Holmdel High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Holmdel High School**

Founded	1972
School type	Public school (U.S.)
Religious affiliation	None
Location	Holmdel, NJ, USA
Enrollment	1,192 students
Campus surroundings	Suburban Rural
Mascot	Hornet
School colors	White, Blue, Silver

Holmdel High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school located at 36 Crawfords Corner Road in Holmdel Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, which serves 1,200 students from Holmdel Township. It is the only high school in the Holmdel Township Public Schools.

1 Description
2 Awards and recognition
3 Campus
4 Extracurricular activities
5 Controversy
6 Background
7 Administration
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Description

Holmdel High School is known for academic, athletic, and artistic excellence. The school regularly ranks highly in academic competitions. Holmdel sports teams, notably the girls' tennis, boys' tennis, track, cross country, and basketball teams have been New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) State Champions. Holmdel also places several students in the NJMEA All-State music programs every year.

[edit] Awards and recognition

Holmdel High School was the 19th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools^[1].

Holmdel High School was recently ranked as Number 426 in Newsweek magazine's recent listing of "America's Best High Schools" in the August 5, 2005, issue^[2].

[edit] Campus

Holmdel High School is physically connected to the William R. Satz Middle School and is notable for its unusual architecture. The oldest part of the building structure is the English/Humanities Hallway, with classroom numbers running in the 100s. The main part was completed in 1973, including the Commons, the 400s, the 500s, the Library, the Gym, the Complex Auditorium, and the TV Studio. The 400s (and 500s above) are eccentrically designed in a circular fashion, with both ends reaching the Commons. They surround the Library and Conference area. In addition to classrooms, the 400s wing also houses the Humanities Department Office, The Sting Newspaper Office, and Creation Yearbook Office.

The Commons is the main meeting area of the school, with lunch, school events, and many after-school activities taking place there. Within the Commons is also the Chartwells Lunch Service, where students buy food. The Commons is also a main advertising area for school events, such as club fundraisers, activities, sports events, and annual functions like Powderpuff and Spirit Week. The Complex Auditorium features state-of-the-art sound systems and hosts a multitude of events, ranging from the Holmdel Theater Guild annual productions to Holmdel Board of Education meetings. The large gym hosts basketball games and daily physical education classes. The TV studio hosts classes and TV production after school. The Library consists of several thousand volumes, and also contains nearly 40 desktop computers for student use. In 2000, construction of a new 600s/700s wing was completed, bringing new science facilities to the school. In 2004, construction of a new 800s/900s wing was completed, hosting both language and science classrooms. A new gymnasium was also constructed in 2004.

Because of the open space Holmdel houses, the several dozen acres behind the school contain soccer, baseball, softball, field hockey, lacrosse, football, tennis, and track sports areas. The combination football/track field is known as Bob Roggy field, named after a Holmdel alumnus who set the world javelin record. It is currently being renovated.

On Holmdel High School grounds is the Duncan Smith Theater, named after a Holmdel alumnus, in which Holmdel Theater Company and Holmdel Theater Guild productions are regularly performed.

[edit] Extracurricular activities

The students of Holmdel participate in a great variety of activities, everything ranging from sports to academic clubs to artistic organizations on campus. The largest sport is track, and the largest extracurricular club is the Kiwanis Key Club. Notable clubs also include the Holmdel Theater Guild, Best Buddies, Future Business Leaders of America, Creation Yearbook, The Sting Newspaper, and Transitions. The Holmdel Chess Team competes with other schools in the Shore Chess League of New Jersey (SCLNJ). The chess team won the 2005 NJ High School Booster Championship, and in 2006 won the NJ High School Varsity Championship.

The Holmdel mascot is the Hornet. During the American Revolutionary War the British named this area the Hornet's Nest because of the sting from our fighting patriots meant frequent defeat to the British raiders.

The Student Advisory Board is the main student governing body of the school. It is responsible for approving/denying fundraisers, dealing with club and organization issues, and serving as a liaison between the administration and the student body. The Student Council, on the other hand, deals with issues specific to each grade. The Student Council of the Holmdel High School is a separate entity from the Student Advisory Board. The Student Council consists of class officers, e.g. Freshman President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and two S.A.B. representatives.

[edit] Controversy

Like all high schools, certain controversial events have occurred in Holmdel High School in the past.

While attending an off-site pre-season football training camp in the summer of 1989 at Camp Green Lane located in Pennsylvania, senior members of the Holdmel Hornets Football team were alleged to have committed acts of "hazing," forcing underclassmen (mostly sophomores) to remove their clothing and play a game of Twister. The event was videotaped. The Record of November 12, 1989, is quoted as stating that "some coaches reportedly were disciplined."^[3] The incident also appeared on an episode of A Current Affair, a news tabloid show on WNYW, Fox Television, in 1989. As a result of the incident, all of the school's 85 football players reportedly were ordered to undergo mental health counseling^[4]. In an ironic twist, in 1991, the sophomores who had been hazed (then seniors) went on to become one of the best football teams in the history of the school, going 9-2 and runner up for the Central Jersey Group II State Champions. They had the number 1 ranked defense statistically in the Shore Conference. Their only two losses were to Group II State Champion Manasquan High School (11-0) who was in the middle of its State Champion streak between the years of 1990 through 1994.

In 1997, Holmdel High School had an additional incident of "hazing" in the news. This time with the soccer team. More than 200 people attended a Board of Education meeting after hazing reports surfaced. Many were angry that someone had complained about hazing. "Soccer is not a sport of the timid," a mother told the board, according to the Asbury Park Press (November 7, 1997). ^[5]

In Fall 2005, six-year head football coach Joe O'Connor stepped down in protest against the school administration's reinstatement of a player he had dismissed from the team. In a show of support for O'Connor's stand, all nine assistant football coaches resigned as well^[6].

Holmdel has recently come under the spotlight for township and citizen difficulties with the administration of Holmdel schools. In 2006, Holmdel Board of Education meetings held under Superintendent Maureen Flaherty were broadcast as passionate shouting matches over controversial new measures taken by the administrators. These included the firing of several popular teachers. The elimination of Advanced Placement Program (AP) class final exemptions prompted a student petition to be filed. The Holmdel Township Educators Association (HTEA) gave a unanimous vote of "no confidence" in superintendent Flaherty in June 2006. Flaherty resigned over the summer.

[edit] Background

Holmdel High School contains an extremely diverse student body, with over 20% of students being of Asian descent.

Holmdel High School is well-known in the area for being extremely competitive. Since the student body is so academically oriented, placement into top universities is commonplace.