Montgomery High School (New Jersey)


Montgomery High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Skillman area of Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Montgomery Township School District. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1976.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,613 students and 118.4 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.6:1. There were 41 students eligible for free lunch and 17 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The district's District Factor Group ranking of "J" indicates that the school serves students of relatively high socioeconomic status.

Awards, recognition and rankings

For the 1992-93 school year, Montgomery High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 13th in New Jersey and 636th nationwide. The school was ranked 643rd nationwide, the 18th-highest in New Jersey, in Newsweek magazine's 2010 rankings of America's Best High Schools. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Montgomery High School was listed in 656th place, the 13th-highest ranked school in New Jersey.
The school was the 33rd-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 61st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 10th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 16th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 4th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 39th 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.

Testing

Montgomery was recognized in 2006 as excellent in Advanced Placement Art History; all 203 students who took the AP exam that year scored 3 or above.

SAT Scores

In 2005-06, Montgomery averaged a 1760 combined SAT score, 15th-highest statewide, and ranked 7th among all non-magnet, general admission public high schools. In 2006-07, Montgomery averaged a 1755 SAT score, 14th-highest in the state and the 7th-highest for any non-magnet, general admission public high school.

Student activities

Clubs and publications

Montgomery High School offers multiple academic, co-curricular and athletic club programs.
In science, Montgomery High School has a FIRST Robotics Competition Team, TSA TEAMS, science league, science bowl, and Science Olympiad. The band program also offers several extracurricular activities, including: a marching band which plays at every varsity football game and at various area competitions, where they have received superior ratings and special awards such as "Best Overall Effect", "Best Color Guard", and "Best Music"; a jazz band; and a lower-level jazz group called the "Stage Band." All musical ensembles are non-competitive, and only attend competitions in exhibition.
The Yearbook is called the Lens and, since 2007, is printed in full color.
Each year a video is produced for the senior class, known as senior video. The video is a look back at the time spent in Montgomery by the outgoing seniors and consists of a wide variety of video footage, from the annual senior class trip to Disney World all the way back to kindergarten. It has historically been handled by the TV department, however since 2008 it has been done as a joint venture between the TV department and the Class Historian for the graduating class. The video is shown once, at the senior dinner dance.
There are other extracurriculars at the school. The Future Business Leaders of America Club competed for the first time at competitions and 9 out of 11 people placed in regionals and went to states and three people went to and placed at the national competition.
Pawprint is MHS' high school newspaper.
MHS also offers a Literary Magazine that gets published annually. Students can submit poetry, prose, photography, and traditional and digital artwork.
FIRST Robotics Competition
Montgomery High School is the home of which has been particapating in the FIRST Robotics Competition since 2004. Over the years they have been to the Worlds Competitions 8 times, earned 6 blue banners, won 34 awards, such as Xerox Creativity Award, Motorola Quality Award, Chrysler Team Spirit Award, Excellence in Engineering Award, Industrial Design Award, etc. were finalists at 9 Events, and won at 2 Events

Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad in Montgomery is run by the teachers in the Science department. From 1997 to 2005, the school won the New Jersey state championships nine consecutive times, qualifying for the national tournament each time. The nine state titles are the most of any high school in the state.

Athletics

The Montgomery High School Cougars compete a member of the Skyland Conference, which includes public and parochial high schools covering Hunterdon County, Somerset County and Warren County in west Central Jersey, and operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,270 students in grades 10-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015-16 school year as Central Jersey, Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,082 to 2,349 students in that grade range. Sports offered at Montgomery High School include golf, wrestling, soccer, cross country running, baseball, football, ice hockey, field hockey, basketball, lacrosse, softball, swimming, gymnastics, fencing, cheerleading, and track.
The boys' tennis team won the Group I state championship in 1993, 1997, 1998 and 1999,
The girls' softball team won the 2004 NJSIAA Group III state championship. They also won the 2009 Somerset County Tournament.
The boys lacrosse team won the 2007 Group III state championship with a 10-8 win over Randolph High School.
The boys and girls track teams won the 2005 North II Group III state championships.
The baseball team won the 2005 North II Group III state championship with a 3-1 win over Millburn High School.
Montgomery High School made it to the 2006 and 2011 NJSIAA Public School Ice Hockey state championship game, falling to Randolph High School both times in the finals of the 64-team tournament.
The 2007 girls' tennis team won the Central Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship with a 3-2 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in the tournament final. The team won the Group I state championship in 1994 vs. Verona High School and 1996 vs. Mountain Lakes High School. The team won the Group II championship in 2002 vs. Summit High School.
The boys' basketball team won the Central Jersey Group IV sectional title in 2010 with a 57-30 win over North Brunswick High School, and have also won their respective conference championship in 1975, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018.
The 2010 boys' tennis team won the Central Jersey Group IV sectional title with a 3-2 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.
The boys' soccer team won the Group I state championship in 1991, winning the final game of the tournament against Glen Rock High School; the girls soccer team won the Group IV state championship with a 1-0 win over Ridge High School and was the Group III co-champion in 2005 with Moorestown High School.
The 2011, 2012 and 2015 boys' golf teams won the Central/South Group IV state sectional championship.
The Varsity Cheerleading squad qualified for Nationals in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. The Junior Varsity squad qualified for Nationals in 2011-2012 season, placing first at Empire Regionals at Hofstra University.

Administration

The school's principal is Paul J. Popadiuk. The core administrative team includes three vice principals.

Notable alumni