Watchung Hills Regional High School
Encyclopedia
Watchung Hills Regional High School is a regional public high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 and school district
School district
School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...

 serving students in portions of Somerset
Somerset County, New Jersey
Somerset County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 2010, the population was 323,444. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Somerville....

 and Morris
Morris County, New Jersey
Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City. According to the United States 2010 Census, the population was 492,276. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Morristown....

 Counties in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, United States. The high school is located next to Woodland School, in Warren Township
Warren Township, New Jersey
Warren Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 15,311....

. Students from Warren Township
Warren Township, New Jersey
Warren Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 15,311....

 and from the neighboring communities of Watchung
Watchung, New Jersey
Watchung is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 5,801.Watchung was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 23, 1826, from portions of North Plainfield Township based on the results...

, and Green Brook
Green Brook Township, New Jersey
Green Brook Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 7,203....

 in Somerset County and Long Hill Township
Long Hill Township, New Jersey
-Local government:Long Hill Township is governed under the Township form of government with a five-member Township Committee. The Township Committee is elected directly by the voters in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for...

 in Morris County attend the school.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the district's one school had an enrollment of 2,107 students and 167 classroom teachers (on an FTE
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...

 basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.62.

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered in Trenton.The Department is responsible for ensuring that...

 as being in District Factor Group "I", the second highest of eight groupings.

Watchung Hills also offers an adult school that operates at night in the facilities. The school colors were brown and yellow, but at about the turn of the millennium, gold took the place of yellow. Through recent years, the brown color has been phased out for black on many pieces of merchandise and signage.

Awards and recognition

Watchung Hills Regional High School received the Blue Ribbon Award
Blue Ribbon Schools Program
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the...

 from the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...

 in 1994-95, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

, the school was ranked 34th in New Jersey and 1,160th nationwide. As of 2008, the Newsweek ranks the school as 919th in the nation. In Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

's
May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Watchung Hills High School was listed in 999th place, the 31st-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In the magazine's 2006 survey, the school was ranked as 745th nationwide. In their 2004 survey, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

ranked WHRHS as the 583rd best high school in the nation.

The school was the 48th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly is a monthly glossy publication featuring issues of possible interest to residents of the United States state of New Jersey...

magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 49th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 38th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.

Facilities

WHRHS recently underwent a renovation project. Extensive additions to the school have been constructed and all classrooms have been renovated. The addition included many new classrooms, as well as a four-tier band room. Additionally, a brand new theatre with a rising orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...

 and catwalk were built. This state-of-the-art theater includes a programmable lighting system, movable sound shell and a balcony. Additionally, all classrooms have been renovated. There is also a new "FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...

" football field, along with numerous baseball/softball fields.

TV Studio

At the beginning of the 2009 school year, classes were moved from the old TV Studio class room into the new one. The new studio has much more room and includes a control room, class room/studio and an office. There is currently new equipment being installed which will allow for three camera switching for live broadcasts. The system will utilize three Canon XL2's, a Datavideo switcher, Mackie Onyx 1620 with firewire card and four Shure SLX wireless microphones There are currently four edit bays with Dell Precision desktops and dual monitors. When the installation is complete, there will be a Verizon FiOS channel installed for local broadcasts. Although not currently possible due to wiring problems, internal broadcasts will eventually be possible. Rocco Iacovone, the video production teacher at Watchung Hills and a graduate of New York University, runs the TV studio and conducts his broadcast journalism classes there.

Theater

The brand new, state-of-the-art theatre includes two catwalks with a spotlight booth. The lighting system, which has 301 dimmers is housed in the dimmer room located on the stage left side of the catwalks. The dimmer room contains three dimmer racks and an emergency power transfer switch. The lighting console is an ETC Ion and is located in the lighting booth located under the balcony. On stage, there is a movable orchestra pit, movable sound shell and 36 linesets including six electrics, a scrim and cyc as well as three ceiling panels for the sound shell. The sound shell is moved using a cart with a lift system on it. When not in use, the shell is stored stage right, 2 to 3 deep.

As of June 2009 the theatre now contains a full sound system. The new sound system includes two QSC WideLine-8 Line Arrays (eight Boxes per Array), two Ground Subwoofers a Yamaha M7CL 48 channel digital audio console, 16 wireless microphones and 8 active DB technologies on stage monitors and a Sennheiser mic package. There is also a SymNet system which allows the entire system to be powered on with a single button. It also allows for four inputs to be used without turning on the console, for simple presentations. In addition to the sound system, a ClearCom wired and HME wireless headset system were installed. There are four wired beltpacks as well as the base station and four wireless beltpacks.

Technology

WHRHS has approximately 20 Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...

 servers that provide students and staff with various services. Among these are a web server, two file servers, a Web Filter server, SQL database server and a student database server which manages student information as well as gradebooks via a web interface. There are approximately 24 laptop carts (each with about 24 laptops) that are designated to different areas of the school. All teachers have either Dell or Apple laptops. There are also plans to deploy laptop carts with Apple MacBooks in the near future. There are eight computer labs with Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...

 Optiplex desktops.

Athletics

The Watchung Hills Regional High School Warriors compete in the Skyland Conference
Skyland Conference
The Skyland Conference is a New Jersey high school sports association under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association . The conference is made up of nineteen public and parochial high schools covering Hunterdon County, Somerset County and Warren County in west...

, which operates under the auspices of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.-State championships:...

.

Some of WHRHS's sports teams are:
  • Baseball
    Baseball
    Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

  • Women's Soccer
    Football (soccer)
    Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

  • Women's Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

  • Ice hockey
    Ice hockey
    Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

  • Men's Cross Country
    Cross country running
    Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

  • Men's and Women's Basketball
    Basketball
    Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

  • Women's Track and Field
    Track and field
    Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

  • Men's and Women's Bowling
  • Men's and Women's Fencing
    Fencing
    Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

  • Swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

  • Wrestling
    Wrestling
    Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

  • Women's and Men's Volleyball
    Volleyball
    Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

  • Marching Band
    Marching band
    Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

  • Women's Softball
    Softball
    Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

  • Women's Gymnastics
    Gymnastics
    Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...



They have a rivalry with Ridge High School
Ridge High School
Ridge High School is a four-year public high school serving students from Bernards Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Bernards Township School District...

 in neighboring Basking Ridge. Traditionally, their two football teams had played a game on the day before Thanksgiving, known as Turkey Bowl, because of their being in different divisions of the Skyland Conference. However, as Ridge entered the same division as WHRHS in 2008, they no longer play Turkey Bowl, but play each other yearly as part of their regular schedule of games.

The Men's Cross Country Team won the 1974 Group IV State Championship. This is the only WHRHS Team to have won a State Championship.

The baseball team won the 2005 North II, Group IV state sectional championship with an 11-0 win over Hunterdon Central Regional High School
Hunterdon Central Regional High School
Hunterdon Central Regional High School is a comprehensive, regional, four-year public high school, and school district that serves students from five municipalities in east central Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States...

.

In wrestling, the school has had three state champions: Michael Gatti (2003), Alex Caruso (2006) and Brendan Ard (2008 and 2009) have won state titles.

The ice hockey team made it to the NJSIAA Public A State Finals vs. local rival Ridge High School in 2008, falling by a score of 5-0; the most successful season for the six-year old program.

Throughout the years, the school's Ultimate Frisbee teams have been consistently grabbing top ranks in State's competitions and other prestigious tournaments like the Amherst Invite and the Paideia Invite. 2010-11 year led the girls to first place in the state and 5th in the country. The guys are ranked second in the state and 45th in the country. The WHRHS Ultimate team has a rivalry with the Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...

 ultimate team.

Since established, the school's Marching Band has performed at many of the school events. When the Football team is home, the Band performs a field show during half-time. At away games, the Band travels with the Football team and performs during the pre-game ceremony. During all Football games, the Band plays Pep Band
Pep band
A pep band is an ensemble of instrumentalists who play at functions or events with the purpose of entertaining and "pepping" up a crowd. Often members of a pep band are a subset of people from a larger ensemble such as a marching band or a concert band. Pep bands are generally associated with...

 music, to bring excitement to the crowd. The school's Marching Band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

 competes at about 3 competitions a year, around the Tri-State area. They have won several awards and recognition, which are proudly displayed in the school's "Band Room." The Band also performs at many parades, such as the "Memorial Day Parade" in Long Hill Township, New Jersey
Long Hill Township, New Jersey
-Local government:Long Hill Township is governed under the Township form of government with a five-member Township Committee. The Township Committee is elected directly by the voters in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for...

 and Warren Township, New Jersey
Warren Township, New Jersey
Warren Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 15,311....

, and also the "Santa-Walk" in Warren Township. Every other year, the school's Marching Band goes on a trip, usually to another state, where they compete against other bands from all over the country. They have gone to places such as Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...

, and to Disney World.

Activities

Watchung Hills offers students many extracurricular activities to participate in. These clubs and organizations are directed towards community service, academics, and other special interests. A few of the more popular ones are Robotics Team, Asian Culture club, Stop Genocide, Habitat for Humanity, AWARE, JSA Debate Club, Liberation in North Korea Club, Mock Trial
Mock trial
A Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or...

, Academic Team, Script and Cue, Students Against Destructive Decisions, NIKE club, Model United Nations
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....

, Lenape Yearbook, Gay-Straight Alliance, Geocaching Club, Diversity Club, Video Game Club, The History Club, and Sewing Club.

Robotics Team

Watchung Hills has competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Robotics Competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international high school robotics competition organized by FIRST. Each year, teams of high school students compete to build robots weighing up to , not including battery and bumpers, that can complete a task, which changes every year...

 since 1997 as Team 41, the Robo Warriors. In past years, the robotics team has been highly successful. In 2007, the Robo Warriors received the Judges' Award in the 2007 FIRST New Jersey Regional. In 2008, they won the 2008 FIRST New York Regional, one of the toughest competitions in the country. This victory sent them to the 2008 Atlanta World Championship. In 2009, they continued their success, making their way into the quarterfinals.

Administration

Core members of the district's / school's administration are:
  • Dr. Frances C. Stromsland, Superintendent
  • Timothy Stys, Business Administrator / Board Secretary
  • Dr. Thomas DiGanci - Principal
  • Terrence P. MacConnell - Vice Principal
  • Steven Searfoss - Vice Principal
  • Nicholas Serritella - Vice Principal / Director of Athletics
  • Patricia Toubin - Vice Principal

Notable alumni

  • Billy Ard
    Billy Ard
    William Donovan "Billy" Ard is a former American football guard in the National Football League for the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers...

     (born 1959), former NFL pro player for the New York Giants
    New York Giants
    The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

    .
  • Tom Glassic
    Tom Glassic
    Tom Glassic is a former guard in the National Football League for the Denver Broncos....

     (born 1954), retired NFL offensive lineman.
  • Chris Kratt
    Chris Kratt
    Christopher F. "Chris" Kratt is an American host of television programs Wild Kratts, Kratts' Creatures, Zoboomafoo, and Be the Creature, which airs on the National Geographic Channel....

     (born 1969), host of Kratts' Creatures
    Kratts' Creatures
    Kratts' Creatures is a children's television program on PBS. The show was hosted by the Kratt Brothers, Chris and Martin. It also featured Shannon Duff as Alison Baldwin and Ron Rubin as the voice of an animated anthropomorphic dinosaur. The show introduced its viewers to the world of animals. 50...

    and Zoboomafoo
    Zoboomafoo
    Zoboomafoo is an American children's television series that aired from January 25, 1998, to April 21, 2001, and is still shown today in syndication depending on the area, and it is regularly shown on PBS Kids Sprout. A total of 65 episodes were aired...

    as well as Be the Creature
    Be the Creature
    Be the Creature is a creation of the Kratt Brothers . A wildlife series designed to immerse both the brothers and the viewers in the world of animals, Be the Creature features 13 episodes. Unlike other Kratt Brothers programs, Kratts' Creatures and Zoboomafoo, Be the Creature is oriented towards a...

    , which runs on the National Geographic Channel
    National Geographic Channel
    National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

    .
  • Allison Reed
    Allison Reed
    Allison Lynn Reed is an American ice dancer. She competed with Otar Japaridze for Georgia from 2009 to 2011.- Career :Reed started skating at the age of three...

     (born 1994), Olympic ice skater for the Republic of Georgia
    Georgia (country)
    Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

     who competed in the 2010 Vancouver Games.
  • George Musser
    George Musser
    George Musser is a staff editor and writer for Scientific American magazine in New York and the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to String Theory. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering and mathematics at Brown University and his graduate studies in planetary science at...

     (1984), author and editor at Scientific American
    Scientific American
    Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...

    .
  • Josh Pauls
    Josh Pauls
    Josh Pauls is an ice sledge hockey player from USA.He took part in the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, where USA won gold. They beat Japan 2-0 in the final.He attended Watchung Hills Regional High School-External links:...

     (born 1992), won a gold medal for sled hockey at the 2010 Winter Paralympics
    2010 Winter Paralympics
    The 2010 Winter Paralympics, officially the X Paralympic Winter Games, or the 10th Winter Paralympics, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from March 12 to 21, 2010. The Opening Ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing Ceremony in Whistler...

     in Vancouver.
  • Amanda Pabyan (class of 1995), operatic lyric-coloratura soprano.
  • Laura Prepon
    Laura Prepon
    Laura Prepon is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in the long-running Fox situation comedy That '70s Show, for all eight seasons. She is also known for the role of Hannah Daniels on the ABC drama October Road...

     (born 1980), actress best known for her work on That '70s Show
    That '70s Show
    That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

    and a role on the TV series October Road
    October Road (TV series)
    October Road is an American television drama that debuted on ABC on March 15, 2007 following Grey's Anatomy. It follows Nick Garrett , who after a decade returns to his hometown, the fictional Knights Ridge, Massachusetts.The series is produced by ABC Studios and GroupM Entertainment; the latter is...

    .
  • Adam Riess
    Adam Riess
    Adam Guy Riess is an American astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute and is widely known for his research in using supernovae as Cosmological Probes. Riess shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul...

     (born 1969, class of 1988), Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 2011.
  • Robert Tsai
    Robert Tsai
    Robert Tsai is a Chinese American musician turned actor from Long Hill, New Jersey.In 2001 Tsai appeared on the national radio show From the Top at the age of 11. On the show he performed Béla Bartók’s Six Romanian Folk Dances as well as his own composition, Sonata in A...

     (2008), played Lawrence in the movie School of Rock
    School of Rock
    School of Rock, also called The School of Rock, is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Mike White, and starring Jack Black...

    .
  • Alison Wright
    Alison Wright (journalist)
    Alison Wright is an American photojournalist and writer.Alison Wright's work is represented by National Geographic and Corbis. Her photography of endangered cultures and documentation of the human condition has covered all corners of the globe and been published in magazines worldwide...

     (born 1961), photojournalist and author.

External links


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