis Volpe for about 45 years until his retirement in June 2013. In October 2012, the Bristol Township school board approved a resolution that would name Truman’s auditorium after Louis Volpe. They were honored for their excellence by being chosen to pioneer Les Misérables for high school use in 2001. They received that honor again in 2007 and performed the pilot of the student edition of Rent. In spring 2006 Beauty and the Beast was performed, which garnered nearly-universal positive reviews. They performed the Disney-produced musical Aida in spring 2007. Past works include: Epic Proportions, Godspell (2013), Jesus Christ Superstar, Equus, Found a Peanut and Grease. They have been granted the rights to pioneer their next Broadway-born show, Spring Awakening. Spring Awakening premiered in November and it was a huge success. After the departure of Volpe, Tracey Krause, (now Tracey "Craig"), assumed the position of director after being assistant director for several years.

Author Michael Sokolove wrote the book Drama High, which focuses on the life of Lou Volpe.

Sports

All Truman teams compete in the Suburban One League of Levittown, Pennsylvania.

Truman's basketball program have won Suburban I championships in 2001, 2004, and 2005. They have also reached the State Playoff Tournament for AAAA schools in 2005 and 2006. The team coach is Allan Flowerford. Tyrone Lewis graduated from Truman, where he was senior class president and record-setting basketball player.[2]

Field hockey

Truman's varsity field hockey team is coached by Kayla Kowalick; the junior varsity team is coached by Jess Shultz. The field hockey team has a growing program. Opponent teams include: Pennsbury, Neshaminy, Abington, and both Council Rock teams.

Football

Truman football teams are not especially triumphant over the past few decades, but they have hope. They have "strong" rivalries with Conwell-Egan, Pennsbury, and Bensalem. Their win–loss record was 2-10 in 2008 and showed improvement in 2009, 3-8, under old head football coach John M. Iannuccini. Coach Iannuccini resigned days before the first game of the 2010 season. Truman now has a new Head Coach - Jon Craig, and has had its best season in over 30 years in 2014. Hopes are high for 2015.

Lacrosse

Truman's lacrosse team was founded during the 2000-01 academic year. It has both a varsity and junior varsity squad.

Student life

Student traditions

During the 2005-06 school year there was a student-inspired revival of a week long celebration which includes the students participating in different activities, usually with each day having a different theme, such as wearing school colors or dressing as twins. The students have a Spirit Night which has events, a dance, and competitions. The same year, the Tigers brought back an annual bonfire the day before homecoming.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Official website
  2. ↑ "Niagara’s Lewis Can Revel in His Success". The New York Times. Associated Press. 11 March 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-26.

http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2010/09/02/bristol_pilot/sports/doc4c7fc562101f0094808413.txt?viewmode=2

External links

Coordinates: 40°08′06″N 74°51′40″W / 40.135°N 74.861°W / 40.135; -74.861

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