Oyster River High School (ORHS), part of the Oyster River Cooperative School District (ORCSD), is a public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, with an enrollment of nearly 800 students. It serves Durham and the neighboring communities of Lee, and Madbury. The high school opened, and the first graduating class was in 1956. Dean Sackett was the Chairman of the School Board, Arthur E. Toll was the Superintendent of Schools, John H. Day was Principal, and George W. Pasichuke was the Associate Principal. The school yearbook is named Trion, named by Margaret Campbell in a school-wide contest. The high school moved to its present site on October 22, 1964. In 2004 the school underwent a major renovation and expansion to its facilities, including a new gym, theater, classroom wing, and science wing, costing over $22 million.

Academics

11th-grade students who take the

NECAP :''The National Emergency Airborne Command Post is now named National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC). Or see kneecap.'' The New England Common Assessment Program (universally abbreviated NECAP, and generally pronounced "knee cap") was a series ...

standardized tests score an average of at or above the statewide scores in that year. In 2014, ''

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

'' ranked the school 110th in the nation.

Athletics

Boys'

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 ...

and girls' cross-country have each won several state championships. The boys' soccer team won three consecutive state championships from 2001 to 2003, losing only 1 game in 2002 and going undefeated in 2003. The girls'

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 ...

team went undefeated in the 2005–2006 season to bring home a state championship and won the state championship in the 2008–2009 season. The boys'

indoor track Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...

team won a state championship during the 2006–2007 season. The boys' and girls' swimming and diving teams have each captured multiple state championships. The boys' team captured five consecutive titles from 2007 to 2012. In the 2010 season, the girls' volleyball team went undefeated, winning the Division II state championship, and the boys' cross-country and indoor track teams won the newly created Division II championships. The boys' cross-country team won another state championship in 2011. In 2015, the boys' soccer team defeated Portsmouth High School to win the Division II championship. The official school color is

royal blue Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It is said to have been created by clothiers in Rode, Somerset, a consortium of whom won a competition to make a dress for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. Brightness The ''Oxford En ...

, also known as "Bobcat Blue" or "Oyster River Blue", but most of the teams wear white jerseys when playing at home games. However, unlike their fellow teams, the ice hockey team wears navy blue and red.

Administration

The administration of ORHS is led by Principal Suzanne Filippone, who assumed her role before the 2016–17 school year. For the previous three years, Filippone had been Assistant Principal at Spaulding High School in

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 census. In addition to the downtown area, the city contains the villages of East Rochester, New Hampshire, East Rochester, Gonic, New Ha ...

, and was hired after the previous ORHS principal, Todd Allen, accepted the position of Assistant Superintendent of Oyster River Cooperative School District. She was also a teacher at Berwick Academy. The vice-principals of ORHS are Mark Milliken and Mike McCann. The current superintendent of the school is Dr. James Morse, Sr.

Notable alumni

* Jack Edwards, sportscaster * Ethan Gilsdorf, author *

Joyce Maynard Daphne Joyce Maynard (born November 5, 1953) is an American novelist and journalist. She began her career in journalism in the 1970s, writing for several publications, most notably '' Seventeen'' magazine and ''The New York Times''. Maynard contr ...

, author *

Lincoln Peirce Lincoln Peirce (born October 23, 1963) (pronounced "purse") is an American cartoonist and animator, best known as the creator of the successful ''Big Nate'' comic strip and as the author/illustrator of a series of ''Big Nate'' novels for young ...

, author of comic strip '' Big Nate'' * Carol Shea-Porter, U.S. congresswoman *

Robert Eggers Robert Houston Eggers (born July 7, 1983) is an American filmmaker, director, and production designer. He is best known for writing and directing the historical horror films ''The Witch (2015 film), The Witch'' (2015) and ''The Lighthouse (2019 f ...

, film director and screenwriter

External links

Oyster River High School official websiteOyster River Alumni AssociationDurham Friends

References

{{authority control Schools in Strafford County, New Hampshire Public high schools in New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Durham, New Hampshire 1989 establishments in New Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1989