South Brunswick High School (New Jersey)


South Brunswick High School is a comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades at the school located in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the South Brunswick Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1965.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,939 students and 199.2 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 14.8:1. There were 276 students eligible for free lunch and 87 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The South Brunswick High School was first established in 1960 at the corner of Major Road and Kingston Lane and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. The current building/location was built in 1997 at the corner of Stouts Lane and Ridge Road due to overcrowding issues and the annex which is connected by a two-level indoor bridge on levels 2 and 3 was all built in 2003-04, on the side of Stouts Lane.

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1990-91 school year, South Brunswick High School received the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.
For the 2000-01 school year, South Brunswick High School was named a "Star School" by the New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.
In the 2010-11 school year, the South Brunswick High School was named the New Jersey School of Character, was ranked in the top 50 in the country and was selected as a final four finalist for being named the National School of Character of the 2010-11 school year.
The school was the 53rd-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 138th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 89th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 74th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 75th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 118th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics and language arts literacy components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 40th in New Jersey and 1,333rd nationwide.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 649th in the nation among participating public high schools and 51st among schools in New Jersey. In the 2012 list of "America's Best High Schools", ranked by Newsweek, South Brunswick High School was ranked 683rd in the nation and 54th in the state, with criteria for ranking include graduation rate, AP/IB/AICE exams taken per student, average SAT/ACT scores and college matriculation rate.

Curriculum

South Brunswick High School offers a challenging curriculum coupled with extensive opportunities in the fine and performing arts, athletics, and extracurricular activities.
All students attending SBHS are encouraged to take a minimum of 16 units during the duration of their academic career. All students must also take a Practical Art and Visual/Performing Art. Students are also required to take a 2.5 credit class in Personal Financial Literacy.
The school offers around 20 Advanced Placement courses.

Athletics

The South Brunswick High School Vikings compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, made up of public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 2,209 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 2,349 students in that grade range.
The boys' basketball team won the Group I state championship in 1968, defeating East Rutherford High School in the final game of the tournament.
The baseball team won the Group II state championship in 1980 vs. Garfield High School.
The SBHS boys' bowling team won the New Jersey state title in 1996 with a combined score of 3,103. A signed bowling pin from all team members is kept in the trophy case at the school.
The South Brunswick boys' soccer team won back-to-back to back Red Division Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2009 the team won the GMC County Final, the first in school history.
In the Fall of 2004, the girls volleyball team took home the GMC title for the first time in school history. The program had only been in place 6 seasons prior to this achievement.
The 2009 boys' tennis team won the Red Division Title and were GMC Champions, the first in school history. Again they repeated the same results in 2010 by winning GMC's and the Red Division Title. The SBHS boys tennis team have won the GMC Red Division Championship title since 2009. In 2011, they later placed second in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV Championships and in 2012 they won all of their singles and doubles matches at GMCs.
The 2010 boys' track and field team won the GMC Relays Championships by defeating former champions, Old Bridge High School. The track team was led by Coach Wilfredo Rivera.
The 2010-11 ice hockey team went on to win the inaugural GMC Championship. South Brunswick beat perennial powerhouses Old Bridge and St. Joseph High School to reach the final. South Brunswick then went on to be seeded #20 in the NJSIAA Public A Tournament and lost by a score of 3-0 in the first round to Tenafly High School.
The 2011-12 girls bowling team won the GMC title and then later won the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV title. At the end of the same season, the coach was named coach of the year.
The 2012 football team won the Central Jersey Group V sectional title, beating Manalapan High School by a score of 33-22. The 2015 football team won the Central Jersey Group V sectional title, defeating Old Bridge High School in the tournament final by a score of 42-0. In 2017, the team won its third championship in program history with an 18-14 win against top-seeded Manalapan High School in the final of the Central Jersey Group V state sectional tournament, played at High Point Solutions Stadium; South Brunswick finished the season with an 11-1 record, defeating a Manalapan team that had been undefeated heading into the game.
The 2013 boys' track team won the Group IV state relay championships, the program's first state title. The team repeated as Group IV champion in 2014.

Student achievements

The Viking Marching Band was the Group VI New Jersey state champions in the four consecutive seasons from 2013 through 2016 and again in 2018.
In the 2011-12 school year, a student was recognized by Guinness World Records for breaking the record for the most high fives in one hour, reaching a total of 1,739 at a pep rally held in the school on March 16, 2012.

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are: