Type Public Principal Dale Reimann Grades 9 to 12 Phone +1 717-531-2244 Colors Blue, Orange | Established 1924 Faculty 80 (2014) Pupils 1,156 pupils (2013) Founded 1996 | |
 | ||
Address 550 Homestead Rd, Hershey, PA 17033, USA District Derry Township School District Similar Lower Dauphin High Sch, Milton Hershey School, Central Dauphin East High, Susqueh Township High Sch, Milton Hershey School Al | ||
Hershey High School is one of four buildings which comprise the campus of the Derry Township School District in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In 1996, the school was nationally recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education for its academic excellence.
Contents
Curriculum
The English Department includes courses in journalism, speech, composition (language), literature, and other concepts of the English language. The Mathematics Department offers courses in geometry, algebra, trigonometry, precalculus and calculus (and advanced calculus), finance, statistics, and computer science. The Social Studies department has courses in American and world history as well as courses which focus on aspects of society such as law and money. The Science Department offers classes in biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, and biotechnology. There are elective courses offered in foreign languages, music, drama, engineering and AutoCAD, accounting and business, and computers. Health courses include physical education, strength and conditioning, health, and driver's education.
Graduation project
By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor and its expectations are set by the individual school district.
Graduation rate
The school's graduation rate in 2013 was 85.2%
College remediation
According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 31% of Derry Township School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges. Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English.
Dual enrollment
The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities and programs at their high school. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.
For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $1,628 for the program.
Extracurricular activities
Hershey High School has a drama program which produces a musical each year, in addition to smaller productions throughout the year. The pit orchestra for Hershey's musicals has won the Hershey Theater Apollo Award for Best Student Orchestra in four of the last six years.
There are a number of clubs such as Future Business Leaders of America, Key Club, Youth and Government, Young Democrats, Young Republicans, C.A.L.L., Student World Action Committee, and other organizations available for students. A student-produced newspaper, the nationally-accredited "Broadcaster", is distributed throughout the year. A literary magazine, "Nexus", is also produced with works by students.
Athletics
Hershey High has football, cheerleading, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, powerlifting, field hockey, boys and girls golf, boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, track, cross country, swimming and diving,boys and girls lacrosse,boys and girls tennis, and a hockey team. Hershey High is a member of the Mid-Penn Conference of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, or PIAA. It is a AAA school. Hershey High has a marching band and pep band,which support athletics throughout the year along with the cheerleaders. The bands perform songs that can be coordinated with a dance put together by the cheerleading squad. Both teams work beautifully together in celebration of school spirit.
Swimming and diving
In the 2009-2010 season the boys team went 13-0 in their duel meets and moved on to win both their district championship meet and the PIAA State championship. At the state meet David Nolan set a national age group record for high school boys going a time of 1:43.43 in the 200 yard IM, as well as setting the state record in the 100 yard freestyle. The medley relay set the national age group record with a time of 1:30.27. They earned 7 gold medals out of a possible 12 and had 17 swimmers qualify and participate at the meet. Hershey also set the record for the highest points ever scored at a PIAA state meet with 416. The Hershey High School boys swim team was the top-ranked boys' public high school team in the United States in 2010 according to Swimming World Magazine.
For the 2010-2011 season, both the Hershey boys and girls swimming and diving teams remained undefeated, winning the Commonwealth division 13-0 each, the Mid-Penn conference meet (seven combined meet records for swimming and one for diving) and the District III meet (seven first place and three district records for girls; nine first place and five records for the boys).
At the 2011 PIAA state championship meet, the women's 400 yard freestyle relay team set the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) public school record (3:22.85). The boys' 200 yard freestyle relay team set the NFHS and NISCA national records (1:21.01) as the fastest high school team to that time in any class, public or independent. The boys 400 yard freestyle relay team also set the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA) public school record (3:00.71) as well as the individual 100 yard national freestyle record (42.34) and two other individual national records during the state meet: 45.49 in the 100 yard backstroke, and 1:41.39 in the 200 yard IM. As of the end of 2015, both the boys and girls teams remain undefeated.
Both the boys and girls swim teams won their 2011 state meets, with nine first-place finishes and eight state records combined (including the national records). The girls team accumulated a state record 269.5 points. By the end of the season, the boys team had produced ten NISCA All-America swimmers and one diver, and the girls team seven All-America swimmers, for a total of 56 event honors. In addition, four swimmers were also named Academic All-America. Swimming World magazine chose the Hershey High School men's swim team as the best in the nation in 2011 (Swimming World magazine, September 2011, 52(9):14).
School symbols
Graduation
Hershey High School seniors graduate at Founders Hall, a building on the campus of the nearby Milton Hershey School. Its largest graduating class thus far graduated in 2009.