West Genesee Senior High School (colloquially referred to as West Genny or WG) is a 9-12 public high school in

Camillus, New York Camillus is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 24,167 at the 2010 census. The Town of Camillus is west of Syracuse. There is also a village named Camillus in the town. Much of the town is a western suburb ...

, United States. It is part of the

West Genesee Central School District The West Genesee Central School District (WGCSD) is a public school district located in suburban Syracuse, NY. The district covers and is centered in the town of Camillus, but also serves parts of Elbridge, Geddes, Onondaga, and Van Buren. ...

Recognized academic programs

In addition to general and Regents level courses, the school offers a number of college-level course options for students through a variety of different programs.

Advanced Placement courses

West Genesee High School offers a wide variety of

Advanced Placement Program 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 ...

(AP) courses to its students. These courses are generally considered "much more rigorous than the general course offerings". Courses offered include English language & composition, English literature & composition,

world history World history may refer to: * Human history, the history of human beings * History of Earth, the history of planet Earth * World history (field), a field of historical study that takes a global perspective * ''World History'' (album), a 1998 albu ...

US history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

, studio art,

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

Syracuse University Project Advance

In addition to AP courses, the school offers a number of courses through the

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Project Advance (SUPA) program. The students receive Syracuse University college credits, but the courses are taught by teachers named adjunct instructors by S.U. and are taught in classrooms at the high school as a part of a student's regular day. Courses offered through

Project Advance Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful com ...

include

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

, psychology, public affairs, and sociology.

Onondaga Community College

The school also offers courses for college credit through

Onondaga Community College Onondaga Community College (OCC) is a public community college that serves Onondaga County, New York, at two campuses. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The college was founded in 1961 and began instruction ...

, a local community college. Like the SUPA courses, these courses are taught in classrooms at the high school. Courses include

financial accounting Financial accounting is the field of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of financial statements available for public use. Stockholders, s ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

computer information systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...

, introduction to business,

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

and

precalculus In mathematics education, precalculus is a course, or a set of courses, that includes algebra and trigonometry at a level which is designed to prepare students for the study of calculus. Schools often distinguish between algebra and trigonometr ...

West Genesee Wildcats

West Genesee High School's athletic teams are known as the "Wildcats". Their colors are navy blue and gold. All of the teams compete in the

NYSPHAA The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is the governing body of interscholastic sports for most public schools in New York outside New York City.http://www.nysphsaa.org/ ''nysphsaa.org'', accessed 15-JAN-2008. Th ...

's Section 3. Students are able to participate in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

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 ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

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 ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

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 ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. A number of West Genesee's athletic teams have won state championships: Marching band (34), boys' lacrosse (15), girls' lacrosse (7), wrestling (5), boys' hockey (3), girls' swimming (3), boys' track (2), girls' hockey (2), football, boys' golf, and boys' swimming (1) and boys' basketball (1). The marching band has also won the national championship 5 times (most recently 2013). Additionally the marching band has participated in multiple Bands of America Regional and Grand National Finals.

Lacrosse

Hall of Fame coach Mike Messere was the head coach from 1975 to 2018. During his tenure, the Wildcats' finished the season first in the national high school rankings 8 times between 1990 and 2018. The team has won 15 New York State championships, including four consecutive between 2002 and 2005, and 34 Section III championships. As of 2011, the program has produced 52 high school

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

ns since 1971.

John Desko John Terry Desko is a retired lacrosse head coach. Desko coached the men's lacrosse team at Syracuse University for 22 seasons from 1999 to 2021. Desko took over as head coach in 1999 from Hall of Fame coach Roy Simmons Jr. Early life The Des ...

, the former head coach of

's men's lacrosse team is a former player and alumnus of the school. The girls' lacrosse team began in 1995. The team has won six state championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2012. Between 2001 and 2003, the Lady 'Cats won 67 consecutive games, and as of 13 October 2008 the team has won 48 consecutive games dating back to the beginning of the 2007 season.

Ice hockey

The West Genesee hockey team is a three-time New York State Champion winning in 1990, 2001, and 2010, when the team was undefeated. The Wildcats have won 11 Section 3 championships including seven straight between 2008 and 2014. Coach Frank Colabufo has an all-time record of 390-146-39. Defenseman Robert Michel, Class of 2013, went on to play in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. Michel previously played four seasons at the University of Maine, where he was named captain in his senior season.

Basketball

In the winter of 2018–2019, the boys' basketball team secured the first state championship in the team's existence, and the girls' team was runner up in the state championship.

Football

In the fall of 2007, the football team claimed its first New York State Class AA Championship. The team is coached by Joe Corley, a position he has held since May 2008.

Clubs and activities

In addition to academics and athletics, West Genesee High School also offers a number of clubs and other extracurricular activities. These include

Academic Decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective multiple choice tests, tw ...

, Business Club, Drama Club, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Technical Theatre club, Foreign Language Clubs,

Model UN Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...

Honor Society 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 ...

, R² (Respect and Responsibility), Positivity Project (replacing R²), Ski Club, Student Council and Class Senates, Yearbook Club, ECOS (Environmental group), and Outdoor Club.

References

{{authority control Public high schools in New York (state) Schools in Onondaga County, New York