Hightstown High School


Hightstown High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades three communities in Mercer County and Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the East Windsor Regional School District. Students come from East Windsor Township and Hightstown Borough, both in Mercer County. Students from Roosevelt Borough attend the district's high schools as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Roosevelt Public School District.
The school building opened during the 1965-66 school year. Additions to the original structure were completed in 1973, 1982 and 2005. The school is approved by the New Jersey Department of Education and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
As of the 2017-18 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,616 students and 126.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. There were 424 students eligible for free lunch and 134 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 126th-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 161st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 180th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 175th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 119th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 225th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Athletics

The Hightstown High School Rams compete in the Colonial Valley Conference, which consists of public and private high schools located in Mercer County, Monmouth County and Middlesex County, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,147 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 2,349 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Valley Division of the 95-team West Jersey Football League superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as Central Jersey Group IV for football for 2017-18.
Interscholastic sports include cross country, football, soccer, field hockey, cheerleading, wrestling, indoor track and field, basketball, swimming, ice hockey, baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and lacrosse. Together with Ewing High School, the school participates in a joint ice hockey program with Lawrence High School as the host school / lead agency, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
The boys' soccer team was awarded the Group I state championship in 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1956, 1957 and 1964, was awarded the Group II title in 1958 and 1959, and won the Group II title in 1961 vs. Irvington Tech, 1962 vs. West Morris Central High School and 1963 vs. Harrison High School.
The girls' field hockey team won the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional championship in 1983.
The girls' basketball team won the Group IV state championship in 1987, defeating Bloomfield High School in the tournament final.

Extracurricular Activities

FIRST Robotics Team

Hightstown High School is also home to First Robotics Team #1089, Team Mercury. Since the team's inception in 2003, Team Mercury has received a number of awards, including the prestigious Chairman's Award in 2009. The team also participated in the FIRST Robotics FRC World robotics competition in the 2014, 2015 seasons. Team Mercury is sponsored by Credit Suisse, Comcast, and the East Windsor Board of Education.

Hightstown Marching Rams

The Marching band competed in the USBands national championships and state championships in Group 3A in 2015 with their field show "España". The band placed 2nd out of 23 in the state championships with a score of 93.663 and placed 3rd out of 27 in the national championships with a score of 96.275 beating Hightstown's record and won the Cadets award for Excellence in Creativity and Overall Effect.
In 2016, the Marching Rams competed in the USBands state championships and national championships, with their field show "Pure Imagination". The band won the state championship title, placed 1st out of 22 bands with a score of 93.500 and won the caption for Best Overall Effect. In the 2016 Group III A national championships the band placed 4th out of 26 with a score of 94.738.

Administration

The school's principal is Dennis M. Vinson. His core administration team includes four assistant principals.

Notable alumni