Wissahickon High School is the sole public
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 ...
of the
Wissahickon School District, and is located in
Ambler,
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, ...
.
The school is recognized as a
National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...
by the
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
.
In 2021, Wissahickon High School was ranked as the 12th best public high school in Pennsylvania and 384th in the nation by Niche. ''U.S. News & World Report 2021'' ranked WHS #12 best in the state and #517 in the nation.
Athletics
The Wissahickon athletic department is currently admitted under the
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States.
The PIAA's main ...
(PIAA) and by school size is sanctioned under District I. The high school boasts 2 artificial turf fields, 1 stadium, and a natatorium which serves the Wissahickon football, men and women's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, women's field hockey, men's and women's swimming, men’s and women’s water polo, and numerous community club teams. Wissahickon has an athletic rivalry with
Upper Dublin High School
Upper Dublin High School (UDHS) is a four-year public high school located in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. It is the sole high school in the Upper Dublin School District.
UDHS is recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by th ...
.
Baseball
The Wissahickon basketball team is ranked 10th in Philadelphia by CSN philly.com. The program changed coaches in 2008 and again in 2013 and has steadily worked their way back to conference champions and state contenders.
Tennis
The 2011 Wissahickon boys tennis team made states for the first time in school history.
Soccer
The
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 ...
team in 2010 was ranked up to 10th in the state and 7th in the area at the end of the season by the ''Philly Inquirer''.
Track and Field
The Boys track team has won the American Conference Championship 10 of the last 12 years and boasts 21 individual Pa. State Champions, 3 State Relay Champions, 80 State Medalists (2nd thru 8th) and has won 3 State Championship team titles (1967 'B', 1972 'A', 1982 'AAA').
Football
The Trojan football team were the 1973 & 1987 BuxMont Champions and 2007 PIAA Suburban One - American Champions.
Hockey
The Trojan hockey team placed second in the Delaware Valley Hockey League in the 2014–2015 season.
Extracurriculars
Computer Club
Teams "StackTrace" and "NullPointerException" both representing Wissahickon High School earned first and second place respectively in Pennsylvania for Lockheed Martin's 2021 CYBERQUEST competition.
Student Council
The Wissahickon High School Student Council strives to encourage school pride and provide a meaningful school experience for all students.
The Wissahickon High School Student Council is overseen by two faculty advisors. Its student leadership consists of four elected student executives (president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary) and 16 student senators (four members from each grade level).
QuizBowl
The school's QuizBowl team competed in the 2016-2017 QuizNet National Championship and the 2012 and 2022 Pennsylvania Academic Championship. The team competed in the 2022 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
Ultimate
The Wissahickon Ultimate Frisbee club was ranked #5 among men's high school teams in 2022. Team captain Adam Grossberg was listed on the 2022
Philadelphia Phoenix roster.
Wissahickon Alumni Partnership
The Wissahickon Alumni Partnership (W.A.P.) club celebrates the accomplishments of current and past Wissahickon students.
Wissahickon Marching Unit
Third place bronze finalist and "Most Improved" award in 2019 for the Independence A Division Cavalcade of Bands State Championships.
Jazz At Wissahickon
Wissahickon has had a jazz band since 1926 and is currently under direction of Michael Hood. The focal points of the jazz department are One O’clock and Two O’clock. The names were acquired after Neil Slator, former director of the North Texas One O’clock Lab Band, was a guest director for PMEA all state jazz band, which was held at Wissahickon in the 1990s.
Today Wissahickon’s jazz department consists of two big bands, two jazz combos, a Gypsy Jazz Ensemble, a Trad Jazz ensemble, a Brass Band, and a subway band.
Notable alumni
![Tanoh Kpassagnon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Tanoh_Kpassagnon.JPG)
*
Katie O'Donnell - U.S. national field hockey team/Sports Woman of the Year 2010
*
Tanoh Kpassagnon
Tanoh Kpassagnon ( ; born June 14, 1994) is an American football defensive end for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Villanova and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second rou ...
- Defensive End for
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...
&
Super Bowl LIV
Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conferenc ...
champion.
*
Bryan Lentz
Bryan Roy Lentz (born June 5, 1964) is an American politician from Pennsylvania. He served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 161st legislative district from 2007 to 2010. He was the 2010 Democratic n ...
-
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 161
Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 161 includes part of Delaware County. It is currently represented by Democrat Leanne Krueger.
District profile
The district includes the following areas:
Delaware County:
* Aston Township
* ...
from 2007 to 2011
*
Sam Tsui
Samuel Tsui (born May 2, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and video producer. He rose to fame as an internet celebrity known for doing covers and musical medleys of songs by pop artists. He has since released original songs and expanded t ...
- Musician/
Youtuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
*
Kurt Hugo Schneider
Kurt Hugo Schneider (born September 7, 1988), sometimes referred to by his initials KHS, is an American video editor, producer, musician, singer and songwriter, whose primary medium is YouTube music videos. He has produced music videos for vari ...
- Musician/Composer/Producer/
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
r
*
Melanie Mayron
Melanie Joy Mayron is an American actress and director of film and television. Mayron is best known for her role as photographer Melissa Steadman on the ABC drama ''thirtysomething'' for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sup ...
- Actress
*
E-Dubble
Evan Sewell Wallace (November 1, 1982 – February 13, 2017) best known by his stage name E-Dubble, often stylized e-dubble, or shortened to e-dub, was an American rapper. He was best known for his Freestyle Friday series in which he released a ...
- Musician/Rapper
*
Sandy Martin
Sandy Martin is an American actress, playwright, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles in the film ''Napoleon Dynamite'' and the TV series ''Big Love'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and ''Ray Donovan''.
Career
Martin ...
, Class of 1967 - Actress
*
Josh Martin - bassist of rock band
The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...
*
Mike Kennedy - drummer of rock band
The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...
*
Casey Cavaliere - guitarist of rock band
The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...
*
Stephen Hahn - 24th
Commissioner of Food and Drugs
The United States Commissioner of Food and Drugs is the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The commissioner is appointed by the president of the United States an ...
*
Gerald Stano
Gerald Eugene Stano (born Paul Zeininger; September 12, 1951 – March 23, 1998) was an American convicted serial killer. Stano murdered at least 22 young women and girls, confessed to 41 murders and the police say the number of his victims may ...
, Class of 1971 - American convicted serial killer, killed at least 22 women and confessed to killing 41, "Gerald was a... student at Shady Grove Elementary and Wissahickon High School..."
Gallery
File:Time Lapse of Wissahickon High School Inner Courtyard.webm, Lapse of inner courtyard taken from Mr. Ford's AP Physics 1 class
File:Wissahickon High School Track.jpg, The school's track
File:The Natatorium at Wissahickon High School.jpg, alt=The Natatorium at Wissahickon High School., The Natatorium at Wissahickon High School
File:RemoteMediaFile 6553615 0 2021 06 10 19 24 50.jpg, Aerial view of Wissahickon High School during the class of 2021 graduation
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Public high schools in Pennsylvania
Educational institutions established in 1929
Schools in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
1929 establishments in Pennsylvania