Methuen High School
Encyclopedia
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| Supervising Principal | James Giuca |
| Vice Principal | Jane Obshatkin |
| Assistant Principal | Donald Gibson |
| Assistant Principal | Karen Hallbauer |
| Dean of Students | Michael Downs |
| School type | Public |
| Religious affiliation | None |
| Founded | circa 1975 |
| Location | Methuen Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 43,789 at the 2000 census.-History:Methuen was first settled in 1642 and was officially incorporated in 1726; it is named for the British diplomat Sir Paul Methuen. Methuen was originally part of Haverhill,... , Massachusetts Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010... |
| Enrollment | 2,000+ |
| Faculty | 128 |
| Campus surroundings | Suburban |
| Sports teams | Rangers |
| School color(s) | Blue & White |
Methuen High School is a public secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
located in the city of Methuen
Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 43,789 at the 2000 census.-History:Methuen was first settled in 1642 and was officially incorporated in 1726; it is named for the British diplomat Sir Paul Methuen. Methuen was originally part of Haverhill,...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Methuen High serves grades nine through twelve for about 1,900 students. It is one of five public schools in Methuen and it is the only high school in the district. The first class to graduate from Methuen High was the class of 1976.
Environment
The school was originally designed with the open classroomOpen classroom
An open classroom is a student-centered classroom design format popular in the United States in the 1970s. In its most extreme form, entire schools were built without interior walls, which made teaching loud and disruptive in worst case scenarios - for most schools this has not been as big a...
theory. Since then, dividers have been put up and some classrooms are lined with walls. Most students have adapted to the open concept, but the building is currently undergoing a $100 million renovation.
The school itself is divided into several "houses." The South wing, or South House, holds mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
classes. The North House holds classrooms for English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Foreign Languages, including Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
. The field house holds theater, JROTC, and physical education classes.
Athletics
Methuen High is a longtime member of the Merrimack Valley Athletic ConferenceMerrimack Valley Conference
The Merrimack Valley Conference is a high school sports league located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is named after the Merrimack River Valley where all of the primary league schools are located. The league members are also members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic...
, recognized by many as among the premier conferences in New England. The school offers 25 sports at the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshmen levels. For boys: football, soccer, cross country, basketball, indoor track, ice hockey, wrestling, tennis, volleyball, baseball, and outdoor track. For girls: field hockey, soccer, cross country, volleyball, swimming & diving, cheerleading, gymnastics, basketball, indoor track, tennis, outdoor track, and softball.
Clubs
The school holds a wide array of clubs and extra-curricular activities including, but not limited to:- National Honor SocietyNational Honor SocietyThe National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
- Student Government
- Gay/Straight Alliance
- Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
- Lyceum Literacy Club
- National Art Honor Society
- Adopt-A-Grandparent
- American Cancer SocietyAmerican Cancer SocietyThe American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
Relay For LifeRelay For LifeRelay For Life is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Originating in the United States, the Relay For Life event has spread to 21 countries. Relay events are held in local communities, campus universities, military bases, and in cyberspace...
- an annual public service event for the entire community started in 2009; has raised over $500,000 to date - Peer Leaders
Daily Schedule
A typical day is broken up into three, hour-long morning classes that begin at 7:15 A.M. At 10:27 A.M, a one and a half hour "long block" begins that divides students up into half hour lunches based on which House they are at that time. Following long block there are two final 45 minute long periods.Notable alumni
- Susie CastilloSusie CastilloSusie Castillo is a former beauty queen who held the Miss USA title and competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants...
- Miss USA 2003, MTV VJ - Kelly Kinneen - NCAA Division I basketball player, Harvard CrimsonHarvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
- Laura MoriartyLaura Moriarty-Life and work:Moriarty was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and has lived in Northern California since 1966. She attended Sacramento State University and the University of California at Berkeley in the 70s...
- NCAA Division I swimmer, North Carolina Tar HeelsNorth Carolina Tar HeelsThe North Carolina Tar Heels are the athletic teams for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State... - Scott Yim - NCAA Division I volleyball player, Harvard CrimsonHarvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...