Watchung Hills Regional High School

Demographics

As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,205 students and 170.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.9:1. There were 39 students (1.8% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 11 (0.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

Awards, recognition and rankings

Watchung Hills Regional High School received the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence from the United States Department of Education in 1994-95, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 131st out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 24th among all high schools in New Jersey and 11th among the state's non-magnet schools.

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 514th in the nation among participating public high schools and 42nd among schools in New Jersey.

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 34th in New Jersey and 1,160th nationwide. In 2008, Newsweek ranked the school as 919th in the nation. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Watchung Hills High School was listed in 999th place, the 31st-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In the magazine's 2006 survey, the school was ranked as 745th nationwide. In their 2004 survey, Newsweek ranked WHRHS as the 583rd best high school in the nation.

The school was the 50th-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 44th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 48th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 49th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 38th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 96th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 276 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (86.0%) and language arts literacy (97.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Facilities

WHRHS underwent a renovation project. Extensive additions to the school have been constructed and all classrooms have been renovated. The addition included many new classrooms, as well as a four-tier band room. Additionally, a brand new theatre with a rising orchestra pit and catwalk were built. This state-of-the-art theater includes a programmable lighting system, movable sound shell and a balcony. Additionally, all classrooms have been renovated. There is also a new "FieldTurf" football field, along with numerous baseball/softball fields.

TV Studio

At the beginning of the 2009 school year, classes were moved from the old TV Studio class room into the new one. The new studio has much more room and includes a control room, class room/studio and an office. There is currently new equipment being installed which will allow for three camera switching for live broadcasts. The system will utilize three Canon XL2's, a Datavideo switcher, Mackie Onyx 1620 with firewire card and four Shure SLX wireless microphones There are currently four edit bays with Dell Precision desktops and dual monitors. When the installation is complete, there will be a Verizon FiOS channel installed for local broadcasts. Although not currently possible due to wiring problems, internal broadcasts will eventually be possible. Rocco Iacovone, the video production teacher at Watchung Hills and a graduate of New York University, runs the TV studio and conducts his broadcast journalism classes there.

Theater

The brand new, state-of-the-art theatre includes two catwalks with a spotlight booth. The lighting system, which has 301 dimmers is housed in the dimmer room located on the stage left side of the catwalks. The dimmer room contains three dimmer racks and an emergency power transfer switch. The lighting console is an ETC Ion and is located in the lighting booth located under the balcony. On stage, there is a movable orchestra pit, movable sound shell and 36 linesets including six electrics, a scrim and cyc as well as three ceiling panels for the sound shell. The sound shell is moved using a cart with a lift system on it. When not in use, the shell is stored stage right, 2 to 3 deep.

As of June 2009 the theatre now contains a full sound system. The new sound system includes two QSC WideLine-8 Line Arrays (eight Boxes per Array), two Ground Subwoofers a Yamaha M7CL 48 channel digital audio console, 16 wireless microphones and 8 active DB technologies on stage monitors and a Sennheiser mic package. There is also a SymNet system which allows the entire system to be powered on with a single button. It also allows for four inputs to be used without turning on the console, for simple presentations. In addition to the sound system, a ClearCom wired and HME wireless headset system were installed. There are four wired beltpacks as well as the base station and four wireless beltpacks.

Technology

WHRHS has approximately 20 Dell servers that provide students and staff with various services. Among these are a web server, two file servers, a Web Filter server, SQL database server and a student database server which manages student information as well as gradebooks via a web interface. There are approximately 24 laptop carts (each with about 24 laptops) that are designated to different areAs of the school. All teachers have either Dell or Apple laptops. There are also plans to deploy laptop carts with Apple MacBooks in the near future. There are eight computer labs with Dell Optiplex desktops.

Athletics

The Watchung Hills Regional High School Warriors compete in the Skyland Conference, which operates under the auspices of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). With 1,658 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North II, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,114 to 4,800 students in that grade range.

WHRHS's interscholastic sports teams include baseball, men's and women's soccer, women's tennis, ice hockey, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's bowling, men's and women's fencing, swimming, wrestling, women's and men's volleyball, marching band, women's softball, women's gymnastics and women's cheerleading.

The school has a rivalry with Ridge High School in neighboring Basking Ridge. Traditionally, the two football teams had played a game on the day before Thanksgiving, known as the Turkey Bowl, because of their being in different divisions of the Skyland Conference. However, as Ridge entered the same division as WHRHS in 2008, they no longer play Turkey Bowl, but play each other yearly as part of their regular schedule of games.

In basketball, WHRHS has many rivals including Immaculata High School (New Jersey) Somerville High School (New Jersey) and Ridge High School. The most heated rivalry though would be against neighboring Bridgewater-Raritan High School, which has heated up since 2008, when Coach Gene McAteer left WHRHS to coach Bridgewater.

The men's cross country team won the 1974 Group IV state championship. This was the first WHRHS team to have won a state championship.

The girls' tennis team won the Group IV state championship in 1976 and 1978 (vs. Ridgewood High School both years), 1981 (vs. Cherry Hill East High School), and won the Group III state championship in 1982 (vs. Millburn High School), 1983, 1985 (vs. Mainland Regional High School), 2000 (vs. Tenafly High School) and 2001 (vs. Northern Highlands Regional High School). The team won the Tournament of Champions in 1981 (vs. Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School), 1982 and 1983 (vs. Red Bank Catholic High School both years). The eight group titles are tied for seventh-most in the state and the three Tournament of Champions titles are tied for third most.

The baseball team won the 2005 North II, Group IV state sectional championship with an 11-0 win over Hunterdon Central Regional High School.

In wrestling, the school has had four state champions: Michael Gatti (2003), Alex Caruso (2006), Brendan Ard (2008 and 2009) and Michael Magaldo (2012).

The ice hockey team made it to the NJSIAA Public A State Finals vs. local rival Ridge High School in 2008, falling by a score of 5-0; the most successful season for the six-year-old program.

Throughout the years, the school's Ultimate Frisbee teams have been consistently grabbing top ranks in State's competitions and other prestigious tournaments like the Amherst Invite and the Paideia Invite. The 2010-11 girls team, captained by Annie Yang and Laura Park, ranked first place in the state and 5th in the country. The guys were ranked second in the state and 45th in the country. The WHRHS Ultimate team has a rivalry with the Columbia High School ultimate team.

Since established, the school's Marching Band has performed at many of the school events. When the football team is home, the Band performs a field show during half-time. At away games, the Band travels with the Football team and performs during the pre-game ceremony. During all Football games, the Band plays pep band music, to bring excitement to the crowd. The school's marching band competes at about 3 competitions a year, around the Tri-State area. They have won several awards and recognition, which are proudly displayed in the school's "Band Room." The Band also performs at many parades, such as the "Memorial Day Parade" in Long Hill Township, New Jersey and Warren Township, New Jersey, and also the "Santa-Walk" in Warren Township. Every other year, the school's Marching Band goes on a trip, usually to another state, where they compete against other bands from all over the country. They have gone to places such as Williamsburg, Virginia, and to Disney World.

Activities

Watchung Hills offers students many extracurricular activities. These clubs and organizations are directed towards community service, academics, and special interests. A few of the more popular ones are a FIRST Robotics Team, Environmental Club, Asian Culture club, Stop Genocide, Habitat for Humanity, AWARE, JSA Debate Club, Liberation in North Korea Club, Mock trial, Academic Team, Script and Cue, Students Against Destructive Decisions, NIKE club, Model United Nations, Lenape Yearbook, Gay-Straight Alliance, Geocaching Club, Diversity Club, Video Game Club, History Club, and Sewing Club.

Robotics Team

Watchung Hills has competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition since 1997 as Team 41, the Robo Warriors. In previous years, the robotics team has been highly successful. In 2007, the Robo Warriors received the Judges' Award in the 2007 FIRST New Jersey Regional. In 2008, they won the 2008 FIRST New York Regional, one of the toughest competitions in the country. This victory sent them to the 2008 Atlanta World Championship. In 2009, they continued their success, making their way into the quarterfinals.

Administration

Core members of the district's / school's administration are:

Notable alumni