Mount Olive High School (New Jersey)


Mount Olive High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Mount Olive Township, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Mount Olive Township School District. The school is located in the Flanders section of the township.
As of the 2018–19 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,503 students and 113.0 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.3:1. There were 160 students eligible for free lunch and 43 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The original school opened in October 1972 and was operated as West Morris Mount Olive High School by the West Morris Regional High School District until the 1978–1979 school year, when Mount Olive Township voters elected to leave the regional district. West Morris Mount Olive High School Class of 1978 was the last graduating class from this facility under the regional administration. The high school building and remaining faculty became part of the Mount Olive Township Schools

Awards, recognition and rankings

In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 482nd out of 500 best high schools in the country; it was ranked 50th among all high schools in New Jersey and 33rd among the state's non-magnet schools.
The school was the 97th-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 69th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 90th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 107th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 114th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 109th out of 381 public high schools statewide 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 Mount Olive High School Marauders compete in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which includes of high schools located in Morris County, Sussex County and Warren County, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. With 1,109 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2015–16 school year as North I, Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 786 to 1,074 students in that grade range. Prior to the NJSIAA's 2010 realignment, the school had competed as part of the Iron Hills Conference, which was made up of public and private high schools in Essex County, Morris County and Union County.
Students are eligible to participate in interscholastic sports offered in the fall, winter and spring seasons. Fall sports include boys/girls soccer, girls tennis, boys/girls cross country, boys football, girls cheerleading, girls volleyball, and girls field hockey. Winter sports include boys/girls basketball, boys/girls indoor track, boys wrestling, and boys/girls swimming. Spring sports include boys/girls track, boys/girls lacrosse, boys baseball, girls softball, boys/girls golf, and boys tennis.
The school participates in a joint bowling program with Hopatcong High School as the host school / lead agency, under an agreement that expires at the end of the 2017–18 school year; Mount Olive is the host school / lead agency for a joint ice hockey team with Hopatcong and Hackettstown High School, under an agreement that ends after the 2017–18 school year.
Mount Olive High School added new athletic facilities as a result of construction during the 2005-2007 school years. New facilities include a turf field, auxiliary gym, weight room, dance room, training room, and new offices for coaches. In 2017–18, additional facilities were added, including new stadium seating for the turf football field and a dome to be used over the soccer field in the winter.
The girls' cross county team has won the North Jersey sectional title 11 times in their history starting with five in a row from 1977 - 1981.
The soccer team won the North I, Group III state sectional championship in 1999 with a 2–1 win against Northern Highlands Regional High School in the tournament final.
In 2002, the football team won the North II, Group III sectional championship with a 14–13 win against Jefferson Township High School.
The wrestling team won the North II Group III state sectional title in 2002.
The 2003 field hockey team won the North I, Group III sectional title with a 1–0 win against High Point Regional High School. The 2004 team repeated the title with a 3–0 win over Wayne Hills High School.
In 2008, the softball team won the NJSIAA/Blue Ribbon Awards North I, Group III sectional tournament with a 1–0 shutout of Montville Township High School.
In 2011, the basketball team won their first conference championship in school history. In 2012, the Marauders won their second straight conference title, sharing it with Sparta High School and Pope John XXIII Regional High School. They also made it to the finals for their County Tournament for just the second time in school history. However, after tying the game up with 11 seconds to play, they lost by 2 points when Chatham scored a layup with 5 seconds left. The following season, in 2013, the Marauders made it to the Morris County Championship once again, this time defeating Chatham High School. The 2014 team went on to another MCT Championship with a victory over Morristown, being told as the greatest basketball game ever in Morris County history.

Arts

Members of the Mount Olive High School Choirs have many outside performing opportunities. Members have sung with Essential Voices USA at Symphony Space in NYC for a concert tribute to Leonard Bernstein as well the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall presenting a program featuring the music of Lerner and Loewe. The MOHS Concert Choir has sung on the PBS special Celebrate America with award-winning composer Tim Janis which aired in March 2010. In November 2011, members sang with Neil Diamond at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony on NBC Television as part of EVUSA. Members have also been a part of the annual "American Christmas Carol" concert in December at Carnegie Hall where Mr. Vanzini is the Choirmaster of a 230-voice choir and made his second conducting appearance at Carnegie Hall on December 2, 2011.
The Mount Olive High School Drama Club competes in the Bucks County Playhouse competition annually as well as performing two shows a year. The fall show is either a comedy or drama and in the spring, Mount Olive has a musical.
In 2009, the school's marching band received 1st place in all competitions they competed in, including the United States Scholastic Band Association Northern Allstates Championships. The show they performed was entitled, "Next Stop...", featuring themes from New York, such as Beethoven's Fifth in Lincoln Center, variations on "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" for Yankee Stadium, "Clair De Lune" for Central Park, and "New York, New York", "Auld Lang Syne", and a medley of the songs performed in the show for the fourth movement, Times Square/Broadway.
In 2013, the decision was made to leave the United States Scholastic Band Association, and take a more independent track.
As of 2013, the Marching Band was split into a three-tiered organization, consisting of:
BandDescription
Pep BandThis band performs stand tunes at away games. For timing purposes, the band no longer performs a pre-show at away games. All members of the Competitive Band are also members of this band.
Show BandThis band performs at the home football games, playing stand tunes and partaking in a halftime show which consists of pop music arranged for band. All members of the Competitive Band are also members of this band.
Competitive BandThis band competes on the independent track designed by the band administration. This ensemble is restricted to high school members of the band. Members of this ensemble are required to be part of all other ensembles.

In 2018, the marching band decided to reorganize itself to also contain a rock band. Part of this decision was to stop competing, and instead focus on creating the most entertaining halftime show possible.

FIRST Robotics

The Mount Olive Varsity FIRST Robotics Team is MORT Team 11. MORT was founded in the fall of 1996, and started competing in the 1997 season. The Junior Varsity team, which competes at the same level as Team 11, is MORT BETA Team 193. This team, which first competed in 2013, consists of only freshmen. Classes have been offered in the district since the year 2000.
In 2005 Team 11 won the Chairman's Award at the NJ Regional Competition. This award is the highest honor achievable at a regional competition by a FIRST robotics team. In 2004 and 2006 MORT won the Palmetto Regional and in 2008 they won the Chesapeake regional.
Founder Bill McGowan was awarded the FIRST New Jersey Regional Woodie Flowers Award in 2008, the highest commendation that FIRST awards a team coach or mentor.
Mount Olive Robotics Team also was a charter team in the inaugural FIRST Lego League season in 2002 and received an at-large bid as one of only 17 teams to compete in the National Finals at EPCOT that year.

Notable alumni