Winnacunnet High School

Winnacunnet High School is an American public high school located in Hampton, New Hampshire. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 who reside in the communities of Hampton, Seabrook, North Hampton, and Hampton Falls. Students from South Hampton have the option of attending either Winnacunnet or Amesbury High School. The name "Winnacunnet" is a Native American word that means "beautiful place in the pines".

History

Ground was broken for Winnacunnet High School on October 30, 1957, and it first opened in the fall of 1958 with an attendance of 474 students. Prior to 1958, area students attended the Hampton Academy and High School, a junior-senior high school which today still exists as the junior high school for Hampton. The official Winnacunnet High dedication ceremony took place on October 26, 1958. The school has recently finished major construction and renovations.

The Pamela Smart murder case

The school was in the national news in 1990, when Pamela Smart, a media services coordinator at Winnacunnet and an adult volunteer with "Project Self-Esteem" at the high school, seduced 15-year old sophomore student William "Billy" Flynn and convinced him to murder her husband Greg Smart on May 1, 1990. [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/smart/4.html] Smart was convicted of first degree murder in March 1991, and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility for parole. She is serving her sentence in a maximum security prison in New York State.

Past principals

* Roberta Neuman
* Steve Collins
* Judy Langlois
* Ruth Leveille (September, 2002–June 30, 2005)
* Randall P. Zito (July 1, 2005–present)

Trivia

* The school's sports teams are called the Winnacunnet Warriors. The choice of Warriors was made by a vote of the student body in 1958 as a tribute to local Native Americans.
* The school's colors are red, blue and white.
* The school's logo is a Native American head.
* Winnacunnet's rival team is the Blue Hawks of Exeter High School in Exeter, New Hampshire.
* Winnacunnet has made it to the finals of "Granite State Challenge", airing on New Hampshire Public Television, in 2003, 2006 and 2008. In 2003 the team was defeated by Hanover High School, and in 2006 they were defeated by Manchester High School West.
* James Thomson, from the Class of '62, is CEO of the Rand Corporation, a highly regarded research institution in Santa Monica, California.
* The girls varsity basketball team has won States' in both 2007 and 2008 with Ed Beatty as their coach.

See also

* List of high schools in New Hampshire

References

* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/smart/1.html "Sex, Lies and Murder: The Pamela Smart Case"] , by Jan Bouchard-Kerr, "CourtTV Crime Library"
* [http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/alumni/ "Hampton Academy & Winnacunnet High School Alumni Association: 65th Anniversary, Historic Souvenir Booklet, 1972"] By Arthur J. Moody
* [http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/alumni/109pierson.htm "Winnacunnet High School: From Idea To Reality"] By Harold L. Pierson. p. 109
* [http://www.nhptv.org]

External links

* [http://winnacunnet.org/ Winnacunnet High School website]
* [http://www.mappington.com/maps/Winnacunnet_High_School,_Hampton,_Rockingham_County,_New_Hampshire,_United_States/ Winnacunnet High School on Mappington]