Eastern High School (New Jersey)

Infobox_School
name = Eastern High School


imagesize = 120px
motto =
established = 1965
type = Public high school
principal = Robert Tull
enrollment = 1,099 (as of 2005-06)
faculty = 79.8 (on FTE basis)
ratio = 13.8
colors = Crimson Red & Dark Blue
teamname = Vikings
conference = Olympic Conference
location = 1401 Laurel Oak Road
Voorhees, NJ 08043
coordinates = coord|39.8497|-74.9667|display=inline,title
information = 856-346-6720

Eastern High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school for students in grades 9 - 12 from three communities in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Eastern Camden County Regional High School District. The school serves students from Berlin Borough, Gibbsboro and Voorhees Township. The high school is located in Voorhees Township.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,099 students and 79.8 classroom teachers (on a FTE basis, for a student-teacher ratio of 13.8. [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3404380&ID=340438001488 Eastern High School] , National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2007.]

Eastern has a multi-cultural and diverse population with 77% white, 8% African-American, 12% Asian, and 3% Latino. The district was established in 1965, with 35 professional staff and 495 students. It has grown rapidly with two additions to the original facility and the completion of Eastern Intermediate High School in 1992. There are over 1,000 students enrolled in grades 11 and 12 at Eastern Senior High School. Eastern Intermediate High School has approximately 1,150 students enrolled in grades 9 and 10. Eastern Senior and Eastern Intermediate are located on the same site, however, operate independently. There are presently approximately 2,225 students enrolled at the two high schools. Eastern has a professional staff of more than 200. As a comprehensive secondary school, Eastern is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education.

The average academic class size is 24. Daily student attendance averages more than 92.5% and the annual dropout rate is less than 2%.

Awards and recognition

The school was the 79th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 314 schools statewide, in "New Jersey Monthly" magazine's September 2008 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools". The school was ranked 58th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. [ [http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank"] , "New Jersey Monthly", September 2008, posted August 7, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2008.] In the September 2008 issue of "Philadelphia" magazine, Eastern was ranked 32nd among "The Top Fifty Public School Districts" [ [http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_top_50_school_districts_2008/ "The Top 50 School Districts 2008"] , "Philadelphia (magazine)", September 2008, posted August 29, 2008. Accessed August 29, 2008.] .

ports

The Eastern High School Vikings participate in the Olympic Conference, which consists of public and private high schools located in Burlington County and Camden County. [ [http://www.olympicconference.com/ Olympic Conference] , accessed April 11, 2007.]

Eastern High School also has a separate ice hockey club that, while not officially affiliated with the school, is a member of the South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League. [ [http://www.icshl.org/sjhsihl/servlet/gameServlet?method=dispteamidx&jspURL=/dspteamlist.jsp&levelID=1&altURL=/dsprosterlist.jsp Varsity Tier I Teams] , South Jersey High School Ice Hockey League. Accessed April 11, 2007.]

The girls volleyball team won the Group IV state championship in 2001, defeating Hunterdon Central Regional High School.

The girls varsity soccer team won back-to-back Group IV State Championships in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, they won the Group IV South sectional championship over Toms River High School East 1-0. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=127460&tclass=South%2C%20Group%20IV 2005 Girls Soccer - South, Group IV] , NJSIAA, accessed May 11, 2007.] The team then went on to win the state championship game by a score of 2-0 over Roxbury High School. The team repeated in 2006, defeating Washington Township High School 2-0 [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=186262&tclass=South%2C%20Group%20IV 2006 Girls Soccer Tournament - South, Group IV] , NJSIAA, accessed May 11, 2007] in the Group IV South sectional championship, and defeating North Hunterdon High School to capture the 2006 Group IV State Championship.

Field hockey dynasty

Eastern is most famously known for its talented field hockey team, which has the longest consecutive unbeaten streak in the nation. The 2003 team won the Group IV State championship with a 1-0 win over Lenape High School in the semifinals and a 6-0 win against Hunterdon Central High School in the tournament's final match. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=49655&tclass=Semifinals%20%2F%20Group%20Finals 2003 Field Hockey - Semifinals / Group Finals] , NJSIAA. Accessed July 29, 2007.] The 2004 team repeated as Group IV champion, again defeating Hunterdon Central High School in the tournament final. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=83384&tclass=Semis%2FFinals 2004 Field Hockey - Semis/Finals] , NJSIAA. Accessed July 29, 2007.] On November 19, 2006, Eastern's field hockey team won the 2006 Tournament of Champions, defeating West Essex High School 2-1. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=185498&tclass=Tournament%20of%20Champions 2006 Field Hockey Tournament - Tournament of Champions] , accessed November 26, 2006.] In 2007, the field hockey team won the South Jersey, Group IV state sectional championship in commanding fashion with a 10-0 win over Atlantic City High School in the quarterfinals, 8-0 over Cherokee High School in the semis and an 8-0 win over Washington Township High School in the tournament final. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=243004&tclass=South%2C%20Group%20IV 2007 Field Hockey - South, Group IV] , NJSIAA. Accessed November 12, 2007.] The team moved on to win the Group IV State Championship with a 10-0 win over Steinert High School in the semis and a 4-0 win against Bridgewater-Raritan High School in the finals. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=243004&tclass=Group%20Semis%2FFinals 2007 Field Hockey - Group Semis/Finals] , NJSIAA. Accessed November 13, 2007.] With this win, the team had won nine consecutive Group IV state titles, tying a national record. [Schnatz, Pete. [http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20071112_Vikings_tie_mark_with_9th_title_in_row.html "Vikings tie mark with 9th title in row"] , "The Philadelphia Inquirer", November 12, 2007. Accessed November 13, 2007. "Youth served Eastern well yesterday, when the Vikings tied a national record by winning their ninth consecutive state field hockey championship by defeating Bridgewater-Raritan, 4-0, in the NJSIAA State Group 4 final played at Toms River East."]

Eastern's dominance against New Jersey opponents finally came to an end on November 14, 2007 when they lost to Group I Oak Knoll 3-2 in overtime of the Tournament of Champions semifinals. Dating back to 1998, the team had won 208 consecutive games to opponents from New Jersey [ [http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/VARSITY/711150384/1028/varsity Eastern's field hockey reign ends] , "The Courier-Post", accessed November 15, 2007.] , but still hold the national record unbeaten streak of 153 games.Strauss, Robert. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E7DE1430F934A35752C0A9619C8B63 "Impressed by Threepeats? How About a 23-Peat?"] , January 7, 2007. Accessed October 24, 2007. "West Essex had a string of championships in the 1990s, but in recent years Eastern has invariably been No. 1, having defeated every New Jersey opponent in the last eight years and at one point winning 153 straight matches, a national record for the sport."]

This 'Field Hockey Dynasty' was noted in an article in the Sunday edition of "The New York Times", including brief bios of team players and individuals.

Extracurricular activities

Eastern High School has run a very successful Model United Nations team and program. In 2001, the South Jersey Model UN Consortium was started by the former advisor, Janet E. Rabin. [ [http://easternmun.org/consortium.html South Jersey Model UN Consortium" at Eastern MUN] , accessed January 7, 2007.] The program runs the South Jersey Model United Nations one-day conference every fall and visits college conferences in the fall and spring. The Model UN team has won such awards as Best Small and Large Delegation at Rutgers Model UN, Best Small Delegation at Harvard Model United Nations, as well as many others. The Model Congress team has also had much success at Rutgers Model Congress.

The school's marching band was Tournament of Bands Chapter One Champions in 1976 and 1981 (Group 1). [ [http://www.tob1.org/history.html Tournament of Bands - Chapter One History] , Tournament of Bands and 2003 USSBA All-state champions. Accessed July 5, 2007.] The marching band was 1981 Atlantic Coast Champion in Group 1. [ [http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=9697&tclass=Group%20IV 2001 NJSIAA Girls Volleyball - Group IV] , NJSIAA, accessed May 11, 2007.]

Administration

*Principal (Eastern Senior High School) - Robert Tull. [ [http://www.eastern.k12.nj.us/publicinfo.html Profile] , Eastern Regional High Schools. Accessed May 15, 2008.]

Noted alumni

*Rachel Dawson (born 1985), field hockey midfielder. [ [http://www.usfieldhockey.com/teams/women/dawson_r.htm Rachel Dawson] , USA Field Hockey. Accessed December 20, 2007.]
*Sarah Dawson (born 1982), field hockey forward / midfielder. [ [http://www.usfieldhockey.com/teams/women/dawson_s.htm Sarah Dawson] , USA Field Hockey. Accessed December 20, 2007.]
*Kelly Ripa (born 1970), co-host of "Live with Regis and Kelly" with Regis Philbin, and co-star with Faith Ford, in "Hope & Faith". [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/14/lkl.00.html Transcript of Interview With Regis Philbin] , CNN Larry King Live, accessed April 11, 2007. "PHILBIN: Save your prom dress. We'll take a look at it now. Here is Kelly's prom dress from 1988. That's her at Eastern High School in Voorhees, New Jersey. The No. 1 song that year was "Faith" by George Michaels."]
*Adam Taliaferro (born 1982), former Penn State Football player who overcame paralysis, and author of the book "Miracle in the Making". [Gormley, Chuck. [http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/NEWS01/704290374 "Legal action shocks Samaritans"] , "Courier-Post", April 30, 2007. Accessed May 11, 2007. "Taliaferro, an Eastern graduate Spittal had coached, was paralyzed after making a tackle in a 2000 football game for Penn State."]

References

External links

* [http://eastern.k12.nj.us/ Eastern Camden County Regional High School District]
*NJReportCard|07|1255|050|Eastern High School
* [http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_list.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=3404380 Data for the Eastern Camden County Regional High School District] , National Center for Education Statistics
* [http://www.sjsports.com/highschool/eastern/ South Jersey Sports: Eastern HS]