South Brunswick High School (New Jersey)

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1990-91 school year, South Brunswick High School received the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

For the 2000-01 school year, South Brunswick High School was named a "Star School" by the New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.

In the 2010-11 school year, the South Brunswick High School was named the New Jersey School of Character, was ranked in the top 50 in the country and was selected as a final four finalist for being named the National School of Character of the 2010-11 school year.

The school was the 53rd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 138th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 89th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 74th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 75th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 118th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 31 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (84.7%) and language arts literacy (96.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 40th in New Jersey and 1,333rd nationwide.

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 649th in the nation among participating public high schools and 51st among schools in New Jersey. In the 2012 list of "America's Best High Schools", ranked by Newsweek, South Brunswick High School was ranked 683rd in the nation and 54th in the state, with criteria for ranking include graduation rate, AP/IB/AICE exams taken per student, average SAT/ACT scores and college matriculation rate.

Student achievements

During the 2005-06 school year, South Brunswick High School had 45 Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholars, three National Merit Scholarship Program Semi-finalists, 29 National Merit Commended students, two National Achievement Scholars, two Governor's Scholars, and six students named as National Advanced Placement Scholars.

In the area of musical activities, the South Brunswick District has received numerous awards including being named one among the top 100 school districts for music education in 2005 and 2006. The South Brunswick High School Viking Marching Band receives some of the highest scores in the state with a "Group VI" designation by the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) including a 98.7 in Allentown, Pennsylvania performing "Leonardo Dreams" and winning the USSBA Northern Champions. In the 2009 season, they performed "Reaching For the Light" at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana with a Group AAAA designation by Bands of America (BOA). They were placed 25th at Semifinals at BOA Grand Nationals and became the first band in New Jersey to break into the Semifinals round of competition. In their 2010 season, they performed "The Sounding Sea" music from "Symphonic Movement" first performed by the U.S. Air Force Band. Their season was such a success that they were undefeated at all of their competitions, including: winning the DeMoulin Challenge sponsored by DeMoulin Bros. & Co. marching band uniforms placing first in both preliminary and finals performances beating rival Trumbull High School with a score of 93.063 and winning the USSBA Northern States Championships receiving a 98.175, the season's best. In the March 2008, the South Brunswick High School Wind Ensemble was invited to perform in Indianapolis, IN, for the Music for All National Concert Band Festival along with the top 16 high school wind bands in the country. They were previously invited in 2001. Recently, the South Brunswick Wind Ensemble was invited to play at Indiana University, PA and perform "Angels in the Architecture" with Frank Ticheli the composer of the song. The Viking Marching Band was the Group VI New Jersey State Champions in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

The SBHS varsity and junior-varsity winterguards: Visual Ensemble (SBVE) and Performance Company (SBPC), compete in the MAIN (Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network) circuit and WGI (Winterguard International) circuit. In more recent years, SBVE (varsity) won MAIN Championships under the Scholastic Open (SO) class from 1996–2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011–2012, and under the Scholastic World (SW) class in 2010. In the WGI circuit, SBVE has reached the finals at the WGI World Championships held in Dayton, Ohio in 1998, 1999, 2001–2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011–2012, all only under the Scholastic Open class, including a third place-bronze medal completion in 1998. SBPC (junior varsity) won MAIN Championships under the Scholastic AAA (SAAA) class in 1997, 2001, and in 2003, and under the Scholastic Regional A (SRA) class in 2008.

In the 2011-12 school year South Brunswick High School student Ian Moritz was recognized by Guinness World Records for breaking the record for the most high fives in one hour, reaching a total of 1,739 at a pep rally held in the school on March 16, 2012.

In February 2013, the South Brunswick Dance Team competed in the National Dance Team Championship (NDTC) held in Orlando, Florida placing in the top ten for Small Varsity Pom and Small Varsity Jazz.

In addition, the high school has won the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Sportsmanship Award for four consecutive years.

Curriculum

South Brunswick High School offers a challenging curriculum coupled with extensive opportunities in the fine and performing arts, athletics, and extracurricular activities.

All students attending SBHS are encouraged to take a minimum of 16 units during the duration of their academic career. All students must also take a Practical Art (Such as Business, Technology) and Visual/Performing Art (such as Art I, II, Orchestra or Band). Students are also required to take a 2.5 credit class in Personal Financial Literacy.

The school offers around 20 Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Athletics

The South Brunswick High School Vikings compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, made up of public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 2,209 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 2,349 students in that grade range.

The boys' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 1968, defeating East Rutherford High School in the final game of the tournament.

The baseball team won the Group II state championship in 1980 vs. Garfield High School.

The SBHS boys' bowling team won the New Jersey state title in 1996 with a combined score of 3,103. A signed bowling pin from all team members is kept in the trophy case at the school.

The South Brunswick boys' soccer team won back-to-back to back Red Division Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2009 the team won the GMC County Final, The first in school history.

The 2009 boys' tennis team won the Red Division Title and were GMC Champions, the first in school history. Again they repeated the same results in 2010 by winning GMC's and the Red Division Title. The SBHS boys tennis team have won the GMC Red Division Championship title since 2009. In 2011, they later placed second in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV Championships and in 2012 they won all of their singles and doubles matches at GMCs.

The 2010 boys' track and field team won the GMC Relays Championships (Greater Middlesex Championships) by defeating former champions, Old Bridge High School. The track team was led by Coach Wilfredo Rivera.

The 2010-11 ice hockey team went on to win the inaugural GMC Championship. South Brunswick beat perennial powerhouses Old Bridge and St. Joseph High School to reach the final. South Brunswick then went on to be seeded #20 in the NJSIAA Public A Tournament and lost by a score of 3-0 in the first round to Tenafly High School.

The 2011-12 girls bowling team won the GMC title and then later won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV title. At the end of the same season, the coach was named coach of the year.

The 2012 football team won the Central Jersey Group V sectional title, beating Manalapan High School by a score of 33-22. The 2015 football team won the Central Jersey Group V sectional title, defeating Old Bridge High School in the tournament final by a score of 42-0.

The 2013 boys' track team won the Group IV state relay championships, the program's first state title. The team repeated as Group IV champion in 2014.

Clubs

Clubs that are currently offered (2016-2017) at South Brunswick High School include:

Administration

Members of the school administration are:

Notable alumni and faculty