New Brunswick High School

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New Brunswick High School (NBHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in New Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the New Brunswick Public Schools.

1 Facilities (Past, Present, and Future)
2 Student Body and Academics
3 Athletics
4 Electives and extracurricular activities
- 4.1 Theatre program
5 Administration
6 Notable alumni
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Facilities (Past, Present, and Future)

The 1875 NBHS building

The 1916 NBHS building (before expansions)

The first dedicated high school facility in New Brunswick, known as Livingston Avenue High School, was built in 1875 on the Livingston Avenue property where Roosevelt Elementary School currently stands. Previously, the "high school department" took up the second and third floors of the Bayard Street School.

The second high school facility was completed in 1916, and contained 30 classrooms and an 800-seat auditorium. A new gymnasium was built as part of an addition in 1941, and another addition was built in 1945. This facility was repurposed as A. Chester Redshaw Elementary School following the construction of the current high school facility. Redshaw Elementary was closed in 2005 and demolished in 2006, and a new elementary school is being constructed on the site.

The current facility is located on Livingston Avenue, near the North Brunswick Township border. Construction was completed in 1964. The 166,000-square-foot facility contains 67 classrooms (including dedicated classrooms for music and industrial arts classes), a gymnasium, a cafeteria, an auditorium, a library, and office space. The school was originally built to hold 1,200 students, and overcrowding has necessitated the use of modular classrooms. Memorial Stadium is located in the rear of the school, and is used for outdoor sports, physical education classes, and other school functions.

A new high school is currently in development and is expected to open in 2009. The 400,000-square-foot facility will be located on Route 27. The school is being designed to fit current needs, and will also allow for the potential future expansion of such programs as theatre arts, culinary arts, and media studies. It will feature "small learning communities", with classrooms that can be combined for the instruction of larger groups. After the new high school is completed, the current high school will be converted into a middle school for grades 6 through 8.

[edit] Student Body and Academics

NBHS has an enrollment of over 1,400 students. The school has a 77 percent graduation rate. 24 percent of NBHS graduates pursue education at four-year colleges after graduating, while 32 percent pursue education at two-year colleges.

The school's population is predominantly Hispanic (65 percent) and African-American (32 percent). Over 60 percent of students speak Spanish at home, and 32 percent of students are learning English during high school.

[edit] Athletics

NBHS is a member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and holds membership in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC). Athletic programs offered by NBHS include football, baseball, basketball, softball, soccer, cross country, tennis, golf, bowling, track and field, and wrestling. The school's athletic facilities include a gymnasium, a football stadium (Memorial Stadium), baseball diamonds, and a racing track. The school's mascot is the zebra.

[edit] Electives and extracurricular activities

NBHS currently offers a significant variety of extracurricular activities for students, including over 40 clubs, and nearly 20 student organizations. There are clubs devoted to languages and cultures, academic fields, sports, fitness, music, art, computers, and other interests and skills. Student organizations include chapters of the National Honor Society and the Key Club, as well as a student council, a school newspaper, and a group that designs the school's yearbook. NBHS also offers the U.S. Army JROTC program as an elective.

[edit] Theatre program

NBHS offers courses and clubs focusing on various aspects of theatre arts, including music and acting. In the spring of 2002, participants in these groups, as well as several art-related classes, became involved in the school's first musical theatre production in 24 years - a production of Once on This Island. The production proved to be a success, and since then, NBHS has put together productions of such shows as West Side Story, A Chorus Line, and Grease.