Phoenixville Area High School is a senior
high school located on 1200 Gay St,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. It is a member of the
Phoenixville Area School District and teaches students from grades nine through twelve. As of the 2019-2020 School year there are 1189 members of the student body, and the principal is Dr. Rose Scioli (2021). The school's mascot is the Phantom, who has been the mascot since the 1960s. The Phantoms' colors are purple and white. Their mission statement is, ''"to prepare, inspire, and graduate students to meet the challenges of the future."''
Sports
The Phoenixville Area High School has been a member of the PAC-10 conference for 25 years. The other high schools within this conference are
Boyertown,
Pottstown,
Methacton,
Norristown,
Pottsgrove,
Pope John Paul II,
Perkiomen Valley,
Upper Perkiomen,
Springford,
Owen J. Roberts
Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945. He also led two Roberts Commissions, the first of which investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the seco ...
, and
Upper Merion
Upper Merion Township is a Township (Pennsylvania), township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 28,395 at the 2010 U.S. Census. Located from Philadelphia, it consists of the villages of Gulph ...
. A multitude of sports are offered such as boys and girls
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
tennis,
golf,
lacrosse,
cheerleading and
swimming. For girls only sports, there is
field hockey and
softball and for boys there is
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 ...
and
wrestling. Many of the teams and individuals from Phoenixville have been PAC-10 champions. A select few in recent years, such as Kyriq Williams, Courtney Kedra, Kyle MacLelland, Tom McAvoy, and Lauren Terstappen, have gone on to be state champions as well.
Mike Piazza,
Andre Thornton
André Thornton (born August 13, 1949), nicknamed "Thunder", is an American former professional baseball player and business entrepreneur. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and designated hitter from to , most prominently as ...
, and
Creighton Gubanich
Creighton Wade Gubanich (born March 27, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player who played briefly in the Major league baseball (MLB) in 1999 for the Boston Red Sox. Gubanich's primary position was catcher, though he also made tw ...
were all on major league baseball teams and are also Phoenixville High School alumni.
Senior Project
In order to graduate from any school in Pennsylvania a 'graduation project' must be completed. For Phoenixville High School this project consists of completing a fifteen-hour community service project as well as writing updates reporting progress along the way. Each project must have a project adviser that the student chooses to sign off that the project was completed. The most common projects are typically coaching sports teams. Once the project is completed a paper must be written outlining the entire project and a five-minute presentation done in meetings at the end of the student's senior year in front of two faculty members.
Music
The Phoenixville Area High School offers a multitude of opportunities when it comes to music. Classes such as choir, symphonic band, and wind ensemble are offered during the school day. Anyone can be in choir or symphonic band but they must go through an audition process to be accepted into the wind ensemble, jazz band, or vocal ensemble. The marching band, jazz band, and vocal ensemble are considered extracurricular activities, having meetings outside of the regular school day.
F.O.C.U.S.
''"For Our Children's Uncompromised Safety Post Prom Parent Organization"''
Project F.O.C.U.S. is a parent run organization to ensure their children's safety after prom. They do this starting in September every year by meeting and brainstorming a theme for that year's post prom celebration at the Phoenixville Area High School. The program works hard meeting once a month until the month of prom to get activities, food, and shows together to entertain the students. They get donations from local businesses and churches to help cover the expenses. For an example, in the year 2010 the F.O.C.U.S. theme was ''"An Evening in the Orient"''. With this theme, the entire inside of the high school was decorated to look like an oriental town complete with lanterns and a sushi bar. There are no students involved in this program, the only information students know is the theme before they enter.
Clubs
There are many clubs offered at the Phoenixville Area High School. Some are nationally run such as
Future Business Leaders of America
The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...
(FBLA),
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...
(NHS),
Key Club
Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. As a student-led organization, Key Club's goal is to encourage leadership through serving others. Key Club International is the hig ...
, and
Modern Music Masters (Tri-M). There are also student originated clubs such as Green Club, Dungeons and Dragons Club, Art Club, Latin Club, Engineering club, Science Club,
Model United Nations Club, and Varsity Club. Out of all of the clubs listed there are only prerequisites that must be met for admittance to NHS, Tri-M, and Varsity Club. The majority of the clubs at Phoenixville High School are sustained financially by themselves. The most common types of fundraising for clubs are bake sales and dances. If a club needs a substantial amount of money they can request donations from the Phoenixville Community Education Foundation, an organization instated to help cover funding that was cut by the
Phoenixville School District.
Phantoms
The school's mascot, The Phantom, came as a result of a 1934 football match between Lower Merion and Phoenixville. Both teams were very good, although Lower Merion was regarded as the better of the two. After Phoenixville soundly defeated Lower Merion, a sportswriter for a Philadelphia newspaper wrote that "Phoenixville ran through their (Lower Merion's) lines like a bunch of Phantoms." This nickname stuck, and eventually became the team's official name.
Notable alumni
*
Mike Piazza, former catcher and designated hitter for
Major League Baseball.
*
André Thornton, former
Major League Baseball player.
*
Creighton Gubanich
Creighton Wade Gubanich (born March 27, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player who played briefly in the Major league baseball (MLB) in 1999 for the Boston Red Sox. Gubanich's primary position was catcher, though he also made tw ...
, former
Major League Baseball player with
Boston Red Sox.
*
David White (Daniel David White). Although born in Colorado, the actor who portrayed Larry Tate in the TV series ''
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
'' was a 1933 graduate of Phoenixville High School.
*
Kevin Negandhi
Kevin Negandhi (born March 20, 1975) is an American sports anchor for ESPN's ''SportsCenter'' as well as ''ESPN College Football on ABC''.
In addition to hosting ''SportsCenter'', he also hosts ''Baseball Tonight'', ''College Football Live'' and ...
, ESPN Anchor.
*
Rich Kraynak, linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles.
*
Neal Olkewicz
Neal T. Olkewicz (born January 30, 1957) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 11-year career as a linebacker for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1979 to 1989. He played coll ...
, linebacker for the Washington Redskins.
*
Rob Lohr
Rob Lohr (born March 1, 1990) is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Vanderbilt University and attended Phoenixville Area High School in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He has been a memb ...
, gridiron football player
*
John Stauffer, Pennsylvania State Representative and State Senator
*Michael Basca, former player for the Philadelphia Eagles
References
External links
School website
{{authority control
Public high schools in Pennsylvania
Schools in Chester County, Pennsylvania