Hanover High School is the only

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

in the Dresden School District, and is located in

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...

, United States. In 1963 it became the first interstate high school in the country as part of a bill that was the last signed into action by

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. Today it accepts students from several communities in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Enrollment is approximately 786 students, the majority of whom come from the towns of Hanover (New Hampshire) and

Norwich, Vermont Norwich is a town in Windsor County, in the U.S. state of Vermont. The population was 3,612 at the 2020 census. Home to some of the state of Vermont's wealthiest residents, the municipality is a commuter town for nearby Hanover, New Hampshir ...

. 11% of the student body attends on a tuition basis from towns such as Cornish and

Lyme, New Hampshire Lyme is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,745 as of the 2020 census. Lyme is home to the Chaffee Natural Conservation Area. The Dartmouth Skiway is in the eastern part of tow ...

, and Strafford and

Hartland, Vermont Hartland is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,446 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of Hartland, Hartland Four Corners, and North Hartland. History Hartland, originally named Hertford, was cha ...

. The school employs 79 full-time faculty members.

Academics

Hanover High was recognized in 2009 by ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' in their "America's Best High Schools" annual article as having the "Best Overall Academic Performance" in New Hampshire, with a GreatSchools rating of 10/10. The school is accredited by the

New England Association of Schools and Colleges The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is a United States' regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation. NEASC serves over 1500 public, independent schools, and technical/career institution ...

, and over 96% of students are accepted to or are planning to attend post secondary education after graduating.{{dead link, date=November 2022 Of the 85 professional staff at Hanover High School, 71% hold at least a master's degree, while 18% hold a master's degree + 60 credits or a doctorate.{{cite web , url =https://docs.google.com/a/hanovernorwichschools.org/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=aGFub3Zlcm5vcndpY2hzY2hvb2xzLm9yZ3xoaHMtZ3VpZGFuY2V8Z3g6MzIyMWYxNWI0MWNkZmM3MA , title = Hanover High School Profile 2015 , year = 2015 , access-date = 2015-10-14 The academic program is divided into the traditional five departments: English,

Math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, Social Studies, and

Foreign Language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at schoo ...

. Each department offers a selection of courses; however, all freshmen must take a standard set of courses. As students advance, additional opportunities become available. The school's curriculum and policies emphasize individual student freedoms. For example, seniors often elect to design and complete an independent study project that academically explores a personal interest. With

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

a short walk from the school, some students attend courses at the college when they have exhausted the high school's offerings. The academic atmosphere is generally student-centric, with off-campus privileges widely available and with a council of students, faculty, and community members (founded in 1974) whose governing power extends in many areas beyond that of even the school principal.

Extracurricular and elective activities

The girls' cross country team was fourth in the nation during the 2007 season. The boys' varsity

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team has won the state championship for the last six years, as well as the state sportsmanship award for the past four years. The boys'

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a 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 was extensively ...

teams are both the smallest schools in Division I, yet Hanover almost always makes it to the state finals in at least one of the sports, if not both. The 2009 fall campaign was especially successful, with

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

, boys' cross country, girls' cross country and boys' soccer all being crowned state champions. The school has a large number of music ensembles (both official and student-run), publications, community service organizations, an official drama group "Footlighters" that puts on two shows and a musical each year, a student-organized drama group "SOS; Students On Stage" that puts on one show a year, and a quiz bowl team that has in recent years won both New Hampshire and Vermont state championships. Hanover High School is one of the few public schools in New Hampshire to have a crew team. It is the largest sport at Hanover, with one in every six students participating. They have been recognized as one of the top public school rowing programs consecutively in New Hampshire. HHS is a democratic school revolving around the Hanover High Council. The council has the authority to act on all matters at Hanover High School not controlled by school board policy, state policy, administrative regulations established by the Superintendent of the Schools, and rules and regulations published in the Student Handbook of Hanover High School. Council elections are held each spring.

Recent mascot controversy

In 2020, after more than a year of debate, the school council elected to change the school mascot due to complaints that the marauder was offensive to those who had been victims of sexual assault. The proceeding election to determine the new mascot led to a five way runoff, with one of the most popular choices, the Jalapeños, being disqualified for fears of cultural appropriation. The results of the runoff, however, were invalidated due to widespread plagiarism among many popular designs and one popular design being removed from the competition by its creator. The current mascot is a bear.

Recent Name Competition

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022, the New Mascot Selection and Implementation Committee officially announced that out of the five mascot names — Bears, Hawks, Huskies, Maroon Crush, and Trailblazers — the Bears won the Name Competition. All current (2021–2022) Hanover High School students, staff, and sports coaches could vote in this election. There were a total of 909 registered votes with a total of 711 eligible ballots recorded (≈78% voter turnout). Not only did Bears win the Rank Choice Vote, but it also won a Plurality (also known as "simple majority") election.

Athletics

Hanover has a comprehensive athletics program, with players competing at both the varsity and junior varsity levels. Sports offered include

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 (appr ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

crew A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involve ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) * ''Ultimate'' (Pet Shop Boys album) *''Ultimate!'', an album by The Yardbirds *''The Ultimate (Bryan Adams Album)'', a compilatio ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. Notable girls' teams include the perennial power house cross country team, which won the Class I state championship from 2004 through 2009, and placed fourth at the

Nike Team Nationals Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) (formerly known as Nike Team Nationals) is an invitational cross country meet that serves as the unofficial team national championship of United States high school cross country. Sponsored by Nike, It was designed to he ...

high school championships. The girls' soccer team has also won NH Division II championships in 2014, 2015 and 2018. The girls' varsity tennis team appeared in five consecutive state championship finals from 2013 through 2017. The girls varsity hockey team is a strong force at Hanover, winning 11/12 state titles for NHIAA girls hockey. Along with the girls varsity basketball team who recently won the 2022 division 2 state championship. They have been undefeated for three seasons straight in regular season games. Notable boys' teams include the boys' cross country running team, that won back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009. The boys' soccer team is one of the most successful teams at Hanover, having won the Class I state championships every year from 2005 to 2010, and the Division I title in 2013 and 2019. They have won a state-record total of 18 overall. The boys' golf team has been consistently one of the top programs in the state, winning over 30 state championships since the early 1980s. In 1989 the golf team finished an undefeated 48–0 season under coach Glyn Reinders and were named by the ''Boston Globe'' "New England Team of the Year". In recent years swimming has become one of the favored sports, along with crew. One out of every six Hanover High students row in the spring each year. Varsity sports fielded include: {{Col-begin {{Col-break ;Fall *Boys' soccer *Girls' soccer *Cross country *Field hockey *Volleyball *Football *Golf {{Col-break ;Winter *Boys' basketball * *Boys' ice hockey *Girls' ice hockey *Indoor track *Swimming & diving *Alpine skiing *Nordic skiing *Ski jumping {{Col-break ;Spring *Boys' and girls' crew *Baseball *Softball *Tennis *Boys' and girls' track *Boys' and girls' lacrosse {{col-end Club sports include

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

, and fall crew.

Notable alumni

{{alumni, date=November 2022 {{div col * Barbara Bedford, Olympic swimmer * Russell Wolf Brown, professional runner *

Charlie Clouser Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits a ...

, musician (

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

) *

Jonathan Finer Jonathan Finer (born 1976) is an American journalist and diplomat who serves as Deputy National Security Advisor under National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. He previously served as the Chie ...

Rhodes scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

's Chief of Staff * Sam Griesemer, musician (

Samo Sound Boy DJDS (formerly DJ Dodger Stadium) is an American production and DJ duo consisting of Jerome LOL (Jerome Potter) and Samo Sound Boy (Sam Griesemer), based in Los Angeles. Members Griesemer was born in Manhattan, New York and grew up in New H ...

) * Stu Hamm, musician * Jim Holland, Olympic ski jumper * Joe Holland, Olympic Nordic combined skier * Mike Holland, Olympic ski jumper *

Noah Kahan Noah Kahan (born January 1, 1997) is an American singer-songwriter of folk-infused pop who signed to Republic Records in 2017. Kahan released his first single, "Young Blood" on January 27, 2017, and released four other singles over the course of ...

, musician{{Cite web, url=https://hanoverboyssoccer2014.blogspot.com/, title=Hanover High Boys Soccer 2014, publisher=Hanover Boys Soccer 2014, access-date=March 4, 2019{{BSN, reason=Blogs are not reliable sources for this information. See WP:BLOGS., date=November 2022 *

Hannah Kearney Hannah Angela Kearney (born February 26, 1986) is an American mogul skier who won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Personal life Kearney was born in Norwich, Vermont to Jill (née Gass) an ...

, gold medalist in the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

(skiing) *

Julia Krass Julia Krass (born June 7, 1997) is an American freestyle skier. Krass competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics which took place in Sochi, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Eu ...

, Olympic freestyle skier * Wesley Edwin "Bud" Lanyon, ornithologist and museum curator *

Sean Patrick Maloney Sean Patrick Maloney (born July 30, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from from 2013 to 2023. The district includes Newburgh (city), New York, Newburgh, Beacon, New York, Beacon, and Poughkeepsie, ...

congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

from New York *

Dylan Matthews Dylan Matthews is an American journalist. He is currently a correspondent for ''Vox (website), Vox'', an online media venture. Professional life Early writing In 2004, at the age of 14, Matthews launched a personal blog on politics and other is ...

, blogger and writer (''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Vox.com) *

Elizabeth McIntyre Elizabeth Geary McIntyre (born April 5, 1965), sometimes known as Liz McIntyre, is an American freestyle skier and Olympic medalist. She received a silver medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, in moguls.

, Olympic freestyle skier * Susan McLane, New Hampshire state legislator *

Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...

, Olympic skier, World Speed Record holder for 15 years{{cite web , url=https://skihall.com/hall-of-famers/ralph-miller/ , title=Ralph Miller , website=U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame , access-date=July 7, 2019 *

Robby Mook Robert E. Mook (; born December 3, 1979) is an American political strategist. He was the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Mook worked on state campaigns and on Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. He then ...

, campaign manager for

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Reed Morano Reed Morano (born April 15, 1977) is an American film director and cinematographer. Morano was the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year for the pilot episode of The Han ...

, Golden Globes and Emmy-winning director for ''The Handmaid's Tale'' * Kevin Pearce, professional snowboarder * Matt Pond, musician *

Mary Roach Mary Roach (born March 20, 1959) is an American author specializing in popular science and humor. She has published six New York Times bestsellers: '' Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers'' (2003), '' Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife ...

, science writer *

Tom Shear Tom Shear is an American musician and music producer, and is the sole member of the electronic act Assemblage 23. He was born on November 12, 1971 in State College, Pennsylvania, where he lived until he was about age six. After that, he live ...

, musician ( Assemblage 23) *

Betsy Snite Betsy Baxter Snite (later ''Riley'', December 20, 1938 – June 15, 1984) was an American Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer and Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, Olympic medalist. She competed in the Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter ...

, Olympic ski medalist{{Cite web , url=https://skihall.com/hall-of-famers/betsy-snite-riley/ , title=Betsy Snite Riley , website=U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame , access-date=July 7, 2019 *

Jon Spencer Jon Spencer (born February 5, 1965) is an American singer, composer and guitarist. He has been involved in multiple musical acts, such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. History Jon Spencer was born ...

, musician (

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was an American three-piece rock band from New York City, formed in 1991. The group consisted of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spenc ...

) *

Zephyr Teachout Zephyr Rain Teachout (, born October 24, 1971) is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and associate professor of law at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination for governor of New York and los ...

, academic and activist *

Celia Woodsmith Celia Woodsmith (born in 1985 in Tryon, North Carolina) is a New England–based bluegrass music, bluegrass, blues and folk musician. Profile Since January 2011, Woodsmith, has been the lead singer, rhythm guitar player, washbaord player, and ...

, Grammy-nominated bluegrass musician {{div col end

References

{{portal, New Hampshire {{Reflist

External links

Official websiteSchool newspaper
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1888 Schools in Grafton County, New Hampshire Public high schools in New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Hanover, New Hampshire 1888 establishments in New Hampshire