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 ...
in
Hampton, New Hampshire
Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. On the Atlantic Ocean coast, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination.
The densely populated central part ...
Hampton Falls
Hampton Falls (formerly the "Third Parish and Hampton Falls") is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census.
History
The land of Hampton Falls was first settled by Europeans in 1638, ...
Winnacunnet Winnacunnet is a word derived from one of the Algonquian languages and may mean "beautiful place in the pines".Native American word that means "beautiful place in the pines." William McGowan has been the principal since 2010.
History
On October 30, 1957, the groundbreaking began for the construction of the school. Winnacunnet High School opened for the first time in the fall of 1958 with an attendance of 474 students. Before 1958, area students attended the Hampton Academy and High School, a junior-senior high school that still exists today as the junior high school for Hampton. The official Winnacunnet High dedication ceremony took place on October 26, 1958. The school has undergone construction and renovations in recent years.
The school was in the national news in 1990 when
Pamela Smart
Pamela Ann Smart (née Wojas; born August 16, 1967) is an American woman who was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and witness tampering. In 1990, at age 22, Smart conspired with her underaged ...
conspired with 15-year-old sophomore student William "Billy" Flynn and, according to him, convinced him to murder her husband Greg Smart on May 1, 1990. Smart did not work at Winnacunnet High School but at the SAU 21 building across the street, located on Winnacunnet school grounds. Smart was convicted of
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
in March 1991, and sentenced to
life in prison
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
without the possibility of
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
. She is currently serving her sentence in a maximum security prison in
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
.
Notable alumni
*
Charles Claverie
Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy and Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian, musician, and television news reporter. He was a cast member on ''Saturda ...
, comedian
*
Renny Cushing
Robert Reynolds Cushing Jr. (July 20, 1952 – March 7, 2022) was an American politician who was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives as a Democrat from the town of Hampton. First elected in 1996, Cushing represented Rockingh ...
New Hampshire state representative
*
Maura Healey
Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General since January 2015. She is the governor-elect of Massachusetts, having won the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial electi ...
, Massachusetts Attorney General
*
Steve Merrill
Stephen Everett Merrill (June 21, 1946 – September 5, 2020) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Manchester, New Hampshire. He served as the 77th governor of New Hampshire from 1993 to 1997.
Early life
Merrill was born in No ...
, governor of New Hampshire 1992-1994
See also
*
List of high schools in New Hampshire
This is a list of high schools in the state of New Hampshire.
See also
* List of school districts in New Hampshire
* List of colleges and universities in New Hampshire
External links High School Towns– NH Dept. of Education list of public ...