Niskayuna High School

Niskayuna High School
Address
1626 Balltown Road
Niskayuna, New York
United States
Coordinates 42°49′6″N 73°53′22″W / 42.81833°N 73.88944°W / 42.81833; -73.88944Coordinates: 42°49′6″N 73°53′22″W / 42.81833°N 73.88944°W / 42.81833; -73.88944
Information
Type Public
Established 1945
Principal John "JR" Rickert
Enrollment 1402 [1]
Color(s) Red and silver
Athletics Silver Warriors
Website http://www.niskayunaschools.org/NHS/index.cfm

Niskayuna High School is a public high school in Niskayuna, New York, United States, and is the only high school operated by the Niskayuna Central School District.

History

Niskayuna High School first opened in 1957, after the Board of Education recommended in 1954 that the new district build its own high school. Until then, students attended an area high school of their choice.[2] The first graduating class was 1959. Since then, over 17,000 students have graduated from Niskayuna High School. A large expansion was completed in April 2011 to accommodate the increasing student population and facility needs.

Academics

Niskayuna High School is widely considered to be one of the premier academic learning centers in the country. The school offers 49 courses at the Honors level and 20 at the Advanced Placement Level. Historically, over 90% of the students who take AP exams score a "3" or higher. In addition, the school offers college credit courses in English, Social Studies, World Languages, Business Education, Family and Consumer Sciences and Engineering Technology.

Niskayuna High School was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1983. In 1999, the Wall Street Journal named Niskayuna High School one of the top performing high schools in the country. In 2006, Niskayuna High School was rated as one of "America's Best High Schools" by Newsweek magazine, with an index (total Advanced Placement Exams taken in 2005 divided by total number of graduating seniors) of 1.340.[3] In 2014, Niskayuna High School was rated the #26 best school in the country by Newsweek, and in 2015, it was once again named the top high school in the Capital District by Newsweek.

The Albany Business Review rated Niskayuna High School the top ranked high school in the entire Capital District in its 2014 Annual Schools Report. In 2012, US News and World Report listed Niskayuna High School as the top rated public high school in upstate New York.

The New York State Education Department has named Niskayuna High School a "Reward School" in both 2014 and 2015 for overall performance on state assessments.

For the Class of 2005, 94% of all graduating seniors attended college.[4]

Niskayuna currently has a 97% graduation rate, which is the best in the entire Capital Region area of upstate New York.

In 2015, 95% of the graduating class will be attending college with 80% attending a 4-year college or university. Over 10% of the graduating class will be attending Ivy League schools or most competitive schools as rated by Barrons.

Overall, over 700 graduates from Niskayuna High School have gone on to earn degrees at Ivy League schools.

Athletics

Since 1960, Niskayuna High School has had over 300 of its graduates go on to participate in NCAA Division I, IAA, or II interscholastic athletics. This includes 20 students from the class of 2015. In addition, 5 graduates have gone on to represent the United States in the Olympic Games. Jeff Blatnick (Class of 1975) won the Gold Medal in the 1984 Olympic Games for Greco-Roman wrestling. Andy Seras (Class of 1980) was a member of the 1988 US Olympic Wrestling team. David Koplovitz (Class of 1982) was a member of the 1988 and 1992 US Olympic Wrestling teams. Marin Gjaja (Class of 1987) was a member of the 1992 US Olympic Men's Volleyball team. Andy Bloom (Class of 1991) was a member of the 2000 US Olympic team in Track and Field. There have also been 3 graduates to reach the Olympic trials: Summer Pierson (Class of 1996) narrowly missed the Olympics for Track and Field in 4 trial appearances; Hannah Moore (Class of 1997) won a Bronze Medal in the 2008 World Championships nearly qualifying in Women's Rowing; and Louis Serafini (Class of 2009) qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in distance running.

The following 9 graduates have competed for the US National Teams: Carrie Hanks (Class of 2014) in Women's Field Hockey; Kayla Treanor (Class of 2012) in Women's Lacrosse; Michael Woodmansee (Class of 1999) in Men's Rowing; Hannah Moore (Class of 1998) in Women's Rowing; Jeff Lindy (Class of 1997) in Men's Rowing; Summer Pierson (Class of 1996) in Women's Track and Field; Scott Proper (Class of 1996) in Men's Rowing; Linda Perry (Class of 1994) in Women's Rowing; and Paul Lupi (Class of 1991) in Men's Track and Field.

8 Niskayuna High School graduates have also participated professionally for the following teams:

Garrett Whitley (Class of 2015) Tampa Bay Rays

Brooke Knowlton (Class of 2007) New England Aztecs (Soccer)

Kate Fagan (Class of 1999) Professional Basketball Team in Ireland

André Davis (Class of 1997) Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns

Mike Lephart (Class of 1994) Philadelphia Flyers

John Leonard (Class of 1978) New York Knicks

Bill Winchester (Class of 1971) Cincinnati Reds

Dick Sims (Class of 1960) New York Yankees

From 1960 to 1974, Niskayuna Football won 5 Suburban Council Championships with 3 of those teams going undefeated under Coach Don Boothe. From 1995 to the present, Coach John Furey has led Niskayuna Football to 1 Super Bowl appearance (1996), 5 Final Four appearances, and 4 Suburban Council Championships.

Niskayuna Girls Soccer has won 4 State Championships with the first coming in 1993 under Coach Brian Speck, and then 1994, 1995 and 1998 under Coach Bryce Colby.

Niskayuna Boys Basketball won the State Championship in 1978 with standouts John Leonard and Dan Terwilliger.

Niskayuna Wrestling was a historic program under Coach Joe Bena, who has the all-time most wins in high school wrestling as a coach in both New York State and the United States. The program has produced 3 Olympians and 7 New York State Champions.

In Boys Lacrosse, Mike Vorgang has been the only coach that the program has ever had since 1994. The program has produced 68 Division I, IAA, or II college players. Coach Vorgang led Niskayuna to the State Championship in 2005, only to lose to West Genesee. In 2015, The Niskayuna Lacrosse team won its first ever State title, defeating fifteen time state champions West Genesee 13-10 in the Class A final. http://yourniskayuna.com/blog/2015/06/07/boys-lacrosse-niskayuna-wins-1st-state-title/

Notable alumni 

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Niskayuna-s-Garrett-Whitley-drafted-in-first-6314874.php

References

  1. ↑ http://niskayunaschools.org/aboutus/index.cfm
  2. ↑ http://www.niskayunaschools.org/pubs/HSHistory.pdf>
  3. ↑ Kantrowitz, Barbara (2002-05-16). "The Complete List of the 1,000 Top U.S. Schools". Newsweek. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  4. ↑ "Niskayuna High School 2005-2006 Profile" (PDF). Niskayuna High School. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  5. ↑ "Jeff Blatnick". National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
  6. ↑ "Andy Bloom". Archived from the original on 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Niskayuna-s-Garrett-Whitley-drafted-in-first-6314874.php

http://yourniskayuna.com/blog/2015/06/07/boys-lacrosse-niskayuna-wins-1st-state-title/

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