Lowell High School (Lowell, Massachusetts)

Lowell High School is a single-campus public high school located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts. The mailing address is 50 Father Morissette Boulevard, Lowell, Massachusetts, 01852.

History

Lowell High School opened in 1831 as the first co-educational high school in the United States with a total of 47 male and female students. One of its earliest homes was a small brick building on Middlesex Street owned by the Hamilton Company. In the 1830s and early 1840s, there are records and accounts of children of color attending and graduating from Lowell High School, at a time when every public school in the United States and Massachusetts were segregated. The high school moved in 1840 into a new building between Kirk Street and Anne Street along the Merrimack Canal and during the next 100 years expanded several times. In the 1920s, an addition much larger than the current school was built adjacent to the existing building along Kirk Street, and around 1980, a major addition was built on the other side of the Merrimack Canal with connecting overhead walkways.Now it has a population of 4,000 students for which it holds.

Today

Lowell High School continues to grow with the city and its residents. With nearly 4,000 ethnically-diverse students, Lowell High School is the state’s second-largest public high school (Brockton, Massachusetts is the largest). Despite its size, this large urban high school boasts a remarkably close-knit learning community, where diversity is embraced as a life-lesson. The school is indeed a microcosm of the community it serves. Lowell High School is invested deeply in developing young people who possess tolerance, integrity, and a lifelong love of learning. Graduates are primed to make their marks as responsible, informed and contributing members of a global society. The mascot of Lowell High School is the Red Raider and the school colors are Crimson Red & Gray.

Carney Medal

The ultimate symbol of academic achievement at Lowell High School is the much-coveted Carney Medal. Each year, the top three male and top three female students of the graduating class are presented with this medal. This marked the first recognition of girls for academic achievement in high school. The award was established in 1859 by James G. Carney, a successful businessman and banker.

Daniel P. Kane Courtyard Restaurant

The Courtyard Restaurant is part of the Hospitality Academy at Lowell High School.

Athletics

Lowell High School has a large variety of athletic teams, many have been historically quite competitive. In the 2007-2008 season, their basketball team went 22-2 and made it all the way to the eastern Massachusetts finals where they lost to Central Catholic of Lawrence.

The Lowell High Wrestling team has won over 16 Division 1 State Titles and has fielded several individual State Champions and New England Champions as well as many NCAA Division I wrestlers. Lowell Wrestling has been considered one of the elite programs in the nation.

The Lowell High Crew team is among the elite public rowing schools in the state. Rowing out of the Bellegarde Boathouse, Lowell High Rowing boasts a variety of novice and varsity boats that compete throughout the region. In 2007 the Men's Varsity Light-Weight 8 won their Regional event in Worcester, MA and earned the right to compete at the National Youth Rowing Championships in Ohio. In the spring season of 2008 under coach Jennifer Campbell-Bauer, the boys 1st, 2nd and 3rd varsity eights all took home silver medals at the Massachusetts State Championships making them the 2nd best team in the state.

Notable Alumni

[http://lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/Default.aspx?tabid=54 Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni Award***]
*Charles Herbert Allen (1863) - Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
*Ruth Bailey (1905) - World record holder in women's high school basketball [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A00E2DE1130E733A25756C0A9649C946297D6CF New York Times Article, February 5, 1903]
*George Behrakis (1951***) - Owner Muro Pharmaceuticals and philanthropist
*Homer Bourgeois (1920***) - CEO Union National Bank
*Benjamin Franklin Butler (1830s***) - Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
*Sarah E. Cheney [m: Charles Willoughby] - [http://members.tripod.com/~PeriM/Brides/Cheney.html 1864, recruited by Asa Mercer to go to teach in Seattle, WA]
*Gerald Chertavian (1983***) - Founder: Year Up
*James Conway (1941***) - CEO: Courier Corporation
*George Duncan (1957***) - Founder: Enterprise Bank and Trust (Lowell)
*Rosalind Elias (1947***) - Opera singer
* [http://www.providence.edu/About+PC/College+History/Foley.htm Frederick Clement Foley] (1920s) - President: Providence College
*Gustavus Fox (1830s) - Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War
*Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (1859) - Congressman; Governor of Massachusetts
*Warren D. Griffin (1953) - Owner: Derry Engineering
*Mary Hallaren (1925) - Director: Women's Army Corps
*Pearl Hamilton (m: Curry) (1930s) - WWII Navy Nurse Corp; President of Allstate Mechanical
*Harriet Hanson (m: Robinson) (1840s) - Writer: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/robinson-lowell.html "Loom and Spindle" - Autobiography Harriet Hanson Robinson]
*Ralph Hogan (1971) - CEO of Hogan Homes
*Jack Kerouac (1939***) - Writer: "The Town and the City;" "On the Road"
*Helena K. Kirkiles (m: Panesis) (1940s) - Secretary for General Omar Bradley and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
*Donna Lavigne (m: McCallum) (1961***) - Philanthropist
*Brendan Leahey (1922***) - Surgeon first successful corneal transplant
*Ted Leonsis (1973***) - Founder: AOL
*Gerard Lew (1910s) - Co-founder: DuSable Museum of African American History; [http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/398.html DuSable Museum]
*Theresa Lew (1912***) - African American teacher
*Elinor Lipman (1968***) - Writer: Columns for the "The Boston Globe"
*Elkin McCallum (1961***) - Owner: Joan Fabrics and philanthropist
*Joseph McCarthy (1956***) - Chairman: Medical Advisory Board of The Smile Train
*Ed McMahon - Entertainer
* [http://www.washington-report.org/archives/november01/0111057.html Dr. Francis "Frank" Maria] (1931) - Spokesman for Peace and Justice in the Middle East
*Marty Meehan (1974) - Democratic; Congressman
*F. Bradford Morse (1938***) - Republican; Congressman
*William Henry O'Connell (1877) - Cardinal Archdiocese of Boston
* [http://www.umassd.edu/commencement/2005/pedroso.cfm Luis Pedroso] - Co-founder: Accutronics
*Mark Robbins - Author
*John Jacob Rogers - Republican; Congressman
*Tom Sexton (1958***) - Writer
*Ezekiel A. Straw (1830s) - Governor of New Hampshire
*Paul Tsongas (1958***) - Democratic; Congressman; Senator
*Caroline Van Vronker (1843) - Earliest African American student attending the first racially integrated public high school in the United States
*Herbert Zarkin (1956***) - CEO: BJ's Wholesale Club

External links

* [http://www.lowellclassof75.com/ 1975 Class Reunion]
* [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ma/949/ Great Schools Profile]
* [http://library.uml.edu/clh/high.htm Lowell High School Collection] University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Lowell History
* [http://lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us/ Lowell High School Official Website]
* [http://library.uml.edu/clh/LHsch/LHsch.Html Parker, Jill. "Changing Times: A Century and a Half at Lowell High School."] 1840-1990 located on Kirk Street, Lowell, Massachusetts