Nova High School is a public high school located in

Davie, Florida Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Davie is a principal town of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to ...

and is part of the

Broward County Public Schools Broward County Public Schools is a public school district serving Broward County, Florida, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, sixth largest public school system in the nation. During the 2016–2017 sc ...

district. It is one of four schools that comprise the Nova Center for Applied Research and Professional Development, the others being Nova Eisenhower Elementary School, Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School, and Nova Middle School. Nova Eisenhower Elementary, the newest of the three lower schools, began in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, in the old Fort Lauderdale High School building, while the current facility was being built in Davie. The Nova campus is located within the South Florida Education Center, a consortium of area institutions which include the main campuses of

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...

Broward College Broward College is a public college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1959 as part of a move to broaden Florida's two-year colleges. In 2008 it adopted its current name, reflecting that ...

, and the McFatter Technical Center, as well as regional campuses of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its Ga ...

and

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-c ...

. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, and has earned a FCAT school grade of "''A''" every year since 1999, with only one "B" grade in the 2002–2003 year.

History

Nova High School was established in 1960, and opened in September 1963, as a joint project between the Broward County Public Schools and

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

. Known as the Nova Educational Experiment, the project aimed to create a community of schools spanning elementary to university level education in one location. Forman Field, the 545-acre site of a vacated naval aviation facility and located in the then rural areas of Broward County was chosen as the site for the project. The Nova schools were originally jointly funded by the Ford Foundation and local sources, and were known for their progressive curricula and use of experimental teaching methods. Students were required to pass an entrance exam for acceptance and a lengthy waiting list often existed for potential students. The school year consisted of eleven months of instruction, with a one-month summer break. Nova was the

beta testing Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...

site for "Propaganda" and a number of other

academic games Academic Games is a competition in the U.S. in which players win by out-thinking each other in mathematics, language arts, and social studies. Formal tournaments are organized by local leagues, and on a national level by the Academic Games Leag ...

. The earliest national academic games tournaments were held on the Nova campus during the late 1960s. After the Nova Educational Experiment ended in the 1970s, the Ford Foundation departed and total control of the Nova schools reverted to the Broward County Public Schools. Entrance requirements were relaxed, however, as of 1985, placement on a waiting list for entry into the schools was still required. During the 1980s, the schools' special status had begun to chafe within the workings of the school board. School board movements to close or consolidate the schools resulted in heated contention between parents, students and the board, often accompanied by noisy public meetings. The Nova schools have consistently ranked at the very top of schools in the state. Nova High School was ranked as the 237th best public high school in the United States, 36th best in Florida, by

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

Magazine in 2007 and is listed as a Silver Medal School by the '' U.S. News & World Report'' in 2008, placing it within the top 3% of all high schools in the country. Nova High School is also well known for its extensive course offerings, including 22

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and cours ...

courses. Nova graduates consistently matriculate to some of the finest colleges and universities in Florida and throughout the country.

Demographics and statistics

As of the 2021-22 school year, the total student enrollment was 2,279. The ethnic makeup of the school was 31.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 59%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...

, 21.6%

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties form ...

, 5% Asian, 3.2%

Multiracial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

, 0.9% Native American or

Native Alaskan Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

, and 0.3%

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

. Nova High School was awarded a grade of "A" by the

Florida Department of Education The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) is the state education agency of Florida. It governs public education and manages funding and testing for local educational agencies (school boards). It is headquartered in the Turlington Building ( ...

in 2002–2003, 2004–2013. On the 2007 norm-referenced Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), Nova students performed nationally at the 75th percentile in reading and 82nd percentile in math. Nova faculty have, on average, 12 years of teaching experience and 49% hold advanced degrees. Average class size is 25 and the student stability rate is 97%.

County-sanctioned athletic programs

* Basketball (Boys' and Girls') * Baseball (Boys') * Bowling * Cross Country (Boys' and Girls') *

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

(Boys' and Girls') *

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

(Boys') *

Flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

(Girls') * Soccer (Boys' and Girls') *

Swimming (sport) Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

(Boys' and Girls') *

Diving (sport) Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, usually while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-compe ...

(Boys' and Girls') * Track and Field (Boys' and Girls') * Tennis (Boys' and Girls') * Softball (Girls') * Volleyball (Boys' and Girls') *

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 sports ...

(Boys') *

Water Polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

(Boys' and Girls') * Golf Team (Boys' and Girls') *

Step Team Stepping or step-dancing (a type of step dance) is a form of percussive dance in African-American culture. The participant's entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken w ...

(Boys' and Girls') *Cheerleading

Debate team

Members of the Nova High School speech and debate team have won nine National Championships since the year 2000: Jeff Hannan in Student Congress (2000), Scott Jacobson in Student Congress (2002), Matt Futch in Student Congress (2004), Allison Pena in Extemp Commentary (2007), Jared Odessky in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking and Jamaque Newberry in Dramatic Interpretation (2011), Gregory Bernstein in Congressional Debate (2013), Craig Heyne in Prose Reading (2016), and the team of Cornelia Fraser and Rafey Khan in Public Forum Debate (2017).

Baseball team

Coach Pat McQuaid has led the Nova Titans baseball team for 42 years. To honor the coach's service to the school, the baseball field was named Pat McQuaid Field. Recent accomplishments include state championships in 2004 and 2005. In each of those years, the Titans were ranked #1 in the nation by both

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

and

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') is an American publication based in Arizona that considers itself the "voice of amateur baseball" which has been published for over 40 ...

. In April 2010, Coach McQuaid was inducted into the F.H.S.A.A. (Florida High School Athletic Association) Hall of Fame for his lifelong contribution to coaching high school baseball in the State of Florida. Former Nova High School players to see game time with a Major League Baseball team include Doug Johns (

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight char ...

and Oakland Athletics), Harry Chappas (

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

Michael Morse Michael John Morse (born March 22, 1982) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, first baseman and shortstop. Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. ...

(

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

), Jeff Fiorentino (

Anthony Swarzak Anthony Ray Swarzak (born September 10, 1985) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Chica ...

(

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

), and Tyler Kinley (

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors F ...

Swim, dive, and water polo teams

Since 1968, Nova High School's Swim, Dive, and Water Polo Teams have earned 1 National Record, 1 National Champion, 183 All-Americans, 8 National Scholar Team Awards, 7 Team State Championships (12-Time Runner-up), and 58 Individual State Titles. From 2006 to 2015.

Drama club

Nova High School's Drama Club has participated in the Florida State Thespian Festival and received Excellents, Superiors, honorable mentions, and critics choice. The Weight of Words is an anti-bullying show written by Nova High students and the Lovewell Institute, and performed throughout Florida by current students enrolled in the acting class. This play is a "call for action" for all audience members that will transform any audience into agents of change. The Weight of Words is becoming widely known and is now being performed in other states and schools.

Nova High Band Program

NHS Band Director History. Nova HS has had 8 full time band directors over time. Fred Humphreys spent 7 years with the program before his son Mark Humpreys became the assistant director in 1983. The following year Fred took a step back before completely leaving the school leaving Mark to lead the program until 1993. Maria Kluttz joined the faculty at Nova HS, bringing the first marching band to the school. Joshua Bishop being the longest tenured director at the high school since its opening of the band program, in May 2022 Josh will complete his 14th year as the Director of Bands!

Notable alumni

Entertainment

Woody Alpern host of the financial talk radio show “CPA Wealth Advisors”, airs every Saturday and Sunday at 10 am on Atlanta's News Radio 106.7 FM *

Jeff Garlin Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your E ...

, Class of 1980, comedian and actor/producer of ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisi ...

'', star of '' The Goldbergs'' *

Paige O'Hara Paige O'Hara (born Donna Paige Helmintoller; May 10, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and painter. O'Hara began her career as a Broadway actress in 1983 when she portrayed Ellie May Chipley in the musical ''Showboat''. In 1991, she made her m ...

, voice of Belle from

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

Scott Storch Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16, 1973) is an American record producer and songwriter. He started off as a keyboardist for the group the Roots. Early life Storch was born on Long Island, New York. He was raised in South Florida and Philad ...

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

–winning music producer *

Uffie Anna-Catherine Hartley (born December 9, 1987), known professionally as Uffie (), is an American-French singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and fashion designer formerly signed to French electronic music record label Ed Banger Records. Uffie's musi ...

(Anna-Catherine Hartley), Electro music artist * Justin D. Jacobson, Class of 1988, award-winning game designer and publisher *

David Bianculli David Bianculli is an American TV critic, columnist, radio personality, non-fiction author and university professor. Bianculli has served as the television critic for NPR's radio show ''Fresh Air'' since the Philadelphia-based show went nationa ...

, Class of 1971, television critic for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

* Corinne Kaplan, Survivor contestant on Survivor: Gabon and Survivor: Caramoan

News

Glenn Greenwald Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...

, Class of 1985, journalist and author *

Alison Kosik Alison Kosik (born April 28, 1971) is an American journalist and was a CNN business correspondent who covered the New York Stock Exchange. Biography Kosik was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Brenda (née Seinfeld) and Gilbert Kosik. She ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by t ...

business correspondent * Marie Murray Martin, Class of 1981, founder of the Elberta Arts Center and award-winning education writer * Cary Tennis, Class of 1971, writer for Salon.com

Athletics

Football * Autry Denson, Class of 1995,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

, all-time rushing yards leader at Notre Dame; running backs coach * Tyrus McCloud, Class of 1993 –

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pla ...

, went to NFL * Chris Gamble, cornerback,

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

(2004–2012) * Omar Smith, center,

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

(2002–2004) Baseball * Harry Chappas, MLB shortstop with

(1978–1980) * Jeff Fiorentino, MLB outfielder with

(2005–2006, 2009) and Oakland Athletics (2008) * Doug Johns, MLB pitcher with Oakland Athletics (1995–1996) and

(1998–1999) * Tyler Kinley, MLB pitcher with the Minnesota Twins (2018) * Mike Morse, Class of 2000, MLB outfielder/first baseman with several teams *

, MLB pitcher with several teams Basketball * Mickey Dillard,

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

player for

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Centr ...

(1981–1982); played collegiately at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

* Jim Thomas, played in

for

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first estab ...

(1983–1985),

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

(1985–1986) and

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

(1990–1991); played collegiately at the

University of Indiana Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

Soccer *

Cory Gibbs Cory Gibbs (born January 14, 1980) is an American former soccer player. He played professionally for clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and England. He also played 19 international matches for the U.S. national soccer team, including at the 2003 ...

, professional soccer player for several teams and the U.S. national team

Other

* Robert F. Coleman, professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley *

Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, sang for a ...

, Class of 1995, historian. Herbert Baxter Adams Associate Professor of History at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

. * Steven M. Scharf. Class of 1974. Mayor of Cupertino California 2018-2020. * Melanie G. May, Class of 1969, judge Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal *

Chesley V. Morton Chesley V. Morton Jr. (born August 21, 1951) is an American stockbroker, securities arbitrator, and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Biography Early years and education Chesley V. Morton Jr. was born in Miami, Florida on Au ...

, Class of 1969,

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

1983–1991 * Kevyn D. Orr, Esquire, Class of 1979, City of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

emergency financial manager * Brian A. Skiff, Class of 1973, noted astronomer at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ * Ben Stark, Class of 2001, Hall of Fame American Magic: The Gathering player.

References

External links

Nova High
(official site) {{authority control High schools in Broward County, Florida Public high schools in Florida Davie, Florida Educational institutions established in 1960 1960 establishments in Florida