Winnacunnet High School


Winnacunnet High School is an American public high school located in Hampton, New Hampshire. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 who live in the communities of Hampton, Seabrook, North Hampton, and Hampton Falls. Students from South Hampton attend Amesbury High School. The name Winnacunnet is a Native American word that means "beautiful place in the pines". The current principal, since 2010, is William McGowan.

History

Ground was broken for Winnacunnet High School on October 30, 1957, and it first opened in the fall of 1958 with an attendance of 474 students. Prior to 1958, area students attended the Hampton Academy and High School, a junior-senior high school which today still exists as the junior high school for Hampton. The official Winnacunnet High dedication ceremony took place on October 26, 1958. The school has recently finished major construction and renovations.
The school was in the national news in 1990, when Pamela Smart, conspired with 15-year-old sophomore student William "Billy" Flynn and, according to him, convinced him to murder her husband Greg Smart on May 1, 1990. Smart did not actually work at Winnacunnet High School, but at the SAU 21 building across the street, which is located on Winnacunnet school grounds. Smart was convicted of first degree murder in March 1991, and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility for parole. She is serving her sentence in a maximum security prison in New York State.

Notable alumni