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Princeton High School (New Jersey)
Encyclopedia
Princeton High School (PHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school
in the Borough of Princeton
, New Jersey
, United States, operating as part of the Princeton Regional Schools
district, which serves all public school students in the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township
. Students from Cranbury Township
also attend PHS as part of a sending/receiving relationship
with the Cranbury Township School District
. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Commission on Secondary Schools since 9132.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,413 students and 106 classroom teachers (on a FTE
basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.33.
PHS is notable for its high academic standards and strong arts programs that rival many of the nation's private schools. The school consistently ranks amongst the top open-admissions public high schools in the state concerning SAT
scores, and was ranked first in the state amongst open-admissions schools in 2009.
PHS is located in the Borough of Princeton
between Moore Street and Walnut Lane. The district middle school, John Witherspoon Middle School
(which is in Princeton Township
), is located across from the high school athletic fields on Walnut Lane.
PHS offers courses in many subjects and levels, including most of the courses in the Advanced Placement Program
. Additionally, the High School Program at Princeton University permits qualified juniors and seniors to take free courses at Princeton University
. Students must have exhausted all high school course alternatives within a discipline and receive high school credit only for any university courses successfully completed.
, the school's principal is Gary R. Snyder, and its assistant principals are Harvey Highland and Lori Rotz. The school's student activities director (also known as the Dean of Students) is Angela Siso. The Athletic Director is John Miranda.
Princeton High underwent significant reconstruction from 2003-2007 as part of an $86 million project to renovate the Princeton Regional School District's school buildings. At the start of the 2006-07 school year, the new auditorium, science labs, gymnasium, and the bulk of the new wings and staircases in the school opened. The renovated library (now located in the former auditorium) opened in May 2007. During the summer of 2007, finishing touches such as the removal of classroom trailers, installation of tennis courts, repaving of parking lots, finishing of renovations to old portions of the building, and work on the new, state-of-the-art fitness center took place. The district-wide renovations were declared officially complete at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.
s December 9, 2009 issue, Princeton High School was the 94th ranked public high school in the nation and was the highest ranked open-admissions high school in New Jersey.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post
, the school was ranked 8th in New Jersey and 371st nationwide.
The school was ranked 210th in Newsweek
's 2009 ranking of the top 1,500 high schools in the United States and was the third-ranked school in New Jersey, with 2.943 AP tests taken in 2008 per graduating senior and 60% of all graduating seniors passing at least one AP exam. The school was ranked 142nd nationwide in 2008. In Newsweek's 2007 ranking of the country's top high schools, Princeton High School was listed in 208th place, the seventh-highest ranked school in New Jersey. The school was listed in 133rd place, the third-highest ranked school in New Jersey, in Newsweek
's May 8, 2006, issue listing the Top 1200 High Schools in The United States. Princeton High School was ranked as number 212 in Newsweek's 2005 survey and 113th in its 2004 survey.
The school was the 44th-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 6th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 13th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
The November 30, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal
, ranking the country's high schools based on a percentage of 2007 high school seniors sent to eight selective colleges, placed Princeton High School at #27. PHS was the second highest ranked publicly-funded school, with a total of 31 students matriculating the select eights schools. The eight colleges were Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Pomona, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, and Williams. Princeton High School's rank was aided by the fact that 19 students from the school matriculated to Princeton University.
Every Wednesday, (termed "Short Wednesdays" or "one-forty-nine days") and on some other days when special events are planned, the school day is shortened and ends at 1:49p.m. Students still attend all eight class periods on Short Wednesdays, though they are shortened to 35 minutes. Homeroom and break periods are not shortened. Short Wednesdays exist to permit the operation of the Peer Group program (which is mandatory for freshmen) between 1:49 and 2:51. This period of time is also used for community service group meetings for sophomores, other optional extracurricular activities, and school-wide events such as pep rallies, the Fall Festival, and Spring Fling. The 2010-2011 school year changed the time for the end of classes to 1:49, as school ended at 1:39 before.
Required courses include English I and English II (which must respectively be taken in the first two years) and two more years of English; three years of science, including biology and chemistry; one year of a foreign language (though three years is recommended); three years of mathematics; one year of gym for every year that the student is enrolled (if the student graduates in three years they only need three classes); two years of United States History, one year of World History; one year of Visual/Performing Arts; and one year of Practical Arts.
PHS has a policy of revoking credit for a student's course if a certain amount of unexcused absences in a class are reached. More than 18 absences from a year-long course, 9 absences for a semester course, and 5 absences for a marking period course will lead to credit revocation. Starting in 2005, tardiness has been counted as one-third of an absence for the purposes of revoking credit.
Club, Asian American
Club, Dance Club, the PHS Amnesty International
organization, A.R.T.E: Artistically Reviving the Earth, Badminton Club, the Chess
Club, the Chinese
Club, the Cricket
Club, the Environmental Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Indian Club, The Ivy (a literary magazine
), the Latin Club, the Math
Team, the Debate
team, the Mock Trial
Team, Model United Nations
, the Numina
Gallery group, The Prince (the Yearbook), the Princeton High Ultimate Club
, the Robotics
and Computer Club, the New Rubik's Cube
Club, the Science Bowl
Team, the Science Olympiad
Team, the Statistics
Club, The Tower (the newspaper), the Quidditch
Club, the Bibliophile club, French Club, the Circolo Italiano (Italian Club), the Pen Spinning Club, Philosophy Club, and a Junior Statesmen of America Chapter. The following are some of the high school's oldest and most celebrated extracurricular traditions:
, which includes high schools from Mercer
, Middlesex
and Monmouth
Counties. The high school boasts teams in girls' field hockey, soccer, football, cheerleading, cross country, swimming, ice hockey, basketball, winter track, lacrosse, spring track and field, baseball, softball, golf, and tennis. The Track and Field team of the early 1950's was notable for a series of State Championships and was recently inducted into the Princeton High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Little Tigers have had many successful seasons in ice hockey, cross country, tennis, swimming, winter track, spring track and field, lacrosse, soccer, and golf over the years. The following are some of the more notable season triumphs:
The golf team went 5 for 5 in its 2007 tournaments, including the Group III State Championships, the Mercer County Tournament, Sectional Championships, the Bunker Hill Tournament, and the Cherry Valley Tournament. The team over had a record of 47-2 during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The 2008 team repeated as Group III champion.
The Varsity girls' swim team won the 2007 NJSIAA Central - B State Sectional Championship with an 87-83 win over Ocean Township High School
. They again beat Ocean Township High School in 2008 for the second year in a row, claiming their 6th consecutive NJSIAA Central - B sectional championship.
The 2009 boys swimming team won the Central Jersey Group B Sectional title with a 99-71 win against Ocean Township High School.
In 2011, the boys swimming team won the Central Jersey Group B Sectional title with a 102-68 win against Freehold Borough High School. Following that, the team advanced to the NJSIAA Public B finals, ultimately losing to Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, 80-90.
In 2008, the Varsity cheerleading squad competed in the Colonial Valley Conference Competition, and won Best Dance, First place in Medium Division and Overall Grand Champions. They competed against 13 other teams in order to win the Grand Champion Award.
In 2009, the Varsity boys' soccer team competed in the Group III State tournament and won the championship, capping off an undefeated season with a 2-1 win over Millburn High School
.
In 2010, the Varsity cheerleading squad competed in the 6th Annual Colonial Valley Conference Competition, and won First Place in Small division.
Founded in 1944, the Choir is nationally and internationally known as one of the top high school choirs in the world and is widely regarded as the high school's strongest musical tradition. The Choir is composed of 60 to 80 students in grades 10 through 12 every year, with auditions conducted at the end of each academic year for entry in the following year. Students who are not accepted during their first audition may try again in subsequent years. The Choir tours internationally (and occasionally nationally) once every two years. Past tours of special significance include the 1977/78 invitation from the American composer Gian Carlo Menotti to participate in Spoleto
, a world-renowned summer festival where they premiered Menotti's opera, "The Egg" and an invitation to perform at the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow. Though the Choir has toured internationally since 1962, more recent destinations (since 1993) include the nations of Austria
, Canada
, China
, the Czech Republic
, France
, Germany
, Hungary
, Italy
, Russia
, Sweden
and the United Kingdom
. The Princeton High School Chamber Choir, composed of members of the PHS Choir, has performed at the White House
on numerous occasions. A national tour with the entire Choir to Washington D.C. in the spring of 2009 included a performance at the Washington National Cathedral
. The Choir toured Barcelona, Spain, in February 2011, appearing on national Spanish television as well as gaining special permission to perform in the Cathedral of Montserrat.
The Choir has been under five directors in its history, including founding director Harvey Woodruff from 1944 to 1948, Thomas Hilbish from 1948 to 1965, William Trego from 1965 to 1993, and Dr. Charles "Sunny" Sundquist from 1993 to 2008. After Dr. Sundquist's move to Mountain Lakes High School
in 2008, Mr. Vincent Metallo took over as director, along with veteran Assistant Director Ms. Sarah Pelletier.
Since December 1944, the Choir has performed its annual winter concert in the Princeton University Chapel
, often filled to capacity with over 1,200 attendees, including numerous Choir alumni.
A cappella
PHS also is home to four student-run a cappella
groups. There are two all-female groups, the Cat's Meow and Cloud 9, one all-male group, the Testostertones (known as the "Tones"), and one co-ed group, Around Eight. The four groups perform at various school and non-school related events year round, singing songs arranged by current and former members. They all hold weekly, student-run rehearsals. The a cappella groups hold auditions at the end of each school year and admit a small number of new members. Admission overall is very selective, although selectivity varies from year to year and some groups are generally more selective than others. Cat's Meow and Around Eight admit members only from within PHS Choir, but selectivity amongst all four groups varies annually depending on the different group's needs.
Cat's Meow was established in the early 1980s. Around Eight was formed second, in 1992, and originally included eight members—two each of the four basic voice parts. Cloud 9 and the Testostertones are more recent additions to the school's rich a cappella history. Cat's Meow is known for spirituals and folk songs. They now arrange music from soulful female artists, usually concentrating on a more choral tone. Around Eight started out as a mainly madrigal oriented group, but as time progressed it became more pop oriented. Around Eight has been known to feature a lot of complex beatboxing. Cloud 9 was formed originally to give girls not in the choir a chance to show off their abilities, but has recently had a huge surge in great female vocalists; in recent years it has become known for its complex arrangements. The Testostertones were formed by a group of guys who loved to bring a funny edge to a cappella. Today the Tones combine great music and voices with comedic dances, their classic "Tones Attire" (black shirt, khakis, and colored ties), and other shenanigans, such as the song, "We Are Men And We Like to Sing". Tones, like Around Eight, features beatboxing.
All of the a cappella groups are featured in many of the classic group performances such as:
Back To School Night,
Fall Fest,
Friday Night Live (FNL),
Winter Arch Sing, WWP-South's Acappellooza,
Spring Fling, and
Final Arch Sing
Each usually contain large crowds as many support friends and enjoy the high quality of a cappella at PHS. Each group with the exception of Tones has recorded a CD annually, but 2011 marks the first in several years that Tones will release a CD.
Band Program
Princeton High School has several levels of bands to accommodate all levels of playing from beginning to professional skill. Tiger I & II, Nassau I & II, Jazz Ensemble, and Studio Band are the 6 bands by order of pure playing ability. Students are assigned to their respective band level according to skill, being an upperclassman holds no extra sway.
The Princeton High School Studio Band, currently directed by Joe Bongiovi, selects its members by audition only. All Studio Band members are expected to excel in sight-reading
, master finger positions, and be familiar with all techniques that apply to their instrument (i.e. Trombone F-attachment). They are also expected to attend all rehearsals both during and after school. During the band's preparation for competition, ensemble rehearsal can be over 12–20 hours in 1 week.
The Studio Band is known to play a wide variety of genres arranged for Big Band. About one Friday evening each month throughout the school year the Studio Band hosts dances known as Big Band Dances.
Band History
The original director and founder of the Studio Band was Dr. Anthony Biancosino. Biancosino was the director of the Studio Band for 26 years. During those years the Studio Band had many successes, including playing at the inaugural balls of both Presidents Reagan
and George H. W. Bush
.
When Biancosino died in December 2003, his brother, Joseph Downey, took over as director of the Studio band. Under his direction the Studio Band continues to play and compete. In 2007 the Studio Band took first place at the Berklee College of Music
High School Jazz Festival. Prior to performing, Downey dedicated the set to Dr. Biancosino. Incidentally, brother Joe stepped in to direct the band at the 1982 Berkee Festival, when they won the competition for the first time, while Dr. Biancosino was at the bedside of his ailing daughter. The set in 2007 consisted of three pieces: Whiplash, Of Another Time, and Cherokee; the same set the Studio Band had played when they won previously at Berklee twenty-five years earlier. Joe Bongiovi later took over the band director's position, with the help of band director Scott Grimaldi. Under the direction of Joe Bongiovi in 2009, PHS Studio Band won first place overall, best woodwind section, and best brass section at the Disney Jazz Festival. Later in the year, they also won first place overall and best saxophone section at the NJAJE State Finals. The set consisted of Heat of the Day, Mumuki, and What is This Thing Called Love.
At the Berklee Jazz Festival of 2010, the PHS studio band took first place in Division 2 for large ensembles. The set was It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing), The First Circle, and Besame Mucho. The band played well once again at the Berklee Jazz Festival of 2011, winning first in Division 2 for large ensembles, second in Division 1 for small combos, and second in miscellaneous BandSlam groups (this time Wake'N'Ska).
Jazz Festival
The Princeton High School band program also hosts an annual Jazz Festival, nicknamed "Jazz Fest", at which local high school jazz bands are invited to perform for adjudication. Like many other similar high school jazz festivals, the host band traditionally plays last and is not scored for competition. Each year, the band program invites a guest artist to perform after the festival for its attendees.
Jazz Festival Guest Artists:
2008- Berklee School Of Music Concert Jazz Orchestra
2009- Tierney Sutton
2010- Cherry Poppin' Daddies
2011- Tim Hagans & Marvin Stamm
The program was the first high school to premiere "Brigadoon" and "Carousel". They have also performed operas at Princeton High School, the first of which was Cavalleria Rusticana, a one act opera written by Pietro Mascagni.
Spectacle Theatre is currently directed by Pat Wray, the PHS drama teacher and former Broadway dancer and actress.
which was founded in 1911 as "The Observer". In 1925, it was renamed "The Blue & White". It was renamed to its present title four years later at the suggestion of Stryker Warren (a 1930 graduate of PHS) to commemorate the construction of what was then the new high school building and what is now the oldest building, with the famous tower. The Tower has throughout its life varied enormously in its content and style. , The Tower funded itself through the sale of subscriptions and advertisements to local organizations & businesses, and through subsidies from the Princeton Regional Schools.
In its very first incarnation, the paper was published fortnight
ly in a format somewhat smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches and was advised by a teacher of the era, Mrs. M. A. Dick. The Tower has published continuously since that time, assisted by different local publishers, most recently for the last few decades, the Princeton Packet
. At one time, typesetting was done separately from publishing for the Tower by the other main local paper, Town Topics.
The Tower's masthead
has varied tremendously—when the present name first was bestowed upon it, the logotype was a pencil drawing of a sun rising above a tower with the school's motto and The New York Times
-style lettering, but since then the image of the architectural feature has been removed and reinserted multiple times by zealous editors throughout the decades. Throughout the forties and fifties, the Tower's logotype was very plain, consisting only of serifed capital block letters, with no additional style or imagery. The current masthead dates to the eighties.
A well-known feature of the Tower is the propensity of the editors to publish joke
issues: in recent years, it is generally done at the boundary between years, around the same time when the entire editorial staff is replaced wholesale. The first example of this was in the late 1920s, when one issue was published on blue paper and carried the title "Black & Blue." The humor in that printing consisted largely of printing some of the text backwards or upside down. More recent joke issues have somewhat more vivid humor, such as a mid-2000s issue alleging that a giant condom had been placed on top of the school, or an early-eighties issue stating that the Tower had been converted into a pornographic racket
(with pictures to support the point). The 2009 edition featured a back page of student-made lolcats.
Of course, like many of the running aspects of the Tower, such as the monthly quotes section, exemplars decades ago may be seen not so much as "first instances" as much as spiritual precursors—there has been constant flux at the Tower over the decades. Features such as the Vanguard (a two-page topical opinions/forum spread) frequently are born, killed, resurrected, and killed again in a cycle that takes place over twenty or so years, as new enterprising editors-in-chief try to imprint their own mark upon the publication as soon as they can before their very brief tenure expires and that mark again fades into history.
For a brief period between 1990 and 1994, the Tower had competition from The Free Press, an "underground" newspaper that broke from the "underground" stereotype by placing bylines on articles and listing all contributors on the newspaper's masthead. The Free Press, which described itself as an independent student newspaper, was formed after a split between several potential editors of the Tower. The paper largely stopped printing by 1992 after the founding staff had graduated, but a few issues were published in later years when the few staffers remaining at PHS tried to resurrect the paper.
For a glimpse into the Tower's history, a series of front pages from the Tower archives has been on display in the lobby of the new arts wing at Princeton High School since the wing opened in the spring of 2007. This exhibit shows the consistently professional layout of the paper as well as its coverage of period-defining events. It also celebrates that the newspaper is not only one of the few clubs at PHS with a significant known history, but also that the newspaper's history has generally exemplified good journalism, strong leadership, and the sort of excellence for which Princeton High School is known.
requirement, though this is not always the case.
6.4% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch.
in elite high schools. The gap between different groups in academic progress received greater attention in 2005, after the school failed the No Child Left Behind Act
.
The New York Times
ran an article entitled "The Achievement Gap in Elite Schools," by Samuel G. Freedman
on September 28, 2005, which essentially accused Princeton High School of neglecting its responsibility to educate minorities. While the cause may be due to socioeconomic status
rather than racial segregation
, many students in the overwhelmingly white-and-Asian
-populated advanced classes can spend most of their high school career without sharing but a few classes with their Hispanic
or African American
peers. According to Freedman's article, "In the early 1990s, an interracial body calling itself the Robeson Group—in homage to Paul Robeson
, the most famous product of black Princeton—mobilized to recruit more black teachers and help elect the first black member to the school board."
In 2003, the school became part of the Minority Student Achievement Network, a network of 21 different schools across the country, that share Princeton High School's achievement gap problem. MSAN gathers high achieving minority students, to address and help fix the growing achievement gap, in their schools.
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....
in the Borough of Princeton
Borough of Princeton, New Jersey
The Borough of Princeton is a borough and is one of the two municipalities making up Princeton, New Jersey. It lies in Mercer County, New Jersey, and is completely surrounded by Princeton Township, from which it was formed in 1894...
, 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, operating as part of the Princeton Regional Schools
Princeton Regional Schools
Princeton Regional Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, New Jersey, United States. Students from Cranbury Township attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship...
district, which serves all public school students in the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township
Princeton Township, New Jersey
Also Princeton Borough is an independent municipality completely surrounded by the township.Princeton North is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Princeton Township....
. Students from Cranbury Township
Cranbury Township, New Jersey
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 3,227 people, 1,091 households, and 877 families residing in the township. The population density was 240.6 people per square mile . There were 1,121 housing units at an average density of 83.6 per square mile...
also attend PHS as part of a sending/receiving relationship
Sending/receiving relationship
A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts have grown as part of a historical relationship...
with the Cranbury Township School District
Cranbury School
Cranbury School is a public PreK-8 school located in and serving Cranbury Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is the sole school operated by the Cranbury Township Board of Education, a school district....
. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...
Commission on Secondary Schools since 9132.
As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,413 students and 106 classroom teachers (on a 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 13.33.
PHS is notable for its high academic standards and strong arts programs that rival many of the nation's private schools. The school consistently ranks amongst the top open-admissions public high schools in the state concerning SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores, and was ranked first in the state amongst open-admissions schools in 2009.
Overview
Borough of Princeton, New Jersey
The Borough of Princeton is a borough and is one of the two municipalities making up Princeton, New Jersey. It lies in Mercer County, New Jersey, and is completely surrounded by Princeton Township, from which it was formed in 1894...
between Moore Street and Walnut Lane. The district middle school, John Witherspoon Middle School
John Witherspoon Middle school
John Witherspoon Middle School is a middle school in Princeton, New Jersey. It is located across the street from Princeton High School. There are currently just under 700 students in three grades with a staff of approximately 70...
(which is in Princeton Township
Princeton Township, New Jersey
Also Princeton Borough is an independent municipality completely surrounded by the township.Princeton North is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Princeton Township....
), is located across from the high school athletic fields on Walnut Lane.
PHS offers courses in many subjects and levels, including most of the courses in the Advanced Placement Program
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
. Additionally, the High School Program at Princeton University permits qualified juniors and seniors to take free courses at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. Students must have exhausted all high school course alternatives within a discipline and receive high school credit only for any university courses successfully completed.
, the school's principal is Gary R. Snyder, and its assistant principals are Harvey Highland and Lori Rotz. The school's student activities director (also known as the Dean of Students) is Angela Siso. The Athletic Director is John Miranda.
Princeton High underwent significant reconstruction from 2003-2007 as part of an $86 million project to renovate the Princeton Regional School District's school buildings. At the start of the 2006-07 school year, the new auditorium, science labs, gymnasium, and the bulk of the new wings and staircases in the school opened. The renovated library (now located in the former auditorium) opened in May 2007. During the summer of 2007, finishing touches such as the removal of classroom trailers, installation of tennis courts, repaving of parking lots, finishing of renovations to old portions of the building, and work on the new, state-of-the-art fitness center took place. The district-wide renovations were declared officially complete at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.
Awards and recognition
In U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
s December 9, 2009 issue, Princeton High School was the 94th ranked public high school in the nation and was the highest ranked open-admissions high school in New Jersey.
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 8th in New Jersey and 371st nationwide.
The school was ranked 210th 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 2009 ranking of the top 1,500 high schools in the United States and was the third-ranked school in New Jersey, with 2.943 AP tests taken in 2008 per graduating senior and 60% of all graduating seniors passing at least one AP exam. The school was ranked 142nd nationwide in 2008. In Newsweek's 2007 ranking of the country's top high schools, Princeton High School was listed in 208th place, the seventh-highest ranked school in New Jersey. The school was listed in 133rd place, the third-highest ranked school in New Jersey, 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 8, 2006, issue listing the Top 1200 High Schools in The United States. Princeton High School was ranked as number 212 in Newsweek's 2005 survey and 113th in its 2004 survey.
The school was the 44th-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 6th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 13th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
The November 30, 2007 issue of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, ranking the country's high schools based on a percentage of 2007 high school seniors sent to eight selective colleges, placed Princeton High School at #27. PHS was the second highest ranked publicly-funded school, with a total of 31 students matriculating the select eights schools. The eight colleges were Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Pomona, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, and Williams. Princeton High School's rank was aided by the fact that 19 students from the school matriculated to Princeton University.
Schedule
School is held Monday through Friday from 7:51a.m.-2:51p.m. for a total of 180 days per year. The daily schedule consists of eight academic periods (44 minutes), with a homeroom period (12 minutes) between the second and third periods, and a break (30 minutes) between the sixth and seventh periods. This was changed in 2010, when a new schedule was introduced. One minute was added to the end of each period and 5 minutes to lunch, which was placed after the fifth period. Homeroom was replaced with a three-minute announcement, though it was kept on Wednesdays. There are four minutes between each class period for the students to get to their next class.Every Wednesday, (termed "Short Wednesdays" or "one-forty-nine days") and on some other days when special events are planned, the school day is shortened and ends at 1:49p.m. Students still attend all eight class periods on Short Wednesdays, though they are shortened to 35 minutes. Homeroom and break periods are not shortened. Short Wednesdays exist to permit the operation of the Peer Group program (which is mandatory for freshmen) between 1:49 and 2:51. This period of time is also used for community service group meetings for sophomores, other optional extracurricular activities, and school-wide events such as pep rallies, the Fall Festival, and Spring Fling. The 2010-2011 school year changed the time for the end of classes to 1:49, as school ended at 1:39 before.
Lab days
The school days are assigned letter labels, cycling from A through G. This is done to accommodate double periods for science classes, which are scheduled so that there is a gym class during the preceding or following period. For two out of these seven days (either A and E, B and F or C and G depending on the class, so that D day is the same for everyone) the science class meets two periods in a row to give the class opportunity for a lab experiment. For example, if a student has lab on B and F days, he or she will not have gym or health (or, if they are a sophomore, Driver's Education) on those cycle days, and will instead have a double science period. Certain science classes, such as Genetics and Bioethics (usually taken by seniors), have only one lab day per cycle, leaving the other as a free period.Graduation requirements
In order to receive a diploma from Princeton High School, students must pass the Grade 11 High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA 11) in language arts literacy and mathematics. Students must pass the Biology State Assessment the year they are enrolled in a Biology course. They must also successfully complete a minimum of 120 credits beginning in grade 9 and concluding in grade 12. Each year-long class counts for 5 credits; each semester class counts for 2.5. Science classes that have one or two lab periods, however, count for 5.7 and 6.4 credits, respectively (because of the additional lab periods). Quarterly Gym and Health classes count for 1 credit, or 4 credits per year. Additionally, each student must have completed 50 hours of community service to graduate. These community service requirements are usually completed during students' sophomore years.Required courses include English I and English II (which must respectively be taken in the first two years) and two more years of English; three years of science, including biology and chemistry; one year of a foreign language (though three years is recommended); three years of mathematics; one year of gym for every year that the student is enrolled (if the student graduates in three years they only need three classes); two years of United States History, one year of World History; one year of Visual/Performing Arts; and one year of Practical Arts.
PHS has a policy of revoking credit for a student's course if a certain amount of unexcused absences in a class are reached. More than 18 absences from a year-long course, 9 absences for a semester course, and 5 absences for a marking period course will lead to credit revocation. Starting in 2005, tardiness has been counted as one-third of an absence for the purposes of revoking credit.
Extracurricular activities
Princeton High School offers many extracurricular activities, including clubs, publications, competitive teams, and other organizations. Chartered organizations include Enspiration (an environmental community service group), The Speech & Debate Club, Operation Smile Club, the AnimeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Club, Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
Club, Dance Club, the PHS 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...
organization, A.R.T.E: Artistically Reviving the Earth, Badminton Club, the Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Club, the Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
Club, the Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
Club, the Environmental Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Indian Club, The Ivy (a literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
), the Latin Club, the Math
Math League
Math League is a mathematics competition for elementary, middle, and high school students in the United States. The Math League was founded in 1977 by two high school mathematics teachers, Steven R. Conrad and Daniel Flegler. Math Leagues, Inc...
Team, the Debate
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
team, the 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...
Team, 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....
, the Numina
Numina
Numen is a Latin term for a potential, guiding the course of events in a particular place or in the whole world, used in Roman philosophical and religious thought...
Gallery group, The Prince (the Yearbook), the Princeton High Ultimate Club
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
, the Robotics
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one.First or 1st may also refer to:* First , minor summit below the Schwarzhorn in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland* First , mountain in Bernese Alps in Switzerland...
and Computer Club, the New Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
Club, the Science Bowl
Science Bowl
Science Bowl is a high school and middle school academic competition, similar to Quiz Bowl, held in the United States. Two teams of four students each compete to answer various science-related questions. In order to determine which student has the right to answer the question, a buzzer system is...
Team, the Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...
Team, the Statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
Club, The Tower (the newspaper), the Quidditch
Muggle Quidditch
Muggle Quidditch is a sport based on Quidditch, the fictional sport developed by British author J. K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series of novels. It is popular with fans of the novels, aficionados of fictional sports, and children. The sport was created in Advance, North Carolina.In Muggle...
Club, the Bibliophile club, French Club, the Circolo Italiano (Italian Club), the Pen Spinning Club, Philosophy Club, and a Junior Statesmen of America Chapter. The following are some of the high school's oldest and most celebrated extracurricular traditions:
Athletics
The Princeton High School Little Tigers participate in the Colonial Valley ConferenceColonial Valley Conference
The Colonial Valley Conference is an athletic conference in Central Jersey composed of a group of high schools located primarily in Mercer County, New Jersey, with one member school in Monmouth County and one in Middlesex County...
, which includes high schools from Mercer
Mercer County, New Jersey
As of the census of 2000, there were 350,761 people, 125,807 households, and 86,303 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,552 people per square mile . There were 133,280 housing units at an average density of 590 per square mile...
, Middlesex
Middlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...
and Monmouth
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
Counties. The high school boasts teams in girls' field hockey, soccer, football, cheerleading, cross country, swimming, ice hockey, basketball, winter track, lacrosse, spring track and field, baseball, softball, golf, and tennis. The Track and Field team of the early 1950's was notable for a series of State Championships and was recently inducted into the Princeton High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Little Tigers have had many successful seasons in ice hockey, cross country, tennis, swimming, winter track, spring track and field, lacrosse, soccer, and golf over the years. The following are some of the more notable season triumphs:
The golf team went 5 for 5 in its 2007 tournaments, including the Group III State Championships, the Mercer County Tournament, Sectional Championships, the Bunker Hill Tournament, and the Cherry Valley Tournament. The team over had a record of 47-2 during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The 2008 team repeated as Group III champion.
The Varsity girls' swim team won the 2007 NJSIAA Central - B State Sectional Championship with an 87-83 win over Ocean Township High School
Ocean Township High School
Ocean Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Ocean Township School District...
. They again beat Ocean Township High School in 2008 for the second year in a row, claiming their 6th consecutive NJSIAA Central - B sectional championship.
The 2009 boys swimming team won the Central Jersey Group B Sectional title with a 99-71 win against Ocean Township High School.
In 2011, the boys swimming team won the Central Jersey Group B Sectional title with a 102-68 win against Freehold Borough High School. Following that, the team advanced to the NJSIAA Public B finals, ultimately losing to Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, 80-90.
In 2008, the Varsity cheerleading squad competed in the Colonial Valley Conference Competition, and won Best Dance, First place in Medium Division and Overall Grand Champions. They competed against 13 other teams in order to win the Grand Champion Award.
In 2009, the Varsity boys' soccer team competed in the Group III State tournament and won the championship, capping off an undefeated season with a 2-1 win over Millburn High School
Millburn High School
Millburn High School is a four-year public high school in Millburn, in Essex County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Millburn Township Public Schools. The school enrolls students from the town of Millburn, including its neighborhood of Short Hills...
.
In 2010, the Varsity cheerleading squad competed in the 6th Annual Colonial Valley Conference Competition, and won First Place in Small division.
The Princeton High School Choir
PHS Choir is technically an elective and not an "extracurricular" activity, as it is a regularly scheduled course for which credits and grades are given.Founded in 1944, the Choir is nationally and internationally known as one of the top high school choirs in the world and is widely regarded as the high school's strongest musical tradition. The Choir is composed of 60 to 80 students in grades 10 through 12 every year, with auditions conducted at the end of each academic year for entry in the following year. Students who are not accepted during their first audition may try again in subsequent years. The Choir tours internationally (and occasionally nationally) once every two years. Past tours of special significance include the 1977/78 invitation from the American composer Gian Carlo Menotti to participate in Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
, a world-renowned summer festival where they premiered Menotti's opera, "The Egg" and an invitation to perform at the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow. Though the Choir has toured internationally since 1962, more recent destinations (since 1993) include the nations of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Princeton High School Chamber Choir, composed of members of the PHS Choir, has performed at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
on numerous occasions. A national tour with the entire Choir to Washington D.C. in the spring of 2009 included a performance at the Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in...
. The Choir toured Barcelona, Spain, in February 2011, appearing on national Spanish television as well as gaining special permission to perform in the Cathedral of Montserrat.
The Choir has been under five directors in its history, including founding director Harvey Woodruff from 1944 to 1948, Thomas Hilbish from 1948 to 1965, William Trego from 1965 to 1993, and Dr. Charles "Sunny" Sundquist from 1993 to 2008. After Dr. Sundquist's move to Mountain Lakes High School
Mountain Lakes High School
Mountain Lakes High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Mountain Lakes, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Mountain Lakes Schools...
in 2008, Mr. Vincent Metallo took over as director, along with veteran Assistant Director Ms. Sarah Pelletier.
Since December 1944, the Choir has performed its annual winter concert in the Princeton University Chapel
Princeton University Chapel
The Princeton University Chapel is located on Princeton University's main campus in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It replaces an older chapel that burned down in 1920. Designed in 1921 by Ralph Adams Cram in his signature Collegiate Gothic style, it was built by the university between 1924...
, often filled to capacity with over 1,200 attendees, including numerous Choir alumni.
A cappella
PHS also is home to four student-run a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
groups. There are two all-female groups, the Cat's Meow and Cloud 9, one all-male group, the Testostertones (known as the "Tones"), and one co-ed group, Around Eight. The four groups perform at various school and non-school related events year round, singing songs arranged by current and former members. They all hold weekly, student-run rehearsals. The a cappella groups hold auditions at the end of each school year and admit a small number of new members. Admission overall is very selective, although selectivity varies from year to year and some groups are generally more selective than others. Cat's Meow and Around Eight admit members only from within PHS Choir, but selectivity amongst all four groups varies annually depending on the different group's needs.
Cat's Meow was established in the early 1980s. Around Eight was formed second, in 1992, and originally included eight members—two each of the four basic voice parts. Cloud 9 and the Testostertones are more recent additions to the school's rich a cappella history. Cat's Meow is known for spirituals and folk songs. They now arrange music from soulful female artists, usually concentrating on a more choral tone. Around Eight started out as a mainly madrigal oriented group, but as time progressed it became more pop oriented. Around Eight has been known to feature a lot of complex beatboxing. Cloud 9 was formed originally to give girls not in the choir a chance to show off their abilities, but has recently had a huge surge in great female vocalists; in recent years it has become known for its complex arrangements. The Testostertones were formed by a group of guys who loved to bring a funny edge to a cappella. Today the Tones combine great music and voices with comedic dances, their classic "Tones Attire" (black shirt, khakis, and colored ties), and other shenanigans, such as the song, "We Are Men And We Like to Sing". Tones, like Around Eight, features beatboxing.
All of the a cappella groups are featured in many of the classic group performances such as:
Back To School Night,
Fall Fest,
Friday Night Live (FNL),
Winter Arch Sing, WWP-South's Acappellooza,
Spring Fling, and
Final Arch Sing
Each usually contain large crowds as many support friends and enjoy the high quality of a cappella at PHS. Each group with the exception of Tones has recorded a CD annually, but 2011 marks the first in several years that Tones will release a CD.
PHS Studio Band
The band program is technically an elective and not an "extracurricular" activity, as it is a regularly scheduled course for which credits and grades are given.Band Program
Princeton High School has several levels of bands to accommodate all levels of playing from beginning to professional skill. Tiger I & II, Nassau I & II, Jazz Ensemble, and Studio Band are the 6 bands by order of pure playing ability. Students are assigned to their respective band level according to skill, being an upperclassman holds no extra sway.
The Princeton High School Studio Band, currently directed by Joe Bongiovi, selects its members by audition only. All Studio Band members are expected to excel in sight-reading
Sight reading
Sight-reading is the reading and performing of a piece of written music, specifically when the performer has not seen it before. Sight-singing is often used to describe a singer who is sight-reading.-Sight-reading:...
, master finger positions, and be familiar with all techniques that apply to their instrument (i.e. Trombone F-attachment). They are also expected to attend all rehearsals both during and after school. During the band's preparation for competition, ensemble rehearsal can be over 12–20 hours in 1 week.
The Studio Band is known to play a wide variety of genres arranged for Big Band. About one Friday evening each month throughout the school year the Studio Band hosts dances known as Big Band Dances.
Band History
The original director and founder of the Studio Band was Dr. Anthony Biancosino. Biancosino was the director of the Studio Band for 26 years. During those years the Studio Band had many successes, including playing at the inaugural balls of both Presidents Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
.
When Biancosino died in December 2003, his brother, Joseph Downey, took over as director of the Studio band. Under his direction the Studio Band continues to play and compete. In 2007 the Studio Band took first place at the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
High School Jazz Festival. Prior to performing, Downey dedicated the set to Dr. Biancosino. Incidentally, brother Joe stepped in to direct the band at the 1982 Berkee Festival, when they won the competition for the first time, while Dr. Biancosino was at the bedside of his ailing daughter. The set in 2007 consisted of three pieces: Whiplash, Of Another Time, and Cherokee; the same set the Studio Band had played when they won previously at Berklee twenty-five years earlier. Joe Bongiovi later took over the band director's position, with the help of band director Scott Grimaldi. Under the direction of Joe Bongiovi in 2009, PHS Studio Band won first place overall, best woodwind section, and best brass section at the Disney Jazz Festival. Later in the year, they also won first place overall and best saxophone section at the NJAJE State Finals. The set consisted of Heat of the Day, Mumuki, and What is This Thing Called Love.
At the Berklee Jazz Festival of 2010, the PHS studio band took first place in Division 2 for large ensembles. The set was It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing), The First Circle, and Besame Mucho. The band played well once again at the Berklee Jazz Festival of 2011, winning first in Division 2 for large ensembles, second in Division 1 for small combos, and second in miscellaneous BandSlam groups (this time Wake'N'Ska).
Jazz Festival
The Princeton High School band program also hosts an annual Jazz Festival, nicknamed "Jazz Fest", at which local high school jazz bands are invited to perform for adjudication. Like many other similar high school jazz festivals, the host band traditionally plays last and is not scored for competition. Each year, the band program invites a guest artist to perform after the festival for its attendees.
Jazz Festival Guest Artists:
2008- Berklee School Of Music Concert Jazz Orchestra
2009- Tierney Sutton
2010- Cherry Poppin' Daddies
2011- Tim Hagans & Marvin Stamm
Spectacle Theatre
Spectacle Theatre is Princeton High School's student-run drama club. Each year, students will act in and produce a fall play (generally in November) and a spring musical (generally in March). After the conclusion of the musical, seniors have the opportunity to direct single-act plays in a Student Directed Play production. Each production involves tech, make-up, lighting, and costume departments as well as a stage crew.The program was the first high school to premiere "Brigadoon" and "Carousel". They have also performed operas at Princeton High School, the first of which was Cavalleria Rusticana, a one act opera written by Pietro Mascagni.
Spectacle Theatre is currently directed by Pat Wray, the PHS drama teacher and former Broadway dancer and actress.
The Tower
The Tower is a newspaperStudent newspaper
A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....
which was founded in 1911 as "The Observer". In 1925, it was renamed "The Blue & White". It was renamed to its present title four years later at the suggestion of Stryker Warren (a 1930 graduate of PHS) to commemorate the construction of what was then the new high school building and what is now the oldest building, with the famous tower. The Tower has throughout its life varied enormously in its content and style. , The Tower funded itself through the sale of subscriptions and advertisements to local organizations & businesses, and through subsidies from the Princeton Regional Schools.
In its very first incarnation, the paper was published fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
ly in a format somewhat smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches and was advised by a teacher of the era, Mrs. M. A. Dick. The Tower has published continuously since that time, assisted by different local publishers, most recently for the last few decades, the Princeton Packet
Princeton Packet
The Princeton Packet is a semi-weekly newspaper serving the Princeton, New Jersey area. The company traces it's lineage to 1786. The Princeton Packet Inc., is also the publisher of 11 paid community newspapers, seven free newspapers, a monthly magazine and a series of local-news-based websites. The...
. At one time, typesetting was done separately from publishing for the Tower by the other main local paper, Town Topics.
The Tower's masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
has varied tremendously—when the present name first was bestowed upon it, the logotype was a pencil drawing of a sun rising above a tower with the school's motto and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
-style lettering, but since then the image of the architectural feature has been removed and reinserted multiple times by zealous editors throughout the decades. Throughout the forties and fifties, the Tower's logotype was very plain, consisting only of serifed capital block letters, with no additional style or imagery. The current masthead dates to the eighties.
A well-known feature of the Tower is the propensity of the editors to publish joke
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
issues: in recent years, it is generally done at the boundary between years, around the same time when the entire editorial staff is replaced wholesale. The first example of this was in the late 1920s, when one issue was published on blue paper and carried the title "Black & Blue." The humor in that printing consisted largely of printing some of the text backwards or upside down. More recent joke issues have somewhat more vivid humor, such as a mid-2000s issue alleging that a giant condom had been placed on top of the school, or an early-eighties issue stating that the Tower had been converted into a pornographic racket
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
(with pictures to support the point). The 2009 edition featured a back page of student-made lolcats.
Of course, like many of the running aspects of the Tower, such as the monthly quotes section, exemplars decades ago may be seen not so much as "first instances" as much as spiritual precursors—there has been constant flux at the Tower over the decades. Features such as the Vanguard (a two-page topical opinions/forum spread) frequently are born, killed, resurrected, and killed again in a cycle that takes place over twenty or so years, as new enterprising editors-in-chief try to imprint their own mark upon the publication as soon as they can before their very brief tenure expires and that mark again fades into history.
For a brief period between 1990 and 1994, the Tower had competition from The Free Press, an "underground" newspaper that broke from the "underground" stereotype by placing bylines on articles and listing all contributors on the newspaper's masthead. The Free Press, which described itself as an independent student newspaper, was formed after a split between several potential editors of the Tower. The paper largely stopped printing by 1992 after the founding staff had graduated, but a few issues were published in later years when the few staffers remaining at PHS tried to resurrect the paper.
For a glimpse into the Tower's history, a series of front pages from the Tower archives has been on display in the lobby of the new arts wing at Princeton High School since the wing opened in the spring of 2007. This exhibit shows the consistently professional layout of the paper as well as its coverage of period-defining events. It also celebrates that the newspaper is not only one of the few clubs at PHS with a significant known history, but also that the newspaper's history has generally exemplified good journalism, strong leadership, and the sort of excellence for which Princeton High School is known.
The Ivy
The Ivy is the PHS Magazine of the Arts and, like "The Tower", has a rich history. First started in the 1960s, The Ivy, named for the ivy which grows on the older school buildings, has entertained generations of students, faculty, and members of the Princeton community. Students submit their art in various media (drawings, collages, poems, short-stories, essays, paintings, and photographs) to the Ivy mailbox located in the library. A team of students, led by a chief editor, select and edit works until they have gathered enough to create a full issue. The magazine is then graphically designed using In Design, given a theme, and printed at the school in either black and white or color (depending on the content). The Ivy generally produces two issues a year.The Ideas Center
The Princeton High School Ideas Center provides most of the students in need at the school with peer tutors. Tutors work with their fellow students in one-on-one sessions or study groups. Tutoring is often done as a Community ServiceCommunity service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
requirement, though this is not always the case.
Student body
During the 2007-08 school year, the 1,307 students enrolled were of the following ethnicities:- 70.5% were White AmericanWhite AmericanWhite Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
- 15.3% were Asian AmericanAsian AmericanAsian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
- 7.8% were African-American
- 6.2% were HispanicHispanicHispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
- 0.2% were American IndianIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
/Alaskan
6.4% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch.
Alma mater
Princeton High School's Alma Mater is traditionally sung at the Fall Pep Rally by the Cat's Meow, the oldest all-female acapella group at PHS. It is also sung by the student body at the Gold Key Service Award Ceremony in the spring, as well as at the annual graduation ceremony, led by the ladies of the Cat's Meow.- Now stand and sing with heart and voice
- Our Alma Mater's praise!
- Let all who know thy guiding hand
- To thee, the chorus raise.
- Our friendships hold in memory
- Thy tow'r against the sky
- And evermore our hearts will sing
- In praise of Princeton High!
Achievement gap
PHS has been considered a case study of the achievement gapAchievement gap
Achievement gap refers to the observed disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The achievement gap can be observed on a variety of measures, including standardized...
in elite high schools. The gap between different groups in academic progress received greater attention in 2005, after the school failed the No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...
.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
ran an article entitled "The Achievement Gap in Elite Schools," by Samuel G. Freedman
Samuel G. Freedman
Samuel G. Freedman is an American author and journalist and currently a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has authored six nonfiction books, including most recently Who She Was, a book about his mother's life as a teenager and young woman, and Letters to a Young...
on September 28, 2005, which essentially accused Princeton High School of neglecting its responsibility to educate minorities. While the cause may be due to socioeconomic status
Socioeconomics
Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...
rather than racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, many students in the overwhelmingly white-and-Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
-populated advanced classes can spend most of their high school career without sharing but a few classes with their Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
or African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
peers. According to Freedman's article, "In the early 1990s, an interracial body calling itself the Robeson Group—in homage to Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, the most famous product of black Princeton—mobilized to recruit more black teachers and help elect the first black member to the school board."
In 2003, the school became part of the Minority Student Achievement Network, a network of 21 different schools across the country, that share Princeton High School's achievement gap problem. MSAN gathers high achieving minority students, to address and help fix the growing achievement gap, in their schools.
Notable alumni
- George BarnaGeorge BarnaGeorge Barna is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture...
(born 1955), author. - Richard E. BesserRichard E. BesserRichard E. Besser, MD, is an ABC News Medical editor and formerly the acting director of the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ....
(born 1959), ABC News Medical editor. - Chris Barron (born Christopher Barron Gross), the lead singer of Spin DoctorsSpin DoctorsSpin Doctors is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits, "Two Princes," and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," which peaked the Billboard Hot 100 charts at #7 & #17 respectively....
. - Laurie BerknerLaurie BerknerLaurie Berkner is an American musician best known for her work as a children's musical artist. Berkner plays guitar and sings in the Laurie Berkner Band, along with pianist Susie Lampert, bassist Adam Bernstein, and drummer Bobby Golden...
(born 1969), children's musical artist. - The members of the band Blues TravelerBlues TravelerBlues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...
- Eron Bucciarelli, drummer for Hawthorne HeightsHawthorne HeightsHawthorne Heights is an American rock band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2001. Their line-up currently consists of lead-singer and rhythm guitarist JT Woodruff, lead-guitarist and vocalist Micah Carli, bassist and backing vocalist Matt Ridenour, and drummer Eron Bucciarelli...
. - Sim CainSim CainSim Cain is an American drummer probably best known as a member of the hard rock group Rollins Band from 1987 to 2000...
(born 1963), drummer Rollins BandRollins BandRollins Band was an American rock band led by singer and songwriter Henry Rollins.They are best known for the songs "Low Self Opinion" and "Liar", which both earned heavy airplay on MTV in the early 1990s...
. - Michelle CharlesworthMichelle CharlesworthMichelle Charlesworth is an American television news reporter and anchor. Since 1998 she has been a reporter for both ABC News and WABC-TV, as well as a weekend morning anchor for WABC-TV's Eyewitness News and is probably best known for an award-winning series of reports about her battle with skin...
(born 1970), news anchor WABCWABC-TVWABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
New York. - Rhys CoiroRhys CoiroRhys Coiro is an American film, television and stage actor. Coiro may be best known for his role on the HBO original series Entourage as Billy Walsh.-Personal life:...
(born 1979), actor. - Michael LemonickMichael LemonickMichael Lemonick is the senior staff writer at Climate Central and a former senior science writer at Time magazine. He has also written for Discover magazine, Yale Environment 360, Scientific American, and others, and has written a number of popular-level books on science and astrophysics,...
, former senior science writer at TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. - John LithgowJohn LithgowJohn Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
(born 1945), actor. - Brad MaysBrad MaysBrad Mays is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California.-Background and education:...
(born 1955), filmmaker. - Ben JelenBen JelenBen Jelen is a Scottish-born American singer-songwriter who plays the piano, violin, and guitar. He has lived in Scotland, England, Texas, New Jersey and New York. His career has been characterized by near-stardom, with his debut album, Give It All Away peaking at #113 on the Billboard 200 list...
(born 1979), singer-songwriter - John McPheeJohn McPheeJohn Angus McPhee is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, widely considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction....
(born 1931), The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
staff writer, author and Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winner. - Bebe NeuwirthBebe NeuwirthBeatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is an American actress, singer and dancer. She has worked in television and is known for her portrayal of Dr. Lilith Sternin, Dr. Frasier Crane's wife , on both the TV sitcom Cheers , and its spin-off Frasier...
(born 1958), actress. - Andy PottsAndy PottsAndrew Robert Potts is a triathlete from the United States, who won the bronze medal as a swimmer in the men's 400m individual medley at the 1995 Summer Universiade....
, Olympic athlete. - Tsutomu ShimomuraTsutomu Shimomurais a Japanese scientist and computer security expert based in the United States, who became an instant celebrity when he, together with computer journalist John Markoff, tracked down and helped the FBI arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick....
(born 1964), Japanese-American scientist and computer security expert. - Michael ShowalterMichael ShowalterMichael English Showalter is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is a member of the sketch comedy trio Stella. Showalter first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's The State, which aired from 1993 to 1995...
(born 1970), comedian.
External links
- Princeton High School
- Data for the Princeton Regional Schools, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- Princeton High School Choir
- PHS Jazz
- The Princeton Packet
- PHS Chinese Club