Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School (Q680 or JHS/HS 680) is a school in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

which places emphasis on the

health science The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple acad ...

s. The school serves grades 6–12. Previously co-located in other school buildings, the school moved to its current building for the 2010–11 school year.

Building

The current Queens Gateway building (building Q695) is located in the neighborhood of Hillcrest, Queens on the south side of Goethals Avenue between 160th Street to the west and 161st Street to the east. It is located at the north end of the

Queens Hospital Center Queens Hospital Center (QHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and originally called Queens General Hospital, is a large public hospital campus in the Jamaica Hills and Hillcrest neighborhoods of Queens in New York City. It is operat ...

campus, which extends west to

Parsons Boulevard Parsons Boulevard is a road in Queens, New York. Its northern end is at Malba Drive in the Malba neighborhood and its southern end is at Archer Avenue in downtown Jamaica. Route The road stretches for nearly six miles, divided into four segme ...

, east to 164th Street, and south to the

Grand Central Parkway The Grand Central Parkway (GCP) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) long parkway that stretches from the Triborough Bridge in New York City to Nassau County on Long Island. At the Queens–Nassau border, it becomes the Northern State Parkway, w ...

. Adjacent to the east of the school is Queens Hospital Center's power plant, built in 1932. Adjacent to the west is FDNY EMS Station 50. Located in School District 28, the building has a capacity of 805 students. The building also houses a branch of the Queens Transition Center (Q752), a special education school. The building was designed by

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architecture, architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates.

and built by the

New York City School Construction Authority The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) manages the design, construction and renovation of school facilities in New York City. The Authority is overseen by a three-member Board of Trustees appointed by the Mayor. Two of the current ...

. It is four stories high with a basement, occupying square feet of space. The outer facade of the building consists of light-colored brick. The building is U-shaped, with the U opening towards the front of the building at Goethals Avenue. The school's gymnasium occupies the center of the U in the basement and first floor.

Skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

s on the roof of the gym allow natural light into the building. A

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

runs along the first floor in front of the building. Along the wall of the colonnade is a mural created by

Sarah Morris Sarah Morris (born 20 June 1967 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England) is an American and British artist. She lives in New York City in the United States. Personal life and education Morris was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, in south-east England, on 20 Ju ...

. Skylights are also present on the roof of the colonnade. Among the building's facilities include 24 classrooms, 11 science labs, a 297-seat auditorium, cafeterias for students and teachers, a library, and an art studio. At the west end of the school is a 50-car parking lot. Originally located on the site of the school was the hospital's morgue, with several other hospital buildings adjacent to it. The morgue was relocated to the north side of the campus in order to make room for the school. Until the opening of its current building, Queens Gateway was located in the former Jamaica Jewish Center on 87th Road near

and

Hillside Avenue Hillside may refer to the side of a hill. Places Australia *Hillside mine, a proposed mine on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia * Hillside, New South Wales *Hillside, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne Canada * Hillside, Nova Scotia United Kin ...

in Briarwood, across from Hillcrest High School. Another school,

the Young Women's Leadership School of Queens The Young Women's Leadership School of Queens (TYWLS) is a public girls' high school and middle school located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. The school is administered by the New York City Department of Education. Since 2013 Mala Panday has ...

, was moved into this building in 2010 following the relocation of Queens Gateway.

Transportation

The bus route runs north-to-south along 164th Street on the east side of the Queens Hospital campus. The

Q25 and Q34 buses The Q25 and Q34 bus routes constitute a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The south-to-north route runs primarily on Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard, serving two major bus- subway hubs: Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–Ja ...

run along Parsons Boulevard at the west end of the campus. The bus runs along Union Turnpike one block north of the school. The closest

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

stations are the

station of the

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 s ...

to the south, connected by the Q25, Q34, and Q65, and the Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station to the west connected by the Q46. The Q25, Q34, and Q65 routes also connect with the Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer subway station on Parsons and Archer Avenues, and the Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

stations on Supthin Boulevard and Archer Avenue.

School description

Admissions

Admission to the middle school (grades 6–8) at Queens Gateway is limited to students of Queens Districts 28 and 29, based on New York State standardized test scores, attendance and previous report cards. District 28 includes the neighborhoods of

Rego Park Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queens ...

, Forest Hills,

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, Briarwood, Hillcrest,

Jamaica Hills Jamaica Hills is a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is surrounded by Hillcrest (at the Grand Central Parkway to the north), Jamaica Estates (at Homelawn Street, a continuation of Utopia Par ...

, Jamaica, and

South Jamaica South Jamaica (also commonly known as "The Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsection ...

; portions of Richmond Hill, and

South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...

; and the

Rochdale Village Rochdale Village (pronounced ) is a housing cooperative and neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the New York City borough of Queens. Located in Community District 12, Rochdale Village is grouped as part of Greater Jamaica, corresponding t ...

development. District 29 contains

Queens Village Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose to the east, and Oakland Gardens to the north ...

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...

Cambria Heights Cambria Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queen ...

, Laurelton, Rosedale, and

Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to the we ...

. Admission for 9th and 10th graders is open to all New York City residents, with priority to continuing students, then to residents of Districts 28 and 29.

Academics, programs and partnerships

The school offers numerous Advanced Placement (AP) courses in both science and humanities topics. Middle school students are offered accelerated math and science courses. 9th through 11th graders are required to take the PSAT annually, with the school providing PSAT and SAT prep courses. The school also has an After School Program. Other programs include

CUNY , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...

College Now and

GEAR UP Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs ("GEAR UP") is a federal grant program administered by the United States Department of Education. It was established in Chapter 2 of the 1998 amendments to the Higher Education Act ...

. The school has partnerships with

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City. It is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which manages eight ...

, Gateway Institute,

(QHC), York College, Queens College, and

Weill Cornell Medicine The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

. As part of the Mount Sinai/Queens Hospital partnership, students intern at Queens Hospital Center and take part in

rotations Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...

Athletics

The high school fields several sports teams competing in the

Public Schools Athletic League The Public Schools Athletic League, known by the abbreviation PSAL, is an organization that promotes student athletics in the public schools of New York City. It was founded in 1903 to provide and maintain a sports program for students enrolled in ...

(PSAL), including basketball, rugby, soccer, girls' track and field, and girls' volleyball. The school also offers intramural sports, including basketball, soccer,

floor hockey Floor hockey is a broad term for several indoor floor game codes which involve two teams using a stick and type of ball or disk. Disks are either open or closed but both designs are usually referred to as "pucks". These games are played either on ...

, and

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

. The middle school had previously participated in the CHAMPS (Cooperative, Healthy, Active, Motivated, Positive Students) athletic league.

History

Parsons Highland Av 87th Rd 07 - Jamaica Jewish Center HS

The Gateway to Higher Education program was founded by New York City in September 1986. Queens Gateway Secondary School was opened in 1994 or 1995, in partnership with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (now the

). The school was a product of the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

's Health Professions Partnership Initiative. The school was originally planned to be built on the campus of

, but this was deferred due to the city's plans to sell off the hospital. Because of this, the school was initially co-located in the buildings of existing schools. It first was housed in Richard Grossley Junior High School (JHS 8) on

Merrick Boulevard Merrick Road is an east–west urban arterial in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties in New York, United States. It is known as Merrick Boulevard or Floyd H. Flake Boulevard in Queens, within New York City. Merrick Road runs east from the Queens ...

. Due to the roof caving in at JHS 8, the school was then moved to the Catherine and Count Basie School (MS 72) on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in

until June 1996, when the school returned to JHS 8. On April 4, 1997, Queens Gateway began using three classrooms within Queens Hospital Center. In 1998, the Jamaica Jewish Center was renovated in order to convert it into a school building for Queens Gateway. The school began using the building on September 8, 1998. In December 2001, the

New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is t ...

(DOE) announced plans to construct a new 800-seat building for Queens Gateway. In 2002, shortly after the completion of the new Queens Hospital Center main building, the DOE sought to acquire a portion of the property to construct a new high school, demolishing now-obsolete hospital buildings. The relocation would allow Queens Gateway students to work with health professionals from QHC. Residents of the local community, however, opposed the plan due to fears of additional pedestrian and automobile traffic, loss of parking, and an increased strain on mass transit and police resources. On April 19, 2007, the members of

Queens Community Board 8 The Queens Community Board 8 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Briarwood, Cunningham Heights, Flushing South, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Hilltop Village, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, ...

(representing Hillcrest) unanimously vetoed the new school's construction. In addition, the site along Goethals Avenue was found to be contaminated with petroleum from an adjacent ambulance refueling station (later replaced by EMS Station 50), as well as formaldehyde leaking from the morgue. Both buildings had been completed in the 1930s along with the original Queens Hospital Center (then-Queens General Hospital). Nevertheless, the school project was approved by the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

on June 15, 2007. In March 2009, the City Council approved the construction of a 50-space parking lot adjacent to the school for employees. The new Queens Gateway building, which cost $70.8 million to construct, opened on September 8, 2010, for the 2010–11 academic year. As part of the relocation of Queens Gateway, the DOE had also planned a grade reconfiguration, adding sixth grade to the school for the 2010–11 school year. Under this plan, the school would have a maximum enrollment of 805 students. Although supported by the school's principal, the move received negative feedback from staff members who felt the expansion was too abrupt. Parents in the area also criticized the move, as due to the school's enrollment cap it could reduce the number of high school seats available in the school and the area as a whole. Because of this, the expansion was pushed back to the 2011–12 school year.

References

External links

New York City Department of Education: Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queens Gateway Public high schools in Queens, New York Public middle schools in Queens, New York Jamaica, Queens Educational institutions established in 1995 1995 establishments in New York City Alternative schools in the United States