Sanford H. Calhoun High School

Infobox HighSchool
name = Sanford H. Calhoun High School


established = 1958
type = Public school
Principal = David Seinfeld
city = Merrick, NY
state = NY
country = USA
campus = Suburban
students = ~1370
free_label = Mascot
free = Colt
colors = Blue and Gray
homepage = [http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/calhoun/index.html Website]

Sanford H. Calhoun High School is a high school located in Merrick, New York, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District.

Calhoun is a magnet school. Its newspaper is "Hoofbeats".

Hoofbeats

Hoofbeats is the official student newspaper of Calhoun, informing the students, teachers, and community of the school’s news and events. The paper is produced five times a year, with several editions in color, and spotlights the latest happenings on and around the campus. The adviser is Mr. Jason Boland.

Hoofbeats Awards for 2007-2008:

In the New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, Editor-in-chief Julie Mansmann came in third place for newswriting for her article, “Parking lots of trouble.” Managing Editor Julie Becker came in third place for feature writing for “Calhoun bathrooms: a not-so royal flush.” Staff writer Sam Rushford came in third place for column writing for her column, “Rush Hour.”

In Newsday’s School Journalism Awards contest, Julie Mansmann won first place in the Best Newswriting category for her article, “Parking lots of trouble” and Julie Becker won first place for Best Local News Story for her article, “The Bald and the Beautiful.”

Hoofbeats was awarded a silver medal by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for its overall body of work.

From the Long Island Press Association, Hoofbeats finished in second place for high school newspaper of the year. Colture Editor Sam Nolan won first place for first-person article, “Shedding a light on tanning.” Writer Avneet Ghuman finished in second place in that category for “Clash of the Civilizations.” Writer Sam Rushford won first place in the General Opinion category for her column, “Farewell to a friend.” Julie Mansmann won third place in the School News category for “Girls at the Head of the Class at Calhoun.” Writer Gifty Abraham was awarded a “Format Buster” award for his work in the layout of “Presidential predicament.” Lastly, the newspaper staff won third place in the Overall Layout category.

Athletics

Calhoun HS competes in Section VIII athletics, a compilation of public schools in Nassau County. The fall season hosts boys and girls cross country, football, boys and girls soccer, girls tennis, boys bad mitten, and girls volleyball. The winter hosts wrestling, boys and girls basketball, and indoor track, with district teams (which include athletes from the other two schools of the district, Mepham and Kennedy) existing for swimming and diving, rifle, and bowling. The final season, spring, is home to boys and girls lacrosse, track and field, baseball, softball, boys volleyball, boys tennis, and girls badminton. Girls badmitten remains the best sport in the school in terms of ability to win, while other sports with tendencies to win include boys cross country, girls basketball, and girls lacrosse.

On Tour Company

Calhoun HS is home to the "On Tour Company", a high school theatre company. The "On Tour Company" was founded in 1973 by Mr. James Drake and Dr. Dale Parkinson. Subsequent instructors included Mrs. Diane Meistrell and Mr. John Fredrickson among several others. The program, under the direction of Mr. Sal Salerno, has been performing since September 1985. The company attracts students from all three schools in the district and the program includes a class and an after school club. The company is student run - meaning the students are responsible for the technical aspects of production (lighting, sound, sets, etc). The program produces more than ten shows a year; four are standard: a Shakespeare play, a straight show, a musical, and a season finale (which can be any genre from Commedia dell'arte to children's theatre). On Tour also puts on evenings of Improv or Variety Nights, as well as senior directed one-act plays.

Calhoun Choral Program (CCP)

The Calhoun HS Choral Program, composed of over 210 students, is the Bellmore-Merrick Central HS District's largest music program.

The CCP consists of 3 groups. Many students belong to more than one group:

* "Concert Choir" is an auditioned 80-person class composed of 10th, 11th and 12th graders. Each spring, over one-hundred students audition for the incoming group. They perform a wide variety of three, four, six, and eight part music, primarily a cappella. Concert Choir has performed throughout the Bellmore-Merrick community, in Washington DC, in Virginia, and on the Disney World stage three times.
* "Chorale", a 3-section class made of over 80 9-12th grade students, is a group that performs a wide variety of three-part a cappella and accompanied music. The class performs at concerts in the winter and spring.
* "Crescendo", the most well-known of the ensembles, is an auditioned show choir of 24 students that performs pop-rock literature with choreography/movement. One of the most well-known show choirs in the state, "Crescendo" is the 9-time "Music in the Parks" Show Choir Champion, and the 2007 "Best in Class" Champion at the "Festival Disney" national music competition. The group has performed in concert on the Disney World stage on 4 occasions, in concert with Kenny Rogers, at Madison Square Garden with the NY Knicks City Dancers, and at the NY Planting Fields Arboretum, where they shared the stage with NY Police Officer Daniel Rodriguez. They have also performed extensively throughout the Bellmore-Merrick community, Long Island, and the eastern seaboard. Crescendo has been the featured guests on the Cablevision television show, "Spotlight NY". The group was honored by the Town of Hempstead in 2003, and by the Nassau County Legislature on two occasions.

Many CCP students boast individual honors, such as All-County, All-State, All-Eastern, and All-USA selection.

Debate Team

Calhoun HS is home to the district's only debate team. Currently headed by coach Justin Uliano who replaced former coach Douglas Smestad in 1999, the team attends 5 of the 6 tournaments hosted by the Long Island Forensic Association (LIFA) each year. Notable achievements include 4 or more state championship qualifiers in each of the past 3 consecutive years. This year, the team is under the leadership of co-captains Gifty Abraham and Tyler Mutarelli.

Notable alumni

* Leonard Chang, Author
* Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
* Deborah Gibson
* Lindsay Lohan, Actress/Singer (left in Senior year)
* Brian Lane, drummer of rock band Brand New
* Dana Milbank, Writer for Washington Post
* Matthew Rose, Artist/Writer, Paris, France
* Kevin Shinick, Actor/Writer/Director
* Matt Cardona, WWE Superstar
* Bill Kaplan, Emmy award winning Television Audio Engineer

External links

* [http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/calhoun/index.html Sanford H. Calhoun High School]
* [http://www.calhounalumni.com Calhoun Alumni Website]
* [http://web.mac.com/chsontourco The On Tour Company]
* [http://www.ccp1.org Calhoun HS Choral Program]
* [http://www.city-data.com/school/sanford-h--calhoun-high-school.html City-Data information]
* [http://www.newsphoto.com/usa1_detail.php/35697/Sports/CalhounMerrick_High_Schoolboys_wrestlingGarden_CityVarsityJV/ The Sanford H. Calhoun High School Wrestling Team vs Garden City 1-10-07]