Lawrence High School (LHS) is a four-year comprehensive

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Lawrence Township, Mercer County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, United States, serving students in ninth through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 1 ...

s as the lone secondary school of the Lawrence Township Public Schools. The school is located in the Lawrenceville section of the township. The school has been accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...

Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1992. As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,166 students and 99.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 student ...

of 11.8:1. There were 190 students (16.3% of enrollment) eligible for

free lunch A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with th ...

and 70 (6.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Lawrence High School

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed December 1, 2022. The school colors are red and white. The school

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

is the

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

History

Lawrence High School opened in 1966 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in the 2016–2017 school year. Students from Robbinsville Township (known as Washington Township until 2007) had attended Lawrence High School as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

which ended with the final graduating class of 2007. Cranbury Township had previously sent students to Lawrence High School before they began a relationship with

Princeton High School Princeton High School may refer to: * Princeton High School (Illinois), Princeton, Illinois * Princeton Community High School, Princeton, Indiana * Princeton High School (Minnesota), Princeton, Minnesota * Princeton Junior-Senior High School, Princ ...

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 102nd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 305 schools statewide in ''

New Jersey Monthly ''New Jersey Monthly'' is an American monthly magazine featuring issues of possible interest to residents of New Jersey. The magazine was started in 1976. It is based in Morristown. In addition to articles of general interest, the publication fe ...

'' magazine's September 2018 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools" The school had previously been ranked in the top 75 and 100 in previous years' rankings. The music program has been consistently rated one of the best "Communities in the Nation for Music Education" since 2005 by

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

Curriculum

Lawrence High School offers numerous honors and

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and cours ...

(AP) classes including

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

Calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arit ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, propertie ...

, Economics,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Environmental Science Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...

European History The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first ea ...

Music Theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which re ...

Statistics Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, indust ...

Studio Art An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

, United States Government and Politics, and

United States History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densel ...

. The school also offers Cisco I and II, a certified networking course from

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

. LHS also offers many electives such as drafting, design and photography.

Athletics

The Lawrence High School CardinalsLawrence High School

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports. State championsh ...

. Accessed October 20, 2020. compete in the

Colonial Valley Conference The Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) is an athletic conference in Central Jersey composed of high schools located primarily in Mercer County, New Jersey, with one member school in Monmouth County (Allentown High School) and one in Middlesex Cou ...

, which is comprised primarily of public and private schools in Mercer County and operates under the supervision of the

(NJSIAA). With 842 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group III for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 761 to 1,058 students in that grade range. The football team competes in the Valley Division of the 95-team

West Jersey Football League The West Jersey Football League is a 94-school superconference that stretches from Princeton, New Jersey to Wildwood, New Jersey encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Confere ...

superconference and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group III South for football for 2018–2020. The school's most successful teams include football, golf, wrestling, soccer, swimming, diving, tennis, softball, cheerleading and cross-country. The school participates as the host school / lead agency in a joint ice hockey team with Ewing High School and Hightstown High School. The co-op program operates under agreements scheduled to expire at the end of the 2023–24 school year. The boys' soccer team won the Group II state championship in 1967 (defeating

Northern Highlands Regional High School Northern Highlands Regional High School (NHRHS) is a regional public high school and school district in Allendale, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Allendale, Ho-H ...

in the tournament final), 1969 (vs. Morris Knolls High School), 1970 (vs. Shore Regional High School), 1971 (vs. Point Pleasant Borough High School), 1973 and 1975 (vs. Garfield High School both years), 1980 (vs. Governor Livingston High School) and 1994 (vs.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School (or SPFHS) is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school in Union County, New Jersey, United States, which serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the Township of Scotch Plains and the ...

), and won the Group III state title in 1968 (vs.

Glen Rock High School Glen Rock High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Glen Rock, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Glen Rock Publi ...

); The nine state championships are tied for eighth-most of any program statewide and the streak of five consecutive titles from 1967 to 1971 is the longest for any public school. The program won its first state title in 1967 with a 3–2 win against Northern Highlands in the Group II championship game. The 1968 team finished the season with a record of 15-2-3 after winning the Group III title with a 2–1 win against Glen Rock in the championship game played at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. A 4–1 win against Garfield in the 1973 Group II championship led the team to a season record of 15-3-1. The football team was undefeated in 1973. The 1974 football team, featuring future NFL quarterback Scott Brunner, was overshadowed by a defensive unit that had eight shutouts and only allowed six points all year, with a record of 8-0-1, as part of a three-year undefeated stretch from 1972 to 1974 in the pre-playoff era where the team won 21 games and had one tie. The football team won the Colonial Valley Conference titles in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2006, the team made it to the state playoffs as the top seed, only to be knocked off by 8th-seeded Moorestown High School at home 19–14 in the first round of the tournament. In 2007, the team made it to state playoffs once again but were defeated by Middletown South at home in the first round, 16–6. The football team won the WJFL Patriot division title in 2013, made the state playoffs and defeated Allentown High School and

Carteret High School Carteret High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Carteret in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, as the lone secondary school of the Carteret School Distr ...

to advance to the Central Jersey Group III Championship where they were defeated by

Hopewell Valley Central High School Hopewell Valley Central High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school operating as part of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Towns ...

. The girls spring track team was the Group II state champion in 1979. The boys track team won the Group II indoor track state championship in 1984 (as co-champion). The girls team won the Group II state title in 1987. The boys swimming team won the Public Central B sectional title in 2000 and 2008. The girls team won the Public Central A title in 2006. The Lawrence boys' swim team won the Colonial Valley Conference in 2005 and 2007 with a 16–1 record both seasons. They were also the Mercer County Tournament Champions in 2005 and 2007 and Central "B" Division State Champions in 2008. The girls swim team followed this success in 2006 by winning the Central "A" Division State Title with a 91–79 win against

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, commonly referred to locally as South, is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Princeton Junction in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twe ...

. Both the boys and Girls Team won the Patriot Division in the 2010–2011 season. In 2012 the boys won the Patriot Division again and was runner up in the Central New Jersey Group B State Finals. The wrestling team was the CVC Valley Division champions most recently in the 2003–04 season. The boys' track and field Team was the CVC Patriot Division champions in 2010, 2011 and co-champions in 2013. Lawrence Girls track and field team were the 2014 CVC Patriot Division Co-Champions. In 2012, the softball team won their first state sectional title in program history, winning the Central Jersey Group III title with a 3–2 win over

Manasquan High School Manasquan High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Manasquan, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone high school of the Manasq ...

. In 2019, the tennis team won the Group II state championship with a 3–2 win against

Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

in the tournament final.

Extracurricular activities

Lawrence High features clubs such as the Lawrence High School Theater Company, LMTI, Model Congress, Model UN, International Alliance, Yearbook, Student Ambassadors, Teen PEP, Peer Leadership, The Lawrence High School Gay-Straight Alliance, a student newspaper, and

Operation Smile Operation Smile is a nonprofit medical service organization founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee Jr. and his wife Kathleen (Kathy) S. Magee. It is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In addition to providing cleft lip and palate repair ...

. Lawrence High School also has a DECA chapter and is active in the New Jersey Science Olympiad. The school's Debate team won the county championship in 2008. In 2017, a Game Design Club and an Engineering Club were founded by students. These clubs wrote a co-grant and received $8,437 for their grant to build computers and engineer a go-kart. Lawrence High School's

mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting ...

team, led by history teacher Mark Rowe and local attorney Steve Goodell, has won 11 Mercer County Competitions and six Central Jersey Championships. The team also finished third in the state three times and second in the state three times over the past 14 years. Lawrence High School's performing arts department includes instrumental and choral groups, a jazz band, and a marching band, the Red Scare. The theater program is run by director Lorie Baldwin, also the educator in charge of theater classes.

"Red Scare" marching band

The Lawrence High School "Red Scare" Marching Band is the school's marching band, which provides entertainment at school football games, local parades, competitions and in cities across the country. The "Red Scare" was established in September 2001 by Eric Haltmeier and Lee Neamand. The band is under the direction of Michael Drobish. For the 2017–18 season, the band added a color guard to the band for the first time since 1989. The band is currently in the process of evolving into a traditional marching band, with new uniforms set to be added to the band for the 2018–19 season. The band competes in USBands as a Group IA band.

Administration

The school's principal is David J. Adam. His core administration team includes three assistant principals and the director of athletics.

Noted alumni

* Ifa Bayeza (born Wanda Williams), playwright, producer and conceptual theater artist. * Brett Brackett (born 1987),

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

. * Scott Brunner (born 1957), former professional quarterback who played in the NFL for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

. * Luke Elliot (born 1984), singer-songwriter and composer. *

Dan Lavery Dan Lavery (born June 11, 1969) is an American professional musician, who has been nominated for two Grammy Awards as part of the band Tonic. Lavery joined Tonic after the band had recorded '' Lemon Parade'', and has been a part of Tonic ever s ...

(born 1969), musician who has been nominated for two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s as part of the band Tonic. * Glenn "Mooch" Myernick (1954–2006), former professional soccer player and United States Soccer captain. In 1999, he was named by ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'' as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1970s. *

John Nalbone Johnathan Gregory Nalbone (born May 14, 1986) is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Monmouth. Nalbone was also a member of the Minneso ...

(born 1986), tight end who has played for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. * Patricia Russo (born 1952), former CEO and Chairman of

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. * John Schneider (born 1980, class of 1998),

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern profession ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coa ...

for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home gam ...

. *

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' T ...

(born 1962), comedian, director and former host of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programm ...

's ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

''.

Notable faculty

* Teller (born Raymond Joseph Teller in 1948), silent half of Penn and Teller taught English, Latin, and Greek at the school.Filichia, Peter
"At Red Bank production of "Macbeth," there will be blood"
''

'', January 21, 2008. Accessed June 19, 2011. "Ironically, Teller likens his professional marriage to the Macbeths. He says of his 6-foot-6 partner -- who makes his own 5-foot-9 frame look minuscule -- 'Penn is my Lady Macbeth. I was here in New Jersey, teaching Latin at Lawrence High School (in Lawrence Township), when a mutual friend introduced us.'"

References

External links

Lawrence High School Official WebsiteLawrence Township Public Schools website
*
School Data for the Lawrence Township Public Schools

{{Authority control 1966 establishments in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 1966 Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Public high schools in Mercer County, New Jersey