Abington Senior High School

Abington Senior High School
Location
Abington, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, 19001 United States
Information
School type	Secondary
School district	Abington School District
Principal	Dr. Jeffrey S. Fecher
Grades	10th through 12th
Gender	Co-educational
Enrollment	1,925  (2010)
Color(s)	Maroon and White
Mascot	Galloping Ghost
Rival	Cheltenham High School
Website	Abington Senior High School

Abington Senior High School is a three-year co-educational high school in Abington, Pennsylvania. The school was a two-year high school known as Abington South Campus until June 1983. In September 1984, Abington South Campus became a three-year high school (grades 10 through 12) and eventually changed its name to Abington Senior High. As of 2010, the current enrollment is 1,925 and the school principal is Dr. Jeffery Fecher. Abington students are leaders in PSSA scores in the state of Pennsylvania and have won technology-oriented awards from Dell and Microsoft.

Demographics

The 2009–2010 enrollment is 1,925 pupils with 631 in the senior class. The school has 142 faculty members. The racial make-up of the student body is: 72.75% White; 18.19% Black; 1.82% Hispanic or Latino, 6.93% Asian or Pacific Islander, 0.31% Native American or Native Alaskan. 7.8% of the students are eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch^{[citation needed]}.

Graduation requirements

Graduation Requirements: A minimum of 210 points (21 units) in grades 9–12 and the following course units: english (4), social studies (4), mathematics (3), science (3), arts and humanities (1), additional electives (4.6), and physical education/health (1.4).

Graduation project

By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor, and its expectations are set by the individual school district.

Advanced placement

A total of 127 candidates took 243 AP Examinations in May 2005 (8% scored 3 or higher)^{[citation needed]}. AP courses currently offered at the high school include: AP United States History, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB & BC, AP Physics B, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP French, AP German, AP Spanish Language, AP Statistics, AP Environmental Science, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A & AB, AP English, AP Studio Art, AP US Government and Politics, AP Music Theory, AP Macroeconomics, and AP Microeconomics.

Mascot

The school's mascot is the Galloping Ghost. Before 1980, the ghost was depicted as a sword-waving, hooded horseman. Since 1980 ghost has the likeness of football Hall of Fame legend Red Grange, who visited Abington Senior High School in 1930.

School district

The Abington School District has an enrollment of 7,436 pupils.

The Abington School District was involved in a famous legal case relating to prayer in school, Abington School District v. Schempp, which was heard in the United States Supreme Court on February 27–28, 1963. The ruling handed down on June 17, 1963 decided 8–1 in favor of the respondent, Edward Schempp, and declared school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools to be an unconstitutional violation of the separation of Church and State. The Chief Justice presiding over the case was Earl Warren.

The school district was also involved in a small scale legal case in 2003 when a number of students had planned a professional-styled wrestling event for charity. The event was organized as part of a 'senior project' and was to take place on March 29, 2003 in the gymnasium. Two days prior to the event, principal Robert Burt revoked the building permit for the event, claiming he had no knowledge of the permit which was signed and had crossed his desk. The students arranged for paid professional independent wrestlers as well as a full sized professional wrestling ring. After a court hearing on Sept. 12, 2003. District Judge Juanita A. Price ruled in favor of a judgement to reimburse the students for their prepaid costs. The incident incited local notoriety and fueled heated arguments at the local school board meeting.

Honors and distinctions

Abington Senior High School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon High School in 1998–99 school year. Abington was a National Service Learning Leader School in 1998 and 2001.

In 2008–2009, Abington won the "Triple Crown" of awards for public school districts in the United States. In 2008, America's Promise Alliance named Abington one of the "100 Best Communities for Young People" for the third year. Shortly thereafter, Money Magazine/CNN named Abington as one of the "Top 100 Best Places to Live" in America. In its 2009 list of America's Best High Schools, U.S. News & World Report awarded Abington Senior High School a bronze medal.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at Abington Senior High School on March 13, 2008, and President Barack Obama spoke at Abington Senior High School on October 3, 2008.

Facilities

The school completed construction of a large football stadium in 2006. The stadium is named after Stephen A. Schwarzman, an alumnus of the school.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Abington Senior High School include:

• Dr. Amar Bose, Class of 1947. Leader in the development of electronic and stereophonic technology. Chairman and founder of Bose Corporation.
• Ellery Schempp, Class of 1958. The inventor of the MRI machine, as well as the leader of the Abington School District v. Schempp court case, which led to the banning of organized prayer in all public schools.
• Susan Seidelman, Class of 1969. Director of five feature films and one of the top woman film directors in the United States.
• Stephen A. Schwarzman, Class of 1965. Founder and Chairman of the Blackstone Group, the largest private equity firm in the United States.
• Bob Saget, Class of 1974. Comedian and popular television celebrity.
• Shawn Wooden, Class of 1991. Football player. University of Notre Dame, the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears.
• Jennifer Su. Actress, singer, and television news reader in Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Africa.
• Brittany Hatch, Class of 2003. Contestant on America's Next Top Model Cycle 8.
• Ellie Daniel, Class of 1968. Gold, silver, and bronze Olympic swimming medalist.
• David Christiana, Class of 1978. Professor, Dept. of Illustration, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson. Illustrator and Author.

External links

• Abington Senior High School
• Abington Township

See also

• List of high schools in Pennsylvania