Emmaus High School

Infobox school | name = Emmaus High School
image
established = 1955
name2=Emmaus High School, Emmaus, Pennsylvania
type = Public
location = 500 Macungie Avenue
Emmaus, Pennsylvania
enrollment = 2,712
free_label = Mascot
free_text = Green Hornet
free_label2 = Colors
free_text2 = Green and Gold
information =
principal= David F. Piperato
website = [http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/ehs/ http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/ehs/]

Emmaus High School is a public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.

Emmaus High School is located immediately off of Cedar Crest Boulevard, at 500 Macungie Avenue in Emmaus, a southwestern suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The Emmaus High School mascot is the "Green Hornet." The school's colors are green and gold.

tudent population

As of the 2006-2007 academic year, the high school is attended by 2,783 students. Emmaus High School serves students from Alburtis, Emmaus, Lower Macungie Township, Macungie and Upper Milford Township.

Emmaus High School ranks among the top Lehigh Valley high schools in its percentage of graduating students who pursue post-secondary education. The school also maintains a program for academically gifted students, which includes advanced classes and a mentorship program. Noting the academic quality of Emmaus High School, "Money" magazine named Emmaus one of the nation's "Top 100" places to live in 2007.

Two middle schools, Eyer Middle School and Lower Macungie Middle School, both located in Macungie, serve grades six through eight and feed into Emmaus High School.

History

1880s to 1955

What today is the East Penn School District began in the 1880s as the Emaus School District, using the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of Emmaus until the name of the town and its associated educational facilities were formally changed to the Biblical spelling in the 1950s. Upon its founding in the 1880s, Emaus School District began offering high school classes, providing education up to tenth grade in one of the rooms of a 4-room school building on East Main Street, in what was then Emaus. The first graduating class on record was the Emaus High School class of 1890, with two graduates. In 1891 the high school grades were moved to the Central Building on Emmaus's Ridge Street.

Emaus High School obtained a home of its own when, in 1915, the high school moved into a brand new building on North Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets in Emaus. While the building was designated the Jefferson Building, yearbooks of the era identify the school as Emaus High School. By this time, the high school was made up of tenth grade (juniors) eleventh grade (middlers) and twelfth grade (seniors). The yearbook of the class of 1916 pictures 18 graduates, evenly divided between boys and girls.

The Jefferson Building was enlarged several times. By 1934 it was considered a state-of-the-art high school, with 16 classrooms, a library, auditorium, gymnasium, woodshop, and home economics room. By this time, Emaus High School had developed many of the activities and athletic teams that continue to this day, with the 1931 yearbook listing a band, chorus, orchestra (55 players), 16 different clubs, and teams for football, basketball (boys and girls) and debating. Emaus High School's main football rival at this time was East Greenville High, which met the Hornets every year on "Turkey Day" (Thanksgiving). Today, East Greenville students attend Upper Perkiomen High School. In the 1930s, the Emaus High School football field was located about a mile away from the high school, at the site of Emmaus's current recreational Fourth Street Field.

The Emaus High School class of 1931 had 45 graduates, who took either the general or the commercial course. One of the bygone features of Emaus High School life on North Street was "open lunch" where students could walk home for lunch, or go across the street to a student-oriented restaurant.

The Emaus School District has been operating since at least 1861. By the 1930s and 1940s, the boroughs of Macungie and Alburtis contracted with the Emaus district to send their high school students to Emaus High School. There were no school buses running, and out-of-borough students took the Reading Railroad passenger service to the Emaus train station.

Emaus High School becomes Emmaus High School

In the 1950s, the borough abandoned the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of its name in favor of the traditional Biblical spelling. Referenced in the Bible's New Testament, Emmaus is the location in present day Israel where Jesus appeared to travelers hours following His resurrection. East Penn School District and the high school followed suit in adopting the traditional spelling.

With Emmaus High School's population growing rapidly, the Jefferson Building no longer was able to accommodate the needs of the growing school. The boroughs of Emmaus, Macungie, and Alburtis, along with the townships of Lower Macungie and Upper Milford, merged their school districts into the East Penn Union School District (now known as the East Penn School District). This unified district combined their efforts to construct a vastly expanded high school at 500 Macungie Avenue, in Emmaus, the school's current location. It has since been upgraded and renovated several times to accommodate a growing student population.

1955 to current

In 1955, the first sections of the new Emmaus High School opened. The new building included an auditorium and gymnasium, which far surpassed those of the old building, plus science labs, language labs, and a natatorium (swimming pool). After the high school moved out of the Jefferson Building, that building was briefly used as Emmaus Junior High School, until a seventh and eight grade wing was added to the new high school building around 1960, making Emmaus High School a six-year high school with a single principal but separate assistant principals for the senior high and junior high grades. The Emmaus Junior High School building, with its own faculty and administration, was opened on the north side of the high school building in 1965, ten years after the opening of the neighboring Emmaus High School. At that time, Emmaus Junior High School served grades seven through nine. The Jefferson Building, in turn, was designated one of several Emmaus elementary schools.

By the early 1960s, the number of sports at Emmaus High School expanded to include basketball, field hockey and softball for girls, and football, basketball, wrestling, track and field, cross country, baseball, swimming and golf for boys. A class play was presented annually and, in 1969, Emmaus High School produced its first musical, "Bye Bye Birdie".

By 2000, the school's population had grown significantly from a growing influx of residents from New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia, and Emmaus High School expanded again, taking over the junior high building, adding additional space and using the whole complex to house grades nine through twelve. A second major expansion of the high school was completed in 2005.

The Jefferson Building, the first dedicated home of Emmaus High School, was subsequently decommissioned as a school. In 1999, the Jefferson Building was demolished and replaced by Jefferson Elementary School.

Emmaus High School today is larger and more vibrant than ever, having grown from a small town high school in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with a handful of students, to one of the largest high schools in the Lehigh Valley, the third largest metropolitan region in Pennsylvania. As Emmaus High School has grown, it has distinguished itself considerably in academics, the arts, and athletics. Also, since its founding in the late 1800s, several Emmaus High School graduates have gone on to significant global achievement and notoriety.

chool accomplishments

Academics

Emmaus High School ranks in the top academic tier of Pennsylvania public high schools, based on state testing results. In the 2008 Pennsylvania System of State Assessments (PSSAs), Emmaus High School ranked in top five percent of all public high schools in the state in writing, in the top 20 percent in reading, and in the top 25 percent in mathematics. [ [http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/achievement/pa/808#from..Tab Emmaus High School, Test Results, at GreatSchools.net] ]

The school's academic team has made several appearances at the national level, appearing three consecutive years (2003, 2004, and 2005) in the Panasonic Academic Challenge at Disney World. Emmaus High School placed fifth nationally in the competition in 2003.

Emmaus High School also holds the record for the most wins of any high school in Pennsylvania's "Scholastic Scrimmage" contest, an advanced academic quiz game televised on Pennsylvania PBS affiliates. Emmaus has won the contest seven times (1981, 1983, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2003, and 2004) and placed second three times (1986, 1991, and 2002).

The school's Class of 2008 produced 10 National Merit semi-finalists. Among its Class of 2007, 79 percent of its graduates entered colleges, universities, or other post-graduate education. [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emmaus_High_School&action=edit&section=7 "Academics at EHS," Emmaus High School Official Web Site.] ]

Athletics

Emmaus High School competes athletically in the Lehigh Valley Conference in the District XI division of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The school fields teams in all of the association's sports. Its primary Lehigh Valley Conference athletic rivals are Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township and Whitehall High School in Whitehall Township.

Emmaus High School holds the record for the most recorded Lehigh Valley Conference championships in six conference sports: boys baseball, girls field hockey, golf, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys swimming and girls swimming. It holds the second most Lehigh Valley Conference championships in all sports, behind only Parkland High School. [ [http://www.lviac.net/historicalstats.aspx LVIAC Historical Stats.] ]

Athletically, Emmaus High School is known for the success of its girls field hockey team, which is regularly ranked among the best in the state. Emmaus has won the Pennsylvania state championship in four of the last seven years (2001, 2004, 2005, and 2007), though the history of its state championships date back to the 1970s.

Emmaus High School's girls swimming and diving team has established itself recently as one of the best in the state, winning the Pennsylvania state championship in four of the last seven years (2000, 2004, 2005, and 2007). In addition, the Emmaus boys swimming and diving team has been consistently one of the top teams in the state, dating back to the 1970s, and has won the state championship the past two years (2006 and 2007) and has finished the last three consecutive years with an undefeated regular season record (2005, 2006, 2007). It was the first boys team at Emmaus High School to win a state championship.

Emmaus High School has also won Pennsylvania state championships in girls soccer (1997) and girls softball (2000).

In 2007, Emmaus High School's girls cross country team won the Pennsylvania state competition. The previous year, in 2006, it placed second in the state.

In 2006, Emmaus High School's boys and girls U.S. Marine Corps physical fitness team, which is based on the United States Marine Corps physical fitness regimen, placed second in the Pennsylvania state competition. As with Emmaus High School's girls field hockey team, its Marine Corps physical fitness team has often ranked among the nation's best, dating back to the 1970s.

Among the Emmaus High School Class of 2007, 26 Emmaus High School athletes signed letters of intent for full NCAA athletic scholarships. [ [http://www.eastpennsd.org/ehs/epages/athletics/awards.html Emmaus High School Athletic Letters of Intent, Class of 2007, at East Penn School District Official Web Site.] .]

Since 1955, Emmaus High School has won Lehigh Valley Conference championships at least once in every one of the conference's sports, and several of its graduates have gone on to success in professional and Olympic-level athletics, including in the NFL and NBA.

Arts

2007

Twenty-two Emmaus High School choral students were selected to participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) District 10 Chorus Festival, more than any other high school in the seven District 10 counties. Sixteen Emmaus High School students advanced to the Regional Chorus Festival held at Boyertown High School, also outnumbering all other districts (including double that of rival Boyertown High School). Out of the sixteen, four Emmaus High School students (more than any other high school participating in the festival) went on to participate in the PMEA All-State Conference, held April 2007 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Emmaus High School's spring 2007 production of Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida" earned the school fourteen Freddy Award nominations and five awards, including "Outstanding Performance By An Orchestra," "Outstanding Light Design," "Outstanding Chorus," "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role," and "Outstanding Scenic Design." [ [http://blog.pennlive.com/freddies/2007/05/freddy_awards_2007.html#more "Freddy Awards 2007 Winners" at PennLive.com.] ] [ [http://virt1.enter.net/~statetheatre/Freddy/2007FREDDYAwardsWinners.pdf Freddy Awards Official Site at State Theatre, Easton, Pennsylvania.] ]

2008

Emmaus High School had the top number of students participating in the District 10 Chorus Festival in 2008. Twenty-four Emmaus High School choral students were selected to be part of the 2008 festival, which was held at Brandywine Heights High School in February 2008. Ten of those students qualified for the Region V Chorus Festival in March 2008. Three Emmaus students advanced to the All-State Festival in April 2008.

In spring 2008, Emmaus High School's Drama Department performed Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's "Les Misérables". The show earned Emmaus High School sixteen Freddy Award nominations and four wins, including "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role", "Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role," "Educational Impact Award," and "Outstanding Overall Production."

chool newspapers

"The Stinger"

Emmaus High School's official student newspaper is "The Stinger". The newspaper's name is a reference to the school's mascot, the hornet. The newspaper's content is provided by a staff of students, who perform journalistic duties reporting, photographing and writing all of the newspaper's content.

Typically, the newspaper has several sections related to Emmaus High School, including Emmaus High School sports, faculty, coaches and student interviews, editorials, local popular culture, and inside satire and jokes related to school news and events. In most issues, the final page of "The Stinger" is dedicated to student-drawn comics, which also usually are related to student-related themes.

"The Stinger" has also been known to tackle controversial topics, such as Emmaus High School's notorious, long-standing problems with student truancy and recreational drug use.

"News from the West Wing"

In addition to "The Stinger", from 1999 to 2001, a second, unofficial Emmaus High School newspaper, "News from the West Wing", was distributed at the school. It was an independent humor newspaper distributed both at the school and available online. [ [http://www.westwing.8m.com/ "News from the West Wing" Official Web Site.] ] Similar in editorial style to "The Onion", the newspaper was founded in 1999 by a small group of Emmaus High School students and was entirely student-run.

The newspaper featured a satirical look at Emmaus High School student life, while routinely poking fun at the school administration. The newspaper was popular and widely-read among Emmaus High School students. In 2000, a special issue of the newspaper was selected by the Principal, Dr. Herman Corradetti, to be placed in the high school's corner stone, upon the completion of the renovated high school. "News from the West Wing" also was the subject of a 1999 front page Local News article in "The Allentown Morning Call". [ [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mcall/access/47366198.html?dids=47366198:47366198&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+20%2C+1999&author=JEFF+GELMAN%2C+The+Morning+Call&pub=Morning+Call&edition=&startpage=B.01&desc=HIGH+SCHOOLERS+ARE+WINGING+IT+WITH+PAPER+*+EMMAUS+STUDENTS+HAVE+CLASSMATES+ROLLING+WITH+SATIRICAL+PUBLICATION "High Schoolers are Winging it with Paper: Emmaus Students Have Classmates Rolling with Satirical Publication," "The (Allentown) Morning Call", December 20, 1999, page B1.] ]

Satirical news stories in "News from the West Wing" included a gang war between the school's East and West Wings (the latter of which inspired the publication's name), the East Penn School District Superintendent's decision to purchase a "matter transporter," and a scientific analysis of an Emmaus High School cafeteria food item that the newspaper dubbed the "Taco Boat."

Notable alumni

*Roy C. Afflerbach, former Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania
*Charles Bierbauer, former television journalist, CNN
*Devon, adult film actress
*Keith Dorney, former professional football player, Detroit Lions
*Aaron Gray, professional basketball player, Chicago Bulls
*Scott Haltzman, author
*Keith Jarrett, jazz pianist and composer
*Michael Johns, health care executive and former White House speechwriter
*K. C. Keeler, head football coach, University of Delaware
*Marty Nothstein, 2000 Summer Olympics gold-medal winner, track cycling
*Nicole Reinhart, former professional cyclist and two-time Pan American Games gold-medal winner
*Cindy Werley, 1996 Summer Olympics women's field hockey player

ee also

*East Penn School District

Notes

External links

* [http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/ehs/ Emmaus High School Official Home Page] .
* [http://www.eastpennsd.org/ehs/Athletics/ Emmaus High School Athletics Home Page] .
* [http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/69127 Emmaus High School at PublicSchoolReview.com] .
* [http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/1931388.jpgEmmaus High School arial view from Panoramio] .
* [http://www.highschoolsports.net/defaultcal_300.cfm?school=PA180493807 Emmaus High School athletics schedule and scores] at HighSchoolSports.net.
* [http://www.westwing.8m.com/ "News from the West Wing" (an unofficial Emmaus High School student publication published from 1999 until 2001)] .
* [http://wfmz.dayport.com/viewer/viewerpage.php?Art_ID=71029&tf=wfmzviewer.tpl&PreloadContract_DefID=1&Contract_DefID=2 "Memorial Service for Emmaus High School Graduate Killed in Iraq,"] WFMZ-TV, March 11, 2007.

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