Old Bridge High School

Old Bridge High School (formed from combining the former Cedar Ridge and Madison Central High Schools) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Old Bridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Old Bridge Township Public Schools. The school is located on County Route 516 in Old Bridge Township, however, it is assigned a Matawan mailing address. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1970.^[3]

Through partnerships with Fairleigh Dickinson University, Middlesex County College and DeVry University, students can take courses, fulfill high school requirements and receive college credit.

As of the 2009-10 school year, the school had an enrollment of 3,119 students and 209 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.92.^[2]

Awards, recognition and rankings

The school was the 162nd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 211th in 2008 out of 316 schools.^[4] The school was ranked 197th of 316 schools in the magazine's 2006 rankings.^[5] Schooldigger.com ranked the school 169th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 45 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (81.0%) and language arts literacy (93.6%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).^[6]

History

Old Bridge High School opened in September 1994. It was formed from the merger of Cedar Ridge High School and Madison Central High School, which were the two existing high schools in Old Bridge Township.^[7] OBHS was originally set up as a two campus system having an East Campus at the former Cedar Ridge site containing Grades 9 and 10 and a West Campus at the former Madison Central site containing Grades 11 and 12. The entire high school is now located at the former Cedar Ridge High School (East Campus) and Carl Sandburg Middle School Building after an addition was added in 2004. The former Middle School building houses the Grade Nine Center.

In 2003, the high school entered a new era when Dr. James Hickey succeeded Dr. Christopher Traficante as Principal. In 2004-2005, Dr. Hickey oversaw a $26.8 million high school construction project which was completed in September 2005 For his work in transforming Old Bridge High School, Dr. Hickey was recognized as the New Jersey Principal of the Year in 2009. He was also recognized by the New Jersey State Board of Education. The district Superintendent of Schools also publicly recognized Dr. Hickey for his work in transforming OBHS.

In 2011 according the New Jersey school report card, Old Bridge High School made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act by meeting 40 out of 40 indicators - a first for Old Bridge High School.

As a result of this principal's policies, he made the school a stricter but better learning environment as shown through student achievement and standardized test scores which have exceeded state standards Out-of-School suspensions dropped more than 55% and student tardiness dropped by more than 60%.^[8]. During Dr. Hickey's tenure, student achIevement on state exams rose more than 20 percentage points on mathematics and more than 10 percentage points in language arts literacy. Prior to Dr. Hickey's arrival at OBHS, the school struggled to develop a unique identity.

Middle States accreditation, which had previously lapsed, was restored in 2008 under Dr. Hickey's leadership. In 2010, Old Bridge High School became part of the Confucius Classroom following the implementation of a comprehensive Chinese program at the high school. Dr. Hickey sent two delegations to China, one in 2009 and one in 2010.

Athletics

The Old Bridge High School Knights compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference, which comprises 33 public and private high schools located in the greater Middlesex County area, operating under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.^[9] Old Bridge High School is known primarily for its cross country and track programs, but its bowling, wrestling, and volleyball programs have also been successful.

The boys and girls track teams have won many GMC and State Competitions.

In 2001, the Knights football team, went on to play at Rutgers University in the Central Jersey Group IV title game, losing to an undefeated J.P. Stevens High School team 14-7.^[10]

In 2008, the girls softball team went to win the Red Division title for the second year in succession, the GMC Championship, and the Central Jersey Group IV sectional championship with a 2-1 win against Hunterdon Central Regional High School.^[11]

"The Challenge"

2008-09

The school has also been featured on the News 12/Cablevision (now MSG Varsity) game show "The Challenge" (2009) in which schools compete in a single-elimination trivia competition in order to advance toward a $10,000 prize. In their first round, they defeated Clifton High School at 315-240. In Round 2, they beat Leonia High School with a score of 320-240 before suffering a crushing defeat by St. Joseph's High School in Round 3 by a score of 420-240.

The members of Old Bridge High School's Academic Team which competed in "The Challenge" were juniors Dedeepya Konuthula, Sibel Ozcelik, Cristina Sorice, Neal Sukhia (a sophomore) and the alternate; freshman Jordan Stefanski. The advisor of Old Bridge High School's academic team is Barbara Hauser.

2010-11

In June 2010, it was announced that Old Bridge High School was chosen to compete on "The Challenge" 2010-11 competition. The team included returning students Neal Sukhia (senior - captain) and Jordan Stefanski (junior), as well as newcomers Shelby Lyons (senior) and Kunal Amin (senior), with Jacqueline Olwell (junior) as the alternate. Barbara Hauser returns as the advisor.

Their first competition against Eastern Christian High School aired on MSG Varsity on February 3, 2011, with Old Bridge winning 290-240. Their second competition against Randolph High School aired on April 21, 2011, with Old Bridge again winning 395-290. Their next episode against Manalapan High School will air on May 19, 2011.

Marching Knights

The Old Bridge Marching Knights, also known as the OBHSMK were ranked in the 2009 season as the number 4 marching band in the USSBA circuit, with the number 1 percussion with the theme The Dark Knight. In the 2010 season, the Marching Knights placed 6th in group 4 with the theme Requiem for a Knightmare. Recently in the 2011 season with the show In Motion the Marching Knights ranked 6th in group 3 but also taking home the caption of Best Percussion and tying for Best Music. The Marching Knights were 6/10s of a point away from first place.^[12]

Notable alumni

• Tamara Sytch (class of 1990), Professional Wrestler, Formerly Sunny of the WWF.
• Junot Díaz (born 1968, class of 1987), Pulitzer Prize-Winning author^[13]
• The Ergs!, punk rock band. [2000-2008]^[14]
• Ken Leung (born 1970), actor, known for character Miles on Lost.^{[citation needed]}
• Caren Lissner (born 1972, class of 1989), novelist.^[15]
• Brian O'Halloran (born 1969, class of 1987), actor.^{[citation needed]}
• Cameron Richardson (born 1979, class of 1997), actress, star of Alvin and the Chipmunks.^[16]
• Shannon Sohn (born 1974, class of 1992), traffic reporter, WABC-TV.^[17]
• Vitamin C (born 1969, class of 1987), singer/actress, known for "Graduation" song.^[18]
• Chris Thatcher (born 1980, class of 1998), drummer.^[19]

References

External links

• Old Bridge High School
• Old Bridge Township Public Schools
• Old Bridge Township Public Schools's 2009–10 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• Data for the Old Bridge Township Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics

Coordinates: 40°25′19″N 74°13′19″W / 40.421859°N 74.221866°W / 40.421859; -74.221866

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