West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School Northern Knight.png
Location
90 Grovers Mill Road
Plainsboro, NJ 08536
Information
Type Public high school
Established 1997
Principal Michael Zapicchi
Asst. Principal Douglas Eadie, Melissa Levine
Faculty 118 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 1,608 (as of 2009-10)[1]
Student to teacher ratio 13.63[1]
Campus Suburban
Color(s) Royal blue and silver
        
Team name Northern Knights
Newspaper 'The Knightly News'
Yearbook 'Excalibur'
Website Official Website

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, also known as WW-P North, is a four-year public comprehensive high school located in Plainsboro Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey serving students in grades 9 through 12. The school is part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, a school district serving students from West Windsor Township (in Mercer County) and Plainsboro Township (in Middlesex County).

As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,608 students and 118 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.63.[1]

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North opened its doors in September 1997 and an addition was added in 2000. The first class to graduate was the Class of 2002. The facility covers 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) and contains all core facilities. The school is located on an 80-acre (320,000 m2) tract on Grovers Mill Road in Plainsboro, across from the West Windsor-Plainsboro Community Middle School and the Millstone River Upper Elementary School.

The school mascot is the Northern Knight, and the school colors are Royal Blue and Silver, as voted on by the original three graduating classes, the Classes of 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Contents

[edit] Awards and recognition

During the 2006-07 school year, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[2] the highest award an American school can receive.[3][4]

The school was the 29th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 19th in 2008 out of 316 schools.[5] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 36th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (an increase of 16 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[6]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 18th in New Jersey and 708th nationwide.[7]

North's Fed Challenge team was the New York Federal Reserve District Champion in both 2007 and 2010. Both years, the team advanced to the National Finals and placed 2nd.[8]

North beat out rival team West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South at the 2008 New Jersey state Science Olympiad competition, earning North their first Science Olympiad state championship and thereby their first trip to Nationals.[9] Held in Washington DC, the national competition hosted 60 teams from 48 states. North won 9th place as a team and brought home several individual medals in specific events.

North's Model United Nations team is also one of the most distinguished programs in the nation. At the end of the 2010-2011 school year it was ranked number 9 in the nation.[10] It was also ranked number two in the Mid-Atlantic at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.[11] The team has won repeatedly at Princeton Model UN, Ivy League Model United Nations and Johns Hopkins Model United Nations.[12]

The school is also notable for its student-run radio station WWPH 107.9 FM based in Princeton Junction.[13]

[edit] Distinguished teachers

In 2007, Timothy Cornell was named Mathematics Teacher of the Year by the Professional Engineers Society of Mercer County. They presented this prestigious award to him at their annual dinner held at Mercer Oaks Country Club. Cornell has taught at Monmouth University and Rutgers University. His students excel at AP Calculus and the Multivariable Calculus course. From over the years, of his 321 students who have taken the AP exams, 314 of them have scored the highest score of “5,” with the remaining seven students scoring “4.”

In 2009, Cornell was selected as a winner of the 2009 Edyth May Sliffe Award for distinguished high school mathematics teaching, presented by the Mathematical Association of America, one of 22 teachers throughout high schools in the United States and Canada to be selected for the award.[14]

[edit] Sports

The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School Northern Knights participate in the Colonial Valley Conference, which includes high schools from Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[15] With 1,193 students in grades 10-12, the school is classified by the NJSIAA as Central Jersey Group IV, a category that includes schools with enrollment of 1,120 to 2,339.[16] The high school has a fierce rivalry with its counterpart school, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South that began when the two high schools began operating independently of each other in 2000.

In 2007, the boys soccer team won the Central Jersey Group III state championship with a 3-0 win over Red Bank Regional High School in the tournament final.[17] The boys soccer team, under the direction of coach Trevor Warner, repeated as Central Jersey Group III Champions when they beat Wall Township in the sectional final, finishing the season with a 19-2 record, the best in school history. In 2008, they defeated Wall High School by a score of 2-1, becoming the first team from the Colonial Valley Conference to win back-to-back sectional finals.[18]

In 2008, the Ultimate Frisbee club team (a sport not officially recognized by the school) finished 2nd in the UPA NJ High School Championships while also winning the Spirit Award for best sportsmanship.[19]

[edit] Boys Cross Country

The North Boys Cross Country team has had a tradition of success under coach Brian Gould.

In 2007, the Knights won the CVC Championship, Mercer County Championship, Central Jersey Group III Championship, Group III State Championship, and finished 5th at the New Jersey Meet of Champions.

In 2008, the Knights came through with the then-greatest cross-country season in state history. The North harriers took 1st at the Shore Coaches Invite, posting the fastest team-average of the day; finished 6th at the Manhattan Eastern States Championship with an injured lineup; won the CVC championship; won their second straight Mercer County championship; won their 2nd straight Central Jersey Group III Championship; a 2nd straight Group III State Championship; the team's first ever Meet of Champions title over a heavily favored, and defending champion, Don Bosco team and set a Holmdel park course record average; the team's first ever NXN Northeast Regional championship. That win propelled them to a berth in the Nike Cross-Country National Championships (NXN), where they finished 5th, which was the best a New Jersey team had ever done until the Christian Brothers Academy program won the NXN title in 2011.

In 2009, the team followed up the successful 2008 campaign, and the graduation of four top runners, by finishing 3rd in the New Jersey Meet of Champions and 4th at Nike Nationals Northeast. Preceding these championship races, the team finished 1st at Manhattan College Invitational, 3rd at Shore Coaches Invitational, 1st at Briarwood Invitational and finished the season undefeated once again (14-0). The Knights also took their 3rd straight CVC, Mercer County, Central Jersey Group III, and Group III State championships. The team has won 55 consecutive dual meets. The team is still considered to be a top team in the state of New Jersey as well as the Northeast Region.

In 2010, the boys cross-country team continued its success. Despite losing its number 1 runner, the Knights continued to have success. WW-P North finished 3rd at Shore Coaches (Championship Race); 9th at Eastern States Championship; won its 4th consecutive NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Sectional Championship; won its 4th straight NJSIAA Group 3 Championship; 5th place at the New Jersey Meet of Champions; and 4th place at the Nike Cross Northeast Regional team. WW-P North became just the 5th program in state history to finish top-5 at the Meet of Champions four years in a row (Haddonfield, Christian Brothers Academy, Don Bosco, and Westfield were the other teams).

The 2011 team had an up-and-down season with only two varsity runners returning, finishing 9th at the Shore Coaches Invitational; 2nd at the Old Bridge Invitational; 2nd in the CVC Championships behind arch-rival West Windsor-Plainsboro South; 4th at the Mercer County Championships; 4th at the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV Sectional Championship; and 13th at the New Jersey Group IV State Championships. They missed qualifying for the New Jersey Meet of Champions for the first time in four years.

[edit] Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:[20]

  • Principal: Michael Zapicchi
  • Assistant Principal: Doug Eadie
  • Assistant Principal: Melissa Levine

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed July 28, 2011.
  2. ^ U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized in 2006, United States Department of Education. Accessed April 16, 2007
  3. ^ "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department", Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  4. ^ "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon" School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  5. ^ Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 1, 2011.
  6. ^ New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed January 2, 2012.
  7. ^ Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North", The Washington Post. Accessed July 28, 2011.
  8. ^ St. Joseph High School Wins 2010 National Fed Challenge!, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Accessed July 28, 2011. "On May 18, a team of six students from Saint Joseph’s High School in South Bend, Indiana, representing the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Seventh District, took on teams representing several other Fed Districts and won the High School Fed Challenge competition national championship held in Washington D.C. Other participants in the finals were second place winner West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, from Plainsboro New Jersey (New York District)..."
  9. ^ State Championship Tournament, New Jersey Science Olympiad. Accessed October 30, 2008.
  10. ^ Best Delegate Rankings, Best Delegate. Accessed September 28, 2011 .
  11. ^ Preseason Rankings, Best Delegate. Accessed September 28, 2011 .
  12. ^ North Model United Nations, North MUN. Accessed September 28, 2011 .
  13. ^ 107.9-FM, WWPH. Accessed January 2, 2011. "107.9-FM, WWPH, Princeton Junction Home of the Pirate and the Knight....The student radio station for West Windsor--Plainsboro High Schools North and South."
  14. ^ THE EDYTH MAY SLIFFE AWARDS FOR DISTINGUISHED HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHING, University of Minnesota Duluth. Accessed July 28, 2011.
  15. ^ League Memberships – 2011-2012, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed January 2, 2012.
  16. ^ 2011-2012 Public Schools Group Classification for ShopRite Cup–Tennis–Soccer–Basketball–Baseball–Softball for Central Jersey, NJSIAA. Accessed January 2, 2012.
  17. ^ 2007 Boys Soccer - Central, Group III, NJSIAA. Accessed November 14, 2007.
  18. ^ 2008 Boys Soccer - Central, Group III, NJSIAA. Accessed January 2, 2011.
  19. ^ 2008 UPA NJ High School Championships, Ultimate Players Association. Accessed August 1, 2008.
  20. ^ Home page, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. Accessed July 28, 2011.
  21. ^ Daly, Pete. "Bye-Bynum", The Trentonian, June 29, 2005. Accessed November 11, 2007. "Andrew Bynum, a former West Windsor North High School player and powerhouse center at St. Joseph High in Metuchen, became the youngest player ever drafted in the National Basketball Association last night."
  22. ^ Matt Lalli, San Francisco Dragons. Accessed August 24, 2008.
  23. ^ Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship: 2004 Winners, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 23, 2007.
  24. ^ Duffy, Erin. "West Windsor-Plainsboro community shocked by charges against 2 alumni at Rutgers", The Times (Trenton), September 30, 2010. Accessed January 1, 2012. "Allegations that two West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North alumni secretly broadcast a sexual encounter involving a Rutgers freshman who later killed himself drove waves of disbelief through the local community yesterday.... Classmates at WW-P North, Ravi, of Plainsboro, and Wei, of West Windsor, also entered Rutgers’ freshman class together in August."
  25. ^ USC Signs 7 Prep Stars: High school standouts from around the country ink with the Trojans.", CSTV, November 15, 2004. Accessed August 10, 2008.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 40°19′26″N 74°35′56″W / 40.323771°N 74.598888°W / 40.323771; -74.598888
Lower elementary schools
Upper elementary schools
Middle schools
High schools
Public
Map of New Jersey highlighting Middlesex County.svg
Private
Colonial Division
Valley Division
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Windsor-Plainsboro_High_School_North&oldid=469237737"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export