Williamstown High School (New Jersey)


Williamstown High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school located in the Williamstown section of Monroe Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Monroe Township Public Schools. The school was established in 1958.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,798 students and 126.8 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 14.2:1. There were 462 students eligible for free lunch and 103 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
Construction on the current school building began in 1994 and was completed in 1997. Prior to 1997, Williamstown High School was located in what is currently Williamstown Middle School. The school mascot is a Brave and the school colors are Royal Blue and White.
Construction began again during the 2007-2008 school year on the high school to build an additional two wings because of overcrowding and to build a new auxiliary gym/dance studio. A few renovations in the existing building were also done to replace some old piping, wiring, and the gym and stage floor. The construction was completed between December 2008 and January 2009.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 257th-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 295th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 270th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 259th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 248th out of 316 public high schools in New Jersey in the magazine's 2006 rankings. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 194th 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 two components of the High School Proficiency Assessment, mathematics and language arts literacy.

Athletics

The Williamstown High School Braves compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which operates under the auspices of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,402 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as South Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 1,934 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the American Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group V for football for 2017-18.
Sports offered at the school include:
In fall 2006, the Williamstown girls volleyball team won the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group III state championship, two games to none over West Morris Central High School. Their victory was the team's first State title and made them only the third South Jersey team to win a girl's state title in the sport, joining Eastern High School and Cherry Hill High School East. The girls team finished the 2010 season with a record of 30-2, capped off by winning the Group IV title in two games, defeating Livingston High School to earn the program's second state title.
The girls' spring track Team won Tri-County Championships in 2009.
In spring 2008 the Williamstown softball team won the Group IV state championship. The team defeated Toms River High School East to win the South Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship, with a 2-0 win in the tournament final. The team won the Group IV title with a 1-0 win over Old Bridge High School in the semifinals and a 2-0 win against Ridgewood High School in the finals. Williamstown was ranked as the number one softball team in New Jersey and number 25th ranked team in the nation in the USA Today final 2008 rankings.
In spring 2009 the Williamstown softball team again defeated Toms River High School East to win the South Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship, with a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the eleventh inning. The team repeated as Group IV State Champions when they defeated Union High School 3-0, allowing only one hit.
In 2015, the Williamstown baseball team defeated Cherokee High School by a score of 4-1 in the tournament final to win the South Jersey Group IV state sectional championship

Marching band

The school's marching band was Tournament of Bands Chapter One Champions in 2003 and 2007 and 2005-06. The band was the 2003 Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 1 and the 2000 Atlantic Coast Invitational Champion in Group 2. The Band was 2010 USSBA "National" Champions, winning best percussion, effect, visual, and music. Since the change of director in 2012, the Williamstown Marching Braves has been on a steady increase. The Marching Braves' Percussion Section won the USBands "National" Championship in 2014 and the band placed 2nd overall, missing first place by only.063 points. The Williamstown Indoor Percussion Ensemble which competes in the TIA indoor percussion circuit was promoted to the National A Class during their 2015 season after their performance at Avon Grove High School March 14, 2015 and their performance at the WGI regional at Unionville High School.

Administration

The school's principal is Angelo DeStefano. His administration team includes four assistant principals.