Nashua High School South

Nashua High School South
Address
36 Riverside Drive Nashua , New Hampshire 03062-1395 United States
Coordinates	42°45′12″N 71°29′45″W
Information
Type	Public high school
Motto	"Where Panthers Roar and Students Soar"
Established	2004 (2004)
School district	Nashua School District
Superintendent	Garth J. McKinney
Principal	Keith Richard
Teaching staff	142.0 (FTE) (2020–21)
Grades	9–12
Gender	Coeducational
Enrollment	1,832 (2018–19)nces.ed.gov |language=EN}}</ref>
Student to teacher ratio	12.90∶1 (2020–21)
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Purple silver white
Team name	Panthers
Rival	Nashua North Titans
Website	nashua.edu/South

Nashua High School South, formerly known as Nashua High School, is a public high school located in Nashua, New Hampshire. The school's current location was erected in 1975 with its first class graduating in June 1976. The school was remodeled between 2002 and 2004 when a second school, Nashua High School North, was built. The existing high school building was renamed Nashua High School South. The school serves approximately 1800 students, making it the largest public high school in New Hampshire, and the second largest high school overall, after the private Pinkerton Academy.

History

Nashua High School (as the south campus was referred to prior to the split in 2004) has been located at three different locations throughout the city, originally at a location at Spring Street (the site is now occupied by the Hillsborough County Superior Courthouse South), followed by the building that is now Elm Street Middle School, before finally coming to the current location on Riverside Drive. The campus, located on the southeast side of the Nashua River, is in fact located slightly farther north than Nashua High School North, located on the northwest side of the river.

From the 1975/1976 school year through the 2004–2005 school year, the Nashua School District followed a non-standard system that had the high school comprising grades 10 through 12, with grade 9 being held in with the city's three junior high schools (now following the middle school system/curriculum). During the 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 school years, juniors and seniors attended classes at the newly constructed Nashua High School North campus, while sophomores attended school at the South location while it was being renovated. Meanwhile, freshmen still attended class at their respective junior high schools, but received credit and report cards from Nashua High. Finally, in the 2004–2005 school year, the 9th through 12th grades were held at both high schools.

1980 Republican presidential debate

In February of 1980, the school was the chosen venue for a Republican presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, the top two contenders for the Republican nomination; the debate was funded by the Reagan campaign and hosted by the Nashua Telegraph, but was originally slated to have only Reagan and Bush until they both requested that all candidates be allowed to participate, which Reagan also funded. At the beginning of the debate, during a discussion over which candidates were being allowed to take part, Telegraph editor Jon Breen, acting as the moderator, ordered Reagan's microphone be turned off; Reagan rebuked him saying, "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!" [sic]. The rebuke became a standout moment in New Hampshire primary history; the remark was wildly cheered by the audience and even applauded by most of Reagan's opponents.

2008 presidential campaign

Nashua High South briefly was in the public eye during 2007–2008 of the United States presidential campaign. Alex Chen, valedictorian of the class of 2009, wrote to all the candidates running in both the Democratic and Republican primaries and invited them to come to the school to speak. Most of the primary candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Ron Paul, accepted his invitation. They gave speeches and answered questions from the school's auditorium as well as gave televised interviews with the Nashua Telegraph in the school's TV studio. In 2008, after his defeat in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Barack Obama gave his famous "Yes We Can" speech in the school's gym. In 2010 President Obama returned to the Nashua School District for a public forum on job creation, but for security reasons, the forum was held at Nashua High School North instead.

Demographics

The demographic breakdown by race/ethnicity, gender and grade-level for the 1,832 students enrolled for the 2020–2021 school year was:

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity

School Year	American Indian / Alaska Native	Asian	Black	Hispanic	Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander	White	Two or More Races
2018–19	0 (0%)	236 (12.8%)	91 (4.9%)	430 (23.3%)	0 (0%)	1,036 (56.2%)	49 (2.7%)
2020–21	1 (0.1%)	243 (13.3%)	79 (4.3%)	471 (25.7%)	0 (0%)	970 (52.9%)	68 (3.7%)

Enrollment by grade (2020–21){{{grade_ref}}}

Grade	Enrolled pupils	Percentage
9	547	29.86%
10	443	24.18%
11	436	23.8%
12	406	22.16%
Ungraded	0	0%
Total	1,832	100%

Notable alumni

As of the start of the 2004–2005 school year, anyone who graduated from the school when it was simply known as Nashua High School is considered an alumnus of Nashua High School South (including those who attended classes at the North campus until 2004). Notable alumni include:

• Kole Ayi (1995), former NFL player
• Kelly Ayotte (1986), U.S. senator from New Hampshire
• Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, CNBC anchor and political candidate
• Ken Gidge (1964), artist, inventor and long-time state representative
• Deepika Kurup (2015), Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge (2012) and United States Stockholm Junior Water Prize (2014) winner
• Greg Landry (1964), starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions for many years
• Paul LaPolice (1989), college coach at UNH, Maine Maritime and RPI; CFL coach at Toronto, Hamilton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg; current TSN analyst
• Paul Levesque (1987), professional wrestler and wrestling executive, competes as Triple H for WWE.
• Kyle Mosher (2004), artist
• Jeff Motuzas (1990), current bullpen catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks
• Alexandra Socha (2008), actress; starred in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening
• Madeline Amy Sweeney (1984), American Airlines flight attendant during September 11, 2001 terrorist attack
• Birdie Tebbetts (1930), Major League Baseball player and manager
• Mike Welch (1990), former pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies

External links

• Official website
• Nashua School District
• Greatschools.org
• Nashua High School South - Common Core Data at National Center for Education Statistics (Institute of Education Sciences)