Kingston High School (New York)

Campus layout

The school comprises five buildings, connected on all levels or by pedestrian bridges. The Main building, which was the original high school building, contains many of the faculty and administration offices. Built in the neoclassical style, the main building still features its original terrazzo marble flooring. The main building houses the majority of English, history classes, and language classes. The auditorium and theatrical stage are also located there, and a music wing housing the band and choir was built onto the back of the main building. On the left side of the Main building is the Kate Walton Field House, which contains the high school's gym and pool. On the other side is the Whiston science building, which is where many science classes, labs, and art classes are located. Two cafeterias, a library, and the KHS-TV studio are in the Salzmann building directly behind the Main building. The fifth building is the Myron J. Michael, or MJM, building, which was originally the junior high school and now houses classrooms primarily for freshmen and the auxiliary gymnasium. The school was founded in 1915, at its current location.

Kingston High School Television

KHS-TV is a student-run television studio within the school. Founded during the 1991–1992 school year as a partial replacement to loudspeaker announcements on the high school complex, the studio began producing "KHS Morning Edition" on November 13, 1992 to bring students in select rooms a daily ten-minute show packed with announcements, video coverage of happenings in the school, lunch and weather forecasts, sports, and more. As time went on, the show was renamed "Wake Up, KHS!" and, in 1999, coverage spread throughout the campus via closed-circuit television and replaced loudspeaker announcements.

In October 2000, several KHS-TV students covered President Bill Clinton's trip to Kingston. Clinton said "Wake Up, KHS!" as he toured Washington Avenue, behind George Washington School, and later did an impromptu interview with several students at the Kingston Airport. Clinton also signed a poster with KHS-TV's original logo.

Programming

KHS-TV's "Wake Up, KHS!" is a ten-minute broadcast produced live during the beginning of second period at the high school. Primarily intended to inform the high school student body, the show highlights school events, sports, weather, and happenings from throughout the city while also occasionally including student-produced original comedy shorts in an effort to entertain viewers. With the creation of KHS-TV Channel 20, the show was first viewable on January 6, 2009. It previously aired from 7:50 AM - 8 AM.

The studio also periodically produces "Kingston City Schools Chronicles," a show hosted by the current Kingston City Schools superintendent, discussing the internal workings of the school district and the latest news from the District's various schools. Shows are approximately thirty minutes in length and are pre-recorded for airing at later times. Originally debuting on public access channel 23 in February 2005, the show moved to KHS-TV Channel 20 upon the creation of the new outlet.

When not airing pre-packaged shows, various independently produced video clips and announcement slides are aired to fill the rest of the broadcast day. Typical broadcast blocks are noon, 4PM, 7PM, 9PM, and midnight, with the "Wake Up, KHS" broadcast live at 8:36 am on school days.

Distribution

KHS-TV debuted on channel 17 via closed-circuit television within the high school campus, later moving internally to channel 5. During its first sixteen years, the station could be viewed only within the school. As part of a deal with Time Warner Cable and the City of Kingston, KHS-TV began broadcasting programming throughout the district via Kingston Time Warner Cable channel 20 towards the end of December 2008. The station remains on channel 5 within the campus, showing slides during the day after "Wake Up, KHS" instead of video.

KHS-TV has slowly branched out to have a limited presence on the Internet, beginning with K.B. Alantine Productions, a production group formed in January 2007, and comprising past members Kevin Brice, Alan Fortine, and Richard Valentine. The group originally formed in an effort to bring fresh new comedy to "Wake Up, KHS." The three quickly started an ongoing series featuring characters Mr. Bananaman and Agent V in comedic situations, eventually dubbing the segment "WUKI4" (Wake Up, KHS in 4 after a countdown found at the end of some early videos). Since the 2006–2007 school year, the segment has expanded to include other kinds of features such as coverage of local events, with the segment's name incrementing by 0.1 each year. Though all members have since graduated, production has continued on a limited basis.

The organization has also expanded with its production of "KHS-TV Summer," a summer program allowing for broadcast beyond the school September–June school year. Created in the summer of 2009, "KHS-TV Summer" has combined comedic shorts with in-depth coverage of local events during the summer months.

Music

Musically, Kingston High School maintains a music program, involving approximately ten percent of the student body. The department features a string orchestra, chamber orchestra, chorus, choir, symphonic band, concert band, wind ensemble, as well as a nationally recognized jazz program, which, in 2009, was selected as a finalist at the Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center in New York City.

In the fall of 2012, the Kingston High School Tiger Marching band came in first place in the New York State Field Band Conference Championships, held on October 28 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York led by Drum Majors Daniel Dittus, Mary Schneller, Colleen Smith, Fresia Martinez and Mallory Ruth. The band scored an 85.60, its highest ranking ever. The band came in second place in the two years prior with a score of 82.85 and 84.40. The marching band program is the largest in New York State.

The KHS Choir was founded by Leonard Stine in the 1930s and has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Fisher Center at Bard College.

Sports

Kingston High School's Tiger sports program has many different school-funded activities. Among the sporting activities sponsored by the school are football, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, cross-country, Nordic skiing, golf, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling and crew. Other sports, including rugby and cheerleading, operate semi-independently as a club within the school without varsity program funding.

Graduation rate

In recent years, Kingston High School's four-year graduation rate has been close to 70%.