Amherst Regional High School (Massachusetts)
| Amherst Regional High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| 21 Mattoon Street Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 |
|
| Coordinates | 42°22′51″N 72°30′46″W / 42.38083°N 72.51278°WCoordinates: 42°22′51″N 72°30′46″W / 42.38083°N 72.51278°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public High School |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Superintendent | Maria Geryk |
| Principal | Mark Jackson |
| Vice principal | Miki Lee Gromacki Annie Leonard |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 1,300 |
| Area | Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, Shutesbury |
| Color(s) | Maroon and White |
| Mascot | Hurri the Cane |
| Team name | Hurricanes |
| Newspaper | The Graphic |
| Yearbook | The Goldbug |
| Website | http://www.arps.org/hs |
Amherst Regional High School (ARHS) is a secondary school in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, for students in grades 9–12. Together with Amherst Regional Middle School, it makes up the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District, which comprises the towns of Amherst, Pelham, Leverett, and Shutesbury, Massachusetts.[1] Its official colors are maroon and white. ARHS's current principal is Mark Jackson.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Academics
Amherst Regional High School runs on a trimester system. Students take five courses per trimester: normally, three to four are academics, and one to two are electives. Most academic classes run for two trimesters. They run either straight through or are broken up by the winter trimester. The exception to this is some social studies and English courses that are a trimester each and some higher-level courses that run for all three trimesters. Amherst Regional High School is the only public high school in the nation to offer a course in Gay and Lesbian Literature, a program started by Sara Barber-Just.
[edit] Extracurricular activities
[edit] Sports
The school's sports teams are all known as The Hurricanes. ARHS is one of many high schools in Massachusetts with a nationally-ranked Ultimate program. The boys' and girls' Ultimate teams have both won the national championship several times; including the girl's program winning the national championship five consecutive times. The program hosts the annual Amherst Invitational Ultimate Tournament which pits 30 high school teams from across the country in one of the oldest and largest high school tournaments in the USA.[3]
The girls' cross-country team has won 18 consecutive Western Massachusetts titles, and seven state championships since 1990. The boys’ cross-country team has also been dominant in the region for several years, winning six of the last seven Western Mass Championships, and a state championship in 2001. Amherst Boy's XC is listed in the top 110 high schools in America.
The 1992–1993 “Lady Hurricanes” girls' basketball team, which won the state championships, inspired the book In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais. The boys basketball team has a 2003 state title. The baseball and volleyball teams both have a 2002, 2006 Western Mass title, while the softball team received a Western Mass title in 2008 and 2010. In 2011 the softball team reached the state finals after beating Agawam in the Western Mass Championship and Milford in the state semi-final. They went on to face King Phillip in the finals, and lost 1-0 with pitcher Emma Mandoker getting 1000 career strikeouts.
The Football team won the 1999 Super Bowl by defeating Southbridge 27-7. It was the first Super Bowl win for Amherst in 25 years.
The lacrosse team won the 2003 Western Massachusetts championship.
The 2002 and 2006 baseball teams won the Western Massachusetts baseball championship. The Amherst Regional Baseball team won its third Western Massachusetts baseball championship on June 15, 2010 against East Longmeadow, and on June 19, 2010 at Le Lacheur Park in Lowell, MA, won its first ever Massachusetts State baseball championship against Xaverian High School, 3-2.
[edit] Survival Living
ARHS is one of the few schools in the nation to offer a Wilderness Survival program.[4] The class meets after school from January through June, and covers subjects such as orienteering, wilderness first aid, emergency shelters, wild edibles, and emergency fire-building.
Former teacher Charlie Camp started the program in 1975. Reid Johnson led the class in 2000 and 2001, followed by Kate Collins. Aaron Kropf and Charlie Camp have co-led the class since 2006.
Activities in Survival Living include an overnight hike with the whole class, a two-day orienteering campout in pairs, and a three-day wilderness solo. Many former students return to help teach the class or aid with the major exercises, and often describe the class as a highly formative event in their lives.
[edit] Controversies
The town of Amherst, situated in an area surrounded by five colleges, prides itself on being particularly socially conscientious. Because of this, issues ranging from First Amendment rights to race relations have a habit of repeatedly cropping up in Amherst Regional High School. Recently it has experienced a wave of controversies over several different issues, many of which have helped put it in the national spotlight.
In 1990, Principal Ilene Levitt instituted a sexual harassment policy, among the first of its kind for a high school in the nation. The policy banned "staring or leering with sexual overtones", among other acts; it received significant media attention.[5]
In 1999, ARHS's school production of West Side Story was canceled when several Puerto Rican students and parents complained about what they perceived as stereotypical representations in the musical. The musical split both students and teachers, and put ARHS's superintendent Gus Sayer under fire for his stand that "No group, neither in the majority nor in the minority, should have the ability to censor the decisions our community’s educators make about what to teach, what to read, or what to produce on the stage."[citation needed] Internationally known conductor Jessel Murray, who had served as the choral instructor and director of the school musical, left the United States entirely and returned to his native Trinidad as a result of the debate and cancellation.[6]
[edit] The Vagina Monologues
In 2004 Amherst Regional High School received international press coverage for their decision to allow students to perform The Vagina Monologues. The performance was done under the direction of faculty member Katina Papson, who co-directed with 17-year-old student Kristin Tyler. Although many adults within and outside of the community felt that The Vagina Monologues dealt with inappropriate material for teenagers, some ARHS students felt that the performance had relevance to their lives. Appearing on NBC News, Kristin Tyler stated that "one in five girls in high school are either sexually or physically abused on a date."
In 2007 The Vagina Monologues were performed by Amherst Regional High School students again. Women's Rights Club, founded in fall 2006 by Sophie Rabinovitz, '07, sponsored the show. After seeking permission from principal Mark Jackson to perform the monologues in their high school auditorium, their request was denied. Jackson cited reasons such as the town's looming budget cuts, previous controversy and negative publicity associated with the show, as well as lack of interest by teachers and staff to help organize the performance. The members of the club persisted and succeeded in securing the Northampton Center for the Arts for their show. The Vagina Monologues took place on February 15, 17 and 18th. The Saturday and Sunday night shows both sold out, and the club succeeded in raising several thousand dollars to donate to local women's charities.
In 2008, due to continued student efforts, and the support of principal Mark Jackson, The Vagina Monologues moved back to the high school. The play was an energetic success, with strong support from community organizations, a large number of students and parents, and the high school administration. In combination with a "Week of Awareness" designed to talk about the issues discussed in The Vagina Monologues, the play raised over $8,000 for the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition and the Men's Resource Center for Change (Both based in the Pioneer Valley).
[edit] Notable alumni
- Annie Baker (class of '99), playwright
- Tim Barber, (class of '97), best known for online gallery "tinyvices.com"
- Thomas Bezucha (class of '82), film director and writer of Big Eden and The Family Stone
- James Ihedigbo, plays safety for the New England Patriots
- Amory Lovins, sustainability guru and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute
- Eric Mabius (class of '89), actor best known for his roles as Daniel Meade on Ugly Betty and as Tim Haspel on The L Word
- Julie McNiven (class of '98), actress
- Ellen Moran (class of '84), Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach (class of '95), actor
- J Mascis (class of '84), of Dinosaur Jr. and other bands
- Perry Moss (class of '76), played 2 seasons in the NBA
- Benjamin Nugent (class of '95), writer
- Gil Penchina (class of '87), CEO of Wikia
- Robbie Russell, (class of '97), plays soccer for the MLS Real Salt Lake team
- Deb Talan (class of '86), an American singer-songwriter best known for being in the folk-pop duo The Weepies.
- Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman (both class of '89), founders of govWorks and stars of the documentary film Startup.com
- Jamila Wideman (class of '93), former WNBA basketball player
- David Romer (class of '76), notable economist at the University of California, Berkeley.
