Penn Wood High School is a

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 ...

that occupies two campuses. One in

Lansdowne Lansdowne or Lansdown may refer to: People * Lansdown Guilding (1797–1831), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines naturalist and engraver *Fenwick Lansdowne (1937–2008), Canadian wildlife artist * George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne (1666–1735) ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

USA 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 territori ...

, and one in Yeadon,

Organization

Penn Wood High is managed by the

William Penn School District The William Penn School District is a large suburban, public school district located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It comprises eight elementary schools, one middle school, one alternative school, and one high school, based on two campuses. ...

. The school serves the

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Aldan Aldan may refer to: ;People *Gille Aldan, the first bishop of Galloway, Scotland * Andrey Aldan-Semenov (1908–1985), Russian writer *Duke Aldan, a fictional character in '' Langrisser IV'' video game ;Places *Aldan, Russia, a town in the Sakha R ...

Colwyn Colwyn was a local government district with borough status from 1974 to 1996, being one of six districts in the county of Clwyd, north-east Wales. History The borough was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It cover ...

, Darby, East Lansdowne,

, and Yeadon. The two campuses are Cypress Street Campus in Yeadon with the 9th grade, and the Green Avenue Campus with grades 10th, 11th,12th.

History

Penn Wood High School, originally Lansdowne High School, was opened in 1927. The architect was Joseph Linden Heacock, and the builder was

John McShain John McShain (December 21, 1896 – September 9, 1989) was a American building contractor known as "The Man Who Built Washington". Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish immigrants, McShain graduated from St. Joseph's Preparatory S ...

who went on to build the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, The

Jefferson Memorial The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, a central intellectual force behind the A ...

and

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

. Today, it is one of the oldest public school buildings in Pennsylvania. Built in the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

style, the motto carved above the door reads "To Teach the Art of Living Well", attributed to

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

. Carved in limestone above the motto are a female figure holding a Greek Temple, and a male figure holding a cog. The school is officially a merger of 3 previous high schools: Lansdowne-Aldan High School, Yeadon High School and Darby-Colwyn High School. Penn Wood's first year of existence as the new merger school was the 1982–83 school year. Their basketball team has recently won the PIAA Quad 4 State Championship against York High.

Notable alumni

Darrell Hill
American Olympic shot put athlete, Rio 2016 *

Dawn Burrell Dawn C. Burrell (born November 1, 1973) is an American chef and retired long jumper. She won the gold medal at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships

, American Olympic athlete. *

Leroy Burrell Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the world record for the 100 m sprint. Early life Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School, w ...

, former American 100 meter world record holder."Super Power"
SI Vault, July 01, 1991. * John Stanford, United States Army major general, Fulton County executive, and Seattle school district superintendent. *William M. Matz Jr., United States Army general, Vietnam War combat veteran, VP Raytheon, GM Northrop Grumman, President of NAUS. *

John Rauch John Rauch (August 20, 1927 – June 10, 2008), also known by his nickname Johnny Rauch, was an American football player and coach. He was head coach of the Oakland Raiders in the team's loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II in early 1 ...

, Former NFL Head Coach of Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills * Peter J. Liacouras, Former President of Temple University *Rap Curry, former NIKE All-American basketball player and St Joe Hawk *

Kurt Vile Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during li ...

, Indie Musician *

Harry Connolly (writer) Twenty Palaces is a novel series blending fantasy and mystery and written by Seattle author Harry Connolly. Ray Lilly, the series' first person narrator, and protagonist recounts his adventures working for the Twenty Palace Society. The novels ha ...

References

External links

Cypress Street Campus

Public high schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 1927 Schools in Delaware County, Pennsylvania 1927 establishments in Pennsylvania Lansdowne, Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-school-stub