Bethpage High School is the only high school in
Bethpage, New York. Located in
Nassau County on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, the school is situated at the corner of Stewart Avenue and Cherry Avenue, across from the Bethpage Community Park. On average, each class size is between 25 and 30 students. Bethpage High School was once ranked by ''Newsweek'' at number 267 of the Best High Schools in America.
As of the 2020–21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 923 students and 81.82.3 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 students ...
of 11.21.
Extracurricular activities
Performing arts
On January 16, 2007, the Bethpage High School Performing Arts Center was unveiled. The Center is home to the Bethpage Masquers Guild (Drama Club).
Spanish Club
Bethpage High School's Spanish Club embraces both Spanish culture and community service. Each year, the club works to organize cultural trips to museums and volunteers time at Winthrop Hospital at the Hispanic Health Fair. The club also sends aid to Spanish countries and holds an annual Foreign Film Night. The club is open to all students, regardless of language class taken or heritage.
Student Civic Association
The Bethpage High School Student Civic Association is a
community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
association composed of current attendees of Bethpage High School, open to all those students willing to join. It holds an annual philanthropic talent show and numerous blood drives, and participates in
national support programs including Hurricane relief, the annual
Marty Lyons
Martin Anthony Lyons (born January 15, 1957) is a former American college and professional football player who was a defensive tackle and defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Lyons play ...
Christmas Party for terminally ill children, and various other altruistic endeavors.
Long Island Challenge appearance
In 2006, Bethpage High School was chosen to compete on The Long Island Challenge, an academic quiz show featuring Long Island high schools.
[http://cdm16373.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15281coll116/id/82/rec/21] Team members included Raman Madan, Karan Sabharwal, Jeff Katz, Vinod Kasturi, and Steve Secchio.
Bethpage Robotics
The Bethpage Regal Eagles Robotics team was founded in 2009, and compete annually in the
FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...
, specifically at the New York City and SBPLI Long Island Regionals. For the first time in 2017, they will be competing at the new Hudson Valley Regional. The head mentors of the team include Dan Zabell and Eric Kay. The current Captain is senior Sam Perkowsky and the Co-Captain is Smiti Shah. They have won 3 notable awards: Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, Dean's List Finalist Award, and Rookie Inspiration Award. Their current sponsors include Altice USA, UTC, Plethora, Northrop Grumman, and TechClash.
Athletics
Bethpage offers numerous varsity athletic teams. They have a varsity program for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, softball, volleyball, badminton, golf, tennis, and kickline, among others. The Golden Eagles have won numerous county and conference championships across their varsity programs.
Varsity Kickline
The Golden Girls are a kickline/dance team which has won multiple awards. The team participates in the Kick, Pom, Jazz, and Hip Hop Categories (Lyrical and Team Routine in 2008). In 2006 and 2007, the Varsity
Kickline A kickline is a show dance figure consisting of a series of dancers who throw their legs synchronised up to eye level in the air, forming a straight line. The difficulty here is not only to lift the leg in a coordinated manner to create a uniform i ...
became National Champions in the POM Category, and in 2008 placed 6th at the
National Dance Alliance The National Dance Alliance (NDA), originally named NCA Superstar, was established in 1999. NDA is the sister company of the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA), which was founded by Lawrence Herkimer in 1948.
In 1976, NCA created NCA Superstar ...
(NDA) Championship, where the team also placed 2nd in Kick in 2005. In 2009, the Golden Girls & Company won the Eastern Dance Association's National High Kick Title, as well as the All-Around Champion title, with a 2nd-place finish in the Large Pom category. In 2010, the Golden Girls placed 2nd in Kick, and won the Large Pom title.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team has had success throughout the years and commits to playing collegiate lacrosse every year. Since 2000, over 20 boys have gone on to play Division I and over 40 more players to play at the Division II & III levels. Some notable alumni that either achieved All-American or have gone on to play Division I College Lacrosse; Todd Lawson, Tom Poggio, Dave Keenan, AJ Haugen, Rob Coscia, Dave Kelly, Brian Cerci, The Testa Brothers, Brian Solliday,
Matt Rekowski, Trevor Michaelsen,
Thomas John Michaelsen,
Jordan Levine
Jordan Levine (born June 30, 1986) is a midfielder lacrosse player for the Washington Bayhawks.
Early life
Levine, who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, played baseball, basketball, and football at school. He started playing lacrosse when he was 1 ...
and many others. Around 10 players have gone on to play professional lacrosse. In 1996, Bethpage won their first and only State Championship Title which was helped by then, Assistant Coach Erwin Dill but then took over as the Head Coach from 1997 to 2014.
Wrestling
Ron Abitelli is the current head
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
coach. They have successfully helped over 100 county place winners ranging from Champions to Six Place Finishers and 18 All-State wrestlers.
Soccer
Bethpage Soccer has been improving since the early 2000s after they won 4 consecutive conference championships from 2001-2004 and during the 2002 season, the team went undefeated.
Football
Football was coached by
Howie Vogts
Howie is a Scottish locational surname derived from a medieval estate in Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. While its ancient name is known as "The lands of How", its exact location is lost to time. The word "How", predating written history, appears ...
, who helped the teams with 5 Long Island titles, 3 Rutger Cups, and 29 Regular Season or Conference Championships.
Under Vogts' direction, the Golden Eagles have made the Nassau County playoffs 25 times since in 1970, and every year since the playoff system expanded to four teams in 1984. Vogts' teams have won 29 regular season league or Conference Championships, 13 Conference Playoff Championships (ten since 1984), three Rutgers Cups, and five Long Island titles. Bethpage has had one Thorp Award winner, Dennis Macholz in 1968. Coach Vogts has had 39 winning seasons, only nine losing seasons, and three .500 seasons. In Vogts' first 23 seasons (1953–1976) his teams were 96-75-7 for a winning percentage of .557. Since then (1977–2005), Vogts' teams have had a Nassau County record 30 consecutive winning seasons, with an astonishing record of 246-39-3 (.865 winning percentage). Under Coach Vogts' helm he coached many stellar athletes who have gone on to play College Football like Craig Swanson, John Beachy & Dennis Macholz in addition to coaching many athletes that have gone on to play collegiate lacrosse like Trevor Michaelsen who holds and ties three Long Island Kicking Records with the (Most PAT's in a game 8, most PAT's Season 56, and most career PAT's 88) and many more great athletes.. Vogts is the winningest high school coach in New York State with a record of 342-114-10.
Notable alumni
*
Steve Grossman, former
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
and
hard bop
Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...
saxophonist.
*
Jordan Levine
Jordan Levine (born June 30, 1986) is a midfielder lacrosse player for the Washington Bayhawks.
Early life
Levine, who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, played baseball, basketball, and football at school. He started playing lacrosse when he was 1 ...
, men's lacrosse coach,
Mercy College
*
Chuck Lorre
Charles Michael Lorre (; born Charles Michael Levine; October 18, 1952) is an American film & television director, writer, producer, composer and actor.
Called the "King of Sitcoms", he has created/co-created and produced sitcoms including ''G ...
, television producer
*
Thomas Michaelsen
Thomas Michaelsen (born September 14, 1985) is the first lacrosse player ever to be drafted professionally in Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League from St. John's University. Thomas is currently the President and Founder of 365L ...
, professional lacrosse player and founder of 365lax Inc.
*
Alex Reynolds
Alex Reynolds and John Silver (wrestler), John Silver, formerly known as the Beaver Boys, are an American professional wrestling tag team currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as members of The Dark Order. They are also known for their app ...
, professional wrestler,
All Elite Wrestling
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE.
AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...
*
Dan Rich, entrepreneur
*
Joe Sambito
Joseph Charles Sambito (born June 28, 1952) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Houston Astros (1976–1982, 1984), New York Mets (1985) and Boston Red Sox (1986–1987). He batted and threw left-handed.
Early life
H ...
, former professional baseball player,
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
,
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
, and
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
References
{{authority control
1960 establishments in New York (state)
Educational institutions established in 1960
Public high schools in New York (state)
Schools in Nassau County, New York