Wildwood High School

Wildwood High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Wildwood, in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the sole secondary school of the Wildwood City School District.

This article is about the public high school in Wildwood, New Jersey. For others of a similar name, see Wild Wood High School (disambiguation).

Wildwood High School
Address
4300 Pacific Avenue

Wildwood
,
Cape May County
,
New Jersey
08260

United States
Coordinates38.985653°N 74.819157°W / 38.985653; -74.819157
Information
TypePublic high school
School districtWildwood Public School District
NCES School ID341794001768[1]
PrincipalPhilip Schaffer
Faculty31.0 FTEs[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment263 (as of 2021–22)[1]
Student to teacher ratio8.5:1[1]
Color(s)  Maroon and
  white[2]
Athletics conferenceTri-County Conference[3] (general)
West Jersey Football League (football)
Team nameWarriors[2]
Websitenj02210961.schoolwires.net/wildwoodhigh

The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1991.[4] Students from North Wildwood, West Wildwood and Wildwood Crest attend Wildwood High School as part of sending/receiving relationships with their respective school districts.[5]

As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 263 students and 31.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.5:1. There were 157 students (59.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 13 (4.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

Wildwood Middle School and the Wildwood Public School District administration share the Wildwood High property.[6] The same building formerly housed Elementary School #1, for grades 5 and 6, along with Wildwood High.[7]

History

The first high school class of Wildwood graduated in 1906. The current building opened in 1917. At one time this building had grades 1-12. In 1927 and 1967 the building received additions.[8]

Awards, recognition and rankings

In September 2013, the school was one of 15 in New Jersey to be recognized by the United States Department of Education as part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, an award called the "most prestigious honor in the United States' education system" and which Education Secretary Arne Duncan described as honoring schools that "represent examples of educational excellence".[9][10]

The school was the 285th-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.[11] The school had been ranked 244th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 279th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[12] The magazine ranked the school 253rd in 2008 out of 316 schools.[13] The school was ranked 299th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.[14] Schooldigger.com ranked the school as 321st out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (a decrease of 11 positions from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[15]

Athletics

The Wildwood High School Warriors[2] compete as one of the member schools in the Tri-County Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.[3] The conference is overseen by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[16] With 183 students in grades 9-12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2022-23 school year as South, Group 1 for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 75 to 476 students in that grade range.[17] The football team competes in the Horizon Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconference[18][19] and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group I South for football for 2022–2024, which included schools with 200 to 463 students.[20]

The boys' basketball team won the Group II state title in 1940 vs. Bogota High School and 1941 vs. Pompton Lakes High School, and won the Group I title in 1942 against Bernardsville High School, in 1961 vs. North Arlington High School and in 1964 vs. Wallington High School.[21][22] After playoff losses in the four previous seasons, the 1940 team won the Group II title after defeating Bogota by a score of 34-18 in the championship game.[23] The 1941 team puled ahead with a 7-0 run in the first quarter and held on to repeat as state champion after defeating Pompton Lakes by a score of 39-35 in the finals.[24] Led by 18 points from future NFL player Randy Beverly, the 1961 team won the Group I state title with a 65-50 win against North Arlington in the championship game played at Princeton University's Dillon Gymnasium.[25]

The softball team won the Group I state championship in 1976, defeating Wood-Ridge High School in the final round of the tournament.[26]

The girls' basketball team won the 1991 Group I state championship (against runner-up Cresskill High School in the finals), 2000 (vs. North Warren Regional High School) and in both 2001 and 2002 (against Mountain Lakes High School both seasons).[27]

Notable alumni

Administration

The principal is Phil Schaffer. His administration team includes the assistant principal / athletic director.[33]

References
  1. School data for Wildwood High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 1, 2022.
  2. Wildwood High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  3. Member Schools, Tri-County Conference. Accessed November 18, 2020.
  4. Wildwood High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 4, 2011.
  5. Wildwood High School 2015 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed August 7, 2017. "Wildwood High School services all of the districts on the island (Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood and West Wildwood.)"
  6. "Home". Wildwood City School District. Retrieved September 17, 2020. Wildwood City School District LOCATION 4300 Pacific Avenue Wildwood, NJ 08260 - Compare to the middle school's address and high school's address: "4300 Pacific Avenue Wildwood, NJ 08260 "
  7. "Elementary School #1". Wildwood City School District. January 11, 2000. Archived from the original on January 11, 2000. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  8. "History of the Wildwood Public Schools". Wildwood High School. July 25, 1997. Archived from the original on July 25, 1997. Retrieved May 24, 2021. - Linked from the official Wildwood Schools page, which in turn confirmed as such by the NJ Dept. of Education.
  9. Rundquist, Jeanette. "15 N.J. schools named as national 'Blue Ribbon' winners", The Star-Ledger, September 24, 2013. Accessed September 25, 2013. "Five Catholic schools, six county vocational-technical schools and a Yeshiva are among the list of honored schools in New Jersey. Also named as 2013 Blue Ribbon Schools were Dover, Harrison and Wildwood high schools."
  10. 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools All Public and Private, pp. 15-17. United States Department of Education, National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Accessed September 25, 2013.
  11. Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  12. Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 20, 2012.
  13. Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed December 4, 2011.
  14. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.
  15. New Jersey High School Rankings: 11th Grade HSPA Language Arts Literacy & HSPA Math 2009-2010, Schooldigger.com. Accessed January 5, 2012.
  16. League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020.
  17. NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  18. Wildwood Warrior, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  19. Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component."
  20. NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2022–2024, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 1, 2023.
  21. NJSIAA Boys Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.
  22. McGarry, Michael. "Boys High School State Basketball Preview / Three's Company / 60 Years Ago, Wildwood Boys Won Third Consecutive State Title", The Press of Atlantic City, March 10, 2002. Accessed August 5, 2007. "Wildwood defeated Bogota 34-18 to win the 1940 state Group II title. The Warriors beat Pompton Lakes 39-35 in the 1941 state Group II title game.... Senekoff did it his way, and it worked. He made both to give Wildwood a 38-37 victory and its third straight state title - a feat no other local team has matched."
  23. via Associated Press. "Bound Brook Upset 42 to 33 By Rutherford; Seven Consecutive Points at End Give Somerset 5 Group 3 Crown Wildwood Also Wins", Asbury Park Press, March 17, 1940. Accessed February 8, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "In the afternoon, Good Counsel of Newark uncorked heroic rally to down Camden Catholic, 41-39 for the Group 2 prep crown and Wildwood won 34-18 from Bogota to take the Group 2 high school honors.... It was Wildwood's first state championship in 18 years, after bowing out in the tournament semi-finals or finals in four straight years. Last year Wildwood was nosed out for the title by South Amboy."
  24. "Title Retained By Wildwood", Asbury Park Press, March 23, 1941. Accessed March 1, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Wildwood high school successfully defended its Group 2 basketball crown yesterday by staving off Pompton Lakes, 39 to 35, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic association tournament at the Elizabeth armory. A seven-point leas compiled by Wildwood during the first period in which Pompton Lakes went scoreless from the field, proved the decisive factor as the South Jerseyans became the first team to win a state title two consecutive years since Princeton captured the Group 2 diadem in 1937 and 1938."
  25. "State Group 1 Title Taken by Wildwood", Courier-Post, March 20, 1961. Accessed March 4, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Ray Lynch today feels his first season as Wildwood High School's basketball coach has come to a perfect ending. The campaign closed here Saturday in Princeton University gymnasium when Wildwood topped North Arlington High, 65-50, to win the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group I championship. It was Wildwood's first state crown since it won two Group 2 crowns and a Group 1 crown in 1940, '41 and '42."
  26. History of the NJSIAA Softball Championships, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed September 1, 2022.
  27. NJSIAA Girls Basketball Championship History, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020.
  28. .LeConey, Bill. "NFL Football / Wildwood Native Helped Jets Make History 30 Years Ago", The Press of Atlantic City, January 31, 1999. Accessed August 5, 2007. "They knew their favorite son - a three-sport star at Wildwood High School, Class of 1962 - had made a big play for the underdog New York Jets in Super Bowl III against the Baltimore Colts."
  29. Dubin, Murray. "A Journey From Songs To Seashells", The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 4, 1999. Accessed May 28, 2013. "North Wildwood, N.J. — He has worked for and with people you read about or listen to: Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Aerosmith, Madonna, Rick Springfield and hundreds more.... Antonio Fulginiti was one of the first Italians on the island in 1900, but his grandson, Gregory, left for New York as quickly as he could, one day after his graduation from Wildwood High School in 1969."
  30. Raven, Benjamin. "Wildwood's Wes Hills nearly brought to tears upon learning of start after long journey to NFL", The Press of Atlantic City, December 16, 2019. Accessed February 5, 2020. "Wildwood High School graduate Wes Hills, left, of the Detroit Lions, battles for yards in the fourth quarter against Andrew Adams of Tampa Bay on Sunday. Hills scored two TDs in his NFL debut."
  31. via Associated Press. "Pittsburgh's Osborn Plays Three Sports", Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1987. Accessed August 10, 2016. "His friends call the Wildwood Crest, N.J., native 'The Wizard of Oz.'... Osborn won 11 varsity letters at Wildwood High before being recruited by former Pitt football coach Foge Fazio."
  32. Staff. "Wildwood High School graduate Frank Vogel promoted to interim head coach of Indiana Pacers", The Press of Atlantic City, January 30, 2011. Accessed January 30, 2011. "Vogel, a 1991 Wildwood High School graduate who was promoted from assistant coach, will take over for the rest of the season."
  33. Administration, Wildwood School District. Accessed April 19, 2020.

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