Albany High School (Albany, New York)

For other schools of a similar name, see Albany High School (disambiguation).

Albany High School
Assiduity
Location
700 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 12203
Information
Type	Urban public high school
Established	September 7, 1868
School district	City School District of Albany
Principal	David C. McCalla, Ph.D.
Faculty	217
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2,400
Color(s)	Blue and gray
Mascot	Falcon
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools International Baccalaureate World Schools
Nicknames	"Albany High", AHS, "Home of the Falcons", "The High"
Website	http://www.ahs.albany.k12.ny.us/

Albany High School (AHS) in Albany, New York, United States, is a public high school with an enrollment of about 2,400 students for the 2010-11 school year. The school is part of the City School District of Albany. It opened on September 7, 1868 as the Albany Free Academy. Albany High has been located at 700 Washington Avenue since 1974.

Albany High School is an International Baccalaureate school with an Advanced Placement program. The principal is David C. McCalla, Ph.D. The school newspaper is The Patroon, the literary magazine is Inkblot, and the yearbook is Prisms.

Albany High School is the only comprehensive public high school in the city.

Academics

Albany High has a wide variety of academic programs, including a longstanding Advanced Placement program offering 19 courses. In 2005, AHS was accredited as an International Baccalaureate World School and introduced an IB Diploma Program, which consists of a series of college-level courses for juniors and seniors leading to an alternative diploma. Every year, several IB or AP students typically attend some of the nation's top-ranked universities, including those in the Ivy League. Albany High has made Newsweek's list of America's Top Public High Schools on multiple occasions, most recently in 2010 (when it ranked 976). The ranking is based on the Challenge Index, which calculates the number of AP and IB exams taken at a school divided by the number of graduating seniors.

Most academic courses are taught at Core, Regents, and Honors levels. Four foreign languages (Spanish, French, Chinese, and Latin) are available. Within New York State, AHS was one of the first public schools outside of New York City to offer any form of Chinese as a foreign language. The school also has Senior Career Explorations (internships) in six areas and a Project Lead the Way engineering program. An annex, the Abrookin Vocation-Technical Center, offers many career and technical courses.

Clubs

Albany High School has a number of clubs; among the more active of these are the Drama Club, Speech and Debate Team, FIRST Robotics, Inkblot (a literary club), Prisms (the yearbook club), NYODA Step Team, International Club, Key Club, Habitat for Humanity Club, Chess Club, Ski Club, Math Club, Art Club, Video Production Club, Jam Club (playing rock music), Captains' Club, Peace & Social Justice Club, Anime Club, Fashion Club, Jewish Student Union, National Honor Society, Masterminds, Mock Trial, Gay/Straight Alliance, and Best Buddies. In addition, the school has a club for each of the four languages offered.

Athletics

Albany High School's interscholastic athletics program is affiliated with the Big Ten Conference of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (Section II). Fall interscholastic sports include American football for men; cheerleading, volleyball, tennis, and swimming/diving for women; and cross country, soccer, and golf for men and women. Winter sports include swimming/diving and wrestling for men; cheerleading and step/drill for women; and basketball (which had its best seasons under great longtime coach Paul Lyons), bowling, and indoor track for men and women. Spring sports include baseball and tennis for men; softball and step/drill for women; and outdoor track for men and women. Many sports are played at both varsity and junior varsity levels, and intramural activities are also offered. Albany High School soccer team in 2007 after almost 25 years made it through the sectional to semi final beaten the power house in big ten LaSalle, betting Saratoga High School in the 2nd round and beating Collonie Central High in the quarter final losing to Niskayuna high school in semi final.

Campus

Albany High's current location at 700 Washington Avenue opened in 1974. The school consists of three brick buildings connected by indoor pedestrian bridges. The largest of these, the academic building, contains the classrooms, cafeterias, and media center. Across from the academic structure are the physical education building (housing the gymnasiums, locker rooms, and HVAC equipment) and another building containing the main office, auditorium, and music classrooms. Three bridges on the second floor connect the buildings.

Academic building

A rear view of Albany High's academic building showing Towers One, Two, and Three.

The academic building is the largest edifice on the Albany High School campus and the only one with three stories. The ground floor contains the two cafeterias, kitchen, special education classrooms, art studios, Falcon Shop (school store), and various other classrooms. The second floor is the main hub of the school because it is connected to the other two buildings by the pedestrian bridges. It contains the media center (the large school library housing over 26,000 books as well as PC desktop computers), college center (a relatively new room with computers intended to be used by students to research colleges), and many classrooms. The third floor is entirely occupied by classrooms. All the science labs are located on this floor.

The dominant architectural feature of the rectangular building is its six towers, numbered one through six. Towers One, Two, and Three are on the west side, and Towers Four, Five, and Six are on the east side. The towers contain stairwells, restrooms, and assorted offices (Tower Two contains the school's elevator). They also have skylights above each stairwell.

The academic building is divided into North and South houses. Each student is randomly assigned a house upon enrolling in the school. Although they are mainly administrative divisions, the houses determine some class assignments. Each has its own administrative office, guidance office, and health office.

Room numbers in the academic building have three digits, with the first digit indicating the floor number. The other two digits depend on the house, with North House rooms having odd numbers and South House rooms having even numbers. Rooms numbers increase as one goes towards the center of the building.

Physical education building

The physical education building contains the indoor athletic facilities. These include the main gymnasium (which can be divided into three smaller gyms using motorized curtains), "Rubber Gym" (a smaller gym named for its floor material), wrestling gym, dance studio, and six-lane swimming pool. The Rubber Gym contains a rock climbing wall that is not currently used, likely due to safety concerns. The building also houses the male and female locker rooms, the athletic health office, the athletic director's office, and the Falcon Fitness Center, a recently renovated weight room. On the first floor of the two story building is the boiler room housing the school's heating equipment. The two air conditioning units are located on the roof.

Auditorium building

The third building on the Albany High campus houses the auditorium, main offices, and music classrooms. The diamond shaped auditorium has red cushioned seats and a triangular stage. Located on the ground floor, the music facilities include a rehearsal rooms, choir room, office, and several practice rooms. The auditorium building contains the main lobby and serves as an entrance for school visitors.

Courtyard

The courtyard

The courtyard is located between the three buildings. A brick and concrete space with small trees and many benches, it serves as a meeting place for students. During much of the school year, eating lunch in the courtyard is a popular activity. With the introduction of Dr. McCalla as principal though, students were informed that they were no longer permitted to eat outside - instead, lunch became more strict and students now must eat in the cafeteria matching their house assignment (North or South) in an effort to decrease the number of students skipping class and going to lunch. Because it only has a few storm drains, large puddles often form after rain showers and linger for days. Some brickwork in the ground has decayed, but new masonry was added recently in a courtyard beautification project.

Athletic fields

The Albany High campus contains athletic fields for soccer, baseball, American football, and softball. The school's running track was resurfaced in 2010. Albany High's varsity football, soccer and baseball teams play their games at nearby Bleecker Stadium.

Parking lots

Albany High School has two main parking lots. The Washington Avenue parking lot is located next to the auditorium building. It primarily contains spots for visitors and administrators. The larger Main Avenue parking lot is located next to the academic building. Most teachers park in assigned spots in this lot. A smaller parking lot is located next to the physical education building. The school used to provide parking for seniors, but it has discontinued this practice. Students with cars, therefore, park on streets surrounding the campus.

Abrookin Vocation-Technical Center

The Abrookin Vocation-Technical Center is an annex located close the high school. It houses the Career Academy, which offers many career and technical courses in fields such as construction, cooking, electricity, engineering, and computers (including a Cisco networking academy). About 300 students are enrolled in the Career Academy full time, but many others walk to the building for one period a day to take a technical class. Also known as "the Occ.", the center is named after the late school board member Manny Abrookin (1927–1994).

In 2007, David Bryan, then principal of the vocational center, was accused of embezzling $337,000 from the school and local charities. He was relieved of his duties and subsequently convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail.

Demographics

Of Albany High School's approximately 2,400 students, about 57% are African-American, 24% are White (non-Hispanic), 11.4% are Hispanic, 6.5% are Asian, and 1% are Native American. Seventy percent of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch and the attendance rate is 89%. The school has about 200 teachers with a student-to-teacher ratio of 12:1. Albany High enrolls students from more than 40 foreign nations.

Distinguished alumni

• Glen Barker - Houston Astros outfielder
• Tracy Baskin – Former Olympian 800m, former 4 by 4 co-world record holder, #3 rank 1988 US men 800m
• Carolee Carmello – Broadway actress who made her Broadway debut in City of Angels; she recently starred in Lestat and Parade. She is currently starring in Mamma Mia!.
• Lionel Chalmers – Successful basketball player who went from Albany High to Xavier University and eventually to the NBA. He was drafted by the L.A. Clippers and traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2005-2006 NBA season.
• Gene Cretz - Class of 1968 - U.S. Ambassador to Libya since 2008; taught English at Albany High from 1977 to 1979.
• William Devane - Film and television actor
• Alfred Freedman, M.D. - Class of 1933 - Psychiatrist who headed the American Psychiatric Association when it declared homosexuality was not a mental disorder in 1973.
• Donell James Foreman – Class of 2006 – Actor, has toured with Broadway musicals Mama Mia! and Hairspray
• Dennis Green – Class of 1993 – Professional European Basketball Player – Iceland Team Hotur^{[citation needed]}
• Stefon Harris – Class of 1991 – Jazz musician, vibraphonist
• Jay Lefkowitz - Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea and former member of the George W. Bush Administration.
• Charlie Leigh – NFL player for the 17–0 1972 Miami Dolphins Super Bowl Champions, primarily as a kick returner
• Todd Levin – Comedian and humorist who has appeared on Comedy Central
• Moira Mack Muntz – Class of 1999 – Regional communications director for the Obama administration
• Charlayne Woodard – Award-winning American film, stage and television actor and playwright

History

Albany High School opened on September 7, 1868 as the Albany Free Academy with 141 students. The school was housed in Van Vechten Hall at 119 State Street until May 4, 1876, when it was relocated to Eagle Street (where the Albany County Courthouse is now located). In 1913, the school was moved to a more central location between Washington and Western Avenues. This "old" Albany High School building still stands, and it housed Philip Schuyler Elementary School until 2004. Prior to 1974, Albany had two high schools, Albany High School and Philip Schuyler High School. That year, the institutions were merged to form the "new" Albany High, located at 700 Washington Avenue (the school's current location).

Recently, Albany High has had issues with violence amongst students. Following several fights in 2006, the school began random searches, and in 2007 the police donated two metal detectors to add to security. The last day of the 2006-2007 school year was interrupted by a large brawl in the cafeteria that forced a lockdown. The school has also initiated a stricter ID policy. AHS has continued to have problems with violence, with two police injured and nine students arrested in the beginning of the 2007-08 school year, and the last day of school that year was canceled due to incidents the day before. In September 2008, the first two days of classes were canceled due to scheduling problems.

Principals

• 1868-86: John E. Bradley
• 1886-1911: Oscar D. Robinson
• 1911-16: Frank A. Gallup
• 1916-51: Dr. Harry E. Pratt
• 1951-59: Stanley Heason
• 1959-67: Douglas Lincoln
• 1968-86: John Bach
• 1987-95: David McGuire
• 1995-98: Dr. Willard Washburn
• 1998-2001: Dr. John Metallo
• 2001-02: John Pellitier
• 2002-06: Michael T. Cioffi
• 2006-09: F. Maxine Fantroy-Ford
• 2009–Present: Dr. David C. McCalla

Sources: [1], [2]

Valedictorians and salutatorians

SEFCU Arena, where AHS graduation is held

Class rank is determined from an unweighted average of all courses taken in grades nine through twelve. The valedictorian delivers an address at commencement exercises, which are held in late June at SEFCU Arena.

• 1997: Michael Kay, Dorothy Weiss
• 1998: Lisa Stern
• 1999: Marc Silverman
• 2000: Heidi Schumacher, Jason Kay
• 2001: Karen Zawisza, Elizabeth Acker
• 2002: Christopher Paynter
• 2003: Joshua Goldman, William Tobin Przylucki
• 2004: Benjamin Colman, Nerissa Clarke
• 2005: Joshua Hancox, Kelly McKay
• 2006: Sarah Magidson, Jasmine Mauger
• 2007: Lucy Reeder, Benjamin Pastel
• 2008: Rachel Rudinger, Benjamin Amodeo
• 2009: Rachel Barnas, Hilary Worden
• 2010: Owen Daniels, Fern Beetle-Moorcroft
• 2011: Brian Carr, Robert Cosgrove

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Alma mater

Hail, Alma Mater, Hats off to you.

Ever you'll find us Loyal and true;

Firm and undaunted Ever we'll be.

Albany High, we love, Here's a toast to thee.

Mission statement

Albany High's Mission Statement was printed on all school mailings beginning in 2006. It reads as follows:

We believe that all students can and will learn. An excellent education will lead to the development of responsible citizens in our school and community. All students will be challenged in a comprehensive educational setting. It is the goal of Albany High School to enable each student to realize their full potential and enhance lifetime opportunities.

See also

• Albany City School District
• List of high schools in New York

References

• Albany High School History

External links

• Albany High School website
  • The Patroon (school newspaper)
• News about Albany High School (Albany City School District website)