Norwell High School is a public secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). It is located in Norwell

Norwell, Massachusetts

Norwell is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population is currently 10,506 at the 2010 Census.Norwell was first settled in 1634 as a part of the settlement of Satuit , which encompasses present day Scituate and Norwell. It was officially created, in 1849 and soon became...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. The school includes approximately 50 full-time teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

s. Its students consistently score above state and national averages on the SAT and other standardized tests, and on average, 97% of students from each graduating class at Norwell High School continue on to post-secondary education.

NHS has been ranked as the 12th best secondary school in Massachusetts by Newsweek Magazine  and the 57th best public school in the country by Neighboorhood Scout.

Mission statement

To provide an engaging, supportive environment where students strive for excellence, practice respect, and contribute to society.

Norwell High School graduates will meet expectations regarding:

• Creative Expression
• Effective Researchers
• Effective Writers
• Laboratory Investigation
• Oral Presentation
• Reflective Problem Solvers

Administration

On July 1, 2011, William Fish became the new principal of Norwell High School, replacing Matthew Keegan, who had been serving the school since 2006. The school's administration includes assistant principals Warren MacCallum and Andrea Keating. The school's administration also includes three guidance counselors

Toward the end of the 1980s Norwell High School lowered their grading system, as the numbers were higher than standard grading systems.
(For example, a final grade of 82 was a C+ versus a B-)

The school's staff also includes nine cafeteria

Cafeteria

A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...

 workers and six custodian

Custodian

The term Custodian may refer to:* Janitor, a person who cleans, maintains, provides security and initiates repairs or makes minor repairs to buildings.* Custodian bank, an organization responsible for safeguarding a firm's or individual's financial assets...

s.

Teachers

A full list of teachers can be found here. The list includes all the teachers in the school and the courses they teach, as well as the nurse, secretaries, custodians

Custodians

The Custodians is terminology in the Bahá'í Faith, which refers to nine Hands of the Cause assigned specifically to work at the Bahá'í World Centre in attendance to the Guardian of the Faith...

, cafeteria workers and other aides that work in the school.

Academics

The school's faculty offers a wide array of academic courses in several departments. Students that attended NHS are required to take four years of English, History, Mathematics and Science courses. Students are required to take at least three years of a Foreign Language. Some students complete their first year of foreign language while in middle school so they will only have to complete two years; some students choose to take their fourth and fifth year of a language and continue these courses into college. Students are required to take at least two years of Health/Physical Education(Gym Class). Students are also allowed to take other courses including classes in art, music and technology, as seen below.

Course Name	Notes
English English studies English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...	Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors take classes involving American and World Literature. Seniors are allowed for their final year school to choose through array of courses for their English class including a class on the study of Shakespeare's work, a creative writing class, Nonfiction, Adolescent in Literature and two other AP courses.
Social Studies Social studies Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...	Classes offered for students include: World History, US History (including AP), European History (including AP), Psychology(Including AP), Global Studies, Law, Gender/Race/Class, American Government (AP), The Holocaust and Human Behavior, Modern War
Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...	Classes offered for students include: Algebra Algebra Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures... , Geometry Geometry Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers .... , Trigonometry, Statistics and Discrete Mathematics (including AP), Calculus Calculus Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem...  (including AP) and Problem Solving.
Science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...	For science freshmen take Biology Biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines... . NHS also offers an AP course for biology that students are allowed to take after freshmen year. Sophomores are required to take Chemistry Chemistry Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....  in their second year at the school. Like biology, NHS offers an AP course for chemistry that students are allowed to take after their sophomore year. Juniors are required to take Physics Physics Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic... . Like that of biology and chemistry, NHS offers an AP class for students to take after their Junior year. Seniors are allowed to choose which science class they want for their final year at the school. These classes include Anatomy Anatomy Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy... , Astronomy Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth... , Marine Biology Marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...  and Renewable Energy Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from... .
Foreign Language	NHS offers four languages for students to choose from. The classes include: Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... , Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... , French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...  and Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and... , including AP course offerings in each and courses specializing in Vergil, Horace Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...  and Catullus Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:... .
Art Art Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....	Studio Art (Art 1, Art 2, AP Art). When students reach a certain level in their art studies they are allowed to paint a painting on a wall located somewhere in the school. The school also offers Digital Photography classes and a Film Film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...  class.
Music Music Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...	NHS offers students Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band Concert band A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A... , mixed Chorus Choir A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus... , Jazz Jazz Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...  Ensemble, Jazz Workshop, Music Theory Music theory Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods... , and Music Appreciation Musicology Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture... . The ensembles usually perform four to five major concerts a year, on special occasions including graduation, and for dozens of other events each year in the community.
PE/Health	Students are required to take two years of Health/Physical Education. After they complete course, students are allowed to choose between other Physical Educations classes. These classes include: Strength Training, Lifetime Activities, Yoga, Pilates and Lifetime Fitness
Applied Technology	Students are allowed to take other classes during their time at NHS. Students can take classes that include: Java, Publications and Presentations, Web Design, Computer Animation, Computer Repair, TV Studio, Robotics, CAD, Engineering the Future and Building Construction
Special Education	Skills Program, Direct Academic Instruction, Life Skills, Work Experience, Life Skills Reading, Content Area Reading
Theater	Students may also take a Theater class and/or a Public Speaking/Acting class taught by the school's current director of the Fourth Wall Players, Chris Lacy

Athletics

Norwell High School offers several sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s programs for students that include:

Sport	Notes
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...	Boys JV, Boys Varsity
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...	Boys Freshman Team, Boys JV, Boys Varsity / Girls Freshman Team, Girls JV, Girls Varsity
Cheerleading Cheerleading Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...	Girls Game Team, Girls Competition Team
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...	Boys JV, Boys Varsity / Girls JV, Girls Varsity
Field hockey Field hockey Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...	Girls JV, Girls Varsity
Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	Boys Freshman Team, Boys JV, Boys Varsity
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....	Boys JV, Boys Varsity
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...	Girls Varsity
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...	Boys JV, Boys Varsity / Girls Varsity
Lacrosse Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...	Boys Freshman, Boys JV, Boys Varsity / Girls Freshman, Girls JV, Girls Varsity
Skiing Skiing Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....	Boys & Girls Co-ed Varsity & JV
Spring 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...	Boys & Girls Co-ed
Soccer	Boys JV, Boys Varsity, Boys Freshman / Girls JV, Girls Varsity, Girls Freshman
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...	Girls JV, Girls Varsity
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...  and Diving Diving Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...	Boys & Girls Co-ed
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...	Boys JV, Boys Varsity / Girls JV, Girls Varsity
Winter track and field	Boys & Girls Co-ed
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...	Boys & Girls Co-ed

Co-curricular activities

Roughly 90% of Norwell High School's students participate in co-curricular activities. An means the club is now defunct. The school boasts a wide range of club

Club

A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...

s and activities, including but not limited to:

Club	Notes
Amnesty International Amnesty International Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...  student chapter
A.F.S.
Animal Activist club
Art Art Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....  club
Pep Band
Best Buddies
Book Club Book club A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book sales club, which can cause confusion...
Bowling Bowling Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...  club
Chess Club
Dance Team
Decibelles	A cappella vocal group
Diversity Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...  Club/Gay-Straight Alliance Gay-straight alliance Gay–straight alliances are student organizations, found primarily in North American high schools and universities, that are intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their straight allies .-Goal:The goal of most, if not all,...
Fourth Wall Players	Norwell's Fourth Wall Players are an accomplished, award-winning group of actors and theatre artists. They compete in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Festival, and were state finalists in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, they represented Massachusetts in the New England Drama Festival and were invited, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, to represent the USA in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Environment Club
Equestrian Equestrianism Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...  Club
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...  Club
Film Club
The Halyard	The school's award-winning literary and art magazine
Junior State of America Junior State of America The Junior State of America is an American non-partisan student-run youth organization. It is also the largest high school student-run organization in the country...
Invisible Children Invisible Children Invisible Children: Rough Cut is a 2003 American documentary film. Its subject is the abduction and forced enlistment of children by the sectarian Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.-Synopsis:...
Latin Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...  Club
Math Team
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...
National Honor Society National Honor Society The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
Norwell Navigator	The school's newspaper.
Paint Ball Paintball Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...  Club
Peer Education Peer education Peer Education is an approach to health promotion, in which community members are supported to promote health-enhancing change among their peers...
Robotics Robotics Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...  Club
Sailing Sailing Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...  Club
Snowboarding Club
Space Cadet Club
Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...  Club
Surf culture Surf culture Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion and life surrounding the art of surfing.The culture began early in the 20th century, spread quickly during the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to evolve. It affected fashion, music, literature, films, jargon, and more...
Student Government
Ultimate Frisbee
Yearbook Yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
Young Democrats Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Young Republicans Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

Notable alumni

Name	Year of Graduation	Claim to Fame
Jennifer Coolidge Jennifer Coolidge Jennifer Coolidge is an American actress best known for playing "Stifler's mom," the older woman in the film American Pie ; Hilary Duff's stepmother in A Cinderella Story ; Paulette, the manicurist in Legally Blonde and its sequel; the voice of Aunt Fanny in the animated feature Robots ; for her...	Class of 1982	Actress who has appeared in American Pie American Pie (film) American Pie is a 1999 teen comedy film written by Adam Herz. American Pie was the directorial film debut of brothers Paul and Chris Weitz, and the first film in the American Pie film series...  aka Stiffler's mom, Click, For Your Consideration For Your Consideration (film) For Your Consideration is a 2006 comedy film directed by Christopher Guest. It was co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, both also starring in the film....  and other films.
Jeff Corwin Jeff Corwin Jeffrey Scott Corwin is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.-Early years:...	Class of 1985	Host of The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience is an American television show about mostly tropical animals airing on the Animal Planet cable channel since 2001...  and Corwin's Quest Corwin's Quest Corwin's Quest is an American television program about animals airing on Animal Planet. It is similar to The Crocodile Hunter. It is hosted by actor and conservationist Jeff Corwin from The Jeff Corwin Experience... , two television programs on Animal Planet Animal Planet Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:... . He often visits Norwell to help at the Norwell Science Center.
Jennifer (Bond) Reed	Class of 1985	Award winning children's book author. Published The Falling Flowers in 2005 and many books since. Creator/editor of the first online children's magazine, Wee Ones Children's Magazine.
Susan Tedeschi Susan Tedeschi Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks...	Class of 1988	American Blues and soul singer. Received Grammy nominations in 2000, 2003, and 2007.
Colin Reed	Class of 2002	Press Secretary for Senator Scott Brown Scott Brown Scott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State... and former roommate of Jason Kustka.

External links

• Norwell High School web page
• Norwell High School Music Department web page