- Matawan Regional High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, United States. The school is part of the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District and it is one of Monmouth County's largest schools. It has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools since 1951. The school mascot is a huskie.
- As of the 2006-07 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,093 students and 88.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 12.5.
- The school was the 111th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools. The school was ranked 115th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.
- History
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When the State of New Jersey mandated graded school systems replace district schools in 1894, Matawan Township and Matawan Borough constructed an eight-room brick school building at the corner of Broad Street and South Street, which was completed and occupied in 1895.
- A 1913 graduate described the school as having four rooms on the first floor, and four rooms and a long, wide hall on the second floor. There was no indoor plumbing until a major addition was made to the building about 1910, so outdoor toilets were used for about fifteen years. Sanitary facilities were added in the basement. The Class of 1913 consisted of 34 eighth graders, most of whom were expected to go to work after they finished school.
- By 1923, the school was so overcrowded that it was running double sessions to teach its 900 students in 12 rooms, so the township voted to build a new high school next door.
- The first Matawan High School was completed and occupied in 1924 on at the corner of Broad Street and South Street. The two and a half story brick building of Georgian design was constructed at a cost of $175,000. It contained 13 classrooms, a study hall, a cafeteria, an auditorium seating 527, and a gymnasium with capacity for 300. The school had 388 students and 14 teachers in 1936; 76 seniors graduated with the Class of 1936. The school had recently taken in students from Laurence Harbor, New Jersey, effectively doubling the graduating class between 1933 and 1936.
[ The school, which included some middle school students in 1957, had 540 high school students and their 28 teachers.][Tiemann, Alice M., Township of Matawan, 1857-1957, pg 35] After it was replaced in 1962, consideration was given to making the old high school an elementary school [ but it was eventually demolished.] - Matawan Regional High School was built in 1962 to deal with sharp population growth due to the construction of 2,300 new housing units in the area. Population nearly doubled between the 1960 census figure of 12,456 and the 1965 estimate of 21,177. The school had 1,780 students and 102 teachers in the 1964-1965 school year. The 62 rooms included 33 classrooms, 2 gymnasiums, an auditorium, a cafeteria, 2 music rooms, 2 industrial arts shops, 8 science rooms, and 2 fine arts rooms.
[League of Women Voters, Know Your Town: Matawan Borough and Township, 1965, pp 40-46] - The school recently underwent major renovations including a new facade, new chemistry and oceanography laboratory classrooms, a new art wing, including a kiln, computer labs, as well as a new greenhouse.
[Schooldesigns.com provides a description of the renovation project and concept drawings. [1]] The sports department received a renovated artificial turf football field and stadium lighting. Streetside saw a new electronic sign. - Sports
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The Matawan High School Huskies compete in the Shore Conference, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore.
[ School Info, Shore Conference. Accessed March 9, 2008.] All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County. The league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). - The Matawan High School baseball team (63-2) won the Central New Jersey Championship three consecutive years from 1922 to 1924 under Coach Benjamin W. Davis. Matawan's African-American pitcher Henry Schanck was edged out by Keyport High School in a 16-inning match in 1924. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) added a sports field at the high school in 1936.
- The Matawan Catfish swim team competed against the Laurence Harbor Eels at nearby Lake Lefferts in the spring of 1936.
- Music
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Music has deep roots at Matawan. In 1895, The New York Press ran a statewide competition to determine the most popular new school in budding New Jersey school system. Matawan returned the most coupons, defeating its nearest competitor by 40,000 votes, thereby winning a Chickering and Sons piano.
- Matawan is also known for its marching band. The Matawan Marching band won the national championships in Jacksonville, Florida in 1977 with Anthony DeVizia as drum major. They are currently lead by Seth Jones with drum majors Michelle Mena and Andrew Monagle and have ended the 2008 season with a score of 85.55 at ACC's Group 2 Invitationals
- Administration
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Core members of the school's administration are:
[ Administration, Matawan Regional High School. Accessed July 21, 2008.]
- Principal - Michele Ruscavage
- Assistant Principals - Frank J. Liotti, Patricia Phillips and Debra Scesney
- Notable alumni
- Jay Bellamy (born 1972), NFL safety.
[ Jay Bellamy, database Football. Accessed June 21, 2008.]
- Michael Davino, pro baseball player 89-92 Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers- graduated class of 86'
[[2] Micahel Davino. Baseball Cube. Accessed June 21, 2008.]
- Mark D. Hellenack, 2004 NJ Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame inductee
[ 2004 Inducties] (part of US Lacrosse)
- Jim Jeffcoat (born 1961), professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills from 1983 to 1997.
[ Jim Jeffcoat, database Football. Accessed November 27, 2007.]
- Charlie Rogers (born 1976), NFL running back and wide receiver
- J. Michael Straczynski (born 1954), writer for television, film and comics, attended 1970.
[Plume, Kenneth. "Interview with J. Michael Straczynski", IGN, September 5, 2000. Accessed September 15, 2007. "No. I attended four different high schools: St. Benedict's High School in Matawan, New Jersey, Matawan Public School, Lennox High School in Lennox, California, and Chula Vista High School in Chula Vista, California."]
- Elementary and middle schools
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The old Matawan School, built in 1895, became Matawan Elementary in 1924. The school had 664 students and 17 teachers in the 1935-1936 school year. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) added two rooms to the grade school in 1936.
[ The building was demolished in the late 1960s.] - The Matawan Memorial School, known locally as the Broad Street School, was built in 1960 and had 12 classrooms, 1,170 students, and 49.8 teachers in the 1964-1965 school year.
- The Cliffwood Elementary School on Cliffwood Avenue was built in 1912 to replace the District Number 45 wooden schoolhouse that was built on that spot before 1854. The brick building initially had 6 classrooms, 3 teachers and a principal. 198 students were enrolled in 1936.
[ Cliffwood received an addition in 1952, for a total of 12 classrooms.][ Cliffwood had 13 classrooms, 767 students, and 25 teachers in 1956–1957. Since it was overcrowded, eighth graders attended the high school and 22 students attended Matawan Elementary.][ By 1965, the Cliffwood Memorial School branch had been built, with 22 classrooms, 970 students, and 38.6 teachers.] - Strathmore Elementary School was built by the Strathmore developers in 1962. The school had 34 classrooms, a multipurpose room, 1,280 students, and 50.6 teachers in the 1964-1965 school year.
- External links
- Matawan Regional High School website
- Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District
- Data for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics
- DigitalSports Matawan Homepage
- Matawan Football Alumni Foundation
- Huskies Sports Online
- Huskies football statistics
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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