Liberty High School (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)

For similarly named schools, see Liberty High School (disambiguation).
Liberty High School
Address
1115 Linden Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18018
United States
Coordinates 40°37′46″N 75°22′17″W / 40.62944°N 75.37139°W / 40.62944; -75.37139Coordinates: 40°37′46″N 75°22′17″W / 40.62944°N 75.37139°W / 40.62944; -75.37139
Information
Type Public high school
School district Bethlehem Area School District
Superintendent Joseph Roy
Principal Harrison Bailey
Teaching staff 156
Grades 9-12
Enrollment 2,749 (September 2014)
Color(s)      Red
     Blue
Fight song Liberty Forever
Athletics conference Eastern Pennsylvania Conference
Nickname Hurricanes
Rival Freedom High School
Bethlehem Catholic High School
Website www-lhs.beth.k12.pa.us
[1]

Liberty High School is a public high school located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Liberty is the larger of two public high schools in the Bethlehem Area School District, with Freedom High School being the other. Liberty's current attendance area includes students from the City of Bethlehem, Fountain Hill, Freemansburg, and Hanover Township.

In the 2014-2015 academic year, Liberty High School had 2,749 students and 156 full-time teachers.[2] Graduation takes place annually at Stabler Arena.

Liberty High School holds football games and other sporting events at the Frank Banko Field at the Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

History

Liberty High School was built in 1918 and opened in 1922. At the ceremony in May of 1923, Liberty High School was dedicated to "the progressive spirit of the citizens of Bethlehem." At the opening of the school, Liberty was seen as "one of the greatest achievements of the City of Bethlehem," and designed to not only "further the well-being of youth" but also to stand as a "War Memorial, commemorating the valor of Bethlehem men who went to the front, the sacrifice of the heroic dead and the manifold contributions and productions of the city toward bringing the war to swift and just conclusion." Liberty High School was given its name to cement this War Memorial status. It is located in the geographical center of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.

Liberty High School served all of Bethlehem until Freedom High School was built. Afterwards, Center City, Pembroke, and South Side residents attended Liberty while Bethlehem Township and Hanover Township residents went to Freedom. Adjustments have been made to these borders however, and Liberty now has students from Hanover, Center City, Pembroke and some of South Side (with some South Side residents attending the Freedom school).

Up until Liberty's recent remodel, the school was composed of three classroom buildings, two buildings with four floors and one science center with two. Over the years, several renovations have been performed on the school, with the most recent being an overhaul of the main building, along with the construction of a new student activity center.

Currently Liberty High School's Main building (Common's Building) is currently home to the Freshman Center. It is a new program established in 2013 meant to help freshmen make the transition the high school a little easier. Students there are now following a different schedule than the 10-12 graders attending Liberty. All freshmen take classes in the 2nd and 3rd floor of the commons building and travel for gym, business and sciences classes. It was developed due to the fact that freshmen typically struggle academically with such a big transition from middle school. This is the first time Liberty High School has done something like this in its history.

Clubs

Liberty High School offers a range of clubs including PJAS (Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science), BASD Mini-THON, SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), Chess Team, Science Olympiad, Class Play – Fall (Fall Play), Shakespeare Club, Class Play – Spring (Spring Musical), DECA, Stage Crew Drama Club, Step Team, Ecology Club, Student Government, Class Offices, FBLA, Teen Summit, Historic Bethlehem Club, Teens Against Tobacco Use, Ski Club, Key Club, Tempest Dance Team, Latino Leadership, Video Production Club, LHS Strategy Club, Anime club, Jr.NAACP, Mini Globe Trotters, Photography Club, the Young Republican and Democrat club, and Art club.

Athletics

The school's athletic teams compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, which also includes high schools from Allentown, Easton, Emmaus, and other Lehigh Valley locations. The sports include Cheerleading (non-competitive and competitive), Baseball, Field Hockey, Boys and Girls Soccer, Boys and Girls Track & Field, Boys and Girls Basketball, Football, Softball, Boys and Girls Volleyball, CoEd Golf, Boys and Girls Swimming, Rifle, Boys and Girls Tennis, Girls and Boys Lacrosse, Wrestling, and Boys and Girls Cross Country. In December 2008, the Liberty High School varsity football team won the Pennsylvania 4A State Championship.

Liberty (as well as Freedom High School and Bethlehem Catholic High School) plays in Frank Banko stadium. It seats approximately 14,000.

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

References

  1. ↑ http://www-lhs.beth.k12.pa.us/2010_11.profile/2014-2015_LHS_Profile.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www-lhs.beth.k12.pa.us/2010_11.profile/2014-2015_LHS_Profile.pdf
  3. ↑ College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
  4. ↑ Stamm, Dan (2010-07-30). "Longtime Voice of NBC10 Dies, J.J. Maura was a fixture at NBC10 for 2 decades". WCAU-TV. Retrieved 2010-08-07.

External links

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