Newton North High School

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Newton North High School
'Animi Cultus Humanitatis Cibus - Learning Sustains the Human Spirit
School type	Public
Established	1970
District	Newton Public Schools
Grades	9th through 12th
Principal	Jennifer Price
Faculty	~425
Students	2,200
Colors	Orange and Black
Mascot	Tiger
Location	360 Lowell Avenue Newton, Massachusetts 02460

Newton North High School is the largest high school in Newton, Massachusetts with more than 2,000 students. It is located in the village of Newtonville. The other public high school in the district is Newton South.

Contents 1 Physical plan 2 Reconstruction plans 3 Academics 4 Athletics 5 House System 6 Theatre Ink 7 Notable Alumni 8 References and footnotes 9 External links

[edit] Physical plan

At the center of Newton North High School is a main hallway called "Main Street" which stretches for about 150 meters; it is the center of life at Newton North. The majority of students' lockers are located on Main Street. Different locker sections are painted different colors, going from Yellow near the entrance, through Light Green, Dark Green, Blue, Purple, and Red (furthest from the main entrance, closest to the Hull Street entrance). The colors originally corresponded with the six houses into which the school was divided: Barry, Beals, Adams, Riley, Palmer and Bacon. Over the years, administrative reorganizations have eliminated Palmer and Bacon Houses and the remaining houses each comprise one of four graduating classes. The color system is on all four floors; room numbers above every door are posted on the color in which they are (for example, room 334 in blue has a blue plastic label with "334" on the doorway).

Newton North has a student-run restaurant (the Tiger's Loft) and art department located on the fourth floor as well as the SOA (Simulated Outdoor Area) gym; the third floor holds the photography room (with an extensive darkroom) and TV studio; the second floor (Main Street) has the Little Theater, library, dance studio; the first floor holds the pool and gyms, the Graphic Arts department (which supplies the school with nearly all of its posters and flyers, as well as all of the teachers' photocopies), Auto Shop, Drafting, Carpentry, the theatre and music departments (see below for more information on Theatre Ink), the Lasker Auditorium, and Plowshares, the preschool (where Child Development students spend some of their class time).

According to local rumor, the school was designed by a prison architect; however, the architect has said that his previous experience was designing hospitals.^{[citation needed]} The school was used as a filming location for a prison scene for the 1988 Commonwealth Films production, "incident Report: Just the Facts."

[edit] Reconstruction plans

The current Newton North building is approximately 35 years old and is built with red bricks. It will be expanded or replaced in the near future at an expected cost of $145-$160 million. A project consultant has explained that the project's relatively high cost is partly due to such unusual elements as glazed roofing over the cafeteria and a bermed embankment along the school's Hull Street property boundary.

The most proposed plan is for a new building oriented on a north-south axis in the center of the current lot with athletic fields to the east and west. A new main entrance would be accessible from Walnut Street. The proposal would place the school office in a more accessible location and ensure that most classrooms have natural light and windows to the outside.^[1]

At a public hearing in June 2006, community residents criticized the plan for its cost and for creating a dangerous new four-way intersection at Walnut Street and Trowbridge Avenue. Others claimed the proposed north-south orientation and lack of a basement level would waste energy as compared to the current structure. Final approval from the Board of Aldermen, required for construction to begin, is not expected until the board completes its review process in September at the earliest.^[2]

Noted architect Graham Gund is designing the new building.^[3]

[edit] Academics

Newton North is one of Massachusetts' leading high schools. The school offers classes ranging from regular academic courses to technical and vocational training. Non-standard courses range from video production to architecture to automobile repair. However, budgetary constraints have led to the cutting of certain electives, such as fashion design, in recent years.

It currently holds the 18th position on Boston Magazine's annual rankings of high schools, behind Newton South High School, which holds the 11th position on the rankings chart.^{[citation needed]}

Newton North's Science Team has had exemplary performances in many National or Regional competitions. Starting in the 1990's, the team's Science Bowl team has won the Regional multiple times, placing 3rd nationally in 1993. In recent years, the Science Olympiad won the Regionals competition in 2004 and 2007. In 2004, they competed at the National Science Olympiad at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. In May of 2007, they will travel to Wichita State University in Kansas for the National Science Olympiad.

[edit] Athletics

Newton North competes in the Bay State league with other suburban Boston public schools.

Since 1894, the boys' football team plays rival Brookline High School in the traditional Thanksgiving Day Game. This is one of the oldest high school football rivalries in Massachusetts.

The boys lacrosse team won 3 state championships from the years 1992-1996, ranking as one of the top teams in the country.

The boy's soccer team played in the state finals in 2001.

The boys' indoor track team won the state championship for 2001-02. In 2004-05, the team won a "triple crown" taking the cross country, indoor, and outdoor state titles; the Newton North girl's indoor track team won the state title as well.

In the spring of 2002, the tennis team won the Division 1 State Championship.

The boys' basketball team won the Division 1 State Championship in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. According to schoolsports.com, it was ranked 12^th in the nation for the '05-'06 season.

In 2006, the boys' volleyball team won the South Sectional Title and made it to the state-semifinals.

In 2005-06, the boys' football team won the Bay State league championship and went on to the division 1A state championship super bowl.

In 2006, Newton North's David Smith won the Massachusetts State Shotput Championship.

In 2006, the girl's volleyball team won the Central-East Sectional and made it to the state finals.

[edit] House System

The school has long been divided into administrative units called 'Houses'. In the period of its largest population (~3000 students in the 1960s and later), there were six Houses: Adams, Bacon, Barry, Beals, Palmer, and Riley. Each had its own office, staff, student commons room, teachers' lounge, and Housemaster - the equivalent of a Principal for that house.

The House system provided better communication, distributed administration, more personal attention to individuals, a smaller peer group for students, more practical social events, and even intra-house athletic teams.

House-specific students commons room and teachers' lounges no longer exist at North.

[edit] Theatre Ink

Theatre Ink is Newton North's theatre department. A typical season is comprised of eleven productions:

• approximately four to five student-directed shows, one of which is often a May musical
• a "big" March musical in Lasker Auditorium (these have included Les Miserables, My Fair Lady, Chicago, West Side Story)
• performances by the school's improvisation troupe called Spontaneous Generation, which also competes in the Providence Improv Festival
• performances by the Fingerpaint Players, the school's children's theatre troupe, which travels to elementary and after schools all over Newton
• several teacher-directed plays
• one Shakespeare collaboration with Newton South's theatre department, South Stage

The current producer of Theatre Ink is Adam Brown and the current technical designer is Michael Barrington-Haber.^[4]

Theatre Ink uses two performance spaces, the 695-seat Henry Lasker Auditorium, which is a standard proscenium theatre, as well as the space favored by teachers and students alike, the unique and acclaimed Little Theatre, an approximately 200-seat theatre (originally intended to be a TV production studio).

[edit] Notable Alumni

• Priyanka Chopra, Bollywood actress
• Joe DeNucci (1955), boxer and state auditor
• Matt LeBlanc (1985), actor
• James Remar (1971), actor from Mortal Kombat. most recently played the father in the Showtime series Dexter
• Andy MacDonald, pro skateboarder
• Tim Urban, entrepeneur and candidate on The Apprentice Season 6

[edit] References and footnotes

[edit] External links

• Newton North High School
• Newton North High School Building Project
• Theatre Ink Homepage