Haddon Heights High School


Haddon Heights High School, also called Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School, is a six-year comprehensive public middle school / high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Haddon Heights, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Haddon Heights School District. The school also serves students from the neighboring communities of Barrington, Lawnside and Merchantville, who attend the high school for grades 9-12 as part of sending/receiving relationships. The Haddon Heights district approved a plan in September 2013 with the Merchantville School District that would add nearly 80 students a year from Merchantville to the high school, in addition to the average of more than 260 students from Barrington and 120 from Lawnside that are sent to Haddon Heights each year. The plan was approved by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, and students from Merchantville began attending the school in September 2015. Students from Merchantville already in high school before 2015 will continue to attend Pennsauken High School until their graduation, as part of a longstanding sending/receiving relationship with the Pennsauken Public Schools in Pennsauken Township.
As of the 2015-16 school year, the school had an enrollment of 741 students and 72.4 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 10.2:1. There were 95 students eligible for free lunch and 31 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 207th-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 151st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 129th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 168th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 135th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 159th 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.

Athletics

The Haddon Heights High School Garnets compete in the Colonial Conference, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 468 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as South Jersey, Group I for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 78 to 478 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Memorial Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as South Jersey Group II for football for 2017-18.

Basketball

Boys

The boys' basketball team won the Group II state championship in 1970, defeating Union Hill High School in the tournament final.

Girls

Girls' Basketball: The team won the 2007 South, Group II state sectional championship with a 33-26 win against Cinnaminson High School.

Soccer

The boys' team won the Group II state title in 1974, defeating Verona High School in the tournament championship game, and won the Group I state title in 2012, winning by a score of 3-0 against Harrison High School in the tournament final in a game played at The College of New Jersey.

Track & Field

The girls' team won the Group II state championship in 1980 and 2007, and the Group I title in 1991.

Field hockey

The team won the South Jersey Group II state sectional championship in 1985.

Cross Country

The 1991 boys' cross country team finished a perfect season of 11-0 for the first time in 17 years, won the South sectional title and finished second in the state meet. The 1992 boys' team won the South sectional title and won the Group I state championship for the first time in the school's history. The 2007 team claimed the South Jersey Group I sectional title; they also claimed the Group I state title. Haddon Heights won the Group I cross country state championship in 1992 and 2007. The school's John Salisbury was the individual champion in Group I in 1992, while Mickey Borsellino won the Group I individual title in 2007.

Softball

In 2001, the softball team won their second consecutive South, Group II state sectional championship with a 2-0 win against Manchester Township High School.

Baseball

Won the South Jersey Group I state sectional championship in 2015 with a 3-1 win against fifth-seeded Wildwood High School.

Extracurricular activities

Marching band:
The school's marching band finished in third place at the 2007 United States Scholastic Band Association National Championships, competing as a Group I band at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on November 16, 2007, with a score of 94.175, missing second place by 1/20th of a point.
The marching band was Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Champions in Group 1 in 1994. They were also the TOB Chapter 1 Champions in Group 1 from 1992-1997.
At the USSBA Yamaha Cup competition in October 2012, the marching band came in first in the 1 Open group, winning awards for Best Visual and Best Guard.
Color guard:
The school's indoor color guard, known as High Voltage, was the Scholastic Open Class champions at the Tournament Indoor Association All-Chapter Championships in 1994 and 1996. They were the Scholastic World Class Champions from 1998-2001, the Independent Open Class Champions in 2005 and 2006, and the Independent A Class Champions in 2002, 2004, 2007, and 2008. They were the Independent A Class Champions in the MAIN circuit in 2004, 2005, and 2009.
Indoor percussion ensemble:
The school's indoor percussion ensemble was the Tournament Indoor Association Scholastic A Champions in 2006. The school's indoor percussion ensemble also attended the 2007 WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. In 2008, the percussion ensemble was the 2008 Tournament Indoor Association Scholastic Open All Chapter Champions performing their award-winning show entitled, Illusions.

Notable alumni