West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South

Infobox_School
name = West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South


imagesize =
motto =
established = 1973
grades = 9 - 12
district = West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
type = Public high school
principal = Charles Rudnick
enrollment = 1,595 (as of 2005-06)
faculty = 118.0 (on FTE basis)
ratio = 13.5
teamname = Pirates
conference = Colonial Valley Conference
colors = Green and gold
colorbox|greencolorbox|gold
newspaper = "The Pirate's Eye"
location = 346 Clarksville Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
information = 609-716-5000
website = [http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/south/index.shtml School website]

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Princeton Junction in Mercer County, New Jersey serving students in grades 9 through 12. The school is part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, a regional school district serving students from West Windsor Township (in Mercer County) and Plainsboro Township (in Middlesex County).

The high school was opened in 1973 as West Windsor-Plainsboro High School. In 1997, the school was renamed by appending "South" to the school's name, because of the opening of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North. [ [http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/district_landmarks.html District Landmarks] , accessed May 15, 2006.]

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,595 students and 118.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 13.5. [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3417700 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South] , National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 13, 2007.]

Awards and recognition

During the 1992-93 school year, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education [ [http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF)] , accessed May 11, 2006.] , the highest award an American school can receive. [ [http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17475750&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6 CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department] , "Journal Inquirer", November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."] [Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; "The Washington Post". September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."]

The school was the 21st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 314 schools statewide, in "New Jersey Monthly" magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools". The school was ranked 9th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. [ [http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"] , "New Jersey Monthly", September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.]

In 2005, the school had the second highest average SAT score in New Jersey. About 97% of the students pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). The school offers several honors and Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses in various subject areas. The school does not rank students, but it uses a weighted GPA. Many students from the school are accepted to highly selective schools around the country, including the Ivy League.

In 2004-05, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, came in second with a 1240 SAT average score (V:604, M:636) trailing Montgomery High School which scored a 1244 (V:617, M:627) earning it the highest average SAT score in the state for non-magnet schools. [ [http://www.njccvts.org/nj_sat.asp New Jersey's Highest Average SAT Scores, Mission, Officers, Staff, New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools] , data gathered from 2005 New Jersey School Report Cards, February 1, 2006.]

Athletics

The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Pirates participate in the Colonial Valley Conference, which includes high schools from Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties. The school mascot is the Pirate and the school colors are green and gold. Secondary school colors used as accents include black and white. From 1973 to 2003, the Pirate football team bore a "Golden Dome," or a yellow helmet, which for much of that time was blank without a decal. Now, the football team bears a "Snowcap," or a white helmet bearing a yellow pirate flag on it. The award-winning school newspaper is called "The Pirate's Eye". The school's radio station is [http://www.wwph1079fm.com/ WWPH 107.9 FM] , shared with West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North.

The North-South high school rivalry is a heated affair, with the annual football game in 2007 drawing nearly 8,000 spectators from two towns with a combined population slightly larger than 40,000.Fact|date=September 2008 North won 2007 edition, 21-9, to even the all time series at 3-3. The loss was the Pirates only defeat until they lost the Sectional Championship Game to Howell HS, and was one of only 3 wins for the Knights.

There is also an older rivalry with Hightstown High School called "The War of the Windsors." The winner of the annual football game takes home "The Mayor's Trophy." The Pirate Football team is the CVC Champion.

The South Varsity Boys' tennis squad is the flagship team of the district.Fact|date=September 2008 They can be seen featured in local newspapers almost every year after dominating performances in county, sectional and state tournaments. They are consistently ranked in the top 10 of all New Jersey high school tennis teams.Fact|date=September 2008 The 2007 season was the most successful season in school history. Although the team did not capture the state title, it secured a #2 ranking in the state and was very close to defeating the #1 ranked team. This season also featured the first South singles player to advance to the quarterfinals of the State Singles Tournament and the first doubles team to win the State Doubles Tournament. The 2007 boys tennis team won the Central, Group IV state sectional championship with a 4-1 win against East Brunswick High School. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=216953&tclass=Central%2C%20Group%20IV 2007 Boys Tennis - Central, Group IV] , NJSIAA. Accessed June 7, 2007.]

The South Varsity Boys' golf team is one of the top programs in the state and widely recognized for its accomplishments.Fact|date=September 2008 Ranking consistently within the Star Ledger's Top 10 high school golf teams, they have exhibited tremendous success at the county, sectional, and state level. Notable seasons include the 2006 and 2007 seasons in which they captured the 2006 Cherry Valley Invitational, 2006 Mercer County Championship, placed 2nd at the 2006 South/Central Group III State Sectional Championship, placed 2nd in Group III at the 2006 State Championship, placed 2nd at the 2007 Mercer County Championship and won the 2007 South/Central Group III State Sectional Championship. Over the last two years, the team has established an impeccable record: losing just 3 times and winning well over 30 matches. One of their greatest victories took place in the 2007 season against Princeton High School. These two historically bitter rivals battled for the title of dominating team in Mercer County and placed their respective state rankings of #2 and #4 on the line.Fact|date=September 2008 At the end of the day, the South team prevailed with a stunning victory of 186-187 that came down to the last putt of the last player of the last group. The Pirates put an end to the Tigers previous three-year unbeaten record in Mercer County matches. They exited the 2007 season as the #12 ranked team in the state.Fact|date=September 2008

The girls swim team won the Central - A state sectional championship with a 97-73 win over Montgomery High School. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=201923&tclass=Central%20-%20A 2007 Girls Team Swimming - Central - A] , NJSIAA. Accessed June 5, 2007.] The girls' swimming team also came in first place at the 2008 Mercer County Tournament, with Notre Dame in second.

The boys' team came in third place at the 2008 Mercer County Tournament, with Notre Dame in first and Pennington in second.Fact|date=September 2008 Both the girls' and boys' swim teams are the Colonial Valley Conference Champions for the 2007-2008 season.

Some of South's historically dominant athletic teams include both Boys' and Girls' swimming and diving, tennis, and golf. The boy and girls cross country teams have also had great success in recent years. South's own Brian Leung is the 2007 New Jersey Cross-Country Champion and the team finished 7th in the state, the program's best season to date.

Girls sports teams have excelled in the last 15 years.Fact|date=September 2008 With CVC championships won multiple times by soccer and basketball. The gym has multiple championship banners from girls soccer and basketball.

Model United Nations

The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School [South Model United Nations Team] is regarded as one of the best high school MUN teams in the western hemisphere. The team is made up of two advisers and approximately thirty delegates. All delegates chosen for conferences face a high level of competition at home and are thus accustomed to the level of competition for all conferences. A typical school mock (tryout) involves more than 100 delegates vying for an extremely limited number of spots: the decisions on who qualify to attend rest solely on elected officers. The delegates conduct individual research outside of school and attend conferences at universities such as Rutgers University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Cornell University. The team has won numerous awards throughout the East Coast.

The South MUN Team has won best delegation awards at four of the five conferences it attended during the 07-08 school year making it a record breaking year in the team's history, namely achieving an additional victory in the North American Invitational Model United Nations conference, meaning that they are one of the top Model United Nation teams in the western hemisphere.

Other awards include, but are not limited to:

*Best Large Delegation at the North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference (2008)
*Best Small Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (2008)
*Best Large Delegation at the Princeton Model United Nations Conference (2007)
*Best Medium Delegation at the Rutgers Model United Nations Conference (2007)
*Honorable Mention at the North American Invitational Model United Nations conference (2007)
*Best Large Delegation at the Princeton Model United Nations Conference (2006)
*Best Medium Delegation at the Rutgers University Model United Nations Conference (2006)
*Best Delegation at the Cornell Model United Nations Conference (2006) [Staff. [http://cornellsun.com/node/17233 "Model UN Draws High Schoolers"] , "The Cornell Daily Sun", April 2, 2006. Accessed September 5, 2008.]
*Distinguished Delegation at the Rutgers University Model United Nations Conference (2005)
*Outstanding Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (2005)
*Best Delegation at the Rutgers University Model United Nations Conference (2004)
*Outstanding Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (2004)
*Outstanding Delegation at the North American Invitational Model United Nations conference (2004)
*Best Delegation at the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference (2003)
*Best Delegation at the North American Invitational Model United Nations conference (2003)
*Best Delegation at the Seton Hall Model United Nations Conference (2002)
*Distinguished Delegation at the Rutgers University Model United Nations Conference (2001)
*Best Delegation at the Princeton University High School Model U.N. Conference (1998)
*Best Delegation at the Harvard Model United Nations conference (1997)
*Best Delegation at the North American Invitational Model United Nations conference (1997)

cience Olympiad

The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South Science Olympiad Team is one of the best teams in the nation. In 2007, they won 1st place in the regional and state competition, thereby earning a spot in the national tournament in Wichita, Kansas. They were the 6th place team, out of more than 50 of the nation's most talented teams. [ [http://www.soinc.org/tournaments/2007/C%2520Division%2520final%2520scores%2520by%2520rank.pdf Division C Scores and Ranking - 2007] , Science Olympiad. Accessed January 14, 2008.] In 2008, the team earned a disappointing 3rd place in regionals.

Music and Arts

The award-winning music program at South has earned state- and worldwide acclaim.Fact|date=September 2008 There are currently three orchestras, two of which are philharmonic, two choirs, and two bands. In the Spring of 2007, the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concert Choir toured in Russia. Over the years this program has traveled to other venues such as the Azalea Festival in Norfolk, Virginia, Scotland, Germany and Boston, Massachusetts. Other music programs including three a cappella groups, two jazz bands, and the award-winning Pirate Marching Band and Colorguard. The marching band/guard have won numerous awards in regional, state, and national competitions. They placed first in 2005 in the USSBA Group II Open category. The band finished third at the 2007 United States Scholastic Band Association National Championships, competing as a Group II band at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on November 16, 2007. [ [http://www.yea.org/site/PageServer?pagename=1116natsChampionship, Group I, M&T Bank Stadium, November 16, 2007] , United States Scholastic Band Association. Accessed November 18, 2007.]

History

Before the opening of the school in 1973, students were sent to Princeton High School in the Borough of Princeton. In the 1990s, population growth in the district necessitated an additional high school, and in 1997 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North was built and "South" was added on to the end in order to help differentiate between the two.

Schedule

The high school operates on a rotating class schedule from 7:40 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. daily. Classes are an hour long with a 5 minute passing period between classes. Lunch is at the same time for all students from 10:50 to 11:35 (because of this, seniors are allowed to leave school for lunch to reduce crowds). There are three classes before lunch and three after lunch. The schedule cycle is 4 days. On a 1-Day, classes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 meet, with 4th and 8th period missed. On a 2-Day, classes 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 meet, with 1st and 5th period missed. 3- and 4-Days follow the same pattern. If a science class requires lab time, 20 minutes of the lunch period are used once every four days, following the 4-day cycle, thus allowing for a six-credit course instead of the traditional five-credit course, AP Science courses are seven-credit courses since the lab time extends into the full hour of study hall instead of lunch.

Referendum

A district-wide referendum was recently passed in January 2006, which will result in many improvements for High School South.Fact|date=September 2008 Among those include a new gym, more parking spaces, a new cover for the pool, more classrooms, improvements on the HVAC system, and artificial turf for the football field. The improvements will be done in stages starting with the 2006-2007 school year, with completion expected by the end of 2008. During that time, there will be very few parking spaces and only one gym class each period since only the auxiliary gym will be available. [Forester, Greg. [http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2008/09/02/the_princeton_packet/news/doc48b8653041499059295791.txt "WW-P projects near completion as classes resume on Thursday"] , "Princeton Packet", September 2, 2008. Accessed September 5, 2008.] The estimated cost of the projects included in the referendum was $23 million.

Administration

*Charles Rudnick - Principal
*Dr. Robert Banks - Assistant Principal
*Roseann Zingaro - Assistant Principal

Notable alumni

The following attended what is now West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South:
*Kevin Barry (born 1978), right-handed relief pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. [ [http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=435258 Kevin Barry player profile] , Atlanta Braves. Accessed May 20, 2007. "Graduated from Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in Princeton Junction, NJ."]
*Cary Guffey (born 1972), actor, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".Fact|date=December 2007
*Ethan Hawke (born 1970), Oscar-nominated actor. ["Cinema: Head to head; Welshman Matthew Rhys grappled with Kathleen Turner onstage and, in his new film, The Abduction Club, he gets to wrestle with Alice Evans. Meanwhile, Ethan Hawke manhandles his missus, Uma Thurman, in the drama Tape. So who of the two is the real hands-on Hollywood hotshot?", "The Daily Mirror", July 19, 2002. "Ethan grew up in a single-parent family in New Jersey. Joining The drama club at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School changed his life. A casting director spotted him in a School production of Saint Joan and she landed him a part alongside River Phoenix in The endearing 1985 children's film, Explorers."]
*Christopher McQuarrie (born 1968), writer/director "The Usual Suspects" and "The Way of the Gun".Miller, Lynn. [http://www.wwpinfo.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=75&twindow=&mad=No&sdetail=2578&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1108&hn=wwpinfo&he=.com "More West Windsor Filmmaking Stars on the Horizon"] , "West Windsor & Plainsboro News", December 15, 2007. Accessed December 15, 2007. "Two West Windsor-Plainsboro High School graduates are following in the footsteps of two other filmmakers from West Windsor, Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Singer, Class of 1984, and McQuarrie, Class of 1986, have recently joined together for the filming of “Valkyrie,” a controversial film about Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the German Army officer who tried to do away with Hitler during World War II."]
*Bill Schroeder (born 1958), former major league baseball player who is now a broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers. [ [http://mlb.mlb.com/team/broadcasters.jsp?c_id=mil Broadcasters profiles] , Milwaukee Brewers. Accessed October 14, 2007.]
*Bryan Singer (born 1965), director of the films "The Usual Suspects", "X-Men" and "Superman Returns", and of the TV series "House", which is set at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey.

ee also

*West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North
*List of high schools in New Jersey

References

External links

* [http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/south/index.shtml School website]
* [http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/ West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District]
*NJReportCard|21|5715|020|West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
* [http://www.west-windsor-plainsboro.k12.nj.us/south/index.html West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South webpage]
*NJReportCard|21|5715|0|West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
* [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3417700 Data for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District] , National Center for Education Statistics
* [http://www.wwpsouthchoir.org/index.htm South Choir website]
* [http://www.southmun.com South Model United Nations website]