J. P. Stevens High School

John P. Stevens High School (abbr. JP or JPS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the northern end of Edison Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Edison Township Public Schools District, the other being Edison High School. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1969.[4]

John P. Stevens High School
Location
John P. Stevens High School
John P. Stevens High School
John P. Stevens High School
855 Grove Avenue

Edison, New Jersey
,
NJ
08820

United States
Coordinates40.580924°N 74.359303°W / 40.580924; -74.359303
Information
TypePublic high school
MottoBe the Change
Established1964
NCES School ID3404500[1]
PrincipalAnthony Shallop
Asst. principalsMeredith Quick
Robert Urbanovich
Faculty165.8 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment2,521 (as of 2018–19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio15.2:1[1]
Color(s)     Dartmouth Green and
     Old Gold[2]
Team nameHawks[3]
AccreditationMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools[4]
NewspaperHawkeye
YearbookRegalis
WebsiteSchool website

As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,521 students and 165.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.2:1. There were 137 students (5.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 27 (1.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

History

John P. Stevens High School was founded in 1965 and named after New Jersey textile giant John Peters Stevens.[5][6] Based in Oak Tree, it rapidly expanded as the northern part of Edison grew. Originally, JPS was a senior high school, serving grades 10 through 12. In 1984, the Edison School District changed the junior high schools into middle schools, adding 9th grade into JPS.

The school was named in honor of John P. Stevens Jr., an influential member of the Raritan Township / Edison Township Board of Education from 1940 to 1959, including 15 years as the board's president, who also was involved in an extensive range of civic, educational and philanthropic activities. Stevens served as President of J.P. Stevens & Co., a textile firm founded in 1813 that was one of the nation's largest and is now part of WestPoint Home. To avoid being confused with a junior high school, the postnominal "Jr." was omitted from the school's name.[7][8]

Students

The population of J.P. Stevens High School enters primarily from Woodrow Wilson Middle School and John Adams Middle School.

From the time it opened through the 1980s, the school's students were mostly Caucasian, with an African American minority. Beginning in the 1980s, J. P. Stevens saw increasing numbers of Indian-Americans. The largest group of students at J.P. Stevens is Asian American. The average class size of the school is about 37 students. The school's ratio of students to computers is 1 to 1 while the state average is 4 to 1.

In the 2009–10 school year, on the Language Arts section of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 53.1% of students scored proficient and 39.8% scored advanced. On the Math section of the test, 34.5% scored proficient and 54.1% scored advanced. The average SAT score was 1741 out of 2400. The Advanced Placement (AP) participation rate is 37.3%. The average attendance rate is 96.8%. The school had a suspension rate of 10%. 98.9% of JPS seniors graduated. 80% of the graduating seniors planned to go on to four-year colleges and another 16.9% of the graduating seniors expected to go on to two-year colleges.[9]

Faculty

The faculty population of J.P. Stevens High School in 2012 was around 200 teachers. The student to faculty ratio is 13 to 1. The average faculty member gets paid $55,035 a year while the state average was $52,563.[10]

Curriculum

J.P. Stevens students are required to take four years of English, four years of math, three years of science, three years of history (one of world and two of U.S.) and at least two years of a foreign language (including Latin, French, Spanish, and starting the 2008–09 school year, Hindi). In 2012, Mandarin and Italian were also added. In addition, health and physical education classes are required for every year in which a student attends J.P. Stevens. Starting with the Class of 2008, one year of "Career Education and Consumer, Family and Life Skills" such as Foods or Technology Fundamentals is required as well as another year of the "Visual Performing Arts" such Chorus, Band or Visual Arts. J.P. Stevens has an Honors as well as a college preparatory track that features several Advanced Placement courses.

2008-09 curriculum reform

Responding to numerous voices within the community for community reform, the Edison Board of Education formed the High School Reform Committee. This committee recommended that for the 2009–10 school year, Foods I and Foods II be converted to Foundations of Food and Nutrition. International Foods will be converted to Culinary Arts. The committee also recommended the "addition" of two AP classes as well: The conversion of Visual Arts 3 in title to AP Studio Art and the addition of AP World History as a Junior year elective.

School funding

The school received 88% of the money from local taxes. The total cost per pupil in the school district was $11,964.

Awards, recognition and rankings

In Newsweeks listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 127th of the 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 23rd among all high schools in New Jersey and tenth among the state's non-magnet schools.[11]

In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 294th in the nation among participating public high schools and 23rd among schools in New Jersey. in fact, famous singer/songwriter Andrew Fromm graduated from this school in 1993.[12]

In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 33rd in New Jersey and 1,151st nationwide.[13]

According to U.S. News & World Report, J.P. Stevens High School was ranked 36 in New Jersey in 2012, and has a national rank of 781.[14] In 2013, JP Steven's state ranking rose to 32 and its national ranking rose to 467.[15]

The school was the 30th-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.[16] The school had been ranked 80th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 65th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[17] The magazine ranked the school 52nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[18] The school was ranked 82nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.[19] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 97th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 7 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (88.3%) and language arts literacy (95.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[20]

The graduating class of 2013 had 31 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists and 62 Commended Students.[21]

In 2014, the band director, Andrew DeNicola, was a top 10 finalist for the 2014 Grammy Music Educator Award.[22]

In 2015, CNN featured J.P. Stevens as "The $2.5 billion high school", highlighting three e-commerce companies founded by recent graduates.[23]

Extracurricular activities

Clubs and other activities offered at J.P. Stevens include:[24]

Athletics

The J.P. Stevens High School Hawks[3] compete in the Red Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference, which operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[27] With 1,659 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.[28] The school competes against nearby rivals such as Edison High School, East Brunswick High School, and Woodbridge High School.

Interscholastic sports offered include:[3]

The football team won the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional title in 1977, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 2001.[29]

Janet Smith won the girls' 5,000 meter race at the 1983 Kinney National High School Cross-Country Championships held in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, with a time of 16 minutes 43.7 seconds.[30]

The wrestling team won the North II Group IV state sectional championship in 2004.[31]

Model United Nations

The Model United Nations club, JPSMUN, has performed well for years, and has consistently ranked among the top 10 high schools in America. It has earned the special distinction as being the only public high school on the list. The team has received Outstanding Large Delegation and Best Small Delegation awards, as well as a few prestigious Best Large Delegation awards. These include that of HMUN 2012 and RUMUN 2016. Recently, the team has also won Outstanding Large Delegations awards at WAMUNC & VAMUN 2017, and also ILMUNC 2018. The team hosts three in-house conferences for the purposes of competition, and training each year. The team is well recognized and decorated across the circuit. Several members of the team earned national records for consecutive Best Delegate awards.[32]

Robotics

Team 2554, The Warhawks, is a First Robotics Competition team that started in the 2007–2008 school year at John P. Stevens High School. The team consists of two major sub-teams: Marketing and Build; the marketing sub-team is responsible for bringing in the money to maintain tools and buy parts for the robot, which is done through sponsorships from other companies and local fundraising events. The build team is responsible for building the competition robot. As a part of FRC, the team competes in 2 district events in the First Mid-Atlantic Region[33], competing against other teams in the region. The team also participates in off-season competition events, such as Brunswick Eruption[34], after the official season is over.

In addition to robotics competitions, Team 2554 performs community outreach events that encourage young kids to pursue a career in STEM, by teaching the basics of robotics and performing live demonstrations.[35]

Music

Chorus

The J.P. Stevens Choir has won numerous awards, including Best Overall Choir at National and State competitions.[36]

In 2017, JPS Chamber Choir and A cappella Ensemble both participated in the Interkultur Sing 'N'Joy Princeton International Choir Competition. A cappella Ensemble was named Category Winner for the Sacred Music Category and Chamber Choir was named Category Winner in the Mixed Choir level 1 Category. Chamber Choir was also the Grand Prize Winner, with an endowed prize of US$2000. Moreover, the Chamber Choir received the Special Prize of an autographed copy of the first four measures of Morten Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium," presented by the composer.[37][38][39]

Many students from the choir are accepted into the Regions II Choir,[40] the NJ All-State Choir, All-Eastern High School Honor Choir,[41] and Governor's School of the Arts.

  • Concert Choir
  • A Cappella Ensemble
  • Men's Ensemble
  • Treble choir
  • Chamber Ensemble[42]

Band

The J.P. Stevens High School band program has approximately 200 students participating in several ensembles, including a marching band, jazz ensemble, and wind ensemble. The program enjoys the majority of its success with its wind bands and jazz ensembles. Its wind ensemble is a perennial participant at the New Jersey Concert Band Gala and Mid-Atlantic Honors Wind Band Festival. In addition, its jazz ensemble has won eleven state championships, including a three-peat from 2009–2011 and a four-peat from 2016–2019.[43]

The program consistently places a good proportion of its students in regional and statewide honor bands. In addition, its alumni have been educated at top tier music schools and conservatories around the country, notably at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Berklee College of Music, and the University of North Texas, among others. Its alumni, most notably David Bryan, have also performed with the CBS Orchestra, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, the Mel Lewis/Thad Jones Orchestra, and Bon Jovi, among others.

The program annually hosts Bandboozle, a benefit dance that helps VH1's Save the Music, and had hosted a Comedy Night in honor of a late student in order to give out the Adonis Smith Memorial Scholarship. The Comedy Night had been hosted on numerous occasions by Kel Mitchell.

Orchestra

The John P. Stevens orchestra program has over one hundred members Each year a number of students audition and are selected to participate in both CJMEA Regions II and All-State Orchestra. The orchestras compete each year in various orchestra festivals.

The J.P. Stevens High School Orchestra Program consists of three orchestras, including a number of string quartets. Chamber Orchestra includes up to 35 students who are selected by audition and perform standard orchestral literature. Concert Orchestra has more than 60 students and Symphonic Orchestra over 80 students. Students who play in the string quartet are selected by audition and perform for weddings and other fundraisers around the community.

Theatre company

The John P. Stevens award-winning theatre company has been an ongoing program in the school for many years now. Since the foundation of the company, several Broadway and off-Broadway shows have been performed; some notable include: Grease, Into the Woods, Pippin, The Wiz, Leader of the Pack and Urinetown: The Musical. The theatre company's production of Urinetown: The Musical garnered several honorable mentions and nominations by the NJ Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards. Other productions by the company from the past include Macbeth, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Working among others. The theatre company put on a production of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit The Wind in November 2007. The company put on perhaps their most successful and lauded show ever: the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in April 2008. Since then, they have put on The Odyssey, Tommy, The Crucible, and Jekyll and Hyde. In the fall of 2010, the company performed the play, Metamorphoses. In 2011, the company performed the rock opera hit Rent and Our Town. In 2019, their musical was Chicago: The Musical and their Fall Play was A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the fall of 2019, their fall play was Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play. Their musical for the 2020 school year was The Addams Family (musical), but the production was cut to two show nights due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"More Ways Out" improv troupe

The "More Ways Out" improv troupe meets every Thursday after school, to practice along with other students the art of "staying on ones toes". In the past years the "More Ways Out" improv troupe has won best in state numerous times. Most recently, the troupe went to New York City for an improv workshop encountering many professionals, as well as attending the NYC comedy festival.

Other

SerenAIDe is an annual, entirely student-run, benefit concert organized to raise money and awareness for victims of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease). This event takes place in the first week of May. The concert was inspired by the choral director's husband's struggle against this disease. Over the last three years the students have successfully raised over $24,000 towards the ALS foundation and the Jewish Community Center of Belle Mead, New Jersey.

The trivia team STARS has made Top 16 of 68 in the Bridgewater-Raritan Invitational Tournament of Excellence (BRITE) three times in a row and once was a quarter-finalist.

In 2009, for the first time, the STARS were named Champions in BRITE and placed 30th out of 119 at Questions Unlimited's National Academic Championship.[44]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. School data for John P. Stevens High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.
  2. JOHN P. STEVENS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-PARENT HANDBOOK 2017-2018 (PDF). 2017–2018.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  3. John P. Stevens High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 27, 2016.
  4. John P. Stevens High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed August 18, 2020.
  5. "10 Dec 1978, 24 - The Central New Jersey Home News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  6. "27 Nov 1973, Page 6 - The Courier-News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  7. Stochel Jr., Walter. "Who Was John P. Stevens Jr,& Why is The High School Named For Him?", Metuchen-Edison Historical Society. Accessed March 8, 2018. "At the Board of Education meeting on January 14, 1964, the Board received a letter from the contractor building the new high school on Grove Ave. asking what the name of theschool will be, so a sign could be made for the building. Board member, Mr. Schoder, made a motion to name the high school, 'John P. Stevens High School'.... John P. Stevens Jr. was a member of the Raritan Township/Edison Township Board of Education from 1940 to 1959, and was President of the Board from 1943 to 1958.... It was also during this time period that John P. Stevens Jr. was President of John P.Stevens & Co. the largest textile manufacturer in the US, and one of the oldest companies in America."
  8. Staff. "John P. Stevens Jr., 79; Headed Textile Concern And Was Civic Leader", The New York Times, November 16, 1976. Accessed March 8, 2018. "John Stevens's civic and philanthropic activities included the presidency of the Board of Education in Edison from 1942 to 1959, the general chairmanship of the 1944 Greater New York appeal of the Red Cross and the chairmanship of the trustees of the Phillips Academy from 1966 to 1968."
  9. J.P. Stevens High School 2010 School Report Card, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed August 16, 2011.
  10. NJ Public School Teachers for J.P. Stevens High School, Asbury Park Press. Accessed August 18, 2012.
  11. Staff. "America's Best High Schools 2016", Newsweek. Accessed November 11, 2016.
  12. Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools" Archived May 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2013.
  13. Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: J.P. Stevens High School" Archived March 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post. Accessed August 15, 2011.
  14. "Best High Schools 2012: J.P. Stevens High School", U.S. News & World Report. Accessed August 18, 2012.
  15. "J.P. Stevens High School Overview". US News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
  16. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  17. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 7, 2012.
  18. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed April 8, 2011.
  19. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  20. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2010-2011, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 3, 2012.
  21. "2013 Profile" (PDF). Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  22. Giannantonio, Christina (January 31, 2014). "J.P. Stevens High School Band director earns Grammy nomination". NJ.com. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  23. King, Hope (August 31, 2015). "The $2.5 billion high school". CNN.
  24. Co-Curricular Clubs 2011-2012, John P. Stevens High School. Accessed August 18, 2012.
  25. Home Page, Team 2554. Accessed October 15, 2019. "Team 2554, the War Hawks, is John P. Stevens High School’s FIRST Robotics team."
  26. "JPS SciTech". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  27. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed July 15, 2020.
  28. General Public School Classifications 2015-2016, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, as of December 15, 2015. Accessed December 12, 2016.
  29. Goldberg, Jeff. NJSIAA Football Playoff Champions, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 19, 2015.
  30. " Jersey Senior Takes Girls' Cross-Country", The New York Times, December 11, 1983. Accessed December 2, 2007.
  31. History of the NJSIAA Team Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed December 16, 2016.
  32. "America's Best High School Model UN Teams: Top 16–25", BestDelegate.com, March 23, 2011.
  33. "FIRST Mid-Atlantic". Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  34. "Brunswick Eruption | Hosted By Raider Robotix". Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  35. http://jpsrobotics2554.org/about.html
  36. https://www.jpschoir.org/about-us/
  37. https://www.interkultur.com/newsroom/competitions-festivals/details/news/john-p-stevens-high-school-chamber-choir-wins-in-princeton/
  38. https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/in-our-schools/2017/03/09/john-p-stevens-high-school-choir-festival-winner/98487942/
  39. http://njacda.com/2437-2/
  40. https://www.jpschoir.org/jps-honor-choir-acceptances
  41. https://www.edison.k12.nj.us/Page/3414
  42. https://www.jpschoir.org/ensembles
  43. http://www.njaje.org/jazz-ensemble-festival-archive.html
  44. Tournament Progress
  45. "Edison’s Peter Barnes III Takes Oath As Newest 18th District Assemblyman", New Jersey Assembly Democrats, press release dated March 15, 2007, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 3, 2016. Accessed January 18, 2020. "Barnes, 50, was born in San Francisco. He graduated from J. P. Stevens High School and has a Bachelor's of Arts from Gettysburg College, a Master’s of Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law."
  46. "In Brief: Tom Waits, BSBs", Rolling Stone, April 22, 2002. Accessed June 5, 2007. "Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan was inducted into the Hall of Honor at the John P. Stevens High School in Edison, New Jersey, over the weekend. Bryan graduated from the school in 1980."
  47. "Hall of Honors 2006 Inductees", p. 10. The John P. Stevens Hawkeye, April 2006, Volume XLVI, Issue 4. Accessed January 18, 2020. "Alan Chesnovitz '79"
  48. "Jun Choi Website". Accessed September 12, 2010. "Mayor Choi graduated from J.P. Stevens High School, earned his Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master's in Public Policy and Administration from Columbia University."
  49. Rubin, Debra. "Jersey City Mayor Returns to Familiar Turf", New Jersey Jewish News, November 21, 2013. Accessed November 19, 2014. "He graduated from J.P. Stevens High School in Edison."
  50. Caiazza, Tom. "Five million miles and one heck of a view: Astronaut returns after space flight; township names day in his honor" Archived September 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Woodbridge Sentinel, May 9, 2007. Accessed June 4, 2007. "Polansky, an Edison native and graduate of J.P. Stevens High School, returned to his alma mater Monday after commanding STS-116, the space shuttle mission to the International Space Station last December."
  51. Raymond, Chris. "Fast Times at Billionaire High", Success, March 3, 2016. Accessed August 18, 2020. "In the 51 years since it opened its classrooms to residents of Edison, New Jersey, the school has earned a reputation as a music powerhouse. Band director Andrew DeNicola—one of 10 finalists for the 2014 Grammy Music Educator Award—has mentored not only Bryan, but also Billy Joel keyboardist David Rosenthal and Late Night with David Letterman trumpet player Al Cheznovitz."
  52. "News Tribune". September 25, 1993.
  53. La Gorce, Tammy. "An Immigrant’s Bittersweet Slice of Life in Edison The thinly-veiled memoir tells the tale of an immigrant family who must cope with grief, doubt and life in America.", New Jersey Monthly, March 6, 2014. Accessed January 18, 2020. "Sharma, 42, grew up in Edison, where he attended J.P. Stevens High School."
  54. Stein, Joel. "Slow Times At My 20th High School Reunion", Time (magazine), December 14, 2009. Accessed August 18, 2012. "The 150 or so people inside — about a third of my graduating class — were not a random sample of J.P. Stevens High School students."
  55. "Sports Briefs", The Record (Bergen County), January 24, 2004. Accessed October 9, 2007. "Jeremy Zuttah of Edison's J.P. Stevens, rated the No. 34 best offensive guard in the country by Rivals.com, will attend Rutgers, according to his high school coach, Frank Zarro."
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