Lawrence High School (New Jersey)
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Lawrence High School (LHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, serving grades 9-12 as part of the Lawrence Township Public Schools. LHS was built in the early 1960s.
Students from Washington Township attend Lawrence High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship. Washington Township will end sending its high school students to Lawrence High in the 2007-08 school year. Cranbury Township had sent students to Lawrence High School until they began a relationship with Princeton High School.
The school colors are red and white. The school mascot is the Cardinal.
Lawrence High School was the 123rd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.[1] Lawrence High School had been ranked in the top 75 high schools in previous year's rankings. New administration has begun a process of curriculum articulation, curriculum mapping, and other initiatives in an effort to reverse the decline.
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[edit] Facilities
A major renovation project of LHS was begun in June 2004. These renovations include a new cafeteria, new state-of-the-art music facilities, several new science labs & classrooms, and a new media center. The addition to LHS is scheduled to be completed in 2007.
[edit] Curriculum
Lawrence High School offers numerous honors and Advanced Placement Program (AP) classes including AP United States History, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Music Theory, AP English Literature, AP Calculus (both AB and BC), AP European History, AP United States Government and Politics, and AP Studio Art. The High School also offers Cisco I and II, a certified networking course from Cisco Systems.
[edit] Extracurricular activities
The school has a very strong athletics program that includes some very successful teams. Lawrence High's most successful teams are: Football, Golf, Wrestling, Field Hockey, Basketball, Swimming and Tennis. In 2005, the Lawrence Boys Swim Team won the Colonial Valley Conference with a 16-1 record. The Girls swim team followed this success in 2006 by winning the Central "A" Division State Title[2]. The Boys Football team won the Colonial Valley Conference titles in 2004 and 2005 and was led by Brett Brackett, who plays on the Penn State team. In 2006, the team made it to the state playoffs again, only to be knocked off by Moorestown High School at home 19-14.[3] In 2004, four students began competing for the high school's newly formed figure skating team. The team consistently placed in the top three at local competitions, and currently has seven members for the 2005-2006 season. The Lawrence Wrestling Team is most notably known for having the only state champion to come out of Mercer County, Mark Savino, his varsity career consists of 115 wins.
Lawrence High also features clubs such as Drama, Newspaper, OP Smile, and Channel Genius a school-sponsored Counter-Strike team that has triumphed through Cal-Open for the past six seasons. The High School is also home to a Science Olympiad team, which has proceeded to the State level the past two years by sheer luck; the Science Olympiad team has so far earned 2 metals in the past two years. Lawrence High School has a superb performing arts department. The music program includes numerous instrumental and choral groups. Among the most popular instrumental groups is the Red Scare which is an unorthodox marching band. In 2006 three Lawrence High School students participated in the American Choral Directors Association All-Eastern High School Honor Choir which was under the direction of St. Olaf College Choir director Anton Armstrong.
Lawrence High's Mock Trial team has been very successful over the past 14 years, winning 11 Mercer County Competitions and 6 Central Jersey Championships. The team also finished third in the state three times and second in the state three times.
[edit] Administration
- Principal - Mr. David Roman
- Assistant Principal (Grade 12) - Ms. Mindy Milavsky
- Assistant Principal (Grade 10-11) - Ms. Ryann Adler
- Assistant Principal (Grades 9) - Mr. Dave Milinowicz
- Director of Athletics - Mr. Ken Mason
[edit] "Red Scare" marching band
The Lawrence High School "Red Scare" Marching Band is the school's un-orthodox marching band, which provides entertainment at school football games, local parades, competitions and in cities across the country, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and New Orleans.
The "Red Scare" was established in September 2001 by Mr. Eric Haltmeier and Ms. Lee Neamand. They have been increasingly popular among marching band audiences, and have numerous musicians in their band who have performed at the regional and State Level.
The band makes use of non-traditional instruments such as garbage cans in their routines. Red Scare's main goal is to entertain and involve the audience in each and every show. In addition, the band's field show is different every week. The program's main focus is to let the students govern most major decisions in setting the band's direction.
[edit] District Media Center
Lawrence High School houses Lawrence Township Public School's District Media Center. The media technician, Tom Ervin, has a program set up so that students interested in media technology can develop their knowledge and skills in the media field.
[edit] Student Activism
Lawrence High School has a reputation for having a very politically active student body. In fact comedian Jon Stewart has said that Lawrence High School students in the 1980s were Eugene Debs like socialists.
In March 2003 Lawrence High School participated in a student walkout to protest the possibility of an Iraq War.
In Spring 2006, students also organized a petition drive in opposition to the war. The petition asked Congress to ban military recruiters on public high school campuses.
In Spring 2007, The student Darfur watch group created a school wide timed-writing on the subject of what the U.N. should do for the Darfurians. The letters will be read and the ones that are deemed acceptable will be sent to the U.N. Security General.
[edit] College education
Graduates of Lawrence High School have attended many prestigious colleges, including The Cooper Union, Yale University, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Chicago.
[edit] Noted alumni and faculty
- N. Taylor Blanchard Science Fiction Illustrator, Stage Magician (was a student of Raymond Teller)
- Scott Brunner, Former professional quarterback for the New York Giants.
- Glenn "Mooch" Myernick, Former professional soccer player and United States Soccer captain.
- Patricia Russo, current CEO and Chairman of Lucent Technologies
- Jon Stewart, comedian and host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.[4]
- Magician Raymond Teller of Penn and Teller taught Latin at the school.
[edit] References
- ^ Top Public High Schools in New Jersey: 51-100, New Jersey Monthly, September 2006
- ^ 2006 NJSIAA Girls Team Swimming - Central - A, accessed August 3, 2006
- ^ 2006 Football Tournament - Central, Group III, accessed November 14, 2006
- ^ Comic Jon Stewart to host benefit for former teacher, Princeton Packet by Helen Pettigrew, April 17, 2001. "Jon Stewart, the Lawrence High School alumnus who hosts the Comedy Central hit The Daily Show, will return to his alma mater April 28 as special guest host for a benefit concert honoring Selma Litowitz, his former English teacher who is afflicted with Parkinson's disease."
