A four-year,
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
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Kennett Square is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World because mushroom farming in the region produces over 500 million pounds of mushrooms a year, totaling half of the United ...
, Unionville High School enrolls approximately 1,300 students. Accredited by the Middle Atlantic States Association of Secondary Schools, and the
Commonwealth of 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, Ma ...
, Unionville High School has received state recognition for excellence and high achievement in the preparation of students for
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
. Each year, more than 95% of the Unionville High School graduating class takes the SAT examinations. Over 95% of all graduating seniors pursue some form of higher education; 89% go to 4-year colleges, while 7% go to 2-year colleges.
Academics
Curriculum
Unionville has a 1:12 teacher-to-student ratio,
allowing it to offer a wide range of both core and elective classes for its students. Its core departments- English, Social Studies, Math, and Science- are based on a four-tier system in order to allow for the variety of student capabilities, from First Level and Academic classes to
Honors
Honour (or honor in American English) is the quality of being honorable.
Honor or Honour may also refer to:
People
* Honor (given name), a unisex given name
* Brian Honour (born 1964), English footballer and manager
* Gareth Honor (born 1979 ...
and
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 course ...
; in an attempt to broaden its curriculum, the school recently began to offer differentiated classes within those tiers, such as a choice between an American Literature Survey and Contemporary Young Adult Fiction for 11th grade Academic English students. Every graduating student must take four years each of English and Social Studies and three years each of Math and Science, among other requirements.
Achievement
Unionville High School has received state recognition for excellence and high achievement in preparing students for higher education; it consistently ranks as one of the top public high schools in the state of Pennsylvania, according to Pennsylvania's high school's standardized tests, the
PSSAs, and in 2008 the
Unionville-Chadds Ford School District
Unionville-Chadds Ford School District (UCFSD) is a school district in southeastern Chester County and western Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a area encompassing seven townships and serving a total of abpproximately 4,000 students.
The dist ...
had the highest PSSA scores in the State of Pennsylvania.
[http://uhs.ucfsd.org/counseling/2008-2009%20profile.pdf]
College readiness
Unionville employs a 6-member full-time
counseling staff,
much of whose time is spent on the college application process, including meeting with every junior and senior at least once per year to determine their post-secondary educational needs and how the office can best facilitate them;
94% of graduating seniors in 2008 are currently attending college, 96% of which are four-year institutions.
[ Additionally, Unionville's SAT results are significantly higher than the national average, with a combined average of 1716 on the 2400 scale in 2008; there were 4 ]National Merit Semifinalists
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...
in 2010.
Activities and awards
Unionville High School has a total of 72 registered clubs (about one club for every 20 students), including five intra-school academic competition teams (such as Debate Team
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...
and Future Business Leaders of America), four honor societies
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...
, and several national and international organizations (such as Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...
), in addition to quirks such as the Bocce Club and the Unionville Signers (promoting the education of sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
).
The Unionville Players received many Cappies nominations and won 2 for the Fall play, Hamlet.
UHS Speech and Debate team is ranked in the top 3% (top 20) of roughly 3,600 high schools; #1 for the Philadelphia / Valley Forge area; #3 in the State of Pennsylvania, District 15 Champion for 2017–2018. State Champions in 2 of 8 categories and runners up in another 2 with one 3rd-place finish and 5 semifinalists.
Demographics
Race
As of 2015-2016:
Gender
*Male: 52%
*Female: 48%
In popular culture
Unionville High School was given as the alma mater of "John David Stutts", the man who (fictionally) killed "Buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...
" (both characters played by Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
) on a 1983 episode of ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''. The skit says Stutts actually grew up in Lima, Ohio
Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...
, but the Pennsylvania-based Unionville High got the credit after the UHS drama club put on a production of "Who Shot Buckwheat?". (''SNL'' also showed the school's real exterior on-air.)
Notable alumni
*Kate Barber
Kate ("Tiki") Barber (born November 22, 1976 in West Chester, Pennsylvania) is a field hockey forward and midfield player from the United States, who made her international senior debut for the Women's National Team in 1998 by scoring two goals ...
, captain of the US Women's Field Hockey Team in the 2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
* Amanda McGrory, paralympic gold medalist
*Zeeko Zaki
Zakaria Sherif Zaki (born January 18, 1990), commonly known as Zeeko Zaki ( arz, زيكو زكي), is an Egyptian-born American actor best known for his role portraying Special Agent Omar Adom "O. A." Zidan on Dick Wolf's ''FBI (TV series), FBI' ...
, actor
* Justin Best
* Sloane Jacobs
References
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1985
Public high schools in Pennsylvania
Schools in Chester County, Pennsylvania
1985 establishments in Pennsylvania
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania