Abington Senior High School


Abington Senior High School is a three-year co-educational high school in Abington, Pennsylvania, USA. The school was a two-year high school known as Abington South Campus from September 1964 until June 1983. In September 1983, Abington South Campus again became a three-year high school and eventually changed its name back to Abington Senior High. The 2016-2017 enrollment was 1,748. The principal is Mr. Angelo Berrios. Abington students are leaders in PSSA scores in the state of Pennsylvania and have won technology-oriented awards from Dell and Microsoft. Abington is most notable for its chess team, which has won the scholastic state championship numerous times and has won the scholastic national championship three times, with coach Shawn Simmons.

Demographics

The 2016–2017 enrollment is 1,748 pupils with 585 in the senior class. The school has 115.43 teachers and a student-teacher ratio of 15.14. The makeup of the student body is: 63% White; 22.5% Black; 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 4.5% Asian, and less than 0.01% Native American or Native Alaskan. 373 students are Free lunch eligible and 44 are eligible for a reduced-price lunch.

Graduation requirements

Graduation requirements: A minimum of 219 points in grades 9–12 and the following course units: English, social studies, mathematics, science, physical education health education, and additional electives
By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor, and its expectations are set by the individual school district.

Advanced placement

520 candidates took 1,271 AP Examinations in May 2018. 83% of these students scored a 3 or higher on their AP Examinations.
AP courses offered at the high school include:
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Abington is a member of the Suburban One League, National Conference. They are one of the founding members of the SOL, and one of four remaining founding schools.
Abington Senior High School's mascot is a Ghost. The name comes from the late Harold "Red" Grange, a standout professional football player and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who visited the school in 1930 and was nicknamed due to his speed. Prior to Grange's nickname becoming the school's mascot in the 1930s, Abington was represented by "The Maroons". Maroon and white have continued to be the school's colors over the past century.

School district

The Abington School District has an enrollment of 8,159 pupils, which include eight other schools, the Junior High, which serves grades 7 through 9, and seven elementary schools, which are listed in order by distance from the senior high; Copper Beech, Highland, Roslyn, Overlook, Willow Hill, Rydal, & McKinley.
The Abington School District was involved in a legal case relating to mandatory prayer in school, Abington School District v. Schempp, which was heard by the Supreme Court of the United States on February 27–28, 1963. The ruling handed down on June 17, 1963, decided 8–1 in favor of the respondent, Ellery Schempp, and declared school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools to be an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. The Chief Justice presiding over the case was Earl Warren.

Honors and distinctions

The school was recognized as a Blue Ribbon High School in 1998–99 school year. Abington was a National Service Learning Leader School in 1998 and 2001.
In 2008–2009, Abington won the "Triple Crown" of awards for public school districts in the United States. In 2008, America's Promise Alliance named Abington one of the "100 Best Communities for Young People" for the third year. Shortly thereafter, Money Magazine/CNN named Abington as one of the "Top 100 Best Places to Live" in America. In its 2009 list of America's Best High Schools, U.S. News & World Report awarded Abington Senior High School a bronze medal.
Future President and then-Senator Barack Obama spoke at Abington Senior High School on October 3, 2008.

Facilities

The school completed construction of a football stadium in 2006. The stadium is named after Stephen A. Schwarzman, an alumnus of the school.
A 1965 graduate of Abington Senior High School and one of the most notable alumni of the school, Stephen A. Schwarzman, announced a 25 million-dollar donation to the high school on February 15th, 2018 which is the highest donation to a public school in history. The money will be used to construct a new science and technology wing as well as to reconstruct multiple parts of the existing main building. In the new wing, students will have access to better science labs as well as laptops and coding classes for every student. Students will also be provided with career counseling.
The few conditions under which Stephen A. Schwarzman consented to donate the money for the renovation project were: renaming the school to Abington Schwarzman High School, proudly displaying his portrait in the building, naming parts of the school after his brothers, and holding the right to review construction plans for the school as well as choosing a new school logo. However, there was an immediate uproar from the residents of the district regarding the renaming of the school in Stephen A. Schwarzman’s honor and the idea got shut down at the School Board Meeting on April 10th, 2018, under the premise that they refuse to allow big money to influence their community. Instead, the original agreement was revised to simply naming the new science and technology center after Stephen A. Schwarzman. This project broke ground on November 2nd 2018. This renovation project when completed will be able to accommodate 9th grade, moving them from Abington Junior High School to the renovated facility.

Notable alumni