Herricks High School

Herricks High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school with 1450 students accredited by the New York State Board of Regents and the Middle States Association. The school is located in Searingtown, New York, 20 miles east of Manhattan. Fino Celano is the superintendent of the Herricks School District. In 2016, James Ruck became Principal of Herricks High School after Samuel Thompson resigned to return to his previous school district.^[4]

Herricks High school is ranked as the 96th best in the nation by "Newsweek and the Daily Beast"^[3] which has ranked America's 1000 best high schools. It also ranks as 17th best in New York State.

This school was involved in one of the major Supreme Court rulings affecting prayer in public schools in 1959.

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,373 students and 94.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.6:1. There were 61 students (4.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 29 (2.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.^[1]

History

Herricks High School stands on Watermelon Hill. The land near the area was a burial ground for the Pearsall family starting in the 17th century, but the burial grounds were later removed.^[5]

The High School opened in September 1958 and had its first graduating class in 1960.^[6]

Known for the "Herricks Prayer Case, Engel v. Vitale," the Herricks School District (a.k.a. Union Free School District #9) was sued by five district property owners in 1959. "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country." was recited as a daily procedure on the recommendation of the NY State Board of Regents. This case was decided by the U. S. Supreme Court, which ruled the prayer unconstitutional in 1962.^{[7] [8]}

In 2013, Herricks High School helped celebrate the Herricks School District's 200th anniversary.^[9]

Academics

Courses

Herricks offers 25 Advanced Placement courses. Over 300 students take AP exams each year. The courses include:

Music and theater

The music department is home to ten different performing ensembles, including several advanced groups: Jazz Band, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and Chamber Choir.

Herricks is also home to Chapter 1975 of the Tri-M Music Honor Society.^[10]

Extracurricular activities

Herricks DECA

Herricks DECA is the largest club in the school.

Herricks Model Congress

Every year, the World Affairs Club organizes the Herricks Model Congress, which is associated with the United Model Congreses.

Sports

Herricks offers the following sports: football, badminton, softball, baseball, tennis, soccer, wrestling, volleyball, lacrosse, basketball, bowling, swimming, track, and cheerleading teams.^[11]

Publications

Publications include the Highlander newspaper,^[12] and the OPUS literary magazine.

Notable alumni

• Cliff Asness, hedge fund manager
• Charlie Cipriano, All-American and Major League Lacrosse goalie
• Nadine Faustin-Parker, three-time Olympian for the Republic of Haiti (2000,2004,2008)
• Alyssa A. Goodman, Class of 1980, Professor of Astronomy --Harvard University
• Alex Katz (baseball), baseball player for the Chicago White Sox
• Liam McHugh, sports journalist
• Eric J. Nestler, Chair of Neuroscience at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Joe Roth - film executive, producer and film director.
• Matthew Senreich, co-creator/executive producer of Adult Swim's Robot Chicken
• Robert Sitkoff, Professor at Harvard Law School
• Larry Teng, television director and producer

References

External links

• Official website