Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in West New York, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. The school is the lone secondary school of the West New York School District, an Abbott district that serves all of West New York. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1970.
As of the 2014-15 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,879 students and 144.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentâ€"teacher ratio of 13.0:1. There were 1,273 students (67.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 123 (6.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
History
In 2005, the New Jersey Schools Development Authority determined that the Memorial High School building was equipped to hold 918 students, making the school 882 students over capacity. In January 2012, the NJSDA forwarded the West New York Board of Education's application for the purchase of St. Joseph of the Palisades Elementary School to Vatican City, with which West New York hopes to turn into a "freshman/sophomore academy" to house between 700 and 800 of the high school's students. Upon the anticipated papal approval of the purchase of the school, which belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, the SDA will make a final decision on development plans.
In March 2012, the portion of 56th Street in front of the school was dedicated as Rebeka Verea Way, in tribute to Rebeka Verea, who died in a car accident in North Bergen the night of her graduation in 2005. Though she graduated from Cliffside Park High School, her father runs a medical practice based in West New York, and is the chief medical officer at North Hudson Community Action Corporation, which is also based in West New York.
Awards, recognition and rankings
In 2011, the College Board recognized Memorial High School as the 2011 winner of its "AP District of the Year Award" in the small schools category, in recognition of the district's efforts to expand the scope of Advanced Placement courses offered in the school and the improved results of those taking AP exams, with the school offering about 10 different AP courses after it started its first AP class in the 1980s.
The school was the 280th-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 307th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 273rd in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 282nd in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 261st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 204th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 42 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Athletics
The Memorial High School Tigers compete in the Hudson County Interscholastic League (HCIAA), which includes private and parochial high schools in Hudson County, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,478 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as North I, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,090 to 2,568 students in that grade range.
The boys' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1939 (defeating Bloomfield High School in the tournament final) and 1942 (vs. Asbury Park High School), and won the Group III title in 1966 (vs. Sterling High School). In 2002, the team won the North I Group IV state title, defeating Hackensack High School 65-62.
The boys' track team won the Group III indoor relay state championship in 1974.
The boys' baseball team won the Group IV state title in 1988 against Madison Central High School in the title game. In 2001, the team made it to the finals of the North I Group IV state tournament, falling to rival North Bergen High School 4-3 in the final game.
School clubs
Clubs and extracurricular program include:
- Drama Club
- Honor Society
- Junior State of America (JSA)
- Key Club
- M.O.M.S. (My Outreach Mission)
- School Band
- School Chorus
- Student Council
- Together In Greatness (TIGs)
Administration
Core members of the school's administration are:
- Scott Wohlrab â€" Principal
- Alina Cannao â€" Assistant Principal for Alternative Education
- Tara Giacumbo â€" Assistant Principal
- Charles Krajewski â€" Assistant Principal
- Harold Schroeder â€" Assistant Principal
Notable alumni
- Warren Boroson (born 1935), financial journalist, author and playwright.
- Vincent J. Dellay (1907â€"1999), represented New Jersey's 14th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1959.
- John Mahnken (1922â€"2000), former professional basketball player.
- April Jeanette Mendez (born 1987, class of 2005), retired professional wrestler who worked for WWE under the ring name AJ Lee.
- Gene Prebola (born 1938), football player.
- Albio Sires (born 1951), Member of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey's 13th congressional district.
- Silverio Vega (born 1956), former Mayor of West New York, who earlier served in the New Jersey General Assembly and on the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
- Armando Vilaseca, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Education.
References
External links
- Memorial High School
- West New York School District
- West New York School District's 2015â€"16 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
- School Data for the West New York School District, National Center for Education Statistics