Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students.
It offers over 295 courses and a wide variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Greenwich High School was ranked by Newsweek among the 100 top U.S. high schools in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Curriculum structure
Greenwich High School offers 47 Advanced Placement courses (US History, Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Computer Science Principles, Java, English Language & Composition, English Literature, Environmental Science, European History, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Music Theory, Physics 1, Physics B, Physics C, Psychology, Spanish, Spanish Literature, Statistics, US Government, Comparative Politics, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics) and a variety of honors courses and electives. Students are required to complete four credits or years of English/Language Arts courses, three credits each of Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies, two credits of Foreign Language, one-and-a-half credits of art or business, one credit of physical education, one-half credit of wellness, and six credits of electives (a total of 22 credits). In the school course guide, additional requirements include the following:
- The social studies requirements include a full year of American History, and semester courses in Civics and Contemporary America.
- The science requirements must include one credit in a biological science and one credit in a physical science (chemistry or physics).
- The arts requirements must include one and one half credits in any of the following areas: visual art, business, family and consumer sciences, human development, media, music, technology education, and theater arts.
- To be eligible for a Greenwich High School diploma, a student must have attended Greenwich High School for at least one full semester immediately prior to graduation.
Students are allowed to take general elective courses (e.g. art, music, business, et cetera) all four years at GHS, but are only allowed to take certain subject electives (e.g. English) in junior and senior years.
Students' grade point averages are calculated on a weighted scale. For non-honors classes, the maximum mark a student can receive is a 4.33 (A+); in Advanced Placement or Honors level courses students can receive up to a 5.33 (A+).
Extracurricular activities
Greenwich High School (GHS) has a number of student activities designed to promote a broad spectrum of interests. The school's student newspaper is The Beak. The yearbook is The Compass. Greenwitch is the school's student literary magazine. Student activities include student government, as well as academic, music, drama, international, language, service, sports, and special-interest clubs. The Music Department features four choral ensembles, three orchestras, three concert bands and two jazz bands. The Theater Arts program mounts one contemporary, two musicals, one Shakespeare production and one compilation of student written and directed work each year. Young Democrats and Young Republicans both feature prominently, and have coordinated with numerous political campaigns, both on local and national levels.
Athletics
Greenwich High School students have opportunities to participate in a variety of sports in the Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC). Both boys and girls teams compete in the FCIAC in the following sports (although some sports such as football are not played by any girls' teams while softball is not played by any boys' teams): football, soccer, basketball, cheerleading, ice hockey, field hockey, track and field, cross country, swimming, golf, softball, volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, and lacrosse. More information about which teams participate in which sports can be found on the Greenwich High School Athletics Website. The conference is very competitive between schools and as a result student-athletes take sports at Greenwich High School very seriously.
Notable alumni
- Scooter Braun - Justin Bieber's manager
- Erin Cardillo (Class of 1995) - actress
- Truman Capote (attended c 1939-1941) - author
- Caroline B. Cooney - author
- Rita Cosby - television journalist
- Edward "Porky" Cragg (Class of 1936) - Major United States Army Air Corps, Triple Ace in World War II
- Ernest T. Cragg (Class of 1939) - Major General, United States Air Force
- Matt Ember - Motion picture and television writer/producer (The Drew Carey Show, Failure to Launch, Get Smart, Epic, and Home)
- Dorothy Hamill - Olympic figure skater
- Carl Higbie - Former Navy SEAL and author of Enemies, Foreign & Domestic: A SEAL's Story
- Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy - former publicist for Calvin Klein and the wife of John F. Kennedy Jr.
- Erich Kunzel - conductor, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
- Matt Lauer - Today Show host
- Jon Ledecky (Class of 1975) - businessman, Co-Owner of the New York Islanders
- Zach Lowe - NBA writer
- Evan Ross - actor, Diana Ross' son
- D.J. Machale - author of the Pendragon series
- Rob Mathes - music producer and singer
- L. J. Mazzilli - baseball player (transferred)
- Shane McMahon (Class of 1987) - former executive at World Wrestling Entertainment
- Stephanie McMahon (Class of 1994) - executive at World Wrestling Entertainment
- Martha Moxley
- Evan Osnos - Chief Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker Magazine
- Jennifer Psaki - Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and White House Communications Director for Barack Obama
- Mike Sandlock - Former MLB player (Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates)
- Christopher A. Sims - winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics 2011
- Zach Sims - Co-founder of Codecademy
- John Sullivan - Minnesota Vikings center
- Trey Wingo - ESPN analyst
- Steve Young - Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback
- Justin Zackham - screenwriter of The Bucket List
- John Zimmer - Co-founder and President of Lyft
References
External links
- The Greenwich High School Alumni Website
- Greenwich High School Web pages at Great Schools website
- [2] Greenwich High School "Strategic School Profile 2005-2006", Connecticut Department of Education