Salem High School is a public high school located in Salem, New Hampshire, United States. There are as of 2011 approximately 1,600 students. The school is equipped with a library which contains over 20,000 books, as well as a vocational center. The school offers many unique and different classes, ranging from astronomy to television production.
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History
The original high school for the town of Salem was Woodbury High School. In the 1960s it was converted to a middle school, and the current building was built. The school has recently suffered from overcrowding, leading administrators to place portable classrooms on the campus. This also led the neighboring town of Windham, whose students were sent to Salem, to construct its own high school in 2009; the class of 2011 was the last graduating class from Salem High to include students from Windham. All class of 2012 students from Windham were required to transfer to Windham High School, starting at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.
The school has various traditions that include the video yearbook in which many of the students are showcased in one way or another.
Senior Safe Night started when students decided to camp out at the high school and chaperones were eventually called for when students were believed to be involved in illicit behavior in their tents. It has grown from a student-led initiative to one run by members of the communities--many of whom are parents of children in the high school--who want to make sure the seniors can have one last night to hang out before graduation in an environment in which there are no drugs or alcohol. There are usually door prizes and a massive yearbook signing towards the beginning of the night when teachers are there to wish the students fun on their night in.
On March 11, 2014, Salem voted to approve a $75 million renovation project for Salem High School and its Career and Technical Education Center. Construction is projected to begin around April 2015 after the schematic design phase is completed.
Student body
The student-teacher ratio is 17:2. In 2004 it sent 83.2% of the graduating class to a two-year college, four-year college, or the military.
Clubs and extracurricular activities
About 1/10 of the students in the school are in the Salem Blue Devil Marching Band and Color Guard. In 2008 they came in 3rd place in the regional finals and were named the best color guard in New England. The Salem High School Blue Devil Marching Band has brought many accolades to the school and has marched in various national parades including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Fiesta Bowl Parade, Rose Bowl Parade, and the Citrus Bowl Parade. In 1981, the band marched down Pennsylvania Avenue as part of President Reagan's inauguration celebration. There is also a winterguard, "Salem Blue". Salem Blue came in 2nd place in WGI World Championships in 2006 and 2009, and has made finals a number of years. Salem High School is also very well known for its extremely competitive percussion ensemble who took the silver medal in Dayton, Ohio, in April 2010.
There are over 45 clubs that students can join. The clubs are:
Air Force JROTC
Salem High School is home to the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC, or JROTC) unit number NH-20001. It is commonly called one of Salem's best student-based organizations, due to its frequent community service and citizenship program. The Air Force Junior ROTC does not focus on military recruiting and instead focuses on developing leadership and citizenship skills in students.
Student Council
The Salem High School Student Council is very dedicated to working for the students in the school and with other schools. The SHS Student Council Advisor, Michael Courtois, is the Co-Executive Director of the New Hampshire Association of Student Councils. In recent memory, students Anisha Kalyani, Joseph Sweeney, Sahil Kalyani, and Nicholas Fosman have served as the President of the State Association.
Athletics
Salem High School was listed by Sports Illustrated in 2008 as having the best athletics program in the state of New Hampshire.
The varsity football team were state champions in 2009, defeating Nashua North. The men's varsity basketball team won the Class L state championship in 2007 and 2008. The field hockey team won the state championship game six times between 2002 and 2008. Softball has won seventeen Class L state championships (When?-2010), Coach Harold Sachs recorded his 500th win on May 24, 2011.
The boys volleyball team has a national record 112-match win streak and have won ten straight state championships (2004-2014) according to NFHS.org.
Just recently the cheerleading team has won in New Englands the second year in a row, and on the same day the boys' basketball team won in the basketball championships.
On June 18, 2010, German exchange student Philipp Becker won the boys' singles tennis tournament when he beat his rival from Londonderry High School. Becker is the first tennis player from Salem to win the boys title.
The school's major rivals are the Astros from Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, the Owls from Timberlane Regional High School in Plaistow, and the Lancers from Londonderry High School in Londonderry.
Notable alumni
- Pamela Gidley, actress and model
- Katie King-Crowley, Olympic gold medalist in ice hockey
- Dan Stemkoski, StarCraft 2 eSports commentator
- John E. Sununu (class of 1982), former U.S. senator
Renovation
Currently, the high school is in the midst of a three-year construction project. This is Phase III of the Salem School District Renovation Project, which includes renovations/additions to all six elementary schools (phases I and II), the high school (phase III) and the middle school (phase IV). As part of the high school renovation, the school will receive additional classroom space, eliminating the need for portable classrooms, which currently house freshmen. The school will also receive an updated concert hall/auditorium and possibly and an updated gym, along with improvements to both the science and computer wings. The project started over the summer of 2015 and is expected to last three years, providing that everything goes as planned. This renovation was attempted once before but was voted down by the town due to budget concerns. The school is open during construction but with limited access to certain locations.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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