Thomas R. Proctor High School is the only high school in the Utica City School District in

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

. The school was built in 1934 with funds from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

and Thomas R. Proctor. It opened its doors on September 9, 1936. The school is the only public high school in Utica after Utica Free Academy closed in 1990.

Demographics

Proctor is a highly diverse school. As of the 2021–2022 school year, 2,689 students were enrolled. Of that, 757 (28%) were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 722 (27%) were

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

, 536 (20%) were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

, 527 (20%) were

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 138 (5%) were of

two or more races 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

, and 9 (less than 1%) were American Indian. Due to the large immigrant and refugee population in Utica, more than 40 languages have been spoken by Proctor students, among them

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, Bosnian, Burmese,

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

, Nepali,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Somali,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

, and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

. Proctor is eligible for schoolwide

Title I The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-rea ...

, and about three-fourths of students in the 2021–2022 school year were eligible for free or reduced lunch.

History

Thomas Redfield Proctor (May 25, 1844 - July 4, 1920) was a prominent Utica businessman and philanthropist. Thomas R. Proctor Park, which consists of land he purchased and donated to the city, is also named for him. In 2015, the Utica City School District was sued by six refugee students, who alleged that refugee students older than 16 who were judged to have poor English language skills were denied enrollment at Proctor High School. They were instead diverted into weaker alternative programs that focused solely on

English as a foreign language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

and did not lead to a diploma or adequately prepare for a high school equivalency exam. The suits were settled in 2016, eliminating the alternative programs.

Athletic department

Thomas R. Proctor High School offers a variety of sports for both girls and boys to compete in at varsity and junior varsity levels. The 2007 boys varsity

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 t ...

team were class AA

NYSPHSAA 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 ...

champions. The varsity cheerleading squad also holds a national title, and placed first in all five of their competitions in the school year of 2007–2008.

Notable alumni

Michael Arcuri Michael Angelo Arcuri (born June 11, 1959) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He lost re-election on November 2, 2010, to Republican Richard L. Hanna. Arcu ...

, congressman for

New York's 24th congressional district The 24th congressional district of New York is located in Upstate New York, stretching alongside Lake Ontario from near Buffalo in the west to Watertown in the east, whilst not including Rochester which is instead in the 25th district. Sinc ...

* Richard Benedetto, journalist and professor * Dave Cash, former Major League Baseball player * Bianca Devins, internet celebrity and murder victim *

Brianna Kiesel Brianna Kiesel (born July 8, 1993) is an American former professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objec ...

, 2015 WNBA draftee * Joseph Michael, singer (dropped out before graduation) * Tiffany "New York" Pollard, reality star (''

Flavor of Love ''Flavor of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on ''Strange ...

'', ''

I Love New York I Love New York (stylized ) is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm of Wells, Rich, Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism ...

'', '' New York Goes to Hollywood'') *

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

, American football player (

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 ...

)

References

;Notes

External links

Thomas R. Proctor High School website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Utica, New York Public high schools in New York (state) Schools in Oneida County, New York