Burlington High School (BHS) is a public
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
located in
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...
, United States. BHS' current (since 1964) campus is its fourth. Two of the former buildings still exist, one (1900–1964) as the Edmunds Elementary and Middle School complex while the second one, used in the late 1800s, is now a private residence.
Student life
Community service
Each student of BHS is expected to complete 40 hours of community service over his or her academic career. Community service fairs have been held at the school, with information about local organizations which need volunteers. A blood drive is hosted twice a year, with donation limited to students over age 16.
Curriculum
Burlington High School requires the typical 24 credit load to graduate: 4 mandatory English, 3 mandatory science, 3 mandatory history, 3 mandatory math, 1 or 2 foreign languages (including French, German, Chinese, Spanish, and Latin) most reach level 2, 0.5 health, 1.5 gym, and 1 art or music (including band, computer science, chorus, clay, metals, and others). After these requirements have been completed, students are left with 5 elective credits to choose, which can span any of the aforementioned subjects.
Recognition
15 graduates qualified for
national merit scholarships in 2008.
Campus
The permanent Burlington High School is composed of 5 main buildings, labeled ''A'', ''B'', ''C'', ''D'', and ''E''. There is also an ''F'' building, which contains Burlington Technical Center (BTC), a regional technical center that is attended by students from BHS as well as other high schools in the county. ''A'' building is the largest; it houses the school's
cafeteria
A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...
,
gym
A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...
nasium, music department,
auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...
, and a few classrooms. ''B'' building is occupied by foreign-language and art classrooms, with the school's
library
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
on the first floor. ''C'' building is occupied by the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
and the
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
departments, while ''E'' building is used by the
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
departments. ''D'' building contains mostly exploratory programs, such as computer literacy and health. The campus closed in 2020 as in the course of renovations
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are organochlorine compounds with the formula Carbon, C12Hydrogen, H10−''x''Chloride, Cl''x''; they were once widely used in the manufacture of carbonless copy paper, as heat transfer fluids, and as dielectri ...
(PCB) deposits were found. the school administration is determining the future of the permanent site.
[ ]
Available at
KMOV
KMOV (channel 4) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power station KDTL-LD (channel 4.6). The two stations share studios on Progress Park ...
Available at
My Fox 8,
available at
Snopes
''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...
As of that year athletic programs, extracurricular programs, and theater programs are being held at the permanent campus.
On March 4, 2021, a temporary campus opened in a former
Macy's
Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
in
Downtown Burlington, with the school district leasing the property for years;
[ as of that period all classes are taught at this location.][ The department store had closed in 2018, and $3.5 million was spent to renovate it, with the State of Vermont contributing. The warehouse and china department were retrofitted into being a gymnasium and a library, respectively. The classroom walls do not meet the ceiling. The campus is from the permanent one.][
]
Newspaper
Burlington High School is known throughout the community for its award-winning journalism program, which produces ''The BHS Register'', a bi-weekly newspaper published in print an
online
The program has produced five Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Scholars over the past 10 years. The paper's extensive coverage of the teacher contract negotiations in fall 2016 was highly regarded. The publication was named the best student newspaper for a Class II school size by the New England Scholastic Press Association in May 2017.
Sports
The sports teams include cross country, alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National P ...
, basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
, field hockey
Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
, hockey
''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
, baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
, Ultimate Frisbee
Ultimate frisbee (officially simply called ultimate) is a non-contact team sport played with a disc flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jonny Hines in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate rese ...
, softball
Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
, tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
, soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
, ultimate
Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
*Ultimate (Bryan Adams album), ''Ultimate'' (Bryan Adams album)
*Ultimate (Jolin Tsai album), ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album)
*Ultimate (Pet Shop Boys album), ''Ult ...
, track (including indoor track), bowling
Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...
and "longboat" (Cornish pilot gig) racing.
Recognition
* The basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
team won the Division 1 state championship in 1923, 1924, 1927, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1937, 1941, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, and 2016.
** In 2007–08 they won all 24 games, the first Division I team in Vermont to have a perfect season in 25 years.
** The team had a 37-game winning streak as of January 2009. The team was 59–2 since fall 2006. The only losses were to Rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
. Rice's 6 losses in the same timeframe have been in games with BHS.
* The boys' tennis team won the Div. 1 championship in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006.
* Boys' baseball Division I state champions 1966, 1969, 1979, 1983, 1984
* Football team won Division I in 1967 and 1970.[Vermont Principal's Association]
accessed January 5, 2008
* The football team won the Div. 2 state championship in 1964, 1974, 1999 and 2006[Vermont Principals' Association]
accessed January 5, 2008 2008,[Vermont Principals' Association]
accessed January 5, 2008
* Girls' tennis Division I 1979 and 1980
Notable alumni
* Frederic W. Allen (1944), Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court.
The court ...
* James R. Brickel (1947), United States Air Force Lieutenant general
* William Colby
William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – May 6, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976.
During World War II, Colby served with the Office of Strat ...
(1936), Director of Central Intelligence
The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1946 to 2004, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Se ...
* Selene Colburn (1988), politician
* Grace Coolidge
Grace Anna Coolidge (née Goodhue; January 3, 1879 – July 8, 1957) was first lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929 as the wife of the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. She was previously the second lady of the United S ...
(1898), First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been Code of law, codified or offici ...
* John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
The overridi ...
(1874), University of Vermont
The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
graduate, Doctor of Educational Philosophy (Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
), psychologist, educational leader, and professor
* TJ Donovan (1992), Attorney General of Vermont
* Fred Householder (1928), linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
* Kevin Hunt (1967), former NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
offensive linemanKevin Hunt Stats
''Pro-Football-Reference''. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
* Ilona Maher
Ilona Delsing Rosa Maher ( ; born August 12, 1996) is an American rugby union player. As of December 2024, she has signed for Bristol Bears in the Premiership Women's Rugby league and began playing for them in January 2025. She won bronze with ...
(2014), American Rugby Union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player and Olympian
* Doug Racine
Douglas Alan Racine (born October 7, 1952) is an American politician and former Vermont Secretary of Human Services, a former Vermont State Senator and was the 79th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1997 to 2003. He is a Democrat. Racine was ...
(1970), state senator and lieutenant governor of Vermont
* John E. Rouille (1952), U.S. Marshal for Vermont
* Jessica Seinfeld
Jessica Seinfeld (; , born Nina Danielle Sklar; September 12, 1971) is an American author and wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld. She has released five cookbooks about preparing food for families, and is the founder of the GOOD+ Foundation (formerl ...
(1989), author
* LJ Strenio (2007), professional freestyle skier
References
{{authority control
Public high schools in Vermont
Educational buildings in Burlington, Vermont
Schools in Chittenden County, Vermont