Bensalem High School

Infobox_School | name = Bensalem High School(BHS)


established = 1969
type = Public
principal = Francis J. Perry
enrollment = 2046
location = 4319 Hulmeville Road
Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020
information = [phone] ext. 3000: Phone
website = [http://www.bensalemsd.org Bensalem Township School District High School profile page]

Bensalem High School is a public high school in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

History

Planning for the original Bensalem Township High School (Bensalem High School or BHS for short) began in 1920 with the acquisition of land adjoining the school property known as the Cornwells Heights Elementary School, at 2400 Bristol Pike. A. Oscar Martin, registered architect, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was selected to design a building along the lines and scope established by the Board of Education. Mr. Martin had years of experience in designing school buildings. The architect prepared drawings in 1920, using the existing two-story stone building of two classrooms as a nucleus. He developed a progressive planning system of which one unit was constructed that same year. It consisted of one classroom and one end of the central corridor.

After final installments and improvements, the building was formally dedicated and opened in March 1930. At the time, only 212 had enrolled in the school.

During the 1940s Bensalem Township had begun an accelerated rate of growth which produced serious over-crowding in the existing schools. By 1945, it was clear that a new high school building was needed. The board purchased a site of convert|30.345|acre|m2 of ground from Minnie Hansell on August 31, 1946 for the sum of $18,000. The first plans for a new high school called for a two-story building to accommodate about six hundred students. These plans were formulated under the leadership of Dr. A. Kurtz King, who succeeded Samuel K. Faust as superintendent of schools. The school board and Dr. King weathered the storm of the rejection of funds from the State School Building Authority and the discarding of plans and drawings by H. F. Everett and Associates of Allentown, Pa., architects, in 1947. Planning started from the very beginning again, this time for a one-story school building to house twice the original school population. It involved Dr. King, succeeding superintendents William B. Shellenberger and Robert K. Shafer, and the school directors, who formed the first municipal authority in Bucks County for the erection of school buildings, with the help of the Township Board of Supervisors.

Contracts for construction of the new high school were placed in March 1953. Groundbreaking ceremonies were on May 5,1953, and cornerstone laying, on November 9,1954. Flag raising exercises took place on November 18,1954. The new high school, located at Street Road and Asbury Avenue, Cornwells Heights, was finally occupied on September 8,1954, with 975 students in attendance. The cost was $2,685,000. The building contained these instructional facilities: twenty - five general classrooms, five science rooms,three commercial rooms, three homemaking rooms, two industrial arts rooms, four health and physical education rooms, two arts and crafts rooms, two music rooms, seven administrative offices, two faculty rooms, a student activity room, auditorium, cafeteria, and library. The former high school building became the Neil A. Armstrong Middle School. Within a few short years this building was nearing its peak for pupil capacity. Population growth of the area continued, and by mid-1963, the Board of School Directors was faced with another building problem.

Present-day Bensalem High was built in two phases over multiple years with the northern-most wing and central portion containing the auditorium known as the "old" building or the "north-end" and the southern-most wing known as the "new" building or "south-end." Not coincidentally, the gymnasium in the older wing is known as "Gym 1" while the gymnasium in the newer wing is "Gym 2." Similarly, the older cafeterias are known as "Cafeteria A" and "Cafeteria B" and the newer "Cafeteria C."

Interestingly an arena-style basketball gymnasium was never built at present-day Bensalem High School (it was to be phase 3), which is why the school's varsity boys basketball team continues to play its home games in the much larger gym at the former BHS, Neil A. Armstrong Middle School, on Street Road. The Bensalem School Board recently closed Armstrong due to declining enrollment throughout the school district in grades 6 to 8, with students subsequently able to enroll in the district's two other middle schools nearby. Nevertheless, the high school boys basketball team still uses the Armstrong gym throughout the winter season.

Dating back at least to the 1980s, rumors have circulated periodically that the school district was considering erecting a "field house" facility on open land on the high school campus. Though, for reasons mentioned earlier, it is true that building a multi-purpose, varsity-level indoor athletic facility would be logical for the school, the rumors have never been substantiated. Recently, however, plans have been underway to expand Gym 1 at BHS into an arena-style basketball gymnasium.

The present-day BHS campus also includes an outdoor football/soccer/track and field arena, Bensalem Township Memorial Stadium. The bowl-style design features a below-grade playing surface and concrete stands on both the home and visitors sidelines. Underneath the home stand are fully-enclosed locker rooms for both the home and visitor teams, with full shower and plumbing facilities, and coaches rooms. The locker rooms can be accessed directly from field level, allowing a constant separation of athletes from spectators throughout any event. In addition, both the home and visitor stands have full concessions facilities along the exterior spectator concourses.

At the time of its erection in the 1970s, the stadium was considered state-of-the art, with the vast majority of schools throughout Pennsylvania still using metal or wooden grandstands. Even today, it is rare for a high school to have locker room and shower facilities within its stadium. Despite its obvious age, Bensalem Township Memorial Stadium is still considered one of the top high school football facilities in the football-rich state of Pennsylvania as evidenced by its selection in 2004 to host the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAAA (large school) Eastern Championship game (also statewide semifinal) between Neshaminy High and Easton Area High School.

Over the years, the stadium has also hosted the Philadelphia region's premiere high school outdoor track and field meet, the District One Championships, on numerous occasions. In the early 1980s, the stadium was the first in Bucks County and one of the first in Pennsylvania to employ a synthetic track. At the time, other large public schools in Lower Bucks County including Nesahminy, William Tennant, Harry S Truman, Pennsbury and Council Rock all used antiquated cinder tracks. Another asset to the Bensalem Township track facility is its Olympic-style eight-lane width. Because of space limitations and high resurfacing costs, many high schools feature narrower tracks, which do not meet the requirements of true championship-style meets.

Features

The building is two stories high, also with a large underground floor (personnel only) and features:

* Ten business education rooms
* Thirty eight standard classrooms
* A music center; with:: Two band rooms: an orchestra room: a choir room : and several practice/private tutoring rooms
* A metal shop
* A wood shop
* Power mechanics shop
* Metal drawing room
* A library fit to handle 25,000 volumes
* Cafeterias A, B, and C
* An auditorium to seat 2,000
* Earth-Sciences room
* Sewing room
* Four seminar/meeting rooms
* Audion
* Full-sized gymnasium
* Smaller gymnasium
* Nurse's office + suite
* Administrative/guidance/personnel offices
* A Pool going to 10' w/ six lanes and six diving blocks.
* Photography dark rooms
* Video Editing Lab & Recording Room

"This is an incomplete list"

Performing Arts

Acting/Performing

Besides the various talent shows and events scattered across the years, Bensalem HS puts on one musical each year. Students also attend the Pennsylvania Thespian Conference each year, sometimes bringing a one-act.

The most recent shows were, "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Reflect Up", with parts from all grade levels involved, accompanied by a small adult "orchestra" (no more than 10 musicians); and "Once Upon a Mattress", a twist on the tale the Princess and the Pea.

This year Bensalem High School will take on Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". The play runs the first weekend in March 2008.

Marching Band

The Bensalem High School Marching Band is a Group 3 performing and competing marching band. It has in recent years held very high places in the ACC competitions, and last took 1st place in their 2003 season.In 2005 the band took second place with the highest score ever received by the band at ACC championships. The band also takes trips every two years recently visiting the Bahamas and California.

The band is funded by the participants (children + parents), through payments and fund raising. The School District of Bensalem Township also contributes little more than 12% of costs, usually covering instrument rentals and repair, and not transportation. The group is supported by the Bensalem HS Music Boosters and run by directors of the band.

The bensalem drumline has also won 5 world T.I.A. championships and 1 T.I.A. A championship.

Choir

The Bensalem High School Choir is led by Raegan M. Ruiz. There are four choirs in the high school. Three of them can be taken as a class. There's Freshman Choir, which is for 9th graders; Women's Choir, which is for girls in either 10th, 11th, or 12th grade; and Concert Choir, which is for boys from 10th to 12th grade & for girls from 11th & 12th grade. The fourth choir is known as Femineus Vocalis. This choir was formed during the 2004-2005 school year when the interest and talent levels of the female singers significantly eclipsed that of the males. This prestigious choir is nationally known for their work. In 2005, they traveled to a national conference in Chicago, taking their first place gold superior level award for their first major competition. Recently, they have traveled to California with the BHS Band to perform in Disney's Music Days Competition. They got a superior ranking while here.

Clubs/Extra Curriculars

Bensalem High School has a variety of clubs and after school activities for the attending students including:

*Multicultural club
* Choir :: Freshman Choir:: Women's Choir (females grade 10-12):: Concert Choir (Grades 10-12 male and female, auditions necessary):: :: Femineus Vocalis (meets after school weekly, females only, auditions, grades 10-12)::: *Note* All of the above are full-year classes.

* Band :: Jazz Band:: Concert Band:: Indoor Drumline:: Woodwind Band::: *Note* Concert Band is a full-year class.

* Orchestra:: Total Orchestra:: Freshman Orchestra:: Upperclassman Orchestra::: *Note* All orchestras are combined into a single, full-year orchestra class.

* Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC):: Rifle Team:: Drill Team:: Colorguard

* FBLA ("Future Business Leaders of America")

* Model UN

* Ski Club

* Mock Trial

* Chess Club

* Debate Team

* Gay-Straight Alliance

* Forensics Club

* Chess Club

* Literary Magazine

* The Quill (School Newspaper):::Current Editor-in-Chief, Vince Tran

* PJAS (Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science)

* Student Government

* Student Activities Committee

* Scholar's Bowl Team

* Science Olympiad

* Mathletes

* National Honors Society

* OTN (Owls Television Network, Media Program)

* Drama Club

* Anime Club

Athletics

In 2004, the Bensalem High boys indoor/winter track team won a state team championship awarded by the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association. [ [http://www.milesplit.com/meet/5569 PennTrackXC.com - 2004 PTFCA Indoor State Championships ] ] The PIAA does not sanction winter track. In the championship meet at Penn State University, sprinters John Thompson, Lamonte Louis and Reggie Carter provided the nucleus of the winning squad. They led the Owls' 4x200-meter relay to a gold medal and the 4x400 to a silver. Individually, Thompson won the triple jump and placed third in the 200 meters. Louis placed fourth in the 200. Carter placed third in the 400. Bensalem scored 45 team points to better Henderson High School of West Chester by 15 and the 22 scored by North Penn High School of Lansdale and Cardinal O'Hara High School of Springfield Township. Mary Ellen Malloy was Bensalem's head coach.

Ralph Tamm is perhaps the most prominent football player in the school's history for his accomplishments after graduating from Bensalem High. Tamm earned All-America honors as an offensive lineman at West Chester University, was selected by the New York Jets in the ninth round of the 1988 NFL draft and played in the NFL from 1990 to 1999. He won Super Bowl XXVI with the Washington Redskins and Super Bowl XXIX with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Browns, Bengals, Broncos and Chiefs.

See also

* [http://www.bensalemsd.org/schools/bhs.html School home page]
* [http://bensalemmusic.org School band home page]
* [http://www.bensalemalumni.org/start.htm Bensalem Alumni Association]

References